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Universal to Open First European Theme Park Near London

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech about the building in the UK of the first Universal theme park and resort in Europe by US media giant Comcast Corp during a visit to Bedford, north of London, on April 9, 2025. (AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech about the building in the UK of the first Universal theme park and resort in Europe by US media giant Comcast Corp during a visit to Bedford, north of London, on April 9, 2025. (AFP)
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Universal to Open First European Theme Park Near London

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech about the building in the UK of the first Universal theme park and resort in Europe by US media giant Comcast Corp during a visit to Bedford, north of London, on April 9, 2025. (AFP)
Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a speech about the building in the UK of the first Universal theme park and resort in Europe by US media giant Comcast Corp during a visit to Bedford, north of London, on April 9, 2025. (AFP)

US media giant Comcast Corp has chosen an area north of London for its first Universal theme park and resort in Europe, pledging to build rides and attractions based on its movie franchises that it hopes will rival Disneyland Paris.

The group, which owns the Jurassic Park and Back to the Future movie franchises and the Harry Potter theme park license, said the park in Bedford would create 20,000 jobs during construction and a further 8,000 across the hospitality and creative industries when it opens in 2031.

It is expected to attract 8.5 million visitors in its first year, a number currently only exceeded in Europe by Disneyland Paris to the east of the French capital.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and finance minister Rachel Reeves joined Comcast bosses to announce the theme park on Wednesday.

"This will drive growth here and across the country," Starmer said.

The Labor government has pledged to boost investment in infrastructure since it was elected last year, and Britain's economy needs fresh momentum after the highest tax-raising budget since 1993 in October dented business confidence.

The government has pledged to speed up planning decisions and the announcement comes after it approved the expansion of Luton Airport, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the Universal site, boosting the area's international connectivity.

"This (theme park) is our 'Plan for Change' in action, bringing investment, bringing opportunity, growth, jobs and, of course, joy to Britain," Starmer said.

Universal has five resorts and parks, in the US states of California and Florida as well as in Singapore, Japan and China, offering rides and attractions based on its movie franchises.

Plans for the new site include a park, featuring several themed lands, a 500-room hotel and a retail, dining and entertainment complex.

Comcast President Mike Cavanagh showed Starmer the plan in London on Tuesday, saying he "could not be more excited" to create a Universal theme park and resort in the heart of the United Kingdom.

Comcast bought a 500-acre former brickworks in Bedfordshire, about 55 miles north of London, in 2023 and had been in talks with the government since last year. It already owns Sky, which is Europe's biggest pay-TV business.

The theme park and resort are subject to planning permission, the government said.

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Entertainment

Havana-born Star Andy Garcia Says Cubans Dream of Change

US actor Andy Garcia poses during a photocall of the film "Diamond" at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France on May 20, 2026. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP)
US actor Andy Garcia poses during a photocall of the film "Diamond" at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France on May 20, 2026. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP)
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Havana-born Star Andy Garcia Says Cubans Dream of Change

US actor Andy Garcia poses during a photocall of the film "Diamond" at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France on May 20, 2026. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP)
US actor Andy Garcia poses during a photocall of the film "Diamond" at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France on May 20, 2026. (Photo by Valery HACHE / AFP)

Havana-born Hollywood star Andy Garcia told AFP that the overwhelming majority of Cubans would support an intervention to overthrow their government as he presented his directorial debut at the Cannes Film Festival.

The star of films "The Godfather Part III" and "Ocean's Eleven" said he still woke up every morning dreaming of a Cuba "free from repression" after 67 years of communist rule on the island.

"Nobody wants war, but absolute repression and suffering of the people in that country is not the alternative, that's not something to embrace," he said during an interview on Tuesday to promote his film noir "Diamond" which features an A-list cast.

"If you were to ask the Cuban people, not the Cuban government... would they want us (the United States), France, anybody, to intervene and save them? You would get a unanimous 90 percent people saying, 'Please come and invade our country and get rid of these people'," Garcia said.

US President Donald Trump has imposed an oil blockade on Cuba, aggravating the impoverished island's worst economic and energy crisis in decades, while making repeated threats that the US might forcibly topple the government.

In Cuba, young people have told AFP privately they favor a US intervention, seeing it as the only chance to transform the island's fortunes, despite fears it would lead to bloodshed.

But older Cubans tend to reject the threats, pointing to over six decades of tensions between Havana and Washington that never bubbled over into open conflict, despite coming perilously close to a nuclear confrontation in 1962.

Garcia, 70, left Cuba as a child and his film "Diamond" serves as a sort of "love letter" to his adopted hometown Los Angeles where he has lived for most of his life.

His first turn behind the camera is a project 20 years in the making, based on an idea which started out as a homework project for his daughter.

It grew into a film about fedora-wearing and hard-drinking private detective Joe Diamond who is stuck in the past while trying to crack a case about a billionaire's death in contemporary Los Angeles.

Garcia's actor friends Bill Murray and Dustin Hoffman agreed to play roles as a barman and coroner, while the rest of the cast includes "The Whale" star Brendan Fraser as a detective, with Rosemarie DeWitt and Vicky Krieps the female leads.

Garcia said he had learned from many industry legends over his career, including "The Godfather" director Francis Ford Coppola who handed him his first major break in a once-stellar career that has stalled in recent decades.

"I always wanted to make movies, not just be in them," Garcia told AFP.

Reviews were mostly positive about his first effort, with Deadline calling it a "wonderfully atmospheric, nostalgic and entertaining contemporary noir". The Wrap said "at times it betrays its amateur beginnings with clunky plotting."

Entertainment

‘The Four Seasons’ Star Tina Fey Says Old Friends Are Gold

Cast members Tina Fey and Will Forte attend a premiere for season 2 of the television series "The Four Seasons" at the Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, US, May 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Cast members Tina Fey and Will Forte attend a premiere for season 2 of the television series "The Four Seasons" at the Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, US, May 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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‘The Four Seasons’ Star Tina Fey Says Old Friends Are Gold

Cast members Tina Fey and Will Forte attend a premiere for season 2 of the television series "The Four Seasons" at the Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, US, May 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Cast members Tina Fey and Will Forte attend a premiere for season 2 of the television series "The Four Seasons" at the Egyptian Theatre Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, US, May 19, 2026. (Reuters)

American actress Tina Fey hopes the latest installment of Netflix comedy "The Four Seasons" will inspire viewers to pick up the phone and check in with old friends.

"Lifelong friendships are what really hold it together," Fey told AFP at a premier for the new season, which drops on May 28.

"It's great to be married but you also meet your friends to keep the married people safe," she said from the red carpet at Hollywood's Egyptian Theatre.

"The Four Seasons," which first premiered a year ago, is based on the Alan Alda film of the same name that follows a group of friends as they navigate life's challenges.

The new season will take the group -- played by Fey, Colman Domingo, Will Forte, Marco Calvani, Kerri Kenney-Silver and Erika Henningsen -- on an adventure through Italy as they deal with the death of their friend Nick (Steve Carell).

The group's on-screen connection extends to the real world, cast members said.

"We are friends in real life as well... I think you feel that, I think it comes off the screen," Kenney-Silver said, adding that "the universal story of friendship" is key to the show's success.

While the show sees the friends -- who stay in touch via group chat even when they are not filming -- face the challenges of adulthood, they believe it has the potential to attract a multigenerational audience.

"We're a bunch of oldies, but everyone gets stressed, everyone suffers loss and gets sad, everyone's happy, everyone has people in their life they love and people who annoy them," Forte said.

"So, you know, it's all relatable stuff."

"Even if you're not the age we are, we're like a museum piece," the actor added. "Check out these old artifacts, learn something."

Entertainment

Actor Jon Voight Met with Trump to Advocate for Hollywood Tax Incentives

Cast member Jon Voight attends a premiere for the film "Reagan" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Purchase Licensing Rights
Cast member Jon Voight attends a premiere for the film "Reagan" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Purchase Licensing Rights
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Actor Jon Voight Met with Trump to Advocate for Hollywood Tax Incentives

Cast member Jon Voight attends a premiere for the film "Reagan" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Purchase Licensing Rights
Cast member Jon Voight attends a premiere for the film "Reagan" at TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, US, August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni Purchase Licensing Rights

Actor Jon Voight met with President Donald Trump earlier this year to advocate for a federal tax credit intended to help boost film and TV production in the United States, representatives of the actor said on Monday.

The previously undisclosed meeting at the White House on February 11 is part of a Hollywood effort to secure federal assistance to fight the flight of production overseas, Reuters reported.

When asked about the meeting, a White House spokesperson said Trump "is committed to Make Hollywood Great Again, and his administration continues to explore all possible policy options to ensure Hollywood remains a potent force of American culture.”

Trump named Voight, who rose to fame following ‌his role ‌in the 1969 film "Midnight Cowboy," as one of three special ambassadors ‌to ⁠Hollywood along with ⁠Sylvester Stallone and Mel Gibson in January 2025.

To fight an exodus of entertainment production abroad, Voight is working with a coalition that includes the Motion Picture Association, the Directors Guild of America and unions representing actors, writers and other talent.

SP Media Group CEO Steven Paul, a film producer and Voight's agent, and SP Media President Scott Karol have proposed a 20% federal tax credit for labor ⁠costs on a film or television production in the United ‌States.

An additional 5% could be earned for ‌independent films or for filming in a disaster zone or a defined “enterprise zone.” Those credits ‌could be used in tandem with state incentives.

The goal is to ‌make the cost of domestic production competitive with Britain and other places around the world that offer tax credits, lower labor costs and world-class soundstages.

Overseas incentives have been luring movie and TV producers to locations outside the United States for years. Filming in the US ‌declined 10% in the first quarter, compared with a year ago, according to ProdPro, which tracks worldwide film ⁠and television production.

The United ⁠States accounted for roughly 38% of film and television work in the first quarter of the year, while the United Kingdom and Canada together represented nearly one-third of global production, ProdPro reported.

In September 2025, Trump floated the idea of a 100% tariff on movies made abroad as a way to bring production back to the United States. Industry advocates welcomed Trump's desire to fight production flight but have urged the president to support tax incentives.

California more than doubled its annual tax incentives for film and television production in June 2025 to $750 million. Early results show the effort helped bring some projects back to Hollywood. Shoot days in Los Angeles rose nearly 11% in the first quarter of this year, according to permitting agency FilmLA.