China saw a major dip in travel over the past week's National Day vacation. People staying home appeared to have chosen the cinema instead, with a patriotic Korean War film taking in more than 3.45 billion yuan ($535 million) at the box office.
The official Xinhua News Agency reported that over the seven-day holiday beginning Oct. 1, China saw 515 million trips taken, just over 70% during the same period last year before the coronavirus outbreak spurred travel restrictions and demands for testing, vaccinations and quarantines.
Full StoryBritish megastar Adele has spoken of her "year of anxiety" that led her to live like a "recluse", in a rare interview published in Vogue ahead of the release of her new album "30".
"I thought, I'm just going to lock myself in a house," she said of her anxiety-fueled retreat from the public glare, which began with two cancelled shows at London's Wembley Stadium in 2017 due to problems with her voice.
Full StoryChanel brought Paris Fashion Week to its final day with a runway show that illustrated how designers and the people they dress want to look to the future with optimism.
It is said that fashion is a mirror of our times -- and the spring-summer collections shown here were sexy, vibrant and joyful despite, or perhaps because of, the coronavirus pandemic.
Full StoryNineteen-year-old pop singer Billie Eilish has broken numerous records in her short career. Now she will become the Glastonbury Festival's youngest-ever solo headliner when she takes the stage at the 2022 event.
Eilish teased the news on Sunday on Instagram, posing herself wearing a Glastonbury hoodie in a photo captioned "2022." The festival's organizers confirmed Monday that the American singer will perform on June 24.
Full StoryA Russian actor and a film director rocketed to space Tuesday on a mission to make the world's first movie in orbit.
Actor Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko blasted off for the International Space Station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft together with cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, a veteran of three space missions. Their Soyuz MS-19 lifted off as scheduled at 1:55 p.m. (0855 GMT) from the Russian space launch facility in Baikonur, Kazakhstan and successfully reached the designated orbit.
Full StoryYet again, Naomi Campbell stole the show at Paris Fashion Week. The 51-year-old runway veteran trod the boards of Lanvin's flower-themed collection Sunday to screams from guests in a dramatic black cloak.
Meanwhile, on Sunday evening, fashion insiders trekked to Paris' western edge for Matthew Williams' Givenchy display that went back to the future.
Full StoryPandemic moviegoing is finally starting to look like pre-pandemic moviegoing. Sony Pictures' Marvel sequel "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" blew away expectations to debut with $90.1 million in ticket sales, making it easily the best opening of the pandemic, according to studio estimates Sunday.
"Venom: Let There Be Carnage" had been forecast to open with closer to half that total. But the film, which is playing exclusively in theaters, exceeded even the debut of the 2018 original. "Venom," the "Spider-Man" offshoot that introduced Tom Hardy's parasitic alien symbiote, launched with $80.3 million. Only 2019's "Joker" ($96.2 million) has ever opened bigger in October.
Full StoryScarlett Johansson and the Walt Disney Co. on Thursday settled her lawsuit over the streaming release of "Black Widow," bringing a swift end to what had begun as the first major fight between a studio and star over recent changes in rollout plans for films.
Johansson filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court two months ago, saying the streaming release of the Marvel movie breached her contract and deprived her of potential earnings.
Full StoryA Hollywood event that's supposed to be about women's empowerment in the industry and the world was more about how their rights are being imperiled at home and abroad.
Restrictive abortion legislation in the U.S. and the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan took center stage Thursday at the Variety Power of Women event, which honored actor Rita Moreno, singers Katy Perry and Lorde, poet/activist Amanda Gorman, and Channing Dungey, chairwoman of Warner Bros. Television Group.
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Britney Spears' father was removed from his controversial role as his daughter's guardian on Wednesday by a Los Angeles judge, ending a long and bitter legal battle by the pop princess.
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