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Dec 21 (Reuters) – Director James Cameron's third "Avatar" movie adventure racked up roughly $345 million in global box office sales over its opening weekend, distributor Walt Disney said on Sunday. The estimated sales for "Avatar: Fire and Ash" landed in line with pre-weekend forecasts of at least $340 million. U.S. and Canadian box offices accounted for $88 million of the total, Disney said. Zoe Saldana and Sam Worthington voice the lead characters in the "Avatar" series, the story of a clan of 9-foot-tall blue people known as Na'vi who are forced to fight to protect their family and their planet. The first "Avatar" film, released in 2009, leads all-time box office charts with $2.9 billion in global ticket sales. The 2022 sequel "Avatar: The Way of Water" ranks third with $2.3 billion. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama )

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Dec 21 (Reuters) – Director James Cameron's third "Avatar" movie adventure racked up roughly $345 million in global box office sales over its opening weekend, distributor Walt Disney said on Sunday. The estimated sales for "Avatar: Fire and Ash" landed in line with pre-weekend forecasts.

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

Dec 21 (Reuters) – Director James Cameron's third "Avatar" movie adventure racked up roughly $345 million in global box office sales over its opening weekend, distributor Walt Disney said on Sunday. The estimated sales for "Avatar: Fire and Ash" landed in line with pre-weekend forecasts.

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Steve Gorman Dec 19 (Reuters) – A U.S. federal judge on Friday overturned the conviction of one of two men found guilty of murdering pioneering rap star Jam Master Jay in 2002 as part of a drug-dealing dispute, ruling that prosecutors had failed to satisfactorily prove their case. U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall granted a rare judgment of acquittal for Karl Jordan, whom a jury had found guilty in the shooting death of Jason Mizell, the legal name of the famed rap DJ, producer and founding member of the hip-hop group Run-DMC. The judge denied a similar request for Jordan's co-defendant, Ronald Washington. Jordan, the godson of Mizell, and Washington, a longtime friend of the rap artist, were found guilty in February 2024 on federal charges of murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking. The U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of New York state, where the case was tried, is reviewing the decision, a spokesperson told The New York Times. Mizell and his Run-DMC bandmates helped usher rap into the pop mainstream in the 1980s with such hits as "It's Tricky" and a cover of Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" off the best-selling 1986 album "Raising Hell." The group was known for decidedly anti-drug messages in its lyrics and concerts. But as Mizell's showbiz success waned in the 1990s, he turned to dealing cocaine to help fund his music career, according to evidence presented at trial. Mizell was shot dead the night of October 30, 2002, in his New York City recording studio, in what the prosecutors said was a disagreement with Jordan and Washington stemming from a lucrative deal to distribute cocaine in Baltimore. Prosecutors said the case took many years to solve because witnesses were reluctant to cooperate with investigators for fear of retribution. The government's case, as charged, hinged in part on proving a drug-related motive for the killing, the judge ruled. Prosecutors argued in court that Jordan and Washington conspired to kill Mizell, who operated as a "middleman," after he cut them out of the Baltimore drug deal. However, Judge DeArcy Hall found that prosecutors presented no evidence that Jordan had been cut or felt dissatisfied with his share of drug proceeds – leaving no reason for retaliation – and no evidence that he intended to steal from Mizell's supplies. "To draw the conclusions urged by the government would exceed the bounds of reason and require plainly impermissible speculation" on the part of the jury, the judge wrote in a 29-page opinion. A third defendant, Jay Bryant, also was indicted in the killing and faces a separate trial. Jordan has maintained that Bryant shot Mizell. According to prosecutors' account, Jordan shot Mizell in the head at close range when the DJ stood up to greet his godson. The government said Bryant had entered the studio and let in Jordan and Washington, both armed with handguns, through a locked rear fire exit. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by William Mallard)

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By Danielle Broadway LOS ANGELES, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Content creators across dance, music, sports, fashion, entertainment and education gathered in Hollywood on Thursday for the first U.S. TikTok Awards, featuring Labubu dolls launched from a T-shirt cannon, a giant selfie challenge, skits, and viral moment reenactments. The livestreamed ceremony on TikTok and Tubi, hosted by lifestyle influencer La La Anthony, crowned Keith Lee as “creator of the year” and honored Bretman Rock for “video of the year.” "TikTok provided me a platform to be able to show small businesses around the country," Lee, who creates family and small business content, said on stage while accepting his award. "It's hard to do something for myself, because I always put other people in front of me, but this is for me," he added. Other winners included DJ Paris Hilton, who took home the "muse of the year" award for inspiring others, and Jeremiah Brown, a former "Love Island USA" contestant, who took home the "rising star of the year" award. "A muse doesn't follow trends, we help create them," Hilton said during her acceptance speech on stage. The honor highlighting activism included the “For Good” award, given to Zach, a creator with Down syndrome who shares his life to promote inclusion, and his brother Pat Valentine, who educates audiences about the condition. Near the end of the night, Grammy-winning pop singer Ciara performed a compilation of her most popular songs, including "Goodies," "1,2 Step" and "Level Up." The ceremony marks a significant feat for social media app TikTok, as its Chinese parent company ByteDance, led by CEO Shou Zi Chew, reported on Thursday that a binding agreement has been made with three major investors to sell just over 80% of the company's U.S. assets to American and global investors to avoid a U.S. government ban. “I've been really involved with the opportunities to save TikTok from the very beginning," Alexandra Doten, who makes educational videos for TikTok, told Reuters on the carpet before the show began. "I was in DC talking about it, so I'm just so excited. This platform does so much to spark creativity and to make people smarter and more inspired," she added. The deal is a major step toward resolving years of uncertainty about the short video app's future in the United States since August 2020, when then President Donald Trump first tried unsuccessfully to ban the app that is now used regularly by more than 170 million Americans. The app faced a potential ban in the U.S due to risk of China's government exploiting the platform to spy on Americans and carry out covert influence operations. (Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Alexandra Sarabia; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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By Olivier Holmey Dec 19 (Reuters) – A look back at some of the most notable figures who died this year, from Jane Goodall to Hulk Hogan. RELIGION Pope Francis, 88 years old  “How much harm the women and men of the Church do when they erect walls,” Francis said late in life. “Rigidity is a sin that often enters into clerics.” The first Latin American pontiff shunned much of the papacy’s pomp, softened Catholic attitudes towards homosexuality, and put more women in senior roles than any predecessor. More than 250,000 people attended his funeral in April, according to the Vatican. The Aga Khan, 88  “Your name it is heard in high places; you know the Aga Khan,” Peter Sarstedt sang in 1969. Karim Al Husseini, the fourth Aga Khan, died in February. The wealthy racehorse owner was the hereditary spiritual leader of 15 million Ismaili Muslims. SCIENCE Jane Goodall, 91  The global activist, who turned her childhood love of primates into a lifelong quest to protect the environment, died in October. Jim Lovell, 97  Commander of Apollo 13, NASA's failed 1970 mission to the Moon that was immortalised in a film starring Tom Hanks. James Watson, 97 Biologist whose discovery of the structure of DNA ushered in the age of genetics. CINEMA Robert Redford, 89 Hollywood’s quintessential leading man starred in “The Sting”, “Out of Africa” and “All the President’s Men”. As the founder of the annual Sundance Film Festival, he was also an influential supporter of independent cinema. He died in September. Diane Keaton, 79 Diane Keaton's roles ranged from the tormented wife of a mob boss in Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” to a kooky Midwesterner in Woody Allen’s “Annie Hall”. She died in October. Gene Hackman, 95 The star of movies "The French Connection" and "Unforgiven" retired from acting some 20 years ago. He, his wife Betsy Arakawa and one of their dogs were found dead in their home in February. Hackman, who was in an advanced state of Alzheimer's, died of heart disease and other factors likely days after Arakawa, his primary caregiver, died of a rare virus spread by mice, according to autopsy results. David Lynch, 78 The writer and director made haunting movies "The Elephant Man" and "Mulholland Drive," as well as the TV series "Twin Peaks", a surrealist murder mystery. He died in January. Claudia Cardinale, 87 The Tunisian-born star of Italian cinema featured in Federico Fellini's "8-1/2" and Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West". She died in September. Val Kilmer, 65 Known for playing Iceman in “Top Gun”, Jim Morrison in “The Doors” and Bruce Wayne in “Batman Forever”, the actor died of pneumonia in April. He had been in poor health for years due to throat cancer. Terence Stamp, 87 Terence Stamp was on the verge of becoming a tantric sex teacher at an ashram in India when, in 1977, he heard that he was being considered for the "Superman" film. "I was on the night flight the next day," Stamp later recalled. Getting the role of the arch-villain General Zod in that movie made him a star. He died in August. Rob Reiner, 78 The director of "When Harry Met Sally" and "The Princess Bride" was found dead with his wife Michele, 68, in their Los Angeles home in December. Their son Nick Reiner has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder over the stabbings. SPORT George Foreman, 76 The heavyweight boxing champion lost his first title to Muhammad Ali in their famous 1974 fight in Kinshasa – “The Rumble in the Jungle”.  Hulk Hogan, 71 The bleach-blond, mahogany-tanned behemoth became the face of professional wrestling in the 1980s, helping transform the mock combat sport from a seedy spectacle into family-friendly entertainment worth billions of dollars. He died in July. Diogo Jota, 28 The Portuguese soccer player died in July when the Lamborghini he was in veered off the road and burst into flames. Just one month earlier, he had lifted the Premier League trophy for Liverpool. Nicola Pietrangeli, 92 Pietrangeli, Italy’s greatest tennis player before Jannik Sinner, was a master on clay. LITERATURE Tom Stoppard, 88  The Czech-born British playwright dazzled with verbal gymnastics. He died in November. Mario Vargas Llosa, 89  A leading light in Latin American fiction, the Peruvian author and would-be president won the Nobel Prize for literature in 2010. He died in April. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, 87 Kenyan author whose sharp critique of post-independence elites led to prison and exile. Frederick Forsyth, 86 Author of the bestselling novel “The Day of the Jackal”. Jilly Cooper, 88 British author whose 1980s bestsellers were a blend of sex, satire and class-based snobbery. MUSIC Ozzy Osbourne, 76 "The Prince of Darkness" fronted the heavy metal band Black Sabbath in the 1970s. His death in July led to an outpouring of grief in Birmingham, the English city where he grew up. Brian Wilson, 82 The co-founder of the Beach Boys created some of rock’s most enduring songs, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “Good Vibrations”. He died in June. Roberta Flack, 88 Her covers of ballads "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Killing Me Softly with His Song" topped the charts in the 1970s. She died in February. Jimmy Cliff, 81 The Jamaican singer, who along with Bob Marley brought reggae to a global audience, died in November. Ornella Vanoni, 91 Vanoni, a leading voice in Italian music, died in November. Sly Stone, 82 Leader of 1960s funk band Sly and the Family Stone. D'Angelo, 51 The trailblazing neo-soul singer died in October after a prolonged battle with cancer, his family said. Marianne Faithfull, 78 The singer of “As Tears Go By” was the voice of Britain's swinging '60s. She died in January. Alan Bergman, 99 He wrote a song with his future wife on the day they first met. Over the next 60 years they never stopped making music together. Bergman, one half of one of the greatest American songwriting duos, died in July. BUSINESS Giorgio Armani, 91 For the Italian designer, who died in September, elegance meant simplicity. That principle would produce bestselling minimalist suits and turn his eponymous brand into a conglomerate worth billions of dollars.  His will, which instructs heirs to sell a large part of the Armani group, set off a feeding frenzy. Eddie Jordan, 76 Charismatic Irish entrepreneur whose team gave driver Michael Schumacher his Formula One debut in 1991. Frederick Smith, 80  He started the global delivery company FedEx with 14 small planes in 1973. By the time he resigned as CEO in 2022, FedEx operated some 700 aircraft and 86,000 vehicles. JOURNALISM  Hussam al-Masri, 49 The Israeli military fired on a hospital in the Gaza Strip on August 25. Five journalists, including Reuters cameraman Hussam al-Masri, died in the attack. Their deaths are among some 200 journalist killings by Israel that it has yet to fully explain.  Anthony Grey, 87 As a Reuters correspondent, Grey was detained for over two years in 1960s China. That experience shaped the rest of his life.  Ruth Weiss, 101 The journalist bore witness to some of the 20th century's greatest crimes, from the antisemitism of Nazi Germany to the racism of apartheid South Africa. POLITICS Dick Cheney, 84 One of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history, Cheney was a driving force behind the invasion of Iraq in 2003. He died in November. Charlie Kirk, 31  The political activist and vociferous debater was credited with building Donald Trump's base among younger voters. His assassination in September set off a pro-Trump crackdown affecting more than 600 Americans. Jean-Marie Le Pen, 96 The former head of France's leading far-right party died in January.  In 2015, his daughter and successor Marine Le Pen had him excluded from the organisation for saying once more that the Nazi gas chambers were “merely a detail” of World War Two history. After his death, she said she would “never forgive” herself for that decis…

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By Danielle Broadway LOS ANGELES, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Content creators across dance, music, sports, fashion, entertainment and education gathered in Hollywood on Thursday for the first U.S. TikTok Awards, featuring Labubu dolls launched from a T-shirt cannon, a giant selfie challenge, skits, and viral moment reenactments. The livestreamed ceremony on TikTok and Tubi, hosted by lifestyle influencer La La Anthony, crowned Keith Lee as “creator of the year” and honored Bretman Rock for “video of the year.” "TikTok provided me a platform to be able to show small businesses around the country," Lee, who creates family and small business content, said on stage while accepting his award. "It's hard to do something for myself, because I always put other people in front of me, but this is for me," he added. Other winners included DJ Paris Hilton, who took home the "muse of the year" award for inspiring others, and Jeremiah Brown, a former "Love Island USA" contestant, who took home the "rising star of the year" award. "A muse doesn't follow trends, we help create them," Hilton said during her acceptance speech on stage. The honor highlighting activism included the “For Good” award, given to Zach, a creator with Down syndrome who shares his life to promote inclusion, and his brother Pat Valentine, who educates audiences about the condition. Near the end of the night, Grammy-winning pop singer Ciara performed a compilation of her most popular songs, including "Goodies," "1,2 Step" and "Level Up." The ceremony marks a significant feat for social media app TikTok, as its Chinese parent company ByteDance, led by CEO Shou Zi Chew, reported on Thursday that a binding agreement has been made with three major investors to sell just over 80% of the company's U.S. assets to American and global investors to avoid a U.S. government ban. “I've been really involved with the opportunities to save TikTok from the very beginning," Alexandra Doten, who makes educational videos for TikTok, told Reuters on the carpet before the show began. "I was in DC talking about it, so I'm just so excited. This platform does so much to spark creativity and to make people smarter and more inspired," she added. The deal is a major step toward resolving years of uncertainty about the short video app's future in the United States since August 2020, when then President Donald Trump first tried unsuccessfully to ban the app that is now used regularly by more than 170 million Americans. The app faced a potential ban in the U.S due to risk of China's government exploiting the platform to spy on Americans and carry out covert influence operations. (Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Alexandra Sarabia; Editing by Stephen Coates)

(The article has been published through a syndicated feed. Except for the headline, the content has been published verbatim. Liability lies with original publisher.)

By Danielle Broadway LOS ANGELES, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Content creators across dance, music, sports, fashion, entertainment and education gathered in Hollywood on Thursday for the first U.S. TikTok Awards, featuring Labubu dolls launched from a T-shirt cannon, a giant selfie challenge, skits, and viral moment reenactments. The livestreamed ceremony on TikTok and Tubi, hosted by lifestyle influencer La La Anthony, crowned Keith Lee as “creator of the year” and honored Bretman Rock for “video of the year.” "TikTok provided me a platform to be able to show small businesses around the country," Lee, who creates family and small business content, said on stage while accepting his award. "It's hard to do something for myself, because I always put other people in front of me, but this is for me," he added. Other winners included DJ Paris Hilton, who took home the "muse of the year" award for inspiring others, and Jeremiah Brown, a former "Love Island USA" contestant, who took home the "rising star of the year" award. "A muse doesn't follow trends, we help create them," Hilton said during her acceptance speech on stage. The honor highlighting activism included the “For Good” award, given to Zach, a creator with Down syndrome who shares his life to promote inclusion, and his brother Pat Valentine, who educates audiences about the condition. Near the end of the night, Grammy-winning pop singer Ciara performed a compilation of her most popular songs, including "Goodies," "1,2 Step" and "Level Up." The ceremony marks a significant feat for social media app TikTok, as its Chinese parent company ByteDance, led by CEO Shou Zi Chew, reported on Thursday that a binding agreement has been made with three major investors to sell just over 80% of the company's U.S. assets to American and global investors to avoid a U.S. government ban. “I've been really involved with the opportunities to save TikTok from the very beginning," Alexandra Doten, who makes educational videos for TikTok, told Reuters on the carpet before the show began. "I was in DC talking about it, so I'm just so excited. This platform does so much to spark creativity and to make people smarter and more inspired," she added. The deal is a major step toward resolving years of uncertainty about the short video app's future in the United States since August 2020, when then President Donald Trump first tried unsuccessfully to ban the app that is now used regularly by more than 170 million Americans. The app faced a potential ban in the U.S due to risk of China's government exploiting the platform to spy on Americans and carry out covert influence operations. (Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Alexandra Sarabia; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) – Disney unit Lucasfilm on Thursday won its bid to throw out a London lawsuit over the use of the likeness of a long-dead actor in a Star Wars spinoff movie. Peter Cushing, who died in 1994, was "resurrected" as Death Star commander Grand Moff Tarkin for the 2016 film "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" using visual effects and another actor. He had appeared in the original 1977 "Star Wars" film, created by George Lucas, which became one of the most successful film franchises of all time. The movies have collected more than $5 billion in global ticket sales since the release of the first installment in 1977, and spinoffs are still being produced. Cushing had signed a deal with British company Tyburn Film Productions in 1993 to appear in a television film, an agreement Tyburn's lawyers said gave it "the right to be the first to 'resurrect' Mr Cushing by way of visual effects". Tyburn claimed it had lost around 250,000 pounds ($333,725) and sued Lucasfilm and fellow Disney subsidiary Lunak Heavy Industries at London's High Court for alleged unjust enrichment at its expense. Lucasfilm and Lunak, however, said the case was hopeless and unsuccessfully tried to have the case thrown out twice. But the Court of Appeal ruled in their favour on Thursday. Judge Sue Carr said that "it is impossible to identify anything at all that belonged to Tyburn which can be said to have been transferred" to Lucasfilm or Lunak, meaning the case could not continue. Lucasfilm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ($1 = 0.7491 pounds) (Reporting by Sam Tobin, Editing by Louise Heavens)

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By Sam Tabahriti LONDON, Dec 18 (Reuters) – British film and television performers have voted overwhelmingly to refuse digital body scans unless they are given stronger protections against artificial intelligence, the actors' union Equity said on Thursday. Digital body scans are increasingly used in film and TV for crowd scenes, stunt work, de-aging and virtual performances. They capture detailed facial and body features to create lifelike so-called digital doubles. Equity said 99.6% of members backed the move in an indicative ballot, with a turnout of 75% among more than 7,700 actors, stunt performers and dancers covered by agreements with trade body PACT, which represents most UK production companies. While the vote is not legally binding, the union warned it could call a statutory strike ballot if talks fail when they resume in January, threatening disruption to productions that account for about 90% of UK film and TV work. PACT, which negotiates with industry unions regarding pay and working conditions, said it had offered Equity AI terms consistent with those in other countries and said it would keep dialogue open as technology evolves. The vote underscores growing global concern over the use of AI to replicate performers' likenesses without consent or extra pay. U.S. actors' union SAG-AFTRA staged a four-month strike in 2023 over similar issues, which was estimated to have cost California more than $6 billion in lost output and forced studios to agree limits on AI use. "We need adequate AI protections which build on, not merely replicate, those agreed after the SAG-AFTRA strike in the USA over two years ago," Paul Fleming, the union's general secretary, said in a statement. Equity said it wants protections including explicit consent, transparency and fair remuneration. "With fresh AI proposals, significant movement on royalties, and a package of modern terms and conditions, PACT and allied producers can turn this around," Fleming added. The British Film Commission, the government agency responsible for supporting international film and TV production, said it would work with both sides to reach a solution. (Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; editing by William James)

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