Hordes of North American moviegoers flocked to theaters to watch "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," launching the "Lord of the Rings" prequel to box office gold for the second weekend in a row.
Industry estimates said "The Hobbit" earned $36.7 million Friday to Sunday.

Prince William and his pregnant wife Catherine will spend Christmas Day at her parents' family house, instead of with Queen Elizabeth II, British royal officials said Saturday.
The second-in-line to the throne and the former Kate Middleton will be at the Middleton residence in Bucklebury, a village west of London, a spokesman for St James's Palace said.

At least 650 Madonna fans in Chile have filed complaints with the national consumer board after a concert this week started late and ended early.
The consumer agency, which defends the rights of Chilean consumers, is talking with the concert organizer to determine why the concert started more than two hours late and was 40 minutes shorter than expected, a statement said.

French blockbuster "Les Intouchables" and Austrian Michael Haneke's Palme d'Or winner "Love" are frontrunners on a nine-strong shortlist published Friday for best foreign language Oscar.
The list of films still in the running -- whittled down from 71 movies in a long-list published in October -- also included films from Canada, Chile, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Romania and Switzerland.

Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan were reunited on stage for the first time in 23 years on Friday as the Australian pair duetted on their 1988 smash hit "Especially For You" at a show in London.
"How long have you waited for this?" Minogue asked as they sang together at the 20,000-seater O2 Arena, which erupted in rapturous applause.

The Rolling Stones' guitarist Ronnie Wood has married his girlfriend of eight months, a theater producer 31 years his junior, newspapers said Saturday.
Wood, 65, married 34-year-old Sally Humphreys at London's Dorchester Hotel, in a low-key ceremony Friday attended by best man Rod Stewart, plus Paul McCartney.

Hugh Grant has accepted a "substantial sum" from Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid publisher over phone hacking by the News of the World, the British actor's lawyer said on Friday.
The "Four Weddings and a Funeral" star will donate the damages to the Hacked Off campaign against press intrusion, solicitor Mark Thomson said.

Written by Anthony Sargon
“Jack Reacher” looked iffy from the start. Its trailers didn’t do much to differentiate the film from any other generic action flick, except that it’s starring Tom Cruise. Judging a movie by its trailer isn’t fair though, so how did the actual film turn out? Quite mediocre, sadly, and in this crowded holiday session, mediocre just isn’t good enough.

One of Michael Jackson's iconic single gloves sold for nearly $200,000 this week in Los Angeles, an auction house said Thursday.
At $199,069, the Swarovski-crystal-encrusted glove earned the record for the highest price fetched for memorabilia from the late King of Pop, the Nate D. Sanders auction house said.

A famous image of Marilyn Monroe with her skirt billowing atop a New York City subway grate is on display in a picture-perfect spot: outside the Times Square subway station.
The supersized version of Sam Shaw's well-known picture is part of an exhibit. The exhibit also features eight of Shaw's other Monroe pictures, on view inside the 42nd Street-Bryant Park station on the B, D, F, M and 7 lines.
