‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ Hits $500 Million at International Box Office

ITV News and the campaign group FanFair Alliance worked together over a period of three months to find that tickets on the resale site were being sold by three traders, meaning that fewer than 10 per cent of tickets were being sold by ordinary consumers.174 festivals and outdoor events were looked at during the investigation period, totalling 11,000 tickets. Of those, just over two-thirds were being sold by three traders with a combined face value of approximately £730,000. The total they were attempting to sell them for, however, was much higher at an estimated £1.7million.ITV News questioned how so few traders managed to get their hands on thousands of tickets and found that technically they hadn’t.

Michaela Zee editor“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is only days away, and the Amazon Prime Video series has earned mostly rave reviews with a few mixed reactions (and one flat-out pan) as critics returned to Middle-earth.As Variety chief TV critic Caroline Framke wrote in her review: “It’s safe to say that Amazon throwing the weight of its coffers at this property has resulted in a perfectly winning adaptation that unfolds swashbuckling adventures with clear reverence and affection for the considerable mythos behind it.”Set during the Second Age of Middle-earth (thousands of years before the events of “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” and “The Hobbit”), the prequel series reintroduces characters from Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” film trilogy, including a young Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and Elrond (Robert Aramayo). The Second Age consists of the rise and fall of Númenor, the creation of the Rings of Power and the formation of the Last Alliance.

Mark Sutherland As the touring business continues its uneven return after nearly two years of lockdown, one major bright spot has been the famed U.K. festival sector, which came back with a bang this summer. Reading & Leeds Festival, the traditional finale to the season, took place last weekend and was completely sold out well in advance, contributing to what Festival Republic managing director Melvin Benn calls his “best year ever.” Festival Republic staged events including Wireless, Latitude, Gunnersbury Park and huge outdoor shows from the likes of Liam Gallagher, Sam Fender and George Ezra. But Reading & Leeds remains the jewel in the crown with another hugely successful year, despite one headliner, Rage Against the Machine, pulling out 10 days before the event, due to frontman Zack de la Rocha’s leg injury.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic As a filmmaker, Noah Baumbach has always been a dyed-in-the-wool dramatic realist, talky coastal neurotic division. He hasn’t always been as good at it as he is today; “The Squid and The Whale” (2005), the divorce drama that established his reputation and is held in supremely high regard by many cinephiles, isn’t half the movie that “Marriage Story” is. The latter film was Baumbach’s culminating achievement after 25 years as a writer-director, and it brought his strengths to a new pitch of mastery: his ability to nail the dynamics of troubled relationships in all their frayed layers, his extraordinary skill with actors, and the nimble levity of his dialogue, which emerges from the human comedy as surely it did in the great films of Woody Allen and Paul Mazursky.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are back in Los Angeles. The couple, who’s enjoyed two weddings and two honeymoons in the span of two months, was photographed leaving their private jet and wearing matching outfits.Like two tourists in love! What JLo and Ben Affleck are up to on their honeymoonJennifer Lopez accuses wedding guest of taking advantage and selling video without permissionLopez and Affleck were both wearing matching tan sweaters and sunglasses. Lopez wore matching sweatpants and wore her hair loose, showing off her highlights.

Gwen Stefani is trying something new! After years of rocking a bold red lip, the singer is ready for a change.

Keeping the party going in Paris! Artem Chigvintsev and Nikki Bella are still celebrating with son Matteo after tying the knot earlier this month.

Pals of a beloved Lanarkshire man who tragically died earlier this month have gathered for a charity football match in his memory.

Mark Wahlberg took to Instagram to show off his impeccable physique on Wednesday.Boasting rock-hard six-pack abs and perfectly pumped biceps, the Boston native looked as in shape as he did in the Calvin Klein underwear ads he was featured in back in 1992.The 51-year-old Hollywood star and serial entrepreneur touted Performance Inspired Nutrition and F45 Training, in which he has business interests. Rock hard: Mark Wahlberg took to Instagram to show off his impeccably fit body on WednesdayThe series of snaps feature the actor doing four different classic bodybuilding poses in front of a mirror in what appeared to be a hotel room.Wearing nothing but navy blue athletic shorts, Mark flexed for the camera showing off the extreme definition of the muscles in his back, shoulders, arms, and stomach.

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. As the Venice Film Festival kicks off today, we’re speaking with RAI Cinema CEO Paolo Del Brocco about some of the company’s 24 titles featuring in the festival this year as well as his ongoing challenge to lure Italian audiences back into the cinema after a rocky post-pandemic period. 

Beast, Idris Elba has spoken out about the devastating impact of animal poaching.In the film, Elba plays an ordinary father who must protect himself and his two daughters from a massive rogue lion in the Savanna.Speaking exclusively to NME, the actor explained how the survival thriller attempts to raise awareness of poaching, as well as the risks of taking animals out of their natural habitats.“There’s a real big problem with poaching in the rest of the world. Not just Africa,” he said.

Survivor season is upon us, and CBS has officially released the new cast.

Architects have shared a new single called ‘Deep Fake’ – listen to it below.The song will appear on the Brighton metalcore band’s 10th album ‘The Classic Symptoms Of A Broken Spirit’, which is due to arrive on October 21 via Epitaph (pre-order here).Following on from the tracks ‘When We Were Young’ and ‘Tear Gas’, Architects’ new offering has been described by lead singer Sam Carter as “one of my faves from the [new] record”.“It’s everything I love about our band,” Carter added in a thread on Twitter (see beneath). “Ps this one hits HARD.”“We, we wanna swim the deepest depths of oblivion/ We wanna know that the gods have us in control,” Carter sings in the first verse.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor How much longer can diners continue to belly up to the sushi bar for a never-ending stream of imported seafood? The oceans are already overfished, and soon there won’t be enough fish for the millions of spicy tuna rolls consumed each year in the U.S. But thankfully for sushi-mad Angelenos, chef Colin Whitbread has found a different and more sustainable direction with his new restaurant Fiish at Culver City’s Platform LA. The former professional surfer — who has been creating private dinners for the likes of the Jonas Brothers, Jason Derulo and Lil Nas X for a decade — calls his approach “guilt-free.” Fiish focuses on sustainable practices such as sourcing almost all the fish from the local waters of California and Baja California.

Katie Maloney is playing the blame game over her ex’s recent hookup with a fellow Vanderpump Rules cast member. Except maybe the responsibility is somewhat misplaced here?!

Tonight (August 31), Arcade Fire will perform in Dublin's 3Arena, the band's first concert since frontman Win Butler was accused of sexual misconduct (Butler has denied these claims).

Two radio stations in Canada have confirmed that they will not be playing Arcade Fire music following news this week of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct by four separate people against frontman Win Butler. Ottawa City News reports that CBC will “pause” playing Arcade Fire on both CBC Music FM and the SiriusXM CBC Radio 3 station "until we learn more about the situation." Toronto's Indie88 also confirmed that “a quick decision" had been made to pull the band’s music with a "fulsome internal conversation about the permanence of this decision" to follow.

Love hurts. News broke on August 30, 2022, that Leonardo DiCaprio and Camila Morrone, his girlfriend of more than four years, Camila Morrone, had split. So why did Leonardo DiCaprio and Camila Morrone break up? Neither has offered public statements, but it seems like conflicting priorities were mostly to blame for their relationship ending as they are said to have hit a “rough patch” as Camila’s career began to take off.

Autumn weather will be drier and more summer-like due to increasing climate change, according to new Met Office research.