MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian government dismissed the head of the revered but scandal-plagued Bolshoi Theatre on Tuesday, six months after a hit man hired by one of its dancers threw acid in the face of its ballet director. Anatoly Iksanov was replaced by Vl... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – This year looks set to be the biggest ever for sales of single records in Britain, thanks in part to smash hits like “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk and Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” according to the Official Charts Company. Single sales have ris... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian government replaced the head of the Bolshoi Theatre on Tuesday following a series of scandals including an acid attack that left the artistic director of its ballet company almost totally blind. Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. country music legend Randy Travis is in critical condition in a Texas hospital because of complications from a virus, the singer’s publicist said on Monday. Travis, 54, one of country music’s best-selling artists who had a string o... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Photographers are camped outside the hospital, social media are buzzing, and stores are touting baby goods ahead of the expected arrival this week of the future heir to the British throne. Britain is officially on baby watch with Prince Will... More »
LEIPZIG, Germany (Reuters) – Bruce Springsteen jumped off the stage and into a frenzied German crowd of 45,000 fans on Sunday in Leipzig to pluck a sign with a hand-written request scrawled on it – as he has been doing all summer on his popular tour across Eur... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The Queen’s granddaughter, Zara Phillips and her husband, rugby player, Mike Tindall are expecting their first baby in the New Year, Buckingham Palace said in a statement on Monday. Phillips’ mother, Princess Anne, the Princess Royal, her fa... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Folk rockers Mumford and Sons climbed to the top of the British album chart on Sunday, as sales of their 2012 album ‘Babel’ rose in the week after they played the final set at this year’s Glastonbury music festival. The four-piece band haili... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Multi-millionaire art collector Charles Saatchi said on Sunday he would divorce celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, citing his “disappointment” that she had not defended him after photographs of him grabbing her neck during a row caused a public ... More »
LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The small yellow minions of “Despicable Me 2” upstaged Johnny Depp at the weekend movie box office. The animated “Despicable” sequel hauled in an impressive $82.5 million in the United States and Canada from Friday through Sund... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Veteran British chat show host Michael Parkinson revealed on Sunday that he had prostate cancer, but said he was living a normal life and hoped to make a full recovery. Parkinson, 78, who interviewed Muhammad Ali, Marlon Brando, Fred Astaire... More »
MACAU (Reuters) – The film Barfi scooped top honors in India’s version of the Oscars at a ceremony in the Chinese gambling haven of Macau on Saturday that also celebrated a century of Bollywood, which makes up a big chunk of a multi-billion-dollar film industr... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The Rolling Stones blasted through the past into the present on Saturday with a rip-roaring show in London’s Hyde Park that paid homage to their last concert here 44 years ago. Frontman Mick Jagger strutted, howled and belted his way through... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Oscar-winning writers Nat Faxon and Jim Rash first explored a father’s journey with George Clooney in their 2011 hit “The Descendants,” and now they turn their focus on a teenager’s coming-of-age story with an all-star cast in their lat... More »
(Reuters) – “The Lone Ranger,” Walt Disney Co’s big-budget Western starring Johnny Depp, wrangled just $19.5 million in ticket sales in its first two full days at U.S. and Canadian movie theaters, trailing far behind the $59.5 million racked up by animated seq... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The surviving members of the British comedy troupe Monty Python lost a High Court battle on Friday over tens of thousands of pounds in royalties from their hit Broadway musical “Spamalot”. Mark Forstater, who helped produce the 1975 film “Mo... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Lovable villain Gru is back as a doting father in “Despicable Me 2,” but while he swaps his villainous world domination schemes for princess parties, his yellow, spiky-haired Minions rustle up trouble in the film. “Despicable Me 2,” out... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British TV presenter Michael Palin is taking up his first acting role in more than 15 years, joining a drama about soldiers producing a newspaper from the battlefields of World War One. Palin, 70, a former member of the Monty Python comedy t... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Jennifer Lopez would not have performed a private concert in Turkmenistan at the weekend had she known about charges of human rights violations in the Central Asian nation, her publicist said on Monday. Human rights campaigners, who acc... More »
(Reuters) – Music producer Pharrell Williams filed a lawsuit Monday asking a U.S. court to rule he has not violated any trademark that Black Eyed Peas rapper will.i.am owns for the phrase “I AM.” The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, said that will.i.... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – When the western television series “The Lone Ranger” first rode into U.S. homes in the 1949, the masked man was the dashing, charming hero and the Native American Tonto his loyal sidekick. When the movie opens in U.S. theaters on Wednes... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Singer and fashion designer Jessica Simpson gave birth to her second child, a boy named Ace Knute, at a Los Angeles hospital on Sunday. Simpson, 32, and her fiance, former football player Eric Johnson, also have a daughter, Maxwell Drew, w... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Bruce Springsteen treated his fans to a complete performance of “Born in the USA”, the 1984 album which shot him to global superstardom, as the centerpiece of a three-hour show in London on Sunday night. The Boss and his E Street Band played... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Teenage Olympian Gabrielle Douglas, rapper Kendrick Lamar, actor Jamie Foxx as well as singers Rihanna and Nicki Minaj were among the top winners at the annual BET Awards on Sunday. The BET Awards celebrate black musicians, actors and athl... More »
PILTON, England (Reuters) – British folk band Mumford & Sons brought the annual Glastonbury festival jigging to a close on Sunday, capping three days of music, good-natured mayhem and minimal mud. The bluegrass-inspired set completed a trio of headline acts af... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Sony, which is studying a partial spinoff of its studio at the urging of major shareholder Daniel Loeb, suffered its second box office misfire of the summer season when its action movie “White House Down” opened with ticket sales below ... More »
(Reuters) – Animated prequel “Monsters University” took home its second U.S. and Canadian box office title with $46.2 million in ticket sales over the weekend, fending off a red-hot debut from Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy in female buddy comedy “The Hea... More »
PILTON, England (Reuters) – An octogenarian entertainer and a veteran country music singer had fans of all tastes and ages roaring on the final afternoon of the Glastonbury music festival on Sunday. The sun beat down on the sprawling 900 acre farm in southwest... More »
MIAMI (Reuters) – Third-generation oceanographer Fabien Cousteau will attempt to spend a record 31 days living and working underwater in a bus-sized laboratory submerged in the warm, turquoise Atlantic off the Florida Keys. If he succeeds he will beat the 30-d... More »
PILTON, England (Reuters) – The Rolling Stones lived up to their reputation as one of the greatest rock’n’roll bands when they played to more than 100,000 revelers on Saturday during their first performance at Glastonbury, the world’s best-known music festival... More »
PILTON, England (Reuters) – Tomato fights, anarchic gymnasts and astrophysics drew festival-goers of all ages away from the mainstream music acts at Britain’s Glastonbury festival this weekend. The 1,500 hippies who paid one pound ($1.52) to attend the first G... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson’s eldest son testified on Wednesday in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by his family against AEG Live that the late pop star was unhappy with the concert promoter in the run-up to his “This Is It” concert series in 2009... More »
BERLIN (Reuters) – Almost 25 years ago, Bruce Springsteen gave communist East Germany its biggest ever rock concert in a performance that fuelled a spirit of rebellion and may have contributed to events that brought down the Berlin Wall, a new book says. In “R... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. rock singer Melissa Etheridge on Wednesday announced plans to marry partner Linda Wallem after the U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings paved the way for gay marriage in California, the couple’s home state. Etheridge, 52, came out in 1993 ... More »
FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Rolling Stones, known for songs such as “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” and “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” have won a new publishing deal just as a series of shows this summer is set to boost interest in the band’s back catalogue. BMG, part of Ger... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Director Sam Mendes earned grudging critical acclaim for a stage musical of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” but was always going to struggle in comparison to much-loved past productions of Roald Dahl’s work. The glitzy new staging of Dah... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – At 85, Oscar-winning actor Martin Landau is writing his memoirs, teaching at the famed Actor’s Studio, and will soon appear on TV as octogenarian oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall who married the late Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith. Landau... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – After two years as a runner-up, Oprah Winfrey was named the most powerful celebrity on Wednesday by Forbes, heading the six women and four men who make up the top 10. It was the fifth time the former talk show host who runs her own TV netw... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Prince Jackson, the eldest son of late pop star Michael Jackson, is expected to testify on Wednesday in the wrongful death suit filed by his family against concert promoter AEG Live, a Jackson family attorney said. Lawyers for the Jacks... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – R&B singer Chris Brown, on probation for beating his former girlfriend, was charged on Tuesday with a hit-and-run and driving without a valid license in connection with a May 21 traffic accident in Los Angeles. Brown, 24, allegedly rear... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Broadway theaters will dim their marquees on Wednesday night in memory of James Gandolfini, who had a successful stage career in addition to his Emmy-winning role on HBO’s “The Sopranos.” “James Gandolfini was a consummate actor who brough... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The creator of the “Kick-Ass” action film franchise said on Monday that he was “baffled” over why its star Jim Carrey has publicly objected to violence in the movie since Carrey’s character takes an anti-gun stance and refuses to fire a... More »
GAZA (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of joyous fans turned out on Tuesday to welcome “Arab Idol” Mohammed Assaf on his return to the Gaza Strip and the song contest winner appealed for harmony among divided Palestinians. The fresh-faced 22-year-old from humble r... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – French actor Gerard Depardieu was involved in a car accident in Moscow on Tuesday when a taxi rammed into a Mercedes carrying him in his adopted homeland of Russia, where he is filming a movie. The 64-year-old star of films such as “Green Ca... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Famous directors, fans and even Darth Vader congratulated “Star Wars” creator George Lucas on Tuesday on his marriage to long-time girlfriend Mellody Hobson at his Skywalker ranch in California. Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington, wh... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Film director Roland Emmerich has made obliterating the White House a trademark in his apocalyptic blockbusters and true to form, he ravages it in spectacular fashion with a terrorist attack in “White House Down,” opening in theaters on ... More »
(Reuters) – Bobby “Blue” Bland, a pioneer of the modern soul-blues sound, died on Sunday, according to Memphis media reports. He was 83. Local television stations cited the Memphis Music Foundation, which could not be reached for comment. Bland was a member of... More »
ROME (Reuters) – The body of actor James Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack in Rome last week, was flown out of Italy on Sunday on a flight bound for New York, Rome airport authorities said. Gandolfini, best known for his leading role in the Emmy-winning s... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – American R&B singer Robin Thicke has notched up a fourth week at the top of the British pop charts with his summer hit “Blurred Lines”, the compiler said on Sunday. The Official Charts Company said Thicke sold a further 133,000 copies of the... More »
(Reuters) – “Monsters University,” the prequel to Pixar’s 2001 animated blockbuster “Monsters, Inc.,” scared up $82 million in weekend ticket sales to easily outdistance the week’s other new movie, the big-budget apocalyptic thriller “World War Z,” which came ... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – The finalists of “Arab Idol” were as glamorous as Hollywood stars in their tuxedos and evening gowns, but their real lives couldn’t be further from the bright lights of the stage. The three hopefuls hailed from Syria, Egypt and the Palestini... More »
GAZA/RAMALLAH (Reuters) – Palestinian cities erupted in joy after Gazan singer Mohammed Assaf won the “Arab Idol” song contest final held in Beirut on Saturday night, providing a welcome break from the grinding conflict with Israel. The fresh-faced 22-year-old... More »
(Warning: contains graphic language.) By Alex Dobuzinskis LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The Food Network said on Friday it would drop celebrity chef Paula Deen after the Southern food doyenne was sued for racial discrimination and admitted in a legal deposition to u... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Reality television star Kim Kardashian and rapper Kanye West have named their baby daughter North West, according to a copy of the birth certificate released by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Friday. Kardashian, t... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Billboard’s weekly music chart will not include the 1 million copies of rapper Jay Z’s upcoming album that were sold to electronics maker Samsung as part of a promotion, the U.S. trade magazine said on Friday. Jay Z, 43, announced last ... More »
SEOUL/HONG KONG (Reuters) – South Korea has rejected preliminary casino licenses for two international bidders – a Caesars Entertainment Corp and Lippo Limited consortium, and Kazuo Okada’s Universal Entertainment Corp – in a surprise move that could stall the... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – In front of a screaming crowd of fans, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez was honored for her musical accomplishments on Thursday when she received the 2,500th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Lopez, a New York City-native born to Pue... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Actor Robert Downey Jr., who has gained huge box-office success with his portrayal of Iron Man, has signed on to star as the superhero in the next two installments of the “The Avengers,” Marvel Studios said on Thursday. Downey, 48, was ... More »
LOS ANGELES/ROME (Reuters) – Doctors at a Rome hospital battled for 40 minutes to try to save the life of James Gandolfini, best known for his Emmy-winning role as a mob boss in the TV series “The Sopranos,” before pronouncing him dead, the emergency room chie... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The remains of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of sci-fi fantasy television series “Star Trek,” will head for the final frontier next year. Scotty will be going along with him. Rodenberry’s cremated remains, along with those of his wife, ... More »
(Reuters) – A spike in sales of “The Sopranos” DVDs, downloads and merchandise based on the mafia series following star James Gandolfini’s death may only be short-lived and likely won’t provide much of a windfall for HBO and its parent Time Warner Inc. Sales o... More »
ATLANTA (Reuters) – One of U.S. celebrity chef Paula Deen’s employers said on Thursday it was monitoring the controversy over her admission that she has used a racial slur in the past, while Deen’s own company said the cooking star does not condone racism. In ... More »
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon’s annual Baalbek music festival has been forced to move from its usual venue among Roman ruins in the Bekaa Valley because of rocket fire and a spillover of fighting from Syria, organizers said on Thursday. Baalbek is a stronghold of... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The artistic director of Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet, burned in an acid attack allegedly masterminded by a dancer, is nearly blind despite 18 operations to save his sight, a theatre spokeswoman said on Thursday. The attack on Sergei Filin, which... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Kanye West pushes the boundaries of hip hop with his latest album “Yeezus,” using aggressive electro-dance music beats to channel his anger and win over critics, who have called the record “daring” and “ambitious.” “Yeezus,” the ... More »
(Reuters) – A stunt double for Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie has sued News Corp over allegations its British newspapers hacked her phone, the first lawsuit in the United States against the company since the scandal broke two years ago. The lawsuit, file... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – One-eyed green monster Mike Wazowski and his giant blue, furry friend James P. “Sully” Sullivan go back in time as “scaring” students in “Monsters University,” as Walt Disney Co.’s Pixar Animation Studios pins its hopes for a blockbuste... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Art collector Charles Saatchi has been cautioned by police for assaulting his wife, the celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, after being photographed grabbing her by the throat in an incident that has fueled a debate in Britain about domestic viol... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Teen pop star Justin Bieber struck a photographer with his Ferrari sports car while driving away from a comedy club in Los Angeles on Monday night, but the accident was not considered a hit-and-run, police said. Video taken outside the ... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – British actor Jason Statham, known for playing the hard man in a list of Hollywood blockbusters, said he hoped his latest film “Hummingbird” would show a more emotional side to his acting even though the thriller is packed with violence. Sta... More »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Universal Music Group brought out big-name allies as it made its case on Thursday before U.S. lawmakers for its much-criticized deal to buy a chunk of rival EMI. Irving Azoff, the executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, which fa... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Variety, the century-old entertainment trade newspaper once considered the bible of the movie industry, is being sold to online publisher Jay Penske and private equity firm Third Point LLC for about $25 million, two sources with knowled... More »
HONG KONG (Reuters) – DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc, the movie studio famous for family films like “Madagascar” and “Shark Tale”, has entered into a licensing agreement in Macau, the world’s biggest gambling destination, in a push to diversify revenues. The dea... More »
(Reuters) – British folk band Mumford & Sons’ bassist Ted Dwane posted a message on Monday saying he was recovering after brain surgery to remove a blood clot. Dwane posted a picture of himself with a shaved head on the band’s official website with the caption... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rapper Jay Z’s upcoming studio album will go to a million users of Samsung smartphones three days before its official release in a promotional deal, but the distribution is unlikely to count toward official sales figures, an industry ex... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Former advertising tycoon Charles Saatchi on Monday downplayed photographs in which he is shown grabbing his wife, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, around the neck, saying it was just a “playful tiff.” Britain’s Sunday People newspaper publish... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Veteran British rock bands Motorhead and Black Sabbath were crowned the kings of heavy metal on Monday, winning the top accolades at the UK’s top metal music awards, the Metal Hammer Golden Gods. Motorhead, best known for its 1980 hit “Ace o... More »
(Reuters) – Video streaming service Netflix Inc is beefing up its original programing menu through a multi-year deal with DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc, the maker of movies such as Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda. DreamWorks said the deal, which involves 30... More »
(Reuters) – Video streaming service Netflix Inc will beef up its original programming menu through a new, multi-year deal with DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc, the maker of movies such as Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda. DreamWorks is looking to expand its te... More »
(Reuters) – “Man of Steel,” the big-budget reboot of the Superman franchise, leaped over the apocalyptic buddy comedy “This is the End,” collecting a muscular $113.1 million to lead the domestic box office with the year’s second-largest debut weekend and the b... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – The British rock band Black Sabbath’s album “13!” has given them a first British Number One album in nearly 43 years, a record interval between chart-toppers, the Official Charts Company said on Sunday. Black Sabbath were last at the top of ... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Reality television star Kim Kardashian gave birth to a girl fathered by rapper Kanye West, celebrity magazines People and Us Weekly reported Saturday. Each magazine posted a story on its website citing an unnamed source in confirming th... More »
MOSCOW (Reuters) – More than a hundred Russian ballet fans rallied in Moscow on Saturday in support of a top dancer who says he is being chased out of the Bolshoi Theatre due to disputes in the wake of an acid attack on its artistic director earlier this year.... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Rupert Murdoch appears to be seeking a quiet divorce, based on the lawyer he has chosen and the absence of incendiary allegations, people with knowledge of the case and experience of high-profile New York divorces said. Divorce papers file... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng has won the Walter Scott Prize, which honors historical fiction writers, for his post-World War Two novel, “The Garden of Evening Mists.” Tan, who was born in Penang, Malaysia, and lives in South Africa, accep... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Grammy Award-winning singer Adele and Mr Bean actor Rowan Atkinson were among more than 1,000 people recognized by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in her Birthday Honors List on Friday. Marking the monarch’s official 87th birthday, the honors went... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Kim Deal, the bass player behind some of the Pixies’ biggest hits, has left the 1980s alternative rock band, its remaining members said on Friday. Deal’s pulsing bass and understated singing punctuated the influential group’s early song... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Bruce Springsteen and Mick Jagger appear in the new film “Twenty Feet from Stardom,” but only to shine the spotlight on the unsung backup singers who make them sound even better. Opening in New York and Los Angeles on Friday and expanding ... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Actor Ethan Hawke is returning to Broadway in a production of ‘Macbeth’, with performances set to begin in October at Lincoln Center, the performing arts center said. ‘Macbeth’ will be directed by Jack O’Brien, who helmed the acclaimed 200... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr put snapshots of his musical and creative life on display in a new exhibit, “Ringo: Peace & Love,” which opened on Tuesday at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles. Starr, 72, was on hand at the exhibit, wh... More »
(Reuters) – When Walt Disney Co introduced its latest video game, Infinity, to the gaming faithful this week at the annual E3 gaming conference, it rented a Los Angeles movie theater to show 30-minute clips of upcoming films and hosted a party with the glitz i... More »
VIENNA (Reuters) – Alexander Pereira, the next manager of Italian opera house La Scala, would like to have an Italian music director, ideally Riccardo Muti or Claudio Abbado, he told an Austrian newspaper. Pereira, an Austrian who is now artistic director of t... More »
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Oscar-winning film star Angelina Jolie revealed on Tuesday that she underwent a double mastectomy after learning she had inherited a high risk of breast cancer and said she hoped her story would inspire other women fighting the life-threat... More »
(Reuters) – International hit “Iron Man 3” flew into U.S. and Canadian theaters, kicking off Hollywood’s summer blockbuster season with $15.6 million in ticket sales late Thursday and early Friday. The superhero sequel from Walt Disney Co’s Marvel studio is ex... More »
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – News Corp’s Fox TV network raised the stakes in its battle with Web startup Aereo Inc on Monday, threatening to remove itself from the free airwaves entirely and become a cable channel if courts do not shut down the online TV service. The... More »
(Reuters) – Sirius XM has struck a deal to carry a new channel produced by Glenn Beck’s media company ‘theBlaze’, featuring conservative talk shows and news programming that begins airing on Monday. The new channel is the latest effort by Beck, a former Fox Ne... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – HMV, the 92-year-old British music retailer seeking protection from creditors, is unlikely to have much of a future beyond a rump of stores and the internet, if other recent retail failures are any guide. After years of struggling as its bus... More »
(Reuters) – Some of music’s most notable names including Billy Joel, Rihanna and Missy Elliott have signed an open letter to Pandora Media Inc opposing the online music company’s push to change how artists are compensated. Pandora is currently lobbying lawmake... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comcast Corp’s NBCUniversal entertainment unit is laying off about 500 employees at cable channels, Jay Leno’s late-night TV show and the Universal Pictures movie studio, a person with knowledge of the matter said on Monday. The cuts ad... More »
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s BBC could be doomed unless it makes radical changes, the head of its governing trust said, after its director general quit to take the blame for the airing of false child sex abuse allegations against a former politician. BBC Trust... More »
