Displaying 121 - 130 of 6718
  • Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024
Inter Miami's Lionel Messi looks on during the first half of a preseason friendly MLS soccer match against FC Dallas Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
MIAMI (AP) -- 

Lionel Messi has won futbol's biggest prize. He'll now be part of football's biggest day.

The Inter Miami star, World Cup champion and global soccer icon will headline a Super Bowl ad for Michelob Ultra, the brand announced Thursday. A teaser to what will be a 60-second spot shows Messi ordering a beer as he walks up to a bar, and his reaction when the tap stops pouring.

It'll be Messi's first Super Bowl commercial and adds to his massive advertising reach in the U.S. and globally. The game is on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.

His partnership with Michelob Ultra's parent company, Anheuser-Busch, began in 2020. The Super Bowl spot is part of the beer's sizable investment in soccer. The ad follows the brand being revealed as the global beer sponsor of this summer's Copa America.

It's also expected that Ultra will partner with the men's World Cup when it comes to the U.S., Canada and Mexico in 2026 — when Messi and Argentina will aim to More

  • Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024
Police officers gather outside the Kyoto District Court in Kyoto, western Japan, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, ahead of the sentencing hearing for Shinji Aoba, who has confessed to a deadly arson attack in July 2019 on a Kyoto Animation Co. studio. Aoba was convicted of murder and other crimes Thursday for carrying out the shocking arson attack on the anime studio that killed 36 people and drew an outpouring of grief from anime fans worldwide. (Miki Matsuzaki/Kyodo News via AP)
TOKYO (AP) -- 

A Japanese court sentenced a man to death after finding him guilty of murder and other crimes Thursday for carrying out an arson attack on an anime studio in Kyoto that killed 36 people.

The Kyoto District Court said it found the defendant, Shinji Aoba, mentally capable to face punishment for his crimes and announced the sentence of capital punishment after a recess in a two-part session on Thursday.

Aoba stormed into Kyoto Animation's No. 1 studio on July 18, 2019, and set it on fire. Many of the victims were believed to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning. More than 30 other people were badly burned or injured.

Judge Keisuke Masuda said Aoba had wanted to be a novelist but was unsuccessful and so he sought revenge, thinking that Kyoto Animation had stolen novels he submitted as part of a company contest, according to NHK national television.

NHK also reported that Aoba, who was out of work and struggling financially More

  • Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024
This photo provided by Japan Media Services shows a scene from The Ones Left Behind: The Plight of Single Mothers in Japan, directed by Rionne McAvoy. The award-winning independent documentary film released in 2023 tells the story of single mothers in Japan, weaving together interviews with the women and experts, and showing the other side of a culture whose ideal is for women to get married and become stay-at-home housewives and mothers. (Japan Media Services via AP)
TOKYO (AP) -- 

The women work hard, sleeping only a few hours a night, as they juggle the demands of caring for their children and doing housework — all while suffering from poverty.

The award-winning independent documentary film "The Ones Left Behind," released last year, tells the story of such single mothers in Japan, weaving together interviews with the women and experts, and showing the other side of a culture whose ideal is for women to get married and become stay-at-home housewives and mothers.

"This is a topic that no one wants to really touch. In Japan, it's very taboo," Australian filmmaker Rionne McAvoy said Tuesday. "I think it's a very apt title because I feel that single mothers and their children have really been left behind in society."

One woman in the film says she works from 8:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m., while earning less than 200,000 yen ($1,350) a month. That's sparse for a nation where the cost of living is relatively high, More

  • Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024
This image released by the Sundance Institute shows Jason Schwartzman, left, and Carol Kane in a scene from "Between The Temples" by Nathan Silver, an official selection of the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. (Sean Price Williams/Sundance Institute via AP)
PARK CITY, Utah (AP) -- 

Carol Kane really wanted to work with Jason Schwartzman, but the opportunity would require her to step a little outside of her comfort zone.

Filmmaker Nathan Silver came to her with an idea for "Between the Temples," about a widow and a widower who become friends one winter. Her character, Carla, is a retired music teacher who wants to get her bat mitzvah. Schwartzman's Ben is her former student, and currently a cantor, who agrees to help (reluctantly at first). Silver and his co-writer C. Mason Wells didn't have a script, not in any traditional sense. It was something in between a script and a treatment, a novella of sorts with some written lines and lots of opportunity for creativity and character development.

"The idea sounded pretty fascinating," Kane, 71, said in a recent phone interview. "But I was a little trepidatious about working in a way that I never had before."

She was willing to take the leap with her collaborators, More

  • Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024
Minnie and Mickey Mouse perform for guests during a musical show in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, July 14, 2023, in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Disney has requested a second court delay in its legal battle with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ appointees over who controls Walt Disney World’s governing district. The request this week comes as the company is accusing the appointees and the governor’s office of failing to produce documents it had requested as part of the litigation. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- 

Disney this week requested a second delay in a state court case involving its legal battle with Gov. Ron DeSantis' appointees over who controls Walt Disney World's governing district, as the company accused them and the governor's office of stonewalling requests for documents that are part of the litigation.

The entertainment giant's request came as a district employee said in a deposition that the takeover of the district's board by DeSantis' appointees last year, and its subsequent politicization, has caused around 50 of its 370 employees to leave. The board has a scheduled monthly meeting Wednesday.

"There is a very, very, very politically motivated board, and I know we try not to acknowledge that, but that is a huge reason why a lot of people are leaving," Erin O'Donnell, the district's public records administrator, said in a deposition, sections of which were filed in court last week. "Other people may have had their own issues with More

  • Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024
Jon Stewart attends The Albies hosted by the Clooney Foundation for Justice at the New York Public Library in New York on Sept. 28, 2023. Stewart is rewinding the clock, returning to “The Daily Show” as an occasional host and executive producing through the 2024 U.S. elections cycle. Comedy Central on Wednesday said Stewart will host the topical TV show, the perch he ruled for 16 years starting in 1999, every Monday starting Feb. 12. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) -- 

Comedian Jon Stewart is rewinding the clock, returning to "The Daily Show" as a weekly host and executive producing through the 2024 U.S. elections cycle.

Comedy Central on Wednesday said Stewart will host the topical TV show, the perch he ruled for 16 years starting in 1999, every Monday starting Feb. 12. A rotating line-up of show regulars are on tap for the rest of the week.

"Jon Stewart is the voice of our generation, and we are honored to have him return to Comedy Central's The Daily Show to help us all make sense of the insanity and division roiling the country as we enter the election season," Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios, said in a statement. "In our age of staggering hypocrisy and performative politics, Jon is the perfect person to puncture the empty rhetoric and provide much-needed clarity with his brilliant wit."

Over the years, "The Daily Show" — first hosted by Craig Kilborn, More

  • Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024
The Netflix logo is shown in this photo from the company's website, in New York, Feb. 2, 2023. Netflix reports earnings on Tuesday, January 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- 

Netflix registered its third-consecutive quarter of accelerating subscriber growth in the final three months of 2023, closing out a comeback year that included a crackdown on viewers freeloading on the video-streaming service and a smattering of price hikes.

The fourth-quarter results announced Tuesday provided further evidence that Netflix was able to come up with a formula that produced a spike in subscribers even as it became more expensive to watch its lineup of TV shows and movies.

Netflix signaled it will try to justify the higher subscription prices — and perhaps reel in more advertisers to a low-cost plan that includes commercials — with a $5 billion deal announced Tuesday that will bring the popular wrestling program, WWE's "Raw," to its service.

That weekly show, set to move to Netflix next year, will supplement a smorgasbord of TV shows that include the likes of the Emmy-award winning black comedy "Beef" and the Oscar- More

  • Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024
Wrestler Carmella leaps at Bianca Belair, during the WWE Monday Night RAW event, March 6, 2023, in Boston. WWE's weekly television show "Raw" will move to Netflix next year as part of a major streaming deal. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

WWE's weekly television show "Raw" will move to Netflix next year as part of a major streaming deal.

"Raw," which debuted in 1993, has produced 1,600 episodes to date and features wrestlers such as Cody Rhodes, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins and Rhea Ripley. The three-hour program currently airs on USA Network and its media rights were considered a hot commodity over the past several months, particularly after the WWE return of CM Punk in November, with many speculating it could land at any number of networks or streaming platforms.

"We are excited to have WWE Raw, with its huge and passionate multigenerational fan base, on Netflix," Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a prepared statement.

WWE, which is part of TKO Group Holdings Inc., said Tuesday that "Raw" will air on Netflix starting in January 2025. This will impact viewers in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Latin America and other territories. WWE said that it will also impact More

  • Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024
In this undated image provided by the Sundance Institute, entertainment marketing consultant Michael Latt, who was fatally shot inside his Los Angeles home on Nov. 27, 2023, poses for a self-portrait at an unknown location. Latt, 33, was a well-known consultant in Hollywood whose firm focused on social impact in film and entertainment. Jameelah Elena Michl, a woman charged with killing Latt, pleaded not guilty on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. (Courtesy of Sundance Institute via AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- 

A woman charged with killing a high-profile marketing consultant and social justice advocate in film pleaded not guilty Monday.

Jameelah Elena Michl, 36, entered the plea in Los Angeles Superior Court to charges of murder and burglary, with additional allegations that she used a firearm to commit the felonies.

Prosecutors say she knocked on the door of the Los Angeles home of Michael Latt — then forced her way in and fatally shot him with a semi-automatic handgun on Nov. 27. He was later declared dead at a hospital.

Latt, 33, was a well-known consultant in Hollywood whose firm focused on social impact in film and entertainment. He had worked on projects with directors including Ryan Coogler and Ava DuVernay.

Prosecutors and court records say Michl had been stalking and threatening director A.V. Rockwell, and targeted Latt because he was friends with Rockwell. Michl was the subject of several restraining orders from Rockwell More

  • Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024
Shirley O'Connor
LONDON -- 

U.S.-based boutique production company Love Song has set up a dedicated office in the U.K. led by executive producer Shirley O’Connor. 

Love Song’s presence in the U.K. has already made a splash with their contribution to the Channel 4 idents produced by Art Practice. Love Song's Will Dohrn, Bafic, Elliott Power, Justyna Obasi, and Daniel Wolfe formed one half of the directorial team on the interstitials for the emblematically British channel. The idents would go on to win two Grand Prix at Ciclope along with four Gold Awards and one Silver for direction. O’Connor already served as executive producer for the high-profile eight-film campaign rebranding EE, a popular British telecom brand, directed by Wolfe, Power and Dohrn. 

Originally from Ireland, O’Connor was a producer and EP at Pulse Films for nine years before moving into freelance, where she worked with Academy Pictures, MJZ, Somesuch, and Caviar to produce commercials and narrative More

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