ENTERTAINMENT

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has shouted “action” on the epic six-month saga that is film awards season, with the announcement of its first wave of movies. Among the Oscar hopefuls showing at Toronto in the first half of September will be Renee Zellweger’s Judy Garland biopic and Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker origin story. The World War Two comedy Jojo ...

Bismillah! They will not let you go… Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody continues to break records as it enters its 44th year. The song has just become the oldest video to reach 1 billion views on YouTube. It is the first music video released in the 1970s, or any year prior to the 1990s, to reach the milestone. Psy’s Gangnam Style was ...

Comic book fans have been left giddy with anticipation by the bumper crop of superhero offerings unveiled by Marvel Studios at this year’s Comic Con. Details of Marvel’s so-called “Phase 4” have also raised hopes about a real step forward for diversity in Hollywood. The next stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will feature its first deaf superhero, its first ...

Avatar’s 10-year reign as the world’s highest-grossing film has ended. On Sunday, Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame crossed $2.7902bn (£2.23bn) at the box office, pushing it over the $2.7897bn earned by James Cameron’s sci-fi epic. Marvel chief Kevin Feige hailed the achievement at Comic-Con in San Diego this weekend, although it was still officially $500,000 short at the time. In the UK, ...

Marvel has announced a bumper crop of 10 new superhero movies at Comic Con. Marvel studios president Kevin Feige, flanked by dozens of Hollywood stars, revealed the post-Avengers roster of films to a stunned hall in San Diego. Many attendees at world’s largest pop-culture fan convention had camped out to reserve a seat for the event. One major surprise was ...

Actor Taron Egerton has revealed his portrayal of Sir Elton John in musical biopic Rocketman will show the star at his worst – with the singer’s blessing. Egerton said Sir Elton had been “open and candid” with film-makers about his 1980s drug addiction, setting the film apart from other authorised biopics. “Elton essentially gave me licence to go and make ...

The singer Barbra Streisand has apologised after she was criticised for sympathising with Michael Jackson over child abuse accusations against him. Streisand told The Times newspaper that she believed the allegations against the late superstar but said his actions “didn’t kill” the accusers. She later wrote on Instagram that she was “profoundly sorry for any pain or misunderstanding” caused. Jackson’s ...

Jordan Peele, Oscar-winning director of horror hit Get Out, has returned with Us, another psychological thriller with parallels to real life. During a brief trip to the UK he spoke to BBC News about doppelgangers, divisions in America… and rabbits. It’s Friday morning in a London hotel suite, and Oscar-winning film-maker Jordan Peele is impersonating a rabbit. It’s not a ...

British actress Jodie Comer has beaten her Killing Eve co-star Sandra Oh to be named best female actor at this year’s Royal Television Society (RTS) awards. Lesley Manville, Lorraine Kelly and comedian Romesh Ranganathan were among others honoured at the London event. Actor Lennie James was awarded for writing Sky Atlantic’s Save Me, which was also named best drama series. ...

Grime music faces significant challenges because of discrimination against urban acts, MPs have said. Despite the success of Stormzy, Dave and Skepta, it is often difficult for grime acts to play live, they said. Licensing authorities and police have been known to cancel gigs at short notice, affecting musicians’ ability to gain a following. “Prejudices against grime artists risks stifling ...