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Disney Launches Stage Musical 'Hercules' in London

FILE PHOTO: Buses cross Waterloo Bridge with the City of London financial district seen behind, in London, Britain, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Buses cross Waterloo Bridge with the City of London financial district seen behind, in London, Britain, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
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Disney Launches Stage Musical 'Hercules' in London

FILE PHOTO: Buses cross Waterloo Bridge with the City of London financial district seen behind, in London, Britain, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Buses cross Waterloo Bridge with the City of London financial district seen behind, in London, Britain, March 5, 2024. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

Disney takes London audiences back to Ancient Greece with its new musical "Hercules", bringing alive its 1997 animation on the West End stage.

Showing at composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's Theatre Royal Drury Lane, the show is inspired by the much-loved Disney film, itself based on the ancient myth.

It follows the titular character and son of Zeus who, upon losing his immortality as a baby due to the plotting Hades, god of the underworld, goes from zero to hero to stop his uncle from taking over.

“It's a myth that reflects contemporary culture and still honors the DNA of (the) animated movie," Robert Horn, who wrote the show's book with Kwame Kwei-Armah, told Reuters late on Tuesday at the musical's press night.

"It's its own new thing and yet fans of the movie will absolutely come and recognize it and love it.”

Central to the show are the five Muses, who sing their way through the story with energetic gospel-like tunes and plenty of costume changes, Reuters reported.

"I think I speak for all of us ... we have idolized these women. We have looked at these women and seen ourselves in times when we weren't really represented," actor Malinda Parris, who plays Calliope, said. "So being able to be that representation for other young girls ... who ... want to be The Muses ... it's living the dream."

The show differs from the movie in several ways, including Hercules' mentor, Phil, no longer being a satyr but a taverna owner.

“The main thing is that he still is there ... to love and support Hercules on his journey," actor Trevor Dion Nicholas said.

"It really is about building this bond between the two of them that kind of builds this paternal relationship that I think we were able to deepen more so than the animated film was."

"Hercules" is the latest Disney stage adaptation in London, showing in the same theatre where the hit show "Frozen" ran up until last year.

It features songs written by Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken and lyricist David Zippel from the animation, including "Go the Distance" and "Zero to Hero", as well as new tunes.

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Entertainment

Brooklyn Beckham Accuses David and Victoria of Putting Branding Before Family and Sabotaging Wedding

03 September 2019, United Kingdom, London: David Beckham (L), Victoria Beckham and Brooklyn Beckham arrive at the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2019 in association with Hugo Boss at the Tate Modern. (dpa)
03 September 2019, United Kingdom, London: David Beckham (L), Victoria Beckham and Brooklyn Beckham arrive at the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2019 in association with Hugo Boss at the Tate Modern. (dpa)
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Brooklyn Beckham Accuses David and Victoria of Putting Branding Before Family and Sabotaging Wedding

03 September 2019, United Kingdom, London: David Beckham (L), Victoria Beckham and Brooklyn Beckham arrive at the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2019 in association with Hugo Boss at the Tate Modern. (dpa)
03 September 2019, United Kingdom, London: David Beckham (L), Victoria Beckham and Brooklyn Beckham arrive at the GQ Men of the Year Awards 2019 in association with Hugo Boss at the Tate Modern. (dpa)

A Beckham family falling-out has spilled further into public view in a series of social media posts from Brooklyn Beckham alleging that his parents David and Victoria Beckham have tried to sabotage his marriage and have always prioritized public branding over their family relationships.

“For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family. The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into,” Brooklyn Beckham wrote in several pages of text posted via Instagram stories.

At 26, he's the eldest of the four children of the retired English football superstar and former Spice Girl-turned-fashion designer and has worked as a model and photographer, even aspiring to be a chef. He married American actor Nicola Peltz, daughter of activist investor Nelson Peltz, in 2022.

“Recently, I have seen with my own eyes the lengths that they’ll go through to place countless lies in the media, mostly at the expense of innocent people, to preserve their own facade. But I believe the truth always comes out,” the posts said.

The posts make public a barely veiled feud that had been brewing in anonymously sourced stories in tabloids for months. Younger brother Cruz Beckham said on Instagram in December that Brooklyn had blocked family members on social media.

“I do not want to reconcile with my family.” Brooklyn Beckham wrote. “I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life.”

Unlike his three younger siblings, Brooklyn Beckham did not appear in his mother's recent Netflix docuseries, “Victoria Beckham,” and did not show up at the October premiere as he and Peltz had for the London premiere in 2023 of the one centered on his father, called just “Beckham."

Many of the grievances described in the Instagram stories stem from the Peltz-Beckham wedding in Florida. He accused his mother of bailing at the last minute on designing Peltz's wedding dress, and said she “hijacked” the first dance he was supposed to have with his wife to music performed by Marc Anthony.

“She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone,” Brooklyn Beckham wrote. “I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.”

Without giving specifics he also wrote that before the wedding his parents “repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing away the rights to my name.”

David and Victoria Beckham did not have an immediate public response to the posts, and messages to representatives from The Associated Press were not immediately answered.

In a Tuesday appearance on CNBC, David Beckham, who is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, did not directly address his son's statements, but said that children make mistakes on social media and should be allowed to.

“That’s what I try to teach my kids. But you know, you have to sometimes let them make those mistakes as well,” he said.

Married since 1999, David and Victoria Beckham have three other children, 23-year-old Romeo, 20-year-old Cruz and 14-year-old Harper.

Entertainment

‘Snow White’ and ‘War of the Worlds’ Lead Razzie Nominations

Cast member Rachel Zegler attends a premiere for the film "Snow White", in Los Angeles, California, US, March 15, 2025. (Reuters)
Cast member Rachel Zegler attends a premiere for the film "Snow White", in Los Angeles, California, US, March 15, 2025. (Reuters)
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‘Snow White’ and ‘War of the Worlds’ Lead Razzie Nominations

Cast member Rachel Zegler attends a premiere for the film "Snow White", in Los Angeles, California, US, March 15, 2025. (Reuters)
Cast member Rachel Zegler attends a premiere for the film "Snow White", in Los Angeles, California, US, March 15, 2025. (Reuters)

With Oscar nominations a day away, Hollywood’s annual reckoning with its film failures took shape on ​Wednesday as Disney’s live-action “Snow White” and the remake “War of the Worlds” tied for six nods for the Golden Raspberry Awards.

Popularly known as the Razzies, the awards are an annual Oscar spoof that spotlights what voters deem Hollywood’s worst performances. The 46th ‌Golden Raspberry ‌Awards are set for ‌March 14, ⁠the ​day ‌before the Oscar awards.

Disney’s "Snow White," a 2025 remake of the 1937 animated classic, scored a worst picture nod along with nominations for worst remake, director and screenplay. The fantasy film stars Rachel Zegler as Snow White ⁠and Gal Gadot as the Evil Queen, and its seven ‌computer-generated dwarf characters were ‍also cited for both ‍worst supporting actors and screen combo.

Tying with “Snow ‍White,” the 2025 science fiction film "War of the Worlds," starring rapper Ice Cube and actor Eva Longoria, based on H. G. Wells' 1898 ​novel, also scored six nominations, including worst picture, actors, remake, director, screenplay and screen ⁠combo.

Other nominees include the psychological thriller “Hurry Up Tomorrow,” science fiction film “Star Trek: Section 31,” and the action-adventure Netflix film “The Electric State,” starring “Stranger Things” lead Millie Bobby Brown.

More than 1,100 Razzie members from across the United States and about two dozen other countries vote on the awards, according to the Razzie website. Voters are members of the Golden Raspberry Foundation ‌that consists of film critics and movie experts.

Entertainment

Netflix Intensifies Bid for Warner Bros Making Its $72 Billion Offer All Cash

A Netflix sign is displayed atop a building in Los Angeles, on Dec. 18, 2025, with the Hollywood sign in the distance. (AP)
A Netflix sign is displayed atop a building in Los Angeles, on Dec. 18, 2025, with the Hollywood sign in the distance. (AP)
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Netflix Intensifies Bid for Warner Bros Making Its $72 Billion Offer All Cash

A Netflix sign is displayed atop a building in Los Angeles, on Dec. 18, 2025, with the Hollywood sign in the distance. (AP)
A Netflix sign is displayed atop a building in Los Angeles, on Dec. 18, 2025, with the Hollywood sign in the distance. (AP)

Netflix is now offering to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business in all cash — in an effort to win over the Hollywood giant's shareholders for its $72 billion merger and potentially thwart a hostile bid from Skydance-owned Paramount.

Back in December, Netflix struck a cash and stock deal with Warner valued at $27.75 per share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt. But on Tuesday, the companies announced that they would be revising the transaction to simplify its structure, provide more certainty of value for Warner stockholders and speed up the path to a shareholder vote — which they said could arrive by April.

The all-cash transaction is still valued at $27.75 per Warner share. Warner stockholders will also receive the additional value of shares of Discovery Global, which would become a separate public company following a previously-announced separation from Warner Bros.

Warner leadership has repeatedly backed a merger with Netflix and the boards of both companies approved the all-cash deal announced Tuesday. In a statement, Warner CEO David Zaslav said the revised agreement “brings us even closer to combining two of the greatest storytelling companies in the world.”

A spokesperson for Paramount declined to comment when reached by The Associated Press on Tuesday. Unlike Netflix, Paramount wants to acquire Warner's entire company — including networks like CNN and Discovery — and went straight to shareholders with all cash, $77.9 billion offer last month.

Warner stockholders have until 5 p.m. ET Wednesday to tender their shares in support of Paramount's bid, which has an enterprise value of $108 billion including debt. But that deadline could be pushed back further. While Paramount declined to share further details on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported last week that the company was planning another extension.

Beyond its tender offer, Paramount has promised a proxy fight. Last week, the company said it would nominate its own slate of directors before the Warner's next shareholder meeting, the date of which has still not been set.

Paramount also filed a suit in Delaware Chancery Court seeking to compel Warner Bros. to disclose to shareholders how it values its bid and the competing offer from Netflix. But a judge on Thursday denied Paramount's request to expedite that proceeding.

In a statement at the time, Warner applauded the court’s decision and called Paramount’s lawsuit “yet another unserious attempt to distract.” Paramount, meanwhile, maintained that the ruling wasn't about the merits of its allegations and said Warner shareholders “should ask why their Board is working so hard to hide this information.”

Regardless of who eventually wins the upper hand, a Warner Bros. Discovery sale could be a long, drawn-out process that is almost certain to attract tremendous antitrust scrutiny. On Tuesday, Netflix and Warner maintained that they expect to close on a merger 12 to 18 months from December's agreement.