Reuters Entertainment News Summary
Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.
Streaming activity helps keep Drake's 'Views' atop Billboard 200
Strong streaming activity helped keep Canadian R&B artist Drake at the top of the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Monday for an 11th non-consecutive week. Drake's "Views" sold 16,000 albums, 156,000 songs and was streamed 85 million times across platforms such as Apple Music and Spotify, totaling 89,000 album units according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
Pokemon Go gets big Comic-Con stage, creator talks success and future
The creator of the wildly popular Pokemon Go gaming app received the celebrity treatment on Sunday at the final day of San Diego's annual Comic-Con, as he discussed the viral popularity and future of the game. John Hanke, founder of Niantic Labs and developer of Pokemon Go, was welcomed with loud applause from more than 6,500 fans on a stage usually reserved for star-studded presentations from movie studios and TV networks.
Box Office: 'Star Trek Beyond' racks up solid $59.6 million, 'Lights Out' scores
"Star Trek Beyond" debuted to a solid $59.6 million this weekend, signaling that after six television series, 13 movies and 50 years in the pop culture conversation, there's still life left in one of Hollywood's most durable franchises. And there are more intergalactic missions to come. As boon to Trekkies, Paramount took the unusual step of announcing yet another sequel was in the works even before this latest USS Enterprise adventure sailed into theaters. The studio has lined up Chris Hemsworth to reprise his role as Capt. Kirk's father despite the fact that he was incinerated in a spaceship disaster in a previous film. In science-fiction, it seems, death is merely a temporary predicament.
Star Wars may propel U.S. toy industry to best year since '99: NPD
The Force is with the U.S. toy industry this year. Demand for Star Wars merchandise is set to propel toy sales growth to a 17 year-high, according to industry research firm The NPD Group.
EU accepts Paramount's concessions over movie licensing
EU antitrust regulators on Tuesday accepted Paramount Pictures' concessions to end anti-competitive movie-licensing deals with British pay-TV group Sky UK, but said the case against five other Hollywood studios would continue. The U.S. studio's offer came after the European Commission in July last year accused it of preventing viewers outside Britain and Ireland from accessing films and other content broadcast by Sky UK.
Secret 'Blair Witch' sequel unveiled at Comic-Con
Participants at Comic-Con that went into a screening for upcoming horror movie "The Woods," last week were surprised to come out from the movie having watched the sequel to the 1999 found-footage horror film hit, "The Blair Witch Project." The subject and title of Lionsgate teaser film "The Woods" was kept under wraps since it began production but was unveiled at San Diego's pop culture event as "Blair Witch," the third installment of the franchise, in theaters on Sept. 16.
Bolshoi Ballet marks 60th anniversary of landmark London visit
At the height of the Cold War, dancers from Russia's Bolshoi Ballet did their bit to thaw East-West relations, flying to London in 1956 to make their first performances for British audiences who had never seen anything quite like it. This week, they return to mark the 60th anniversary of an event that was a triumph of art over geopolitics in a year when Britain was rocked by the Suez crisis and the Soviet Union invaded Hungary.
Harry Potter's 'Cursed Child' story already a U.S. best-seller
Harry Potter is casting a spell, again, over the publishing industry Nine years after the publication of the seventh and last book in the best-selling boy wizard series, pre-orders for the script of a new, sold-out London play is the most pre-ordered book since 2007 in the United States, retail book sellers Barnes & Noble said on Monday.
© Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained in this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd.
