Justin Timberlake had “Trolls.” Rihanna has “Smurfs.” Now, we patiently await a “Gummi Bears” with the Biebs. But first we have “Smurfs,” which, like “Trolls,” gets as much mileage as it can from its pop singer-voice actor. Rihanna voices Smurfette and supplies a new song, giving a half-hearted injection of star power to an otherwise…
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Romance novels have always spiced up quiet nights. Now, a genre that has sometimes been dismissed as a guilty pleasure is bringing readers and writers together through social media, book clubs and a growing number of romance-specific bookstores. At a recent launch party for Nora Dahlia’s enemies-to-friends romance “Pick-Up” at Lovestruck Books,…
The new “I Know What You Did Last Summer” pretty much follows the plot of the 1997 film of the same name: A bunch of well-to-do young people get stalked and killed by a vengeful killer in a rain slicker with an ice hook. It even has some of the same stars. “It’s 1997 all…
NEW YORK — Halfway through 2025, a few music trends have become clear, according to Luminate’s 2025 Midyear Report, which was released Wednesday: — In the U.S. and globally, more music is being streamed than ever before… — But growth has slowed. — And in the U.S. specifically, there’s been a resurgence in Christian music…
NEW YORK — Oscar winner Ellen Burstyn has a book coming out next year that reveals how she has been shaped by the power of words. HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, announced Wednesday that Burstyn’s “Poetry Says It Better” will be released April 28, 2026. Burstyn, 93, is known for such films as “The…
NEW YORK — In a bid to kickoff a new era for DC Studios, James Gunn’s “Superman” opened with $122 million in U.S. and Canada ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday. DC and Warner Bros. had a lot riding on “Superman.” While the Walt Disney Co.’s Marvel Studios has had its…
LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Love Island USA” will crown the winning couple of its seventh season Sunday evening, culminating a tumultuous summer full of explosive breakups and shock exits. The finale will air on Peacock at 6 p.m. Pacific/9 p.m. Eastern, following a chart-topping run since the season premiered on June 3….
LONDON — A two-week-long music festival in central London has cancelled its final night after Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra pulled out of the headline slot on Sunday. Lynne, 77, who was billed to play alongside his band Sunday at the The BST Hyde Park festival, withdrew on Saturday on the advice of doctors as…
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says he is considering “taking away” the U.S. citizenship of a longtime rival, actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a decades-old Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits such an action by the government. “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country,…
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — In a small bookstore in the Caribbean’s largest mall, dozens of people gathered on a recent evening for the launch of a slim dictionary. Its title is “The ABC of DtMF,” which is short for “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” the newest album from Puerto Rico’s latest prodigious son, Benito Antonio…
