Entertainment

NEW YORK (AP) — Christmas came early at the box office this year. “Moana 2” brought in a tidal wave of moviegoers over the Thanksgiving Day weekend, setting records with $221 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. That, combined with “Wicked” and “Gladiator II,” made for an unprecedented weekend in cinemas and a confluence of blockbusters more like what’s often found in late December.Expectations were high for Walt Disney Co.’s “Moana 2,” but the film — originally planned as a series for Disney+ before it was redirected to the big screen — blew predictions out of the water. Its five-day opening set a new record for Thanksgiving moviegoing. (The previous best was $125 million for “Frozen 2” in its second week of release in 2019.) “Moana 2” added $165.3 million intern...

Shweta Tripathi Sharma has a simple yardstick when it comes to choosing her roles— the further away the character is from her, the more excited she is about it. Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein’s Shikha, who is unsuspecting and helpless as her love story takes a dark turn, then fit perfectly in her pursuit of different roles. “I want my characters to be different from me, and from each other,” starts Tripathi, when we get on a call with her. The second season of the Netflix romantic thriller, also starring Tahir Raj Bhasin and Aanchal G Singgh, is readying for release two years after the opening edition became a sleeper hit. What made reprising the role of Shikha more tempting for Tripathi was that writer-director Sidharth Sengupta had turned her character around. “The show asks the question, ‘How...

Surviving the entertainment industry is no easy feat. However, for Indian-born American actor Ankur Rathee, his three shows on Prime Video—Four More Shots Please, Made in Heaven, and Inside Edge—helped pave a path. While he hasn’t been able to use his education in dance school yet, Rathee believes that one day he will do the song and dance routine. “I started [my career] with musical theatre, which was my introduction to proper acting. Though Bollywood has migrated from that, I’m grateful for the opportunities that came my way,” shares the actor, who was once a finalist on Dance India Dance. Currently, Rathee is basking in the positive reaction to his performance in Reeta Sanyal. The Disney+ Hotstar series has him play a Haryanvi cop in the Adah Sharma-starrer. He was stumped with the cas...

It has been a whirlwind tour, from Brazil to London to Mumbai, for Indian-origin American actor Paras Patel as he promotes his hit series, The Chosen. “The show blew up during the pandemic,” says Patel of the historical drama, the fifth season of which is due next summer. In the Dallas Jenkins-created show, the actor plays Matthew, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus. Does he feel the pressure of bringing alive a character that is prominently mentioned in the religious texts? “When playing Matthew, I wanted to honour not only the text but also the character and the way the show is [depicting him]. Matthew is neuro-divergent on the show, which was very important for the creator. I saw the challenge as a motivation to work harder,” shares the actor. Patel’s 10-year-plus career may be filled wi...

After nearly three years, `Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein` has returned with its much-awaited second season, this time with a darker and more intense storyline. Actor Tahir Raj Bhasin, who plays Vikrant in the series, spoke about how the new season portrays the evolution of his character and compared it to the growing trend of "anti-heroes" as seen in films including `Salaar` and `Animal`. Speaking to ANI, the actor shared, "It`s a fantastically challenging shift and trend for me as an actor because, you know, moral complexity and when you`re morally subjective is when, as an actor, you have to look at the character and then see, okay, this is what the character`s objective is in the story, and these are the choices that he makes and the reasons for his choices." "Season two is about him taking...

Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of Wheel of Fortune, Love Connection and Scrabble who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19, has died. He was 83. Mark Young, Woolery’s podcast co-host and friend, said in an email early Sunday that Woolery died at his home in Texas with his wife, Kristen, present. “Chuck was a dear friend and brother and a tremendous man of faith, life will not be the same without him,” Young wrote.Woolery, with his matinee idol looks, coiffed hair and ease with witty banter, was inducted into the American TV Game Show Hall of Fame in 2007 and earned a daytime Emmy nomination in 1978.In 1983, Woolery began an 11-year run as host of TV’s Love Connection, for which he coined the ph...

The highly anticipated return of the web series `Tanaav 2` is around the corner as the trailer for Vol 2 drops. This season, the stakes are higher than ever, with the nation’s security hanging by a thread. `Tanaav 2` intensifies its gripping narrative of bravery, deception, greed, love, and revenge. The Special Task Group (STG), led by Kabir, faces a terrifying new adversary - Al-Damishq, a vengeful young man bent on wreaking havoc in Kashmir. The trailer promises a nail-biting thriller that will keep the viewers guessing at the edge.  Summary of `Tanaav` Season 1 The first season of the series came out in November 2022 and after two years, the makers are back with another round of thrill and action. The first season starred Manav Vij, Arbaaz Khan, Danish Hussain, Ekta Kaul, M.K Raina, R...

Descrease article font size Increase article font size An Ontario woman is now charged in connection with a Facebook Marketplace scam that saw 28 people defrauded out of Taylor Swift concert tickets worth almost $70,000, Toronto Police say. Police said the accused was using the alias “Denise Blackhawk” on the popular social media platform and offered tickets for various dates and seats for the Taylor Swift concerts being held in Toronto.Investigators said the victims would e-transfer the accused for full payment of the tickets once a price was agreed upon — some of these tickets were even purchased last year in August 2023 when they first became available. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada...

RJ-turned-actor Malishka Mendonsa, who essays the role of Indian political activist and poet Sarojini Naidu in the web series ‘Freedom at Midnight’, speaks exclusively to mid-day.com about embarking on a journey of prosthetics, and a mammoth amount of history lessons to ace the character of The Nightingale of India in the Nikkhil Advani directorial.  Malishka Mendonsa played Sarojini Naidu as a child Malishka recalls that when she was offered this role, she went back to her notes and reminisced about playing Sarojini Naidu as a child. “I dressed up as her for a freedom fighter meet. That particular kind of hair, that bindi, the saree. I loved her anyway. I probably read a few of her poems. First of all, we haven`t seen her being represented at all in any of the historicals that we`ve see...

Wendy Williams‘ health appears to be in steep decline, with her guardian claiming the former TV host is “permanently incapacitated” following her diagnosis of primary progressive aphasia and frontotemporal dementia. In a court filing from earlier this month, and viewed by several publications, lawyers for Williams’ court-appointed guardian, Sabrina Morrissey, said the 60-year-old “has become cognitively impaired, permanently disabled, and incapacitated” from dementia.Morrissey argues that Williams did not “have the capacity to consent to being filmed” for Lifetime’s contentious Where is Wendy Williams? docuseries, which was released earlier this year.The docuseries explored Williams’ health challenges, life after The Wendy Williams Show and her guardianship, and has descended into an ongoi...