‘Identity Thief’ tops box office with $14 million

NEW YORK (AP) — A week after losing the box office title to Bruce Willis, Melissa McCarthy took it back again.McCarthy’s road trip comedy “Identity Thief” topped the box office in its third week of release on Oscar weekend with $ 14 million for Universal. 20th Century Fox‘s “A Good Day to Die Hard,” starring Willis, slid to fifth with $ 10.1 million.The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters...

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LA judge grants Jermaine Jackson name change

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jermaine Jackson has a new, brighter surname — Jacksun.A Los Angeles judge approved the change to singer’s name Friday.The 58-year-old, who shared lead singing duties with his younger brother Michael in the Jackson 5, did not appear in court.He sought the name change for “artistic reasons” and says it has nothing to do with a recent rift in his family over the care of Michael Jackson‘s...

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Large coats a mainstay for next winter from Milan

MILAN (AP) — Many of the fashions displayed on the Milan runway Thursday had a yesteryear appeal — but with a contemporary edge.Coats are a mainstay for next winter, many of them oversized with accentuated cuffs — part of a trend toward architectural references in clothing. Fur coats and jackets make the biggest comeback in many a season, perhaps appealing to new markets in cold weather climates,...

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“Amour” director’s take on death could have a Hollywood ending

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Austrian director Michael Haneke will arrive at the Academy Awards ceremony with his stark drama “Amour” vying for a surprising five Oscars including Best Picture, despite its distinctly non-Hollywood ending.The French-language film that tackles death and aging is up against Best Picture favorites “Lincoln” and “Argo” on February 24, as well as competing for Best Director,...

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River Phoenix rises again as final movie finished

BERLIN (Reuters) – American actor River Phoenix has returned to the big screen 20 years on from his death after “Dark Blood” director George Sluizer salvaged the footage of his incomplete 1993 film and filled in the gaps with voiceovers.Phoenix was considered one of the most promising performers of his generation before he died suddenly of a suspected drug overdose aged 23, 10 days before shooting...

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‘Melrose’ actress gets 3 years for deadly NJ crash

SOMERVILLE, N.J. (AP) — A former “Melrose Place” actress who was drunk when her SUV plowed into a car and killed a woman was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison, infuriating the victim’s relatives, who had hoped for the 10-year maximum.“What a travesty!” the victim’s husband, Fred Seeman, yelled after the sentence was read.“This is not justice,” the victim’s 26-year-old son, Ford Seeman, told...

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Iran says English-language TV channel dropped in North America

DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran‘s English-language Press TV channel has been dropped from the satellite platform that allowed it to broadcast in the United States and Canada, the channel said.The state-owned, 24-hour network broadcasts world news and pro-government views beyond Iran’s borders.Press TV had broadcast in North America on the Galaxy 19 satellite platform. The channel did not say when it was dropped.New...

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Keep breasts, buttocks under wraps, CBS tells Grammy performers

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Grammy performers have been told to cover up at Sunday’s big music awards show, and keep their buttocks, nipples and genitals under wraps. Their politics can’t show either.In a “wardrobe advisory,” broadcaster CBS also asked musicians and audience members likely to appear on camera at the February 10 Grammy Awards ceremony to avoid wearing brand names on T-shirts as well as...

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Kiefer Sutherland named Hasty Pudding Man of the Year

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Kiefer Sutherland has gained his share of accolades throughout his acting career, but none quite like this.The “24″ star has been named 2013′s Man of the Year by Harvard University‘s Hasty Pudding Theatricals student society, succeeding “The Muppets” actor Jason Segel, who received the honors last year.Sutherland will be feted with a roast on Friday at Harvard’s Farkas...

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For “Life of Pi,” the secret to its sound is in the silence

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Ang Lee‘s “Life of Pi” was a famously difficult movie to pull off, a philosophical and spiritual journey featuring a young protagonist (don’t work with kids) stranded on the open sea (don’t work on water) with his only companion, a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker (don’t work with animals).Throw in a beloved bestselling book whose devoted fans would be comparing the adaptation...

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Country singer Gary Allan bests Grammy nominees for Billboard No. 1

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Country singer Gary Allan scored his first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart on Wednesday, keeping Grammy-nominated favorites from the top spot.Allan’s ninth studio album “Set You Free” sold 106,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan, garnering the singer his best sales week in his 17-year career.The Billboard 200 is the album chart for...

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Mary Wells, singer of ‘My Guy,’ gets posthumous Rock Hall push

(Reuters) – Mary Wells, Motown Records‘ first female star who paved the way for the success of Diana Ross and The Supremes, shot to fame in the early 1960s only to fade away as a footnote of the longtime Detroit record label.Now, some two decades after Wells’ death in 1992 at age 49, the singer who scored a No. 1 hit with “My Guy,” is receiving a push for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.Peter...

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Wispelwey: Loneliness of the long-distance cellist

LEIDEN, Netherlands (Reuters) – Dutch cellist Peter Wispelwey has recorded the haunting, delightful and soul-uplifting Bach Six Suites for Solo Cello three times and still he’s not finished.His next, he says, is his “Lost in Translation” version, referring to the Bill Murray movie about an actor coming to terms with an alien culture in Tokyo.Wispelwey is doing the same, flying into the Japanese capital...

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Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace in talks for Soviet thriller

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace are in talks to star in “Child 44,” a thriller that Ridley Scott and Michael Costigan are producing for Scott Free Productions, individuals with knowledge of the deal told TheWrap. “Safe House” filmmaker Daniel Espinosa will direct from a script by Richard Price, who is adapting Tom Rob Smith‘s novel.Set in Josef Stalin‘s Soviet Union, the story...

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Despite previous beating, Rihanna back with Chris Brown

NEW YORK (Reuters) – It’s official: R&B diva Rihanna says she is back together with Chris Brown, who is still on probation for assaulting her in 2009, saying “It’s different now.”“I decided it was more important for me to be happy,” Rihanna told Rolling Stone magazine in an interview published on Wednesday on its website.“I wasn’t going to let anybody’s opinion get in the way of that. Even if...

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Singer Frank Ocean wants Chris Brown charged over brawl

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Rising R&B artist Frank Ocean wants fellow singer Chris Brown prosecuted following a brawl over a parking space at a Los Angeles-area recording studio, authorities said on Monday.Brown is serving five years probation for assaulting his on-and-off girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 and risks having his probation revoked should charges be filed.In the incident on Sunday, sheriff’s...

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Rock singer Morrissey postpones six more shows due to bleeding ulcer

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – British rock singer Morrissey is postponing six performances on his U.S. tour due to a bleeding ulcer, his spokeswoman said on Sunday.“Morrissey is expected to make a full recovery and thanks everyone concerned for their support during this time,” his representative Lauren Papapietro said in a statement.Morrissey, the former lead singer for 1980s alternative rock band The Smiths,...

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‘Hansel & Gretel’ nabs $19M, No. 1 at box office

LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters” cooked up $ 19 million in its opening weekend.Paramount’s R-rated action film update on the classic fairytale topped the box office, according to studio estimates Sunday. “Hansel & Gretel” features Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton as grown-up renditions of the title characters battling witches with crossbows.Don Harris, Paramount‘s president...

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Kutcher takes on tech idol Steve Jobs in ‘jOBS’

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — Ashton Kutcher says playing Steve Jobs on screen “was honestly one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever tried to do in my life.”The 34-year-old actor helped premiere the biopic “jOBS” Friday, which was the closing-night film at the Sundance Film Festival.Kutcher plays the Apple Inc. founder from the company’s humble origins in the 1970s until the launch of the first iPod...

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Brooke Shields signs up for a hitch on Lifetime’s “Army Wives”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Brooke Shields has signed up for the Air Force – or at least the Air Force as it’s portrayed on “Army Wives.”“Pretty Baby” star Shields will join the cast of the Lifetime series for its seventh season, the network said Thursday.Shields will play Katherine “Kat” Young, a brash, brilliant Air Force colonel and crack C-17 pilot who clashes with Gen. Michael Holden (Brian McNamara)...

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