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'Godzilla x Kong’ Maintains Box-office Dominion in 2nd Weekend

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Godzilla, left, and Kong in a scene from "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Godzilla, left, and Kong in a scene from "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
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'Godzilla x Kong’ Maintains Box-office Dominion in 2nd Weekend

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Godzilla, left, and Kong in a scene from "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)
This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Godzilla, left, and Kong in a scene from "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire." (Warner Bros. Pictures via AP)

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” easily swatted away a pair of challengers to hold on to the top spot at the box office for the second week in a row, according to studio estimates Sunday.
After its above-expectations $80 million launch last weekend, the MonsterVerse mashup brought in $31.7 million over its second weekend, a 60% drop from its debut, The Associated Press reported. The Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures release, directed by Adam Wingard, has thus far outperformed any of the studio’s recent monster films except for 2014’s “Godzilla.”
But with $361.1 million worldwide in two weeks, “Godzilla x Kong” could ultimately leapfrog the $529 million global haul of 2014’s “Godzilla.” The latest installment, in which Godzilla and Kong team up, cost about $135 million to produce.
“Godzilla x Kong” extended its box-office reign as another primate-themed movie arrived in theaters. Dev Patel’s “Monkey Man,” an India-set revenge thriller released by Universal Pictures, opened in 3,029 North American theaters with an estimated $10.1 million.
That marked a strong debut for Patel’s modestly budgeted directorial debut in which he stars in a bloody, politically charged action extravaganza. “Monkey Man,” which cost about $10 million to make, was dropped by its original studio, Netflix, after which Jordan Peele and his Monkeypaw Productions swooped in.
The weekend’s other new wide release, “The First Omen,” from Disney's 20th Century Studios, struggled to make a big impact with moviegoers. It came in fourth with an estimated $8.4 million in ticket sales in 3,375 theaters, while collecting an additional $9.1 million overseas. The R-rated horror film, which cost about $30 million to make, is a prequel to the 1976 Richard Donner-directed original starring Gregory Peck and Lee Remick.
This version, directed by Arkasha Stevenson and starring Nell Tiger Free, Tawfeek Barhom and Bill Nighy, follows 2006’s “The Omen,” which opened to $16 million and ultimately grossed $119 million.
The tepid opening for “The First Omen” allowed Sony's “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” to take third place with $9 million in its third weekend of release. The sci-fi comedy sequel has collected $88.8 million domestically and $138 million worldwide.
Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part Two” continues to perform strongly. It added $7.2 million in its sixth week, dipping just 37%, to bring its domestic total to $264 million.
One of the week's biggest performers was in China, where Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-winning “The Boy and the Heron” landed in theaters. The acclaimed Japanese anime is setting records for a non-Chinese animated film. After opening Wednesday, its five-day total surpassed $70 million, a new high mark for Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli.

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Entertainment

Eurovision Brings Pop and Politics to Asia

A woman walks past a monitor displaying an advert for the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026, outside the One Bangkok Forum venue in Bangkok on November 7, 2026. (AFP)
A woman walks past a monitor displaying an advert for the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026, outside the One Bangkok Forum venue in Bangkok on November 7, 2026. (AFP)
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Eurovision Brings Pop and Politics to Asia

A woman walks past a monitor displaying an advert for the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026, outside the One Bangkok Forum venue in Bangkok on November 7, 2026. (AFP)
A woman walks past a monitor displaying an advert for the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia 2026, outside the One Bangkok Forum venue in Bangkok on November 7, 2026. (AFP)

Boasting K-pop and Bangladeshi beatboxing, Eurovision stages its first Asia edition this Saturday, bringing the European song contest's unique brand of kitsch and geopolitics to the world's most populous region.

From Laos to Mongolia and the Philippines, 11 countries are competing in the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia in Bangkok on November 14.

It will be broadcast live on television in participating countries and on YouTube -- but a question remains over whether anyone will be watching.

Eurovision is the world's biggest televised live music event, drawing 131 million viewers in 2026, and over the past 70 years has launched the careers of artists such as ABBA and Celine Dion.

The Asia edition is its first multinational expansion, although a US version was held in 2022 -- and was not repeated.

India, Japan and China are absent from the Bangkok event, while ticket sales have been sluggish.

"Eurovision is very big in Europe and it's very new in Asia," acknowledged executive producer Assaf Blecher.

But he said three years of preparations had fostered a public appetite for the show.

"Suddenly they understood the spirit of Eurovision," he said of those involved, hailing "the music, the extravagance".

"It's a window to other countries, to music, to people, to costumes," he told AFP, adding that he hoped it would be the first of many.

- Some provocation -

The finalists have been chosen through national competitions, some of them established stars such as Vietnam's Toc Tien, a favorite to win with her pop-dance track.

South Korea will be represented by K-pop star Junhee, Bangladesh is sending an all-male a cappella beatbox collective, Beatmosphere, while Pratik Himal Rai is rocking it out for Nepal.

The Asia edition comes as Eurovision marks its 70th birthday under a cloud, 2026 viewing figures down 35 million on the year after a boycott by five countries over Israel's participation.

But the contest has always been marked by controversy, from protests in the 1960s over the participation of Franco-ruled Spain to Russia's exclusion over the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The show was first held in 1956 as an experiment by national public broadcasters and became a cultural phenomenon, known for its over-the-top staging and kitsch and eclectic music.

It grew as Europe became more integrated -- although its reach exceeds the continent's borders, with Canada joining next year -- and became as much about the politics as the music.

Votes are gathered by participating country, half from a jury and half from viewers, and no nation can vote for itself -- meaning ballots are often cast based on national relationships.

In the Asia contest, this could see viewers from Cambodia and Thailand, who clashed over their border last year, voting against each other, Blecher noted.

But the entries to Eurovision Asia -- which unlike the original is organized by commercial broadcasters -- are mostly love songs, lamented Dean Vuletic, an author and expert on Eurovision.

He noted as an exception Philippines pop singer Carmelle, whose "Sobra-Sobra" (Too Much) is an upbeat call to female empowerment.

The show is "lacking some provocation or some meaningful messaging that can resonate with international audiences", Vuletic told AFP.

"This is what makes Eurovision in Europe special from other song contests."

- Budget cuts -

The show has been hit by production issues, including a reported budget cut of one million dollars, forcing organizers to issue a statement last month insisting it was going ahead.

"There are always issues with budgets," Blecher insisted.

"This is the first year and we're working with some limitations," he said, adding that it would be a "beautiful production".

The performers were due to arrive this weekend in Bangkok ahead of rehearsals for the final show.

Some will sing in their native language, others in English, a choice made by Malaysian star Aina Abdul to reach a wider audience.

For Bhutan's Nyendra, who is performing his folk-pop love song in traditional dress, the show offers a platform well beyond his country of 800,000 inhabitants.

And he could do well, as Eurovision viewers have a habit of supporting the smallest countries, the underdogs.

Blecher says he already has 16 or 17 places interested in a 2027 edition, if all goes well this week.

He cites China, Hong Kong and Taiwan among those interested -- a selection that would certainly put the contest on the geopolitical map.

Entertainment

Film ‘One in a Million’ Follows Young Syrian Refugee’s Journey Over 10 Years

(L-R) Israa, Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes attend the "One In A Million" Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at the Yarrow Theater in Park City, Utah, US, Jan. 23, 2026. (AFP)
(L-R) Israa, Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes attend the "One In A Million" Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at the Yarrow Theater in Park City, Utah, US, Jan. 23, 2026. (AFP)
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Film ‘One in a Million’ Follows Young Syrian Refugee’s Journey Over 10 Years

(L-R) Israa, Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes attend the "One In A Million" Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at the Yarrow Theater in Park City, Utah, US, Jan. 23, 2026. (AFP)
(L-R) Israa, Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes attend the "One In A Million" Premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at the Yarrow Theater in Park City, Utah, US, Jan. 23, 2026. (AFP)

Israa was 11 years ‌old and selling cigarettes with her father on a street corner in Türkiye when filmmakers Jack MacInnes and Itab Azzam met the Syrian refugee in 2015.

They were charmed by the bubbly young girl and wanted to tell her story as her family, who had fled war-ravaged Aleppo, journeyed across eight countries to settle in Germany.

"We were with them the whole time ... we slept with them ... in the street, in the rain. We were, like, in freezing conditions in Serbia and Croatia ... And ‌by the time ‌we arrived in Germany, it was like ‌we ⁠became like a ⁠family and we really bonded," Azzam told Reuters.

That was when the idea came about for "One in a Million," the couple's documentary filmed over 10 years following Israa to adulthood.

The intimate coming-of-age story shows Israa and her family crossing borders and adapting in Germany, where new-found freedoms jar with old traditions.

Viewers follow Israa ⁠into adolescence, marriage and motherhood as she seeks ‌to find herself amid fracturing ‌shifts at home. A married Israa eventually returns to visit Syria with her ‌husband after the 2024 overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

“Migration ...(has) become ‌such a sort of political football that has so much to do with the way we feel about each other and the way we feel about our own country and has so little ‌to do with what it's actually like to be a refugee," MacInnes said.

"And what we ⁠hope is ⁠that you can watch this film and walk for an hour and a half in a refugee's shoes and understand the complexity of it."

"One in a Million", which opens in UK cinemas on Friday, premiered at January's Sundance Film Festival where it won the Audience Award.

“We... brought Israa out as a surprise, and the place just went wild," MacInnes said.

"It was so emotional for us to see this girl... who we'd met 11 years previously ... selling cigarettes on a street corner, being beaten up by police, no one gave a damn about her. And ... suddenly here she is getting her moment."

Entertainment

Dolly Parton’s Manager Drops Lawsuit Against Nephew

Dolly Parton. (Getty Images)
Dolly Parton. (Getty Images)
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Dolly Parton’s Manager Drops Lawsuit Against Nephew

Dolly Parton. (Getty Images)
Dolly Parton. (Getty Images)

The manager of US country music legend Dolly Parton dropped a civil lawsuit against the singer's nephew on Thursday, US media reported, after a row enveloped the late musician's estate.

The lawsuit filed in September by Parton's longtime manager Danny Nozell accused her nephew, Bryan Seaver, of attempting to extort money from the estate, which includes an amusement park, a hotel and a soon-to-be-opened museum.

Seaver, who broke the news of the singer's death at age 80 in an emotional video in August, had provided security for Parton for years but was abruptly fired, according to TMZ.

Court filings alleged that Seaver sent threats including a text message warning he would become "the hand of retribution for my entire family," The New York Times reported.

A judge had issued a temporary restraining order against Seaver as part of the proceedings, which were voluntarily dismissed Thursday in a Nashville court, multiple US media said.

Parton rose from grinding poverty to become a rhinestone-studded legend with hits like "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You."

She also starred in multiple films and donated millions of dollars to charities as she built a vast business empire that includes her popular Dollywood theme park in Tennessee, cosmetics, pet apparel, baking mixes and even a truck stop.