Oscar-nominated child star Quvenzhane Wallis brings her trademark zest to a new big-screen version of the classic Broadway musical "Annie," retold for the social media era.

The film -- incidentally among the Sony productions leaked online by hackers -- tells the story of the young heroine who, while striving to find her real parents to save her from her cruel carer Miss Hannigan (Cameron Diaz), wins the heart of cellphone tycoon Will Stacks (Jamie Foxx).

Seventy-five years after the premiere of the movie "Gone with the Wind," research is shedding light on the racial tensions that existed at the time between the producer and city of Atlanta officials.

Emory University film studies professor Matthew Bernstein has conducted extensive research into the archives of the film's producer, David O. Selznick. His findings illustrate some of Selznick's concerns with the city's treatment of the film's black stars at the Dec. 15, 1939 premiere.

Robin Williams's death had people worldwide scouring the Internet for insights into the famed comic's life, making him the hottest search trend of the year on Google, the web giant said Tuesday.

"The passing of beloved comedian and actor Robin Williams shook the world, bringing many people online to search for more information and to remember, and putting Williams in the #1 spot on our global trends charts," said Google's vice president of search, Amit Singhal, in a blog post.

Bill Cosby's wife lashed out Monday at media reporting on sex abuse claims against the veteran comic, saying he was the victim of unfounded accusations and was "a wonderful husband."

Camille Cosby compared the coverage of her husband to last week's Rolling Stone story about alleged rape at the University of Virginia, for which the magazine later apologized.

After three weeks of box office dominance, "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1" ceded its reign to "Exodus: Gods and Kings." The biblical epic easily ruled the weekend with a $24.5 million debut, according to box office tracker Rentrak's Sunday estimates, while "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" dominated international charts with a staggering $117.6 million from 38 territories in advance of its North America release this week.

"The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1," down 40 percent from last weekend, came in a distant second, earning $13.2 million.

At Sunday's premiere of "Selma" in New York, the cast acknowledged parallels between their film about the African-American civil rights movement and recent protests nationwide, calling attention to the deaths of unarmed black males at the hands of police.

"You can look out your window and you can see people protesting and you can look at the film and it looks similar, said Oprah Winfrey, who is a producer on the film and has an acting role as well. "People are wearing different kind of clothes, it's a different era but the same issues still prevail."

After a whirlwind year that saw her win the Eurovision Song Contest and perform at the European parliament and United Nations, "bearded lady" Conchita Wurst is headed for the recording studio but doesn't rule out hanging up her stiletto heels in the coming years.

"There was just no time till now (to record an album) because there were so many great invitations, so many great opportunities that I couldn't miss out, I wanted to meet all these people, do all those things," the Austrian diva said in an interview with selected media, including Agence France Presse.

Miss South Africa, 22-year-old Rolene Strauss, was crowned Miss World 2014 at the pageant's final in London on Sunday, with an estimated billion viewers watching on television around the globe.

Miss Hungary, Edina Kulcsar, was the runner-up and Miss United States, Elizabeth Safrit, came third in the 64th annual competition, contested by women from 121 countries.

A Syrian from war-torn Aleppo was declared the winner of this year's "Arab Idol" singing contest at the grand finale of the grueling four-month television competition in Beirut this weekend.

The audience at Saturday's finale broke into applause and cheers, chanting "Syria! Syria!" and "Hazem!" when the jury of the pan-Arab song contest announced Hazem Sherif as the winner.

After a long and eventful journey, "The Hobbit" trilogy has reached its bloody climax.

Not a minute too soon for director Peter Jackson, who has been longing to unleash mayhem on Middle Earth.