Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.
Kevin Spacey wins in civil sexual-abuse case brought by actor Rapp
Kevin Spacey on Thursday defeated a sexual abuse case against him after jurors in a Manhattan civil trial found his accuser didn´t prove his claim that the Oscar winner made an unwanted sexual advance on him when he was 14.The verdict followed a three-week trial in Manhattan federal court and came roughly two hours after jurors began deliberating.
Motor racing-Pitt briefs team bosses as F1 movie picks up speed
Formula One executives and team bosses were briefed by Brad Pitt at the U.S.Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, on Friday as plans for a movie based on the sport picked up speed. Apple TV announced in June that its studio arm had landed the rights to a feature film that will be directed by Joseph Kosinski, the director of “Top Gun: Maverick.”
India’s top multiplex chains bank on festive season to bring cheer back
A slate of flop Bollywood movies have hit India´s top cinemas hard, leaving the industry to bank heavily on the current festive quarter to revive its fortunes Inox and PVR, the top multiplex operators in the country who reported results this week, both blamed a lack of good content for lackluster second-quarter performance, and said they are betting on the third quarter to put them back on a growth track.
Netflix opens ‘immersive’ store for fans of popular shows
Streaming giant Netflix has opened a Los Angeles store that it hopes will combine retail therapy with an “immersive” experience for fans of its popular “Stranger Things,” “Bridgerton,” and “Squid Game” shows.The store – open until early January – offers shoppers the chance to take photos alongside the iconic Young-hee animatronic doll with laser eyes from “Squid Game” and Queen Charlotte´s throne from period drama “Bridgerton.”
Taylor Swift reveals late-night musings on pop album ‘Midnights’
Taylor Swift returned to pop on Friday with the debut of her 10th studio album, a record called “Midnights” inspired by her late-night thoughts, and she also released a video of her “nightmare scenarios” in the genre of a horror flick.The 32-year-old singer-songwriter described the 13-track “Midnights” as “a collage of intensity, highs and lows and ebbs and flows.”
Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson to be honored as MusiCares persons of the year
Motown icons Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson will be honored by the music industry in Los Angeles ahead of the annual Grammy Awards as MusiCares 2023 persons of the year, the organization announced on Thursday.MusiCares, which is dedicated to supporting the music community, said the music world will celebrate the legacy of both songwriters during its 32nd annual persons of the year benefit gala.
Judi Dench says Netflix’s ‘The Crown’ uses ‘crude sensationalism’
British actress Judi Dench has called on Netflix to add a disclaimer to royal drama “The Crown,” joining a chorus of voices criticizing the series’ fictionalized storylines.In a letter to The Times on Thursday, the 87-year-old veteran said as the award-winning show approached present times “the more freely it seems willing to blur the lines between historical accuracy and crude sensationalism.”
Jennifer Coolidge wants to show fans a different realm in ‘The White Lotus’ Season 2
Jennifer Coolidge returns to “The White Lotus” to Pragmatic Play Slot Tanya McQuoid for Season 2 of the HBO Max series created by Mike White, and she´s ready for fans to meet a new side of her character.
“This was really fun for me because the entire length of ‘The White Lotus’ 1 was a grief-stricken woman and there are spurts of bright light because she met this amazing woman, Belinda, and Tanya felt like she was truly being saved by someone,” Coolidge told Reuters at a red carpet event in Los Angeles.
“In Season 2 it was fun to be in a different realm, the grief is over.”
‘Rust’ filming will not return to New Mexico after shooting
When Western movie “Rust” resumes filming it will not be in New Mexico, the state where actor Alec Baldwin fatally shot the film’s cinematographer Halyna Hutchins in 2021, a lawyer for the production company said on Thursday.The announcement followed a civil lawsuit settlement on Oct. 5, between Baldwin, Rust producers and Hutchins’ family under which filming will restart in January with the same principal actors and director. Matthew Hutchins, Halyna’s husband, will serve as executive producer.
Rapper Cardi B wins California trial over explicit album cover art
A California federal jury on Friday rejected claims that musician Cardi B misused a man’s image on the cover of her first 2016 mixtape album.The cover of “Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1” did not violate plaintiff Kevin Michael Brophy’s publicity or privacy rights by depicting an altered photo of another man with Brophy’s unique back tattoo performing oral sex on the popular rapper, the Santa Ana jury found after a four-day trial and an afternoon of deliberations.