lifestyle

South African artist champions hyenas in 'eco-queer' quest

BY GERSENDE RAMBOURG

  • "I am very curious about hyenas from an ecofeminist perspective," said the artist, whose work has been exhibited internationally.
  • They are often disparaged as ugly, sly and cruel scavengers but for South African artist Hannelie Coetzee, hyenas are symbols of female power and the normalisation of queerness.
  • "I am very curious about hyenas from an ecofeminist perspective," said the artist, whose work has been exhibited internationally.
They are often disparaged as ugly, sly and cruel scavengers but for South African artist Hannelie Coetzee, hyenas are symbols of female power and the normalisation of queerness.
The walls of her studio in the university district of downtown Johannesburg are covered in drawings in ink and rooibos tea of the sloped-back carnivores, her heroines of the bush.
With cute ears but a frightening jaw, the animal is also represented in sculptures Coetzee fashions from scavenged materials.
"I am very curious about hyenas from an ecofeminist perspective," said the artist, whose work has been exhibited internationally.
"They're the underdog, misrepresented," she told AFP. "They have been Disney-fied, made into creatures they are not."
Coetzee, 53, identifies in the animal a "celebration of the matriarch" in packs that are led by an authoritarian female and where other females dominate, for example in the sharing of food.
She has spent hours observing the creatures in South Africa's Kruger National Park, noting the "pseudo-phallus" genitalia of the females that to an average tourist gives them the appearance of males.
"I would sketch with windows open so I could smell them," said the artist, who also has a science degree. 
"I had rooibos tea in the car so I used that," she said. "Wind blew, splashes started," giving movement to the silhouettes on paper.

'Eco-queer'

Coetzee grew up in a small town close to nature in the largely conservative Free State province. 
She was born into a white family that was "on the wrong side of apartheid", conservative and homophobic.
"I spent years and years to unlearn so many things," she told AFP. 
Also known for large murals in central Johannesburg and ecological installations such as public urinals watering plants, the artist moved to drawing during the Covid-19 lockdown. 
Her fascination with hyenas is part of a wider project of "eco-queer" art that focuses on queer-like behaviour in nature, which she says can also be observed in neck-jousting male giraffes, foxes and baboons.
She focuses on the "mutual bowing, pair bonding, passionate embraces, dances, courting, mating, kisses in mid-air" of animals, her website reads. 
"I am making a selection of queer creatures for this body of work to share how observing them, scientifically, contributes to the normalisation of non-heteronormative sexualities from natures perspective," it says.
Humans have been made to believe that all animal behaviour is dictated by reproduction only, but "it's much broader than that", she told AFP.
In the image of the animal kingdom, "we can be comfortable with queerness. It's not such an odd thing anymore," said Coetzee, who is married to a woman.
It is "a frightening time for otherness", she said, referring to developments under the administration of President Donald Trump in the United States, where she will be presenting a solo exhibition in Washington in May.
"I am celebrating and normalising otherness, by telling stories, showing it is not so weird," she said.
ger/jcb/br/cw

film

New Spielberg, Nolan films teased at CinemaCon

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • The comments came at CinemaCon, an annual week-long summit at which Hollywood studios present their biggest upcoming movies to theater owners and press.
  • Hollywood studio Universal Pictures on Wednesday teased new movies from Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan, while showcasing footage from its upcoming sequels "Jurassic World Rebirth" and "Wicked: For Good" at the CinemaCon event.
  • The comments came at CinemaCon, an annual week-long summit at which Hollywood studios present their biggest upcoming movies to theater owners and press.
Hollywood studio Universal Pictures on Wednesday teased new movies from Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan, while showcasing footage from its upcoming sequels "Jurassic World Rebirth" and "Wicked: For Good" at the CinemaCon event.
Spielberg "is currently shooting a film that promises to be a return to form, in the spirit of his monumental classics," said Universal executive Jim Orr, at the movie theater industry summit in Las Vegas.
The untitled film, out June 2026, is widely rumored to be a blockbuster sci-fi. Orr promised it would contain "a propulsive, modern, out-of-this-world twist," without sharing further details.
Meanwhile, Nolan is in the Mediterranean shooting his star-studded version of "The Odyssey," based on the millennia-old Ancient Greek epic saga written by Homer.
It is due July 2026, starring Matt Damon as Odysseus, alongside Tom Holland, Zendaya and Anne Hathaway.
In a prediction bold even by the standards of Hollywood marketing, Orr suggested the film "will be a once-in-a-generation cinematic masterpiece that Homer himself would, quite frankly, be very proud of."
The comments came at CinemaCon, an annual week-long summit at which Hollywood studios present their biggest upcoming movies to theater owners and press.
A theme of this year's event has been a drive to get studios to commit to keeping new movies in US theaters for at least 45 days before they appear on streaming.
A source with knowledge of the talks told AFP Wednesday that three of Hollywood's six biggest studios have committed.
Universal, which has in recent years brought many of its films to on-demand streaming very soon after they debut in theaters, has not yet agreed to the new 45-day "window," the source said. The studio did not immediately comment.
But its efforts to court movie theater owners Wednesday included showing extended new footage and A-list stars from the next Jurassic movie -- out this July.
It comes from the writer of the original 1993 "Jurassic Park." The action returns to that film's island setting.
Unlike the "Jurassic World" films where dinosaurs freely roamed the globe, the fearsome reptiles are now once again scarce, surviving in a few remote spots.
Star Scarlett Johansson said the film would "put the scares back into Jurassic" by keeping the dinosaurs hidden and ratcheting up the suspense.
Universal's presentation ended with surprise appearances from Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, whose second and final "Wicked" film will hit theaters November.
CinemaCon concludes Thursday with presentations from Paramount and Disney.
amz/st

gaming

'Shenmue' voted most influential video game ever in UK poll

  • "Games are an immensely innovative force and it's brilliant to recognise those titles which have truly shaped the course of our medium," said Luke Hebblethwaite, head of the BAFTA video games division. 
  • The 1999 action game "Shenmue" was on Thursday named the most influential video game of all time following a survey organised by BAFTA, the British association that honours films, television, and video games. 
  • "Games are an immensely innovative force and it's brilliant to recognise those titles which have truly shaped the course of our medium," said Luke Hebblethwaite, head of the BAFTA video games division. 
The 1999 action game "Shenmue" was on Thursday named the most influential video game of all time following a survey organised by BAFTA, the British association that honours films, television, and video games. 
The series, created by Japanese designer Yu Suzuki, stars a young Ryo Hazuki as he seeks to avenge the death of his father, killed by a mysterious martial arts specialist. 
The game is split into three instalments (Shenmue I, II, and III) and was, at the time of the first instalment’s release, the most expensive game in history to produce.
While the third instalment was available on PlayStation 4 and PC, the first two defined the brief history of the Dreamcast console, the first so-called sixth-generation console, released by Japanese manufacturer Sega in 1998.
Having become a cult classic among many gamers, "Shenmue" is known as a pioneer in open-world gaming and for popularising the "quick time event," a moment in which the player is asked to perform a specific action within a given time limit. 
"Games are an immensely innovative force and it's brilliant to recognise those titles which have truly shaped the course of our medium," said Luke Hebblethwaite, head of the BAFTA video games division. 
Yu Suzuki said he was "deeply honoured and grateful" to see "Shenmue" come out on the top in the poll and thanked the "fans around the world who have continued to love and support" the game. 
"Doom", the series that helped popularise first-person shooters and enjoyed immense commercial success, came second in the survey of thousands of players.
Developed by id Software for PC and released in 1993, the game puts players in the role of a soldier facing demons in a universe blending science fiction and horror. 
In third place was "Super Mario Bros", the famous platform game developed by Nintendo in 1985, in which the red-suited plumber Mario navigates various levels to save Princess Peach. 
Unanimously acclaimed upon its release, it remains one of the best-selling games of all time, with over 40 million copies sold worldwide. 
Also included in the top 10 are "Half-Life" (1998), "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" (1998), "Minecraft" (2011), "Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2" (2025), and "Super Mario 64" (1996). 
The annual Bafta Game Awards will take place at a ceremony in London on April 8. 
jwp/jkb/yad

Moretti

Italian director Nanni Moretti in hospital after heart attack: media

  • He underwent surgery and was in intensive care, local media reported.
  • Italian film director Nanni Moretti was in intensive care at a Rome hospital on Wednesday after suffering a heart attack, local media reports said. 
  • He underwent surgery and was in intensive care, local media reported.
Italian film director Nanni Moretti was in intensive care at a Rome hospital on Wednesday after suffering a heart attack, local media reports said. 
The 71-year-old director, actor and screenwriter -- best known outside of Italy for 1993's "Caro Diario" (Dear Diary) and 2001's "The Son's Room" -- was transported to the hospital Wednesday afternoon after the cardiac emergency. 
He underwent surgery and was in intensive care, local media reported.
Italian news agency Ansa reported that he was in stable condition.
Often compared to Woody Allen for his quirky, offbeat and autobiographical films in which he often appears as his alter-ego, the quiet, media-shy Moretti is one of Italian cinema's sharpest social commentators.
His film repertoire has included biting satire as well as gently handled stories of family crisis, such as "The Son's Room", about the effect on a family after a son's sudden death, which won Cannes' Palme d'Or in 2001. 
Often mixing awkward humour with political critique, Moretti's incisive films have taken on such topics as former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in the 2006 satire "The Caiman" and the inner workings of the Holy See in "We Have a Pope".
After a string of films, beginning with his 1976 comedy shot on Super 8, "I am Self-Sufficient", Moretti found fame outside Italy with 1993 "Caro Diario", when he zoomed into the international public's consciousness atop his Vespa scooter. 
That film, in which Moretti zigzags through a nearly deserted Rome while sharing offbeat interactions with those he meets along the way, won him a best director award at Cannes in 1994.
Moretti's most recent film, "A Brighter Tomorrow", about a film director -- played by Moretti -- competed in the Cannes Film Festival in 2023. 
ams/rmb

opposition

British band Muse cancels planned Istanbul gig

  • Muse had come under pressure from fans to cancel the gig in support of protesters who have taken to the streets against the March 19 arrest of Istanbul's popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
  • British rock band Muse said Wednesday that it had cancelled a coming gig in Istanbul, after a backlash from fans at the concert promoter who criticised recent anti-government protests.
  • Muse had come under pressure from fans to cancel the gig in support of protesters who have taken to the streets against the March 19 arrest of Istanbul's popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
British rock band Muse said Wednesday that it had cancelled a coming gig in Istanbul, after a backlash from fans at the concert promoter who criticised recent anti-government protests.
The band posted on X that it had taken the decision to shelve the June 11 concert "after careful consideration" and would reschedule for 2026 without the promoter's involvement.
On social media the post was liked more than 70,000 times in less than an hour.
Muse had come under pressure from fans to cancel the gig in support of protesters who have taken to the streets against the March 19 arrest of Istanbul's popular mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.
The concert promotor, DBL Entertainment, pulled out of the event in response. Muse said the company "will not be involved" in its rescheduled performance.
Turkey's opposition has called for the boycott of dozens of companies whose leaders are seen as being close to President Recip Tayyip Erdogan.
Nearly 2,000 people, including several hundred students and young people, have been arrested since the start of the protests.
DBL Entertainment chief Abdulkadir Ozkan has maintained he was quoted out of context when he criticised the throwing of missiles at a cafe chain franchise during a largely peaceful protest on Saturday.
On Tuesday he pulled out of all music projects after he faced criticism from Turkish artists, and calls mounted for the Muse gig to be shelved.
Imamoglu is seen as Erdogan's main political rival and was chosen as the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) candidate for the 2028 presidential election.
His arrest for corruption and subsequent incarceration sparked a wave of protests not seen in Turkey in a decade.
Some cafes, shops and restaurants in Istanbul and Ankara heeded a CHP call to remain closed on Wednesday.
ach/phz/rmb

film

'Top Gun' and Batman star Val Kilmer dies aged 65

  • Kilmer was superbly cast playing the cocky, square-jawed and mostly silent fighter pilot-in-training Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the 1986 box office smash hit. 
  • Val Kilmer, one of the biggest Hollywood actors of the 1990s who shot to fame playing Iceman in the original "Top Gun", has died aged 65 after a career of memorable hits and on-set bust ups.
  • Kilmer was superbly cast playing the cocky, square-jawed and mostly silent fighter pilot-in-training Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the 1986 box office smash hit. 
Val Kilmer, one of the biggest Hollywood actors of the 1990s who shot to fame playing Iceman in the original "Top Gun", has died aged 65 after a career of memorable hits and on-set bust ups.
The cause of death was pneumonia, his daughter Mercedes Kilmer told the New York Times on Tuesday, which was the first publication to announce the news. 
He battled throat cancer after being diagnosed in 2014 and appeared in the "Top Gun" sequel and a 2021 documentary appearing physically diminished and with a raspy voice. 
His film credits include blockbusters such as Oliver Stone's "The Doors," in which he played Jim Morrison, as well as a short-lived stint as Batman in "Batman Forever" in 1995 opposite Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones.
"Once you're a star, you're always a star. It's just 'what level?'" he told the Hollywood Reporter in an interview in 2012.
"And I was in some big, wonderful movies and enjoyed a lot of success, but I didn’t sort of secure that position."

Tributes

A versatile character actor who also cultivated a theatre career, he toggled between big-budget successes, commercial flops and smaller independent films after his breakout role in "Top Gun" opposite Tom Cruise. 
Kilmer was superbly cast playing the cocky, square-jawed and mostly silent fighter pilot-in-training Tom "Iceman" Kazansky in the 1986 box office smash hit. 
After a cameo in Quentin Tarantino-written "True Romance," Kilmer also went on to star alongside Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in "Heat".
But he developed a reputation as a difficult actor who sometimes clashed with directors and co-stars. 
A 1996 Entertainment Weekly cover story dubbed Kilmer "The Man Hollywood Loves to Hate," depicting him as a sometimes surly eccentric with exasperating work habits.
"Hollywood and our business, it's a very social business, and I never tried to be involved in the community of it," he conceded in a 2012 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. 
Tributes flowed in on Tuesday from some of his past directors, however.
Francis Ford Coppola, who worked with him for "Twixt", wrote that Kilmer "was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know", while "Heat" director Michael Mann also praised his range and "brilliant variability."
"After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news," Mann wrote on Instagram.
The official "Top Gun" account on X posted a picture of Kilmer as Iceman, saying he had left an "indelible cinematic mark". 

' Magical life'

Born Val Edward Kilmer on New Year's Eve 1959, he began acting in commercials as a child.
Kilmer was the youngest person ever accepted to the drama department at New York's fabled Juilliard school, and made his Broadway debut in 1983 alongside Sean Penn and Kevin Bacon.
Having fallen out of favor after the turn of the century, he was mounting a comeback in the 2010s with a successful stage show about Mark Twain that he hoped to turn into a film when he was struck by cancer. 
"Val," an intimate documentary about Kilmer's stratospheric rise and later fall in Hollywood, premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2021 and showed him struggling for air after a tracheotomy. 
It also hinted at his frustration at signing autographs at conventions which, as he put it, was like "selling his old self." 
Kilmer "has the aura of a man who was dealt his cosmic comeuppance and came through it," US publication Variety wrote of the film. "He fell from stardom, maybe from grace, but he did it his way."
When he reprised his role as "Iceman" in the long-awaited sequel "Top Gun: Maverick," Kilmer's real-life health issues, and rasp of voice, were written into the character.
"Instead of treating Kilmer -- and, indeed, the entire notion of Top Gun -- as a throwaway nostalgia object, he's given a celluloid swan song that'll stand the test of time," GQ wrote.
On his website, Kilmer had described himself as leading a "magical life."
"For more than half a century, I have been honing my art, no matter the medium. Be it literature, movies, poetry, painting, music, or tracking exotic and beautiful wildlife," he wrote.
According to the Times, he is survived by two children, Mercedes and Jack Kilmer. 
bur-adp/lb

animation

AI coming for anime but Ghibli's Miyazaki irreplaceable, son says

BY NATSUKO FUKUE

  • OpenAI, which is already facing a barrage of copyright lawsuits, said generating images in the style of individual living artists is banned, but "we do permit broader studio styles".
  • Artificial intelligence risks taking Japanese anime artists' jobs but nothing can replicate Hayao Miyazaki, the creative lifeblood of the studio behind classics such as "Spirited Away", his son told AFP. Thanks to ChatGPT's new image generator, the internet is awash with pictures imitating Studio Ghibli's whimsical style, raising fresh debate over potential copyright infringements.
  • OpenAI, which is already facing a barrage of copyright lawsuits, said generating images in the style of individual living artists is banned, but "we do permit broader studio styles".
Artificial intelligence risks taking Japanese anime artists' jobs but nothing can replicate Hayao Miyazaki, the creative lifeblood of the studio behind classics such as "Spirited Away", his son told AFP.
Thanks to ChatGPT's new image generator, the internet is awash with pictures imitating Studio Ghibli's whimsical style, raising fresh debate over potential copyright infringements.
Movies such as "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Howl's Moving Castle" are famous for their lush nature and fantastical machinery, painstakingly drawn by hand.
While the studio has not commented directly on the image trend, Goro Miyazaki, 58, predicted that artificial intelligence could one day replace animators.
"It wouldn't be surprising if, in two years' time, there was a film made completely through AI," he said in an interview last week.
But whether audiences would want to watch a fully AI-generated animation is another matter, he added.
Despite the rapid changes, new technology also brings "great potential for unexpected talent to emerge", added Goro, Studio Ghibli's managing director.
He was speaking at the Ghibli atelier in western Tokyo, days before the San Francisco-based ChatGPT maker OpenAI released its latest image generator.
OpenAI, which is already facing a barrage of copyright lawsuits, said generating images in the style of individual living artists is banned, but "we do permit broader studio styles".
"Our goal is to give users as much creative freedom as possible," the US company said.

Bittersweet

Japan is grappling with a shortage of skilled animators, partly because most spend years in low-paid jobs to learn the ropes.
Digitally savvy Gen Z may be also less enthusiastic about the manual labour involved, Goro said.
"Nowadays, the world is full of opportunities to watch anything, anytime, anywhere," making it harder to imagine making a living from the physical act of drawing, he added.
Goro's father founded Studio Ghibli with Isao Takahata in 1985, a year after directing the post-apocalyptic "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind".
After Takahata's death in 2018, Hayao -- now 84 and a heavy smoker -- continued to create films with 76-year-old producer Toshio Suzuki.
"If those two can't make anime or can't move, then what happens?" Goro said when asked about Ghibli's future.
"It's not like they can be replaced."
Despite his age, Hayao won his second Oscar last year with "The Boy and the Heron" -- likely his last feature film.
Anime cartoons are usually for children, but Takahata and Hayao, men "from the generation that knew war", included darker elements that appeal to adults, Goro said.
"It's not all sweet -- there's also a bitterness and things like that which are beautifully intertwined in the work," he said, describing a "smell of death" that permeates the films.
"That's actually what makes the work so deep."
For younger people who grew up in peacetime, "it is impossible to create something with the same sense, approach and attitude that my father's generation had," Goro said.
Even "Totoro", with its cuddly forest spirit creatures, is in some ways a "scary" movie that explores the fear of losing a sick mother, he explained. 

'Insult to life'

As the Ghibli-style AI images proliferated, a 2016 video of Hayao resurfaced that many said showed his disdain for the technology.
"I strongly feel that this is an insult to life itself," the director says in the short clip, taken from a documentary.
However, he was in fact reacting to an AI-assisted computer graphic of a zombie-like creature, which he calls "extremely unpleasant" in the full footage.
Goro joined Studio Ghibli in 1998 and directed animations including the 2006 feature "Tales from Earthsea" and 2011's "From Up on Poppy Hill".
He also oversaw the development of the Ghibli Museum and newly opened Ghibli Park in Japan.
Goro enjoyed drawing as a boy and said he learned a lot watching his father's and Takahata's work, although he didn't think he could live up to their talent.
"My mother, who was also an animator, told me not to pursue this career because it's a tough and busy job," Goro said, adding that his father was rarely at home.
"But I always wanted to do something creative."
nf/kaf/cms/hmn

film

Warner showcases 'Superman' reboot, new DiCaprio film

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • - 'Baseline' - Also on Tuesday, Warner and Apple presented footage from "F1," a new racing drama starring Brad Pitt from the director of "Top Gun: Maverick," out in July.
  • Embattled Hollywood studio Warner Bros on Tuesday unveiled footage from its make-or-break "Superman" reboot and a lavish new Leonardo DiCaprio film at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas.
  • - 'Baseline' - Also on Tuesday, Warner and Apple presented footage from "F1," a new racing drama starring Brad Pitt from the director of "Top Gun: Maverick," out in July.
Embattled Hollywood studio Warner Bros on Tuesday unveiled footage from its make-or-break "Superman" reboot and a lavish new Leonardo DiCaprio film at the CinemaCon event in Las Vegas.
Warner, which has suffered several recent costly flops like "Joker: Folie a Deux," brought stars including DiCaprio on stage to promote its latest high-budget efforts to movie theater owners at the annual summit.
"Superman," hitting US theaters in July, is the studio's attempt to totally relaunch its line of superhero movies, which are based on the popular DC comics but have long been overshadowed by Disney's rival Marvel films.
Director James Gunn said he was determined to reinvigorate a character "who's perceived as old fashioned by many" for modern audiences.
Superman will be played by actor David Corenswet, but a key ingredient in the film appears to be the superhero's dog Krypto, who played a starring role in much of the new footage.
Based on Gunn's own badly-behaved rescue pooch, Krypto frequently nips at Superman's heels and destroys his Fortress of Solitude base, rather than helping his master.
The footage indicated a lighter, more humorous approach, in contrast with many of Warner's previous "Superman" movies which earned poor reviews and relatively disappointing box office returns with their ultra-serious tones.
"This is a movie that celebrates kindness and human love," promised Gunn.
Variety's Brent Lang dubbed the film Warner's "last, best chance to make a movie that rivals Marvel."

'Fried my brain'

The launch comes as the studio attempts to shrug off multiple reports that it is considering parting ways with its movie chiefs Pamela Abdy and Michael De Luca.
The pair have approved a number of high-budget, original films from award-winning filmmakers, including last month's flop sci-fi "Mickey 17" from "Parasite" director Bong Joon-ho.
All eyes are now on Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another," starring DiCaprio.
Loosely based on post-modern novelist Thomas Pynchon's "Vineland," the film cost more than $140 million to produce -- meaning Warner is banking heavily on DiCaprio's star power to lure audiences.
DiCaprio, who has been one of Hollywood's top A-listers for decades, said he had been wanting to work with "There Will Be Blood" director Anderson for "almost 20 years now."
Extensive yet cryptic new footage showed DiCaprio playing Bob -- a man who was once a "revolutionary" but has "fried my brain" by having abused drugs and alcohol for decades -- struggling to remember a secret passcode that will help him locate his daughter. 
The original novel is set in California during the conservative 1980s backlash to the previous decades' hippie movements.
"I think with this film, he's tapped into something politically and culturally that is brewing beneath our psyche," said DiCaprio.
"But at the same time, it's an incredibly epic movie and has such scope and scale."

'Baseline'

Also on Tuesday, Warner and Apple presented footage from "F1," a new racing drama starring Brad Pitt from the director of "Top Gun: Maverick," out in July.
Lionsgate flew in singer The Weeknd for a surprise musical set to delight movie theater owners and promote "Hurry Up Tomorrow," a new psychological thriller film based on his latest album. The film is set to be released in May.
The day began with US movie theaters' trade organization calling for new films to play exclusively on their big screens for at least 45 days before becoming available on streaming.
Cinema owners say box office profits have been undercut by shorter theatrical-only "windows" brought in during the pandemic, in part as audiences now assume -- sometimes correctly -- that they can watch new movies at home within weeks.
"There must be a baseline," said Cinema United president Michael O'Leary, calling for "a clear, consistent period of exclusivity" of at least 45 days.
amz/jgc

opposition

Turkish fans, artists urge Muse to cancel Istanbul gig

BY FULYA OZERKAN

  • But there was immediate backlash, with fans and artists saying they would boycott the gig over remarks by Abdulkadir Ozkan, boss of DBL Entertainment, the Turkish promoter behind the event.
  • British rock band Muse was facing pressure on Tuesday from fans and artists to cancel an upcoming Istanbul gig after the Turkish concert promoter lashed out at those involved in recent anti-government protests.
  • But there was immediate backlash, with fans and artists saying they would boycott the gig over remarks by Abdulkadir Ozkan, boss of DBL Entertainment, the Turkish promoter behind the event.
British rock band Muse was facing pressure on Tuesday from fans and artists to cancel an upcoming Istanbul gig after the Turkish concert promoter lashed out at those involved in recent anti-government protests.
In a post on X on Monday, the band announced plans to play Istanbul on June 11, with tickets going on sale on April 3.
But there was immediate backlash, with fans and artists saying they would boycott the gig over remarks by Abdulkadir Ozkan, boss of DBL Entertainment, the Turkish promoter behind the event.
As pressure grew, Ozkan said on Tuesday DBL Entertainment was "withdrawing from all projects" -- effectively standing down from its role as promoter, in a post on X that did not give further details.
Since March 19, Turkey has been gripped by massive anti-government protests following the arrest of Istanbul's opposition mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, the biggest political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The protests have been met with a sharp crackdown, prompting opposition leader Ozgur Ozel to call for a boycott of firms allegedly close to Erdogan's government.
One targeted the EspressoLab coffee chain which was mobbed by protesters on Saturday, prompting a furious response on X from Ozkan, who denounced their actions as "treason".
His post sparked outrage and a barrage of social media calls to boycott gigs organised by his company, among them a Robbie Williams concert on October 7.
A show in Istanbul by South African comedian Trevor Noah on April 23 was also cancelled, with no reason given for the move.
In his post on Tuesday, Ozkan said his reaction had been "taken out of context" and he did not want to target "young people exercising their democratic right to protest".
Since March 19, police have arrested nearly 2,000 people, among them many students, prompting many young people to begin their own boycott of companies seen as close to Erdogan and his ruling party, the AKP.

'Solidarity matters'

"We would love to go (to see Muse), but the Turkish organiser of this concert supports fascism," wrote Turkish theatre actress Berna Lacin on X.
"The young people who were going to come to your concert were thrown in jail. Cancel it and come with another promoter," she said, addressing the band.
Singer Gaye Su Akyol, popular in Turkey and abroad, also took to X in support of the boycott in a post addressed to Muse, Robbie Williams and Norwegian singer Ane Brun.
"I've respected your works for years and know how much you mean to many. But neither I, nor anyone, will attend your Istanbul concerts because the organiser is on the boycott list of the pro-democracy movement," she wrote. "Solidarity matters."
Brun later announced she was cancelling her gig, saying: "I have decided not to play in Istanbul this October... unfortunately, this is not the right time."
Another Turkish singer, Kalben, also said she would not go to the Muse gig "because the organiser is on the boycott list of the pro-democracy movement".
She urged the band to "make a move in the direction of support and solidarity".
fo/rba-hmw/jhb

film

US movie theaters urge 45-day 'baseline' before films hit streaming

  • "There must be a baseline," said Cinema United president Michael O'Leary, calling for "a clear, consistent period of exclusivity" of at least 45 days.
  • New films must be exclusive to movie theaters for at least 45 days before they become available on streaming, the head of the industry's US trade organization said Tuesday.
  • "There must be a baseline," said Cinema United president Michael O'Leary, calling for "a clear, consistent period of exclusivity" of at least 45 days.
New films must be exclusive to movie theaters for at least 45 days before they become available on streaming, the head of the industry's US trade organization said Tuesday.
Cinema owners say box office profits have been undercut by shorter theatrical-only "windows" brought in during the pandemic, in part as audiences now assume -- sometimes correctly -- that they can watch new movies at home within weeks.
"There must be a baseline," said Cinema United president Michael O'Leary, calling for "a clear, consistent period of exclusivity" of at least 45 days.
The action is vital to restoring the health of the entire film industry, he said in a keynote speech during the group's annual CinemaCon event in Las Vegas.
The industry has never recovered to pre-pandemic levels of moviegoers. Annual North American box office grosses regularly topped $11 billion in the 2010s, but have yet to get over $9 billion in the 2020s.
Before the rise of streaming, and the temporary shuttering of cinemas due to Covid-19, 90-day theatrical windows were standard in US theaters.
While accepting that those days will never return, O'Leary pointed out that countries that have maintained longer windows, like France, have seen better box office recoveries since the pandemic.
In North America, despite high hopes, 2025 has endured a disappointing start, plagued by box office flops like "Disney's Snow White" and "Mickey 17."
O'Leary also called for more "aggressive" marketing of films as "only in theaters," and asked studios to stop marketing "see-at-home" options while a movie is still in theaters.
"Windows that are too short, or inconsistent, only lead to confusion among consumers," warned O'Leary.
"The perception, or more importantly, the reality at times, that everything will be available on other platforms in a matter of weeks, undercuts the sustainability of the entire industry by negatively impacting the frequency of movie fans going to the theatre," he said.
Cinema United was formerly known as the National Association of Theatre Owners -- or "NATO" -- before officially rebranding last month.
"Having the same name as a multinational political military alliance... is not always seamless, particularly in today's world," said Cinema United chair Bob Bagby.
"Sometimes we've even gotten their mail, phone calls, confused visitors," he joked.
amz/hg/sla/st

media

Newsmax shares surge more than 2,000% in days after IPO

  • By 3:00 pm in Washington (1900 GMT) Tuesday, a day after its shares listed in New York, the share price was worth $206.89, giving it a market capitalization of $26.5 billion.  
  • Shares of the conservative cable news channel Newsmax have skyrocketed more than 2,000 percent in the two days since it began trading in New York, pushing the firm's market value above $26 billion.
  • By 3:00 pm in Washington (1900 GMT) Tuesday, a day after its shares listed in New York, the share price was worth $206.89, giving it a market capitalization of $26.5 billion.  
Shares of the conservative cable news channel Newsmax have skyrocketed more than 2,000 percent in the two days since it began trading in New York, pushing the firm's market value above $26 billion.
The right-wing media company has long been a cheerleader for US President Donald Trump, and is now among the most-watched cable news channels in the United States.
At its initial public offering last week, the company raised $75 million at $10 per share, valuing the company at little more than $1 billion.  
By 3:00 pm in Washington (1900 GMT) Tuesday, a day after its shares listed in New York, the share price was worth $206.89, giving it a market capitalization of $26.5 billion.  
Newsmax has consistently been the fourth most-viewed cable news channel in America, behind Fox, MSNBC and CNN, according to the ratings company Nielsen. 
But its roughly 300,000 prime time viewers still pale in comparison to the prominent conservative news channel Fox News, which averaged more than three million.
That could soon change, Newsmax chief executive Christopher Ruddy told CNBC in an interview before markets opened on Monday. 
"I think we're becoming very competitive with (Fox)," he said.
da/sla/st

film

Digging for box office gold, 'A Minecraft Movie' hits cinemas

BY FRANCOIS BECKER AND ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • For every Super Mario Bros success story -- the 2023 adaptation of the Nintendo racers grossed an estimated $1.3 billion in 2023 -- there are other games-turned-films that have turned into epic box office turkeys.
  • With an A-list cast and a big budget, "A Minecraft Movie" releasing this week is hoping to follow in the slipstream of Super Mario Bros by turning a gaming phenomenon into a global cinema blockbuster.
  • For every Super Mario Bros success story -- the 2023 adaptation of the Nintendo racers grossed an estimated $1.3 billion in 2023 -- there are other games-turned-films that have turned into epic box office turkeys.
With an A-list cast and a big budget, "A Minecraft Movie" releasing this week is hoping to follow in the slipstream of Super Mario Bros by turning a gaming phenomenon into a global cinema blockbuster.
Critics have been given limited access to the film ahead of the start of its theatrical release on Wednesday, with those present at Sunday's world premiere in London asked to hold back their write-ups.
Made by "Napoleon Dynamite" director Jared Hess, the film stars Jack Black -- who also appeared in Super Mario -- alongside Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Jennifer Coolidge, Jemaine Clement and Matt Berry.
At the London premiere, Black cast the film as escapism for families in an increasingly worrying world.
"There's so much violence and war and hatred," Black told The Hollywood Reporter. "And that's what I love about this movie -- there's a lot of love in it and there's a lot of creativity."
A trailer released late last year drew largely negative comments while a handful of online reviews have been varied.
One described it as "easily the worst movie I have seen in years", yet another tipped it to become a "cult classic".
Part of the challenge for backers Warner Studios is that adapting the world's most successful game -- around 300 million sales and counting -- is set to provoke strong feelings from fans who grew up exploring the Minecraft universe. 
For every Super Mario Bros success story -- the 2023 adaptation of the Nintendo racers grossed an estimated $1.3 billion in 2023 -- there are other games-turned-films that have turned into epic box office turkeys.

Games to big screens

Minecraft was first released 16 years ago, developed by Swedish designer Markus Persson, who sold it for $2.5 billion to Microsoft several years later.
Players explore and build while fending off creepers and zombies, all in a world of simple cubic lo-fi graphics.
The film's plot sees four humans sucked into the game through a mysterious portal who must then try to find their way home with the help of the Minecraft character Steve, played by Black.
Warner spent an estimated $150 million on the film and experts say cinemas need a box office hit after a slow start to 2025.
Disney's big-budget Snow White adaptation, released last month, has been widely panned and there are still more than six weeks to go until the release of the next instalment of the bankable "Mission: Impossible" franchise.
"We hope it's going to be big thing for cinemas because the market is a bit quiet at the moment," Eric Marti, director at box office consultancy Comscore, told AFP.
He stressed that Minecraft, unlike Super Mario, had not crossed generations in the same way as the Nintendo characters which first emerged in the 1980s.
"Minecraft doesn't necessarily have the same ability to become universal," he explained.
Transferring gaming success to the big screen is a tricky balancing act, involving careful plotting.
"Some adaptations of video games to the cinema have been total failures like 'Street Fighter' or 'Mortal Kombat'," explained Julien Pillot, a French expert on digital culture. "Others have had commercial success despite not being particularly appreciated by gamers." 
A first live-action take on Super Mario Bros in 1993 appears on some "worst of all time" film lists, while the 2005 movie version of "Doom" -- a franchise which revolutionised the shoot-'em-up genre in the 1990s -- remains another memorable flop.
Studios are keen on adaptations because games are like classic comic books, which have long been plundered: rich in characters, with an established following and a widely recognised visual universe.
There have been recent successes on the small screen, including Netflix hits "The Witcher" in 2019 and "Arcane" in 2021.
HBO's "The Last of Us", a thriller set in post-apocalyptic America, was a breakout success in 2023 and a new season is set to be released in April. 
A sequel in the Mortal Kombat franchise is set to be released in cinemas in October, while "Five Nights at Freddy's 2", based on a popular horror game, will hit screens in December. 
fbe-adp/sbk

music

Trump signs executive order targeting ticket scalping

  • By the time you check out, it's $170," said Kid Rock, who wore a straw fedora and American-flag emblazoned red suit to the Oval Office. 
  • With American entertainer Kid Rock at his side, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday clamping down on ticket scalping and live event pricing.
  • By the time you check out, it's $170," said Kid Rock, who wore a straw fedora and American-flag emblazoned red suit to the Oval Office. 
With American entertainer Kid Rock at his side, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday clamping down on ticket scalping and live event pricing.
The directive seeks to prevent "unscrupulous middlemen" from profiting off reselling tickets for concerts and other events at an "enormous markup".
It orders the US attorney general and the Treasury secretary to use "all legal means" to stamp out soaring price gouging, and calls on the Federal Trade Commission to "ensure price transparency at all stages of the ticket-purchase process, including the secondary ticketing market."
"You can buy a ticket for $100. By the time you check out, it's $170," said Kid Rock, who wore a straw fedora and American-flag emblazoned red suit to the Oval Office. 
The "Born Free" singer, who appeared with Trump on the presidential campaign trail in 2024, added that due to "bots" tickets were being relisted "for sometimes a 400-500 percent markup."
The administration of Trump's predecessor Joe Biden also targeted scalpers, suing concert booking website Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment last year over monopoly allegations.
In a statement Monday, Live Nation, which has denied monopoly allegations, said it supports Trump's order, and called for enforcement. 
fz-lb/mlm

film

Sam Mendes to launch four 'Beatles' movies in same month

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • The announcement came at the start of the CinemaCon trade convention, where movie theater owners gather annually in Las Vegas to hear Hollywood studios' plans for the coming months and years.
  • Sam Mendes will release four movies about The Beatles in the same month, the director announced Monday, with Paul Mescal playing Paul McCartney and Barry Keoghan portraying Ringo Starr in "the first bingeable theatrical experience."
  • The announcement came at the start of the CinemaCon trade convention, where movie theater owners gather annually in Las Vegas to hear Hollywood studios' plans for the coming months and years.
Sam Mendes will release four movies about The Beatles in the same month, the director announced Monday, with Paul Mescal playing Paul McCartney and Barry Keoghan portraying Ringo Starr in "the first bingeable theatrical experience."
The "four-film cinematic event," hitting theaters in April 2028, will each focus on a different member of the legendary British pop quartet, with Harris Dickinson playing John Lennon and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.
"Each one is told from the particular perspective of just one of the guys. They intersect in different ways -- sometimes overlapping, sometimes not," Mendes told the CinemaCon movie theater convention in Las Vegas.
"They're four very different human beings. Perhaps this is a chance to understand them a little more deeply. But together, all four films will tell the story of the greatest band in history."
Filming is about to begin, and is expected to take more than a year, said Mendes. The exact order in which the movies will be released has not yet been revealed.
"I'd been trying to make a film about the Beatles for years, but I had temporarily given up," explained "American Beauty" Oscar-winner Mendes.
"I just felt the story of the band was too huge to fit into a single movie, and that turning it into a TV mini-series just somehow didn't feel right."
The announcement came at the start of the CinemaCon trade convention, where movie theater owners gather annually in Las Vegas to hear Hollywood studios' plans for the coming months and years.
While 2025 had been widely touted as the year that the movie industry would bounce back, the box office has so far endured a terrible start, reeling from high-profile flops like Disney's live-action "Snow White" and sci-fi "Mickey 17."
The $1.3 billion taken in North America receipts so far is seven percent below an already lean Q1 2024, which was itself derailed by the previous year's massive Hollywood strikes.
All this is roiling an industry that has never fully returned to pre-pandemic profit levels, and had informally adopted the motto "Survive till '25."
So CinemaCon at the Caesars Palace casino is a key chance for Hollywood to present upcoming films to theater owners -- and, hopefully, inspire a bit of confidence that the good times are coming back.

Spidey and Bond?

The event kicked off Monday night with a presentation from Sony Pictures.
As well as sharing news about Mendes' "Beatles" movies, the studio unveiled information about its wildly popular "Spider-Man" films.
A new live-action film starring Tom Holland, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day," was confirmed for July 2026, while animated movie "Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse" received a June 2027 release date.
The studio also teased this summer's "28 Years Later," a long-in-development apocalyptic horror sequel from Danny Boyle, starring Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes. 
Boyle nodded to speculation about the next actor to play James Bond by joking that Taylor-Johnson "may or may not be the next Bond" -- and how Fiennes "probably should have been."
Later in the week at CinemaCon, Amazon MGM will give a major presentation, just days after unveiling new producers for the 007 franchise it spent billions of dollars acquiring.
Warner Bros. will be desperate to recover from flops like "Mickey 17" and "The Alto Knights" -- a Robert De Niro film that took just $5 million worldwide on its recent opening weekend, despite having cost $45 million to make.
The studio has a mouth-watering lineup, including Leonardo DiCaprio film "One Battle After Another," and a major new "Superman" film that it hopes can revitalize its entire flagging DC superhero franchise. 
In a near-annual tradition, Paramount will showcase its latest "Mission: Impossible" film, prompting the inevitable rumors of a Tom Cruise appearance on the stage of the casino's giant auditorium.
Other studios due to present this week include Universal Pictures, with its latest "Jurassic World" and "Wicked" sequels, and Lionsgate, home of Keanu Reeves' many "John Wick" movies.
Disney, with an ever-growing roster of Marvel superheroes and a new "Avatar" sequel due in December, will wrap up the event on Thursday night.
amz/lb

WAL

Wrexham reap financial rewards of Hollywood tie-up

  • "While the documentary does not contribute any direct financial return for the club, it delivers incredible global exposure for the Wrexham brand and provides the club with a unique marketing platform that can be monetised through the delivery of TV exposure for our partners," a statement about the 2023/24 results published on the club's website on Monday said.
  • Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have helped Welsh football club Wrexham secure record financial results.
  • "While the documentary does not contribute any direct financial return for the club, it delivers incredible global exposure for the Wrexham brand and provides the club with a unique marketing platform that can be monetised through the delivery of TV exposure for our partners," a statement about the 2023/24 results published on the club's website on Monday said.
Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney have helped Welsh football club Wrexham secure record financial results.
The club's increasing popularity in the United States with their two A-list co-owners at the helm, helped push revenue to £26.7 million ($34.5 million) in their latest accounts, up 155 percent on the previous year.
The club, who play in the third tier of the English game, said they generated more than half (52.1 percent) of their record turnover from outside Europe, primarily North America, for the year ending June 30, 2024.
That compared to 24.6 percent generated outside Europe in the previous year's figures.
The club said that the spectacular rise highlighted the impact of the "Welcome to Wrexham" documentary series on Disney Plus, with the fourth instalment currently being filmed.
"While the documentary does not contribute any direct financial return for the club, it delivers incredible global exposure for the Wrexham brand and provides the club with a unique marketing platform that can be monetised through the delivery of TV exposure for our partners," a statement about the 2023/24 results published on the club's website on Monday said.
Commercial revenue increased from £1.83 million in the previous accounts to £13.18 million in the latest set of numbers.
Wrexham said a new global membership scheme now accounted for 25 percent of all club memberships, highlighting their overseas appeal.
Increased costs contributed to an overall loss of £2.73 million, down from £5.11 million in 2022/23.
Wrexham have a good chance of securing a third successive promotion, with the club placed second in League One with seven games left to play.
jw/ea

restaurant

Michelin Guide unveils new stars for 68 restaurants in France

BY ADAM PLOWRIGHT

  • "The world is worried, the tensions, crises, war at the gates of Europe," Michelin Guide director Gwendal Poullennec said on stage at the ceremony in the eastern city of Metz.
  • The Michelin Guide handed out new stars to 68 restaurants in France on Monday at a ceremony that celebrated emerging young talents and proposed food as a tonic for the world's worries.
  • "The world is worried, the tensions, crises, war at the gates of Europe," Michelin Guide director Gwendal Poullennec said on stage at the ceremony in the eastern city of Metz.
The Michelin Guide handed out new stars to 68 restaurants in France on Monday at a ceremony that celebrated emerging young talents and proposed food as a tonic for the world's worries.
Two restaurants joined the highest and most coveted three-star category in Michelin's 2025 France guide, namely Christopher Coutanceau in western La Rochelle and seafood specialist Le Coquillage in northern Brittany.
"The world is worried, the tensions, crises, war at the gates of Europe," Michelin Guide director Gwendal Poullennec said on stage at the ceremony in the eastern city of Metz.
"And in the middle of all that, men and women continue to cook, welcome people, pass on knowledge and to create beauty," he told a crowd of 600 chefs.
The famous red bible for gastronomes still makes and breaks reputations, despite increasing competition from rival food lists and the rise of social media influencers.
France has the highest number of Michelin-endorsed restaurants of the 50 destinations covered by the guide around world, with 31 three stars, 81 two stars and 542 with one star. 
- Global food scene - 
Among the notable winners on Monday was Philippe Etchebest, who won a second star for his restaurant Maison Nouvelle in Bordeaux.
The 58-year-old, who made a name for himself as a celebrity food judge on TV shows such as Top Chef, said the 2025 guide reflected the strength of the next generation of French chefs. 
"We see it on Top Chef, there are a lot of creative young people, who are very open to the world," he told AFP. "They're going faster than we did in our time."  
The Michelin Guide has sought to shed its reputation for elitist and pricey dinners in recent years, with more diverse eating options making it onto its lists of recommended outlets internationally.
After rewarding roadside food stalls in Thailand and Singapore, the guide granted a star to a taco stand in Mexico City last year, causing a local sensation but baffling regular eaters there.
Remi Dechambre, food critic at Le Parisien newspaper, also told AFP that the 2025 selection for France rewarded many up-and-coming chefs such as Adrien Cachot and Valentina Giacobbe with a single star.
"It's the new generation. The guide is constantly evolving and this year is a demonstration," he said. 
- Controversy - 
Each edition of the Michelin Guide in France produces controversy over who is included, who is not and who has joined the list of anti-Michelin rebels.
Showman chef Marc Veyrat had told the guide's inspectors they were not welcome in his new 450-euro-a-head ($485) restaurant in the Megeve ski resort in the Alps.
Veyrat sued Michelin unsuccessfully after inspectors stripped him of a star in 2019 in a controversy dubbed "cheddar-gate".
He claimed the downgrade was because inspectors mistakenly thought he had adulterated a cheese souffle with English cheddar instead of using local French varieties.
His newly opened Le Restaurant Marc Veyrat did not appear among Monday's winners.
Vincent Favre-Felix, a chef with a one-star restaurant in Annecy, eastern France, announced last week that he wanted to return his award, which he has held since 2021, after he decided to change his concept.
The guide stresses that its anonymous inspectors are free to go wherever they want and that stars do not belong to the chefs themselves.
A three-star restaurant -- the highest award -- denotes kitchens where cooking is "elevated to an art form" and chefs are "at the peak of their profession".
Japan has the second-most number of three-starred destinations, followed by Spain, Italy and the United States.
adp-mdv/sbk

politics

Trump confident in finding TikTok buyer before deadline

BY ALEX PIGMAN

  • When the last deadline passed, in January, TikTok temporarily shut down in the United States, to the dismay of millions of users. bur-arp/mlm
  • President Donald Trump again downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger of being banned in the United States, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app's US business by a Friday deadline.
  • When the last deadline passed, in January, TikTok temporarily shut down in the United States, to the dismay of millions of users. bur-arp/mlm
President Donald Trump again downplayed risks that TikTok is in danger of being banned in the United States, saying he remains confident of finding a buyer for the app's US business by a Friday deadline.
The hugely popular video-sharing app, which has over 170 million American users, is under threat from a law that passed overwhelmingly last year and orders TikTok to split from its Chinese owner ByteDance or face a ban in the United States.
Motivated by widespread belief in Washington that TikTok is ultimately controlled by the Chinese government, the law took effect on January 19, one day before Trump's inauguration.
But the Republican president quickly announced a delay that has allowed it to continue to operate; that delay is set to expire on April 5.
"We have a lot of potential buyers. There's tremendous interest in TikTok," Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One late Sunday.
"We have a lot of people that want to buy TikTok. We're dealing with China also on it, because they may have something to do with it," he said, adding "I'd like to see TikTok remain alive."
Any deal to divest TikTok from ByteDance will require the approval of Beijing, and Trump has said he may offer to reduce tariffs on China as a way to get Beijing's approval for the sale.
Trump, though he supported a ban in his first term, has lately become the app's greatest defender, seeing it as a reason more young voters supported him in November's election.
One of his major political donors, billionaire Jeff Yass, is also a major stakeholder in parent company ByteDance.

ByteDance on board?

Several proposals for TikTok's US business have emerged since the law began to make its way through Congress last year.
But according to The New York Times, citing people involved in coming up with a solution, the most likely fix would see existing US investors in ByteDance roll over their stakes into a new independent global TikTok company.
Additional US investors would be brought on to reduce the proportion of Chinese investors. Trump at one point said the US government could also take a stake through a newly announced national sovereign fund.
Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities told AFP that he believed cloud company Oracle would "play a major role" in such a deal and that "ByteDance will still control and own the algorithm" and have board seats.
Much of TikTok's US activity is already housed on Oracle servers, and the company's executive chairman, Larry Ellison, is a longtime Trump ally who was also floated as a buyer of TikTok's US activity in Trump's first term.
The arrangement would go against the spirit of the law, which is in part based on the premise that TikTok's algorithm can be weaponized by the Chinese against US interests.
But University of Richmond School of Law professor Carl Tobias said he did not expect opposition in the Republican-led Congress, or if Trump ordered another extension to the sale deadline.
"Lawmakers have expressed little opposition to Trump's actions (including ones) which federal judges have ruled violate the Constitution or congressionally-passed statutes," he said.
Other proposals include an initiative called "The People's Bid for TikTok," launched by real estate and sports tycoon Frank McCourt's Project Liberty initiative.
Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity recently expressed interest in buying TikTok as did a joint venture involving YouTube mega-celebrity MrBeast.
When the last deadline passed, in January, TikTok temporarily shut down in the United States, to the dismay of millions of users.
bur-arp/mlm

entertainment

Hard-hitting drama 'Adolescence' to be shown in UK schools

  • "Adolescence", which was released on March 13, follows the aftermath of the schoolgirl's fatal stabbing, revealing the dangerous influences boys are subjected to online.
  • The Netflix drama "Adolescence", which has sparked widespread debate about the toxic and misogynistic influences young boys are exposed to online, will be shown in UK secondary schools, the prime minister's office and the streaming giant said Monday.
  • "Adolescence", which was released on March 13, follows the aftermath of the schoolgirl's fatal stabbing, revealing the dangerous influences boys are subjected to online.
The Netflix drama "Adolescence", which has sparked widespread debate about the toxic and misogynistic influences young boys are exposed to online, will be shown in UK secondary schools, the prime minister's office and the streaming giant said Monday.
"We're incredibly proud of the impact the show has made, and are delighted to be able to offer it to all schools across the UK," said Anne Mensah, vice president of UK content at Netflix, adding that the four-part series had "helped articulate the pressures young people and parents face".
The announcement came as Prime Minister Keir Starmer met the creators of the show alongside charities and young people at his Downing Street office to discuss the issues raised in the series.
Starmer said that he had watched the drama -- in which a 13-year-old boy stabs a girl to death after being radicalised online -- with his own teenage children and that it had "hit home hard".  
"It's an important initiative to encourage as many pupils as possible to watch the show," he said. Minors aged 11 to 18 will be able to see the series at their secondary schools.
"Openly talking about changes in how they communicate, the content they're seeing, and exploring the conversations they're having with their peers is vital if we are to properly support them in navigating contemporary challenges, and deal with malign influences," Starmer added.
"Adolescence", which was released on March 13, follows the aftermath of the schoolgirl's fatal stabbing, revealing the dangerous influences boys are subjected to online.
The series had 24.3 million views in its first four days, making it Netflix's top show for the week of March 10-16, according to the entertainment industry magazine Variety.
Maria Neophytou of the UK's children's charity NSPCC said the meeting had been a "critical milestone".
"The online world is being polluted by harmful and misogynistic content which is having a direct impact on the development of young people's thinking and behaviours. This cannot be allowed to continue," she said.
har/jkb/js

film

After flops, movie industry targets fresh start at CinemaCon

BY ANDREW MARSZAL

  • We need more movies," said Daniel Loria, senior vice president at the Boxoffice Company.
  • This was meant to be the year the movies bounced back.
  • We need more movies," said Daniel Loria, senior vice president at the Boxoffice Company.
This was meant to be the year the movies bounced back. But as the CinemaCon trade convention kicks off Monday in Las Vegas, theater owners are hoping and praying for signs that 2025 is back on track.
The box office has endured a terrible start, reeling from high-profile flops like Disney's live-action "Snow White," superhero sequel "Captain America: Brave New World" and bizarre sci-fi "Mickey 17."
The $1.3 billion taken in North America receipts so far is seven percent below an already lean Q1 2024, which was itself derailed by the previous year's massive Hollywood strikes.
All this is roiling an industry that has never fully returned to pre-pandemic profit levels, and had informally adopted the motto "Survive till '25."
So the annual CinemaCon summit at the Caesars Palace casino is a key chance for Hollywood studios to present their upcoming films to theater owners -- and, hopefully, inspire a bit of confidence that the good times are coming back.
"The box office is down in the dumps. We need a recovery. We need more movies," said Daniel Loria, senior vice president at the Boxoffice Company.
"It's really good timing because that's exactly what we're going to be getting out of CinemaCon," he told a recent podcast. 

Spidey and Bond?

The event kicks off Monday night with a presentation from Sony Pictures, home of the wildly popular "Spider-Man" films.
The studio is expected to tease films like this summer's "28 Years Later," a long-in-development apocalyptic horror sequel from Danny Boyle, starring Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes. 
Later in the week, Amazon MGM will give a major presentation, just days after unveiling new producers for the James Bond franchise it spent billions of dollars acquiring.
Warner Bros. will be desperate to recover from flops like "Mickey 17" and "The Alto Knights" -- a Robert De Niro film that took just $5 million worldwide on its recent opening weekend, despite having cost $45 million to make.
The studio has a mouth-watering lineup including new Leonardo DiCaprio film "One Battle After Another," and a major new "Superman" film that it hopes can revitalize its entire flagging DC superhero franchise. 
In a near-annual tradition, Paramount will showcase its latest "Mission: Impossible" film, prompting the inevitable rumors of a Tom Cruise appearance on the stage of the casino's giant auditorium.
The company is unlikely to mention its proposed merger with Skydance. Paramount is locked in a lawsuit with Donald Trump's administration over a CBS News interview with Kamala Harris during last year's election.
Other studios due to present this week include Universal Pictures, with its latest "Jurassic World" and "Wicked" sequels, and Lionsgate, home of Keanu Reeves' many "John Wick" movies.
Disney, with an ever-growing roster of Marvel superheroes and a new "Avatar" sequel due in December, will wrap up the event on Thursday night.
amz/hg/sst

Microsoft

Computer pioneer Microsoft turns 50 in the age of AI

BY JULIE JAMMOT

  • - 'Achilles heel' - Microsoft remains in the shadow of other US tech giants when it comes to offerings such as social networks, smartphones and the AI-infused digital assistants that have become woven into people's lives, but it is not for lack of effort.
  • Microsoft has been at the heart of computing for half a century, becoming a tech stalwart almost taken for granted as lifestyles embraced the internet.
  • - 'Achilles heel' - Microsoft remains in the shadow of other US tech giants when it comes to offerings such as social networks, smartphones and the AI-infused digital assistants that have become woven into people's lives, but it is not for lack of effort.
Microsoft has been at the heart of computing for half a century, becoming a tech stalwart almost taken for granted as lifestyles embraced the internet.
As the company, founded with a vision of putting computers in every home and office, celebrates its 50th anniversary on Friday, it is looking to boost its fortunes by being a leader in the fast-developing field of artificial intelligence (AI).
"From a storytelling standpoint, they've been a boring company and a boring stock," eMarketer analyst Jeremy Goldman said of the Richmond, Washington-based behemoth.
"It's funny because they have a $2.9 trillion market cap, and that is huge," he continued, referring to Microsoft's value based on its share price.
The only company with a higher market cap is iPhone maker Apple.
Cloud computing is fueling Microsoft's revenue with the help of its ubiquitous Office software, now hosted online and no longer released in boxes of floppy disks or CDs.
"It's not a very sexy infrastructure, but it's a very valuable one," Goldman said of Microsoft's data centers and software at the foundation of its cloud-computing platform.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google are Microsoft's cloud-computing rivals.

'Micro-Soft'

Clouds were the stuff of weather forecasts rather than computing when Bill Gates and childhood friend Paul Allen founded what was first called "Micro-Soft" in 1975.
They launched the MS-DOS operating system that became known as "Windows" and went on to run most of the world's computers.
Microsoft Office programs including Word, Excel and PowerPoint became standard business tools, even fending off free Google Docs software.
"Microsoft had a lot of businesses that were weaker and challenged -- the perfect example is Office," Goldman said.
"That Office is still such a meaningful business for them says something about the way they were able to innovate."
Current chief executive Satya Nadella championed a Microsoft shift to making its software available on just about any device as subscription services hosted in the cloud.
The move likely saved Microsoft from seeing free services like Google Docs reduce their market share to zero, the analyst said.

'Achilles heel'

Microsoft remains in the shadow of other US tech giants when it comes to offerings such as social networks, smartphones and the AI-infused digital assistants that have become woven into people's lives, but it is not for lack of effort.
Microsoft introduced Xbox video game consoles in 2001, steadily building up its stable of studios, making the blockbuster buy of Activision Blizzard two years ago and adding an online subscription service for players.
And despite its launch of the Bing search engine in 2009, Google still dominates that market.
Microsoft in 2016 bought career-focused social network LinkedIn, which has seen steady growth. But it still lacks the reach of Meta's Facebook or Instagram, or the influence of Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter).
Microsoft is among those in the running to buy TikTok, which faces a ban in the United States if not sold by China-based ByteDance.
While Apple and Google have excelled at making it easy or even fun for users to engage with products, that has been an "Achilles heel" for Microsoft, according to Goldman.
"It's never been a strong suit of theirs," the analyst said.

Mobile miss

Known for a focus on sales rather than innovation, Steve Ballmer, who followed Gates as chief of Microsoft from 2000 to 2013, has been faulted for missing the shift to smartphones and other mobile computing devices.
His successor, Nadella, took over with a vow to make Microsoft a "mobile-first, cloud-first" company and Microsoft has since invested heavily in AI, taking a stake in ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and building the technology into offerings including Bing, though to little avail.

Behind in AI?

Independent analyst Jack Gold believes that despite those investments and efforts, Microsoft lags in AI because it lacks its own chips or foundation model.
"They are not as advanced in that as AWS and Google, so they're still playing a little bit of catchup in that space," Gold said of Microsoft.
Google Cloud's revenue growth is on pace to overtake Microsoft's Azure for second place in the market in two years, the analyst said.
juj-gc/arp/bbk/mlm