Tom Holland and ‘Uncharted’ Stay No. 1 at Box Office

Tom Holland appears in a scene from "Uncharted." (AP)
Tom Holland appears in a scene from "Uncharted." (AP)
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Tom Holland and ‘Uncharted’ Stay No. 1 at Box Office

Tom Holland appears in a scene from "Uncharted." (AP)
Tom Holland appears in a scene from "Uncharted." (AP)

For the eighth time in the last two and a half months, a movie starring Tom Holland is No. 1 at the box office.

The Sony Pictures videogame adaptation “Uncharted," starring Holland and Mark Wahlberg, led ticket sales for its second weekend of release with $23.3 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

“Uncharted” held well, too, dropping a modest 46% from its $44 million debut. In two weeks, it's made $83.4 million in US and Canadian theaters.

“Uncharted,” a long-in-development adventure film about lost treasure that cost $120 million to make, is packing theaters overseas, too. With a mid-March China release date still looming, “Uncharted” added $35 million overseas, bringing its worldwide gross to $226.4 million so far.

The film’s robust international sales includes box office from Russia, where studios have thus far elected to keep movies in release after the country invaded Ukraine earlier in the week. The Ukrainian Film Academy on Saturday called for a boycott of the Russian film industry following the invasion.

On the heels of the blockbuster business for “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” the success of “Uncharted” has minted the expanding star power of the 25-year-old Holland. “No Way Home," which led the box office six times over December and January, is still one of the top draws in theaters. This weekend, it landed in third place with $5.8 million, edging it closer to $800 million in domestic ticket sales.

While both “Uncharted” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home” have benefited from brand recognition, rarely has one movie star reigned so much over a 12-week span in theaters.

Star power, too, has kept the Channing Tatum-led “Dog” at the number two spot. The MGM release, which Tatum co-directed with Reid Carolin, declined just 32% with $10.1 million in its second weekend of release. So far, the film — in which Tatum plays an Army Ranger paired with an Army dog on a road trip — has made $30.9 million against a $15 million budget.

With the release of Warner Bros.' “The Batman” coming on Friday, few new wide releases opened in theaters — and the ones that did struggled to make an impression.

The Foo Fighters' horror-comedy “Studio 666," released by Open Road and Briarcliff Entertainment, went the widest, opening in 2,306 theaters. The movie, starring Dave Grohl and company as themselves while making their 10th record in a haunted house, debuted with $1.5 million.

The repeated delayed “Cyrano,” starring Peter Dinklage, launched in 797 theaters and totaled $1.4 million for MGM. The musical, directed by Joe Wright, has been warmly received by critics, might have benefited from a boost in Oscar nominations, but after several major Golden Globe nominations, it landed only a nod for costume design.

The new release that performed best is five decades old. Paramount's 50th anniversary, remastered release of Francis Ford Coppola's “The Godfather” debuted with $900,000 in 156 theaters.



Auction House to Sell Gene Hackman’s Golden Globes, Watch and Paintings He Collected and Created 

Gene Hackman accepts his Oscar for best actor at the 44th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, April 10, 1972. (AP) 
Gene Hackman accepts his Oscar for best actor at the 44th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, April 10, 1972. (AP) 
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Auction House to Sell Gene Hackman’s Golden Globes, Watch and Paintings He Collected and Created 

Gene Hackman accepts his Oscar for best actor at the 44th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, April 10, 1972. (AP) 
Gene Hackman accepts his Oscar for best actor at the 44th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, April 10, 1972. (AP) 

An auction house plans to sell off a variety of actor Gene Hackman’s possessions in November, including Golden Globe statues, a wristwatch and paintings he collected and created himself.

Hackman died at age 95 at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, after transitioning from an Oscar-winning career in film to a life in retirement of painting, writing novels and collecting.

Auction items include a still-life painting of a Japanese vase by Hackman and Golden Globe awards from roles in “Unforgiven” and “The Royal Tenenbaums.” There are annotated books from Hackman's library, scripts, posters, movie memorabilia and high-brow art including a bronze statue by Auguste Rodin and a 1957 oil painting from modernist Milton Avery.

Anna Hicks of Bonhams international auction house said the sales “offer an intimate portrait of Hackman’s private world.”

Listings start as low as $100 for Hackman's everyman Winmau dart board or $600 for a shot at his Seiko diver's wristwatch.

The catalog includes a likeness of Hackman from portrait artist Everett Raymond Kinstler, who painted US presidents and drew for comic books.

Hackman and his wife, Betsy Arakawa, were found dead inside their home on Feb. 26, sending shock waves through a high-desert city refuge for famous actors and authors seeking to escape the spotlight.

Authorities determined that Hackman died of heart disease with complications from Alzheimer’s disease about a week after Arakawa, 65, died of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, a rare but potentially fatal disease spread by the droppings of infected rodents.

Hackman made his film debut in 1961's “Mad Dog Coll” and went on to appear in a range of movie roles, including as “Superman” villain Lex Luthor and as a basketball coach finding redemption in the sentimental favorite “Hoosiers.” He was a five-time Oscar nominee who won best actor in a leading role for “The French Connection” in 1972 and best actor in a supporting role for “Unforgiven” two decades later.

He retired from acting in the early 2000s.


Sundance Film Festival Reveals Details about Robert Redford Tributes and Legacy Screenings

The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre appears during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Jan. 28, 2020. (AP)
The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre appears during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Jan. 28, 2020. (AP)
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Sundance Film Festival Reveals Details about Robert Redford Tributes and Legacy Screenings

The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre appears during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Jan. 28, 2020. (AP)
The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre appears during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Jan. 28, 2020. (AP)

Robert Redford’s legacy and mission was always going to be a key component of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, which will be the last of its kind in Park City, Utah. But in the wake of his death in September at age 89, those ideas took on a new significance.

This January, the institute that Redford founded over 40 years ago, plans to honor his career and impact with and a screening of his first truly independent film, the 1969 sports drama “Downhill Racer,” and a series of legacy screenings of restored Sundance gems from “Little Miss Sunshine” to “House Party,” festival organizers said Tuesday.

“As we were thinking about how best to honor Mr. Redford’s legacy, it’s not only carrying forward this notion of ‘everyone has a story’ but it’s also getting together in a movie theater and watching a film that really embodies that independent spirit,” festival director Eugene Hernandez told The Associated Press. “We’ve had some incredible artists reach out to us, even in the past few weeks since Mr. Redford’s passing, who just want to be part of this year’s festival.”

Archival screenings will include “Saw,” “Mysterious Skin” and “House Party,” as well as the 35th anniversary of Barbara Kopple’s documentary “American Dream,” and 20th anniversaries of “Half Nelson” and “Little Miss Sunshine,” with some of the filmmakers expected to attend as well.

“Over the almost 30 years of Sundance Institute’s collaboration with our partner, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, we’ve not only worked to ensure that the Festival’s legacy endures through film preservation, but we’ve seen that output feed an astonishing resurgence of repertory cinema programming across the country,” said festival programmer John Nein.

“The films we’ve preserved and the newly restored films screening at this year’s festival, including some big anniversaries, are an important way to keep the independent stories from years past alive in our culture today.”

Tickets for the 2026 festival, which runs from Jan. 22 through Feb. 1, go on sale Wednesday at noon Eastern, with online and in person options. Some planning is also already underway for the festival’s new home in Boulder, Colorado, in 2027, but programmers are heads down figuring out the slate of world premieres for January. Those will be revealed in December.

“There’s a lot more to come and a lot more to announce,” Hernandez said. “This is just laying a foundation.”

Redford's death has added a poignancy to everything.

“Seeing and hearing the remembrances took me back to why I felt compelled to go to the festival in the first place,” Hernandez said. “It’s been very grounding and clarifying and for us as a team it’s been very emotional and moving. But it’s also been an opportunity to remind ourselves what Mr. Redford has given to us, to our lives, to our industry, to Utah.”


'Dream Come True' for US Pianist Eric Lu after Chopin Competition Win 

Pianists vying for the top prize performed in a multi-stage contest to showcase their skills in various musical forms. Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP
Pianists vying for the top prize performed in a multi-stage contest to showcase their skills in various musical forms. Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP
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'Dream Come True' for US Pianist Eric Lu after Chopin Competition Win 

Pianists vying for the top prize performed in a multi-stage contest to showcase their skills in various musical forms. Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP
Pianists vying for the top prize performed in a multi-stage contest to showcase their skills in various musical forms. Wojtek RADWANSKI / AFP

American pianist Eric Lu won the top prize at the prestigious International Chopin Piano Competition, the contest's Polish organizers said Tuesday.

The competition -- held every five years in Frederic Chopin's homeland -- is seen as a gateway to classical music glory, with winners going on to play top global venues and sign recording deals.

"This is a dream come true," Lu, 27, told reporters in Warsaw, thanking "all the Chopin lovers around the world".

A graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Lu participated in the competition's 2015 edition, finishing fourth.

Pianists vying for the top prize performed in a multi-stage contest to showcase their skills in various musical forms composed by Chopin, including polonaises, sonatas and mazurkas, AFP said.

It culminated with a final round that saw 11 pianists performing one of two Chopin piano concertos and his Polonaise-Fantaisie, considered notoriously difficult to master.

Previous winners of the competition include some of the biggest names in classical music, including Maurizio Pollini, Martha Argerich and Krystian Zimerman.

American pianist Garrick Ohlsson, who won the top prize in 1970, chaired the jury that selected this year's winner.

"We had a number of very difficult discussions involving our opinions about artistic matters, and it did really take this long", Ohlsson said after the jury's nearly five-hour deliberations.

"But we actually got rid of the roadblocks, and I think we have a fine decision for this year's competition," he added.

Record interest

Canada's Kevin Chen, 20, finished second and China's Zitong Wang, 26, came third.

The winner receives a prize of 60,000 euros ($70,000).

Young pianists aged 16 to 30 were eligible to take part in the competition, first held in 1927, and the Warsaw organizers received a record number of more than 600 applications for this year's edition.

Only around a tenth of them made it through a complex qualification process that included playing in a preliminary round in Warsaw.

The last event, held in 2021 after being deferred because of the Covid pandemic, ended with Canadian pianist Bruce Liu scoring the highest accolade.

Broadcast live on YouTube, the contest attracted record online interest and drew music buffs from around the world.

"I came here to just listen to this concert," Kosei Harada, a 21-year-old Japanese student living in Germany told AFP after the competition's final stage and the verdict.

"Actually I wanted the Japanese to take the prize. But I really loved the performance of Eric Lu too. So it's okay for me," Harada said.

Tickets for the competition had sold out within 30 minutes of their release online, with the final round tickets gone in two minutes.