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The excitement builds as “BattleBots” returns with its Season 7 episode titled “The Snake and the Bunny.” Fans can look forward to a thrilling showdown on Thursday, March 6, 2025, at 12:25 Pm on ITV4. This episode promises intense battles and fierce competition as beloved bots take to the arena once again.

One of the highlights of this episode is the return of Deathroll, known as the “Aussie Assassin.” This formidable bot has a reputation for delivering powerful blows and leaving opponents in ruins. Deathroll will face off against Cobalt, a British bot known for its destructive capabilities. The clash between these two machines is sure to keep viewers on the edge of their seats.

Another exciting storyline features bot legend Donald Hutson, who is back to revive Lock-Jaw’s reputation after a lackluster performance in the last series. Hutson will go head-to-head with Bunny Sauriol and her fierce creation, Malice. With everything at stake,...

Pokémon fans the world over have long since been marking Feb. 27 in their calendars as Pokémon Day -- the anniversary of the original 1996 Pokémon Red & Green, and a day officially recognized by the Japan Anniversary Association. This year will be a special one for Dragonite fans in particular, as a new anime titled "Dragonite and the Mail Courier" is set to debut.

Via Oricon, the new anime is the result of a collaboration between The Pokémon Company and CoMix Wave Films -- the latter well-known as the animation studio behind renowned director Makoto Shinkai's films. Scheduled to be released on Feb. 27 at 12 a.m. (Jst) via Pokémon’s official YouTube channel, "Dragonite and the Mail Courier" will likely be just one of the special releases slated for the biggest day of the year for Pokémon fans worldwide. The anime's first artwork release and further information can be seen below.

For many fans of the Pokémon franchise, the first game they ever play, as well as the first region they explore, often becomes their favorite. Those who began navigating the world of Pokémon with the original Generation III games (or their modern remakes for the 3Ds and 2Ds systems) often look back on their time in the Hoenn region as one of their favorite adventures. There truly is something for every Pokémon Trainer to enjoy in Hoenn, from the distinctive routes, to the fun and fashionable Pokémon Contests.

Many fans also enjoy the retold game narratives in Pokémon Adventures, which explore the regions in greater depth and give new stories to the characters from each game, or expand upon existing ones. As is the structure in the manga, serious events become even more dangerous, with the very real threat of fatal injury always lurking close behind the cast. Still, Pokémon Adventures,...

China’s total box office in 2024 saw a sharp decline of 23% year-on-year, dropping to $5.81bn (RMB42.5bn) – the lowest takings since 2015 and 34% down on the pre-Covid peak in 2019 – indicating ongoing struggles to recover from the pandemic.

Last year’s annual gross was down from $7.5bn (RMB54.9bn) in 2023, which was seen as a more encouraging figure despite still being 14.5% behind pre-pandemic 2019.

A total of 501 films were released (425 local and 76 foreign titles), comparable to 512 titles in 2023.

A trio of local films topped the chart, with each exceeding the RMB3bn ($410m) mark: Jia Ling’s Yolo ($472m/RMB3.46bn); Han Han...

The classic 1990s monster movie Anaconda is returning with a new remake, but this time it is envisioned as a meta comedy. The 1997 original starred Jennifer Lopez as a documentary filmmaker who travels deep into the jungles of South America in search of a lost tribe of indigenous people who live there. Unfortunately, the crew gets more than they bargained for when they encounter a dangerous criminal (played by Jon Voight) and a massive man-eating snake. Though cheesy and critically panned, Anaconda certainly has its place in the poorly-defined horror landscape of the 1990s.

Now, after a ton of sequels to Anaconda, the Jennifer Lopez vehicle is set to be remade by Hollywood but in a way that is totally unexpected. This new take on the blockbuster will reframe it as a comedy, though maintain the same basic story structure as the original. This meta approach to the cult classic...

From Agatha to Elphaba, it’s been a season of witches on film and television. But whatever charms witches conjure in the narratives that entertain us, the Mubi documentary “Witches” shows how ideas about too powerful, too magical women have variously defined and reinforced the contradictions of femininity; and yet also helped women make sense of themselves.

Director Elizabeth Sankey does this using the medium of film itself, telling her own story of a post-partum depression severe enough to require psychiatric treatment through speaking directly to camera, through talking-head interviews with friends and experts alike, and through an archive’s worth of relevant film clips. The more montages Sankey weaves together of girls, mothers, psychiatric patients, and, of course, witches, the easier it is for us to see how our media archetypes cast a spell that can settle deep into our bones.

The process of pulling footage and organizing the...

The United States Postal Service is honoring a TV icon. On Friday, the Usps announced that it will release a stamp next year with the image of Betty White, remembering the Golden Girls star‘s legacy.

Dale Stephanos created a digital illustration for the stamp based on a 2010 Kwaku Alston photograph of the actress, who died in 2021 at age 99. Greg Breedong, a Usps art director, designed the stamp, which captures her “spritely sense of fun,” according to a description from the Postal Service.

“I’d love to send a letter...

The highly anticipated 2025 flagship Taiwanese series The World Between Us II held its grand teaser premiere on November 6, 2024 on the main stage of the 2024 Taiwan Creative Content Fest (Tccf). Reuniting the award-winning original team, this new chapter presents a fresh cast and storyline, with Golden Bell Awards-winning producer Jayde Lin, acclaimed writer Lu Shih-yuan, and celebrated director Lin Chun-yang leading the project. Leading actors Vic Chou (Meteor Garden) and Hsueh Shih-ling (Taiwan Crime Stories), alongside rising stars Liu Tzu-chuan and Ryan Pai (Old Fox), attended the premiere event, where the latest teaser was unveiled to much excitement.

The teaser announcement at Tccf drew industry professionals and media from Taiwan and abroad, eager for a first look at The World Between Us II. Shaped by five years of script development and an expanded production scale, the two-minute teaser revealed a 20-year storyline following six intertwined families affected by incidents like a police stabbing,...

Apart from walking through a gripping prison escape drama, Escape at Dannemora also features several scintillating background scores that add more heft to its storytelling. Directed by Ben Stiller, Escape at Dannemora follows the true story of the 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape. Like most prison break and heist narratives, the show takes its time to fully immerse audiences in its central drama. However, the viewer's patience pays off in its final episodes when it finally reveals how the central escape plan unfolded after immense planning and plotting.

Escape at Dannemora's boasts a talented cast, including Benicio del Toro, Patricia Arquette, and Paul Dano, among others. Other than walking through the real-life events of Richard Matt & David Sweat's prison break and featuring great performances, the show also makes good use of its background scores. In its seven-episode runtime, it features many songs that effectively underscore the emotional heft and high stakes of its story.

Attendees at the D23 Expo got their first look at the return of Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde in “Zootopia 2,” the sequel to the 2016 Academy Award winning hit that will be released in theaters November 2025.

Introduced with a plethora of furry puns on other Disney films, including “Dead-Mule and Wolf-erine,” star Ginnifer Goodwin came out to present a preview of what’s to come.

In the sequel, reptiles will join the mammals of Zootopia, including Gary, a snake played by “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan. Gary is a wanted snake that Judy and Nick are hunting down.

In a sneak peek clip, Judy and Nick are snooping around a new town called Marsh Market to find leads on where Gary may be. They’re helped by a gopher who talks with a walrus named Bub…who gives them no help.

“Zootopia” grossed $1 billion at...

Legal drama A Guilty Conscience took the top award for best film at this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, while crime thriller The Goldfinger was the biggest winner overall with six prizes, including best actor for Tony Leung Chiu-wai.

A Guilty Conscience, produced by Edko Films, holds the record for the highest-grossing Hong Kong film ever with a gross of around $15M. It tells the story of a lawyer trying to free a client convicted due to his own negligence, who has to go up against one of Hong Kong’s most powerful business families.

Emperor Motion Pictures’ The Goldfinger, about one of Hong Kong’s biggest financial scandals, also picked up awards for best cinematography, best art direction, best costume and make-up design, best sound design and best visual effects.

In Broad Daylight, about a reporter exposing cases of abuse in a care home, scooped three acting awards for actress Jennifer Yu,...

Kung Fu Panda 4 continues the adventures of Dragon Warrior Po as he must face a deadly new foe to protect peace in the valley. After a few years of absence from the big screen, the action-comedy franchise returned with its fourth installment in early March, making an immediate impact at the global box office.

A still from Kung Fu Panda 4

However, despite its box office splash in America and other territories, Kung Fu Panda 4, which has a Chinese backdrop and makes several allusions to Chinese culture, has received a tepid response at the Chinese box office. Here is why Kung Fu Panda 4 is struggling at the Chinese box office and how its performance has been lukewarm.

Kung Fu Panda 4 Fails to Crack Top 3 at China Box Office

Jack Black’s Po in Kung Fu Panda 4

Voiced by Jack Black, Po, the Panda, is one...

Warner Bros/Legendary Entertainment’s Dune: Part Two held strongly in its sophomore session at the international box office, adding $81M to handily cross the $200M overseas milestone, and reaching $367.5M globally.

We’ll dig further into Dune 2’s second frame below, including its China start. In the meantime, let’s look at what’s new this weekend.

Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 came out kicking as it begins a staggered overseas rollout. The fourquel opened to $22.2M in 41 markets which rep just 23% of the international landscape, and put the global debut at $80.5M. Spain was the only major in this first suite as the Jack Black-starrer will continue adding markets in the coming weeks to align with holiday play; it goes to China on March 22.

The offshore start, excluding previews, is bigger than Kung Fu Panda 2 and 3 in like-for-like markets at today’s rates.

The first time that Dystinct ever attended a soccer match was in Qatar to watch his beloved Morocco beat Spain in the Round of 16 at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It just so happened that his track “Ghazali” — a fun love song with Belgian artist Bryan Mg, featuring a strumming guitar infused with a fresh spin on Moroccan chaabi music — served as the victory song for Morocco each time they won.

“I stayed and I saw everything with my own eyes there,” a jovial Dystinct recalls over Zoom from his hotel...

Donald Trump continued his weekend stump, following-up his appearance in Durham, New Hampshire, on Saturday with another Commit to Caucus rally in Reno, Nevada, at Reno-Sparks Convention on Sunday. The Nevada Republican Party will be hosting a caucus on Feb. 8, which the former president referenced several times during his speech, asking everyone in attendance to make sure they turn out and bring their friends.

While his speeches have become rote to anyone watching (a recitation of the song “The Snake,” a metaphor for his anti-immigration policies; comparing his indictments to...

China-set drama Stonewalling, co-directed by husband-and-wife team Ryuji Otsuka and Huang Ji, won best narrative feature at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards, which is celebrating its 60th edition this year.

The film, which premiered in Venice and won best film at Hong Kong film festival’s Young Cinema Competition, follows a young woman in mainland China grappling with issues around career, relationships, health and fertility. It also won best editing, which was shared by Otsuka and Taiwan’s Liao Ching-sung, with the latter winning his first Golden Horse award after 12 nominations stretching back four decades.

The awards were evenly spread among the nominated films. Taiwan’s Wu Kang-ren won best leading actor for his role as a deaf-mute in Malaysian drama Abang Adik. Best actress went to 12-year-old Audrey Lin for her role in Trouble Girl, making her the youngest ever best actress winner at the Golden Horse awards.

Best...

Snow In Midsummer, directed by Malaysia’s Chong Keat-aun, leads the race for this year’s Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan with nine nominations, including best narrative feature, best director and best supporting actress (Wan Fang).

The film, which is a collaboration between Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore, also has nods for best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, best makeup & costume design, best original film score, best original film song and best sound effects.

Taiwanese features Marry My Dead Body and Eye Of The Storm were not far behind, with eight nominations apiece. Marry My Dead Body, which is also Taiwan’s submission for Best International Feature at the upcoming Oscars, was nominated for best narrative feature, best director, two best leading actors nods (Hsu Kuang-han and Austin Lin), best adapted screenplay, best action choreography, best original film song and best editing.

Eye Of The Storm has nods for best narrative feature,...

Donald Trump promised to make America xenophobic again by bringing back his travel ban, a move that Rolling Stone reported he was considering in May.

“When I return to office, the travel ban is coming back even bigger and much stronger than before,” Trump said Saturday during a speech to the far-right Turning Point Action conference led by Charlie Kirk. “The U.S. will not be condemned for the same fate as countries like France.”

Trump while in office implemented a policy banning citizens from majority Muslim nations — including Iran,...

Spider-Man: No Way Home and HBO’s Euphoria took home the top honors in their respective categories at last night’s MTV Movie & TV Awards. They were also the most nominated, with seven apiece. Euphoria was the big winner, taking home four golden popcorn awards. So, yeah, Zendaya had a great night overall.

Best Movie

Dune

Scream

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

Winner: Spider-Man: No Way Home

The Adam Project

The Batman

Best Show

Winner: Euphoria

Inventing Anna

Loki

Squid Game

Ted Lasso

Yellowstone

Best Performance In A Movie

Lady Gaga: House of Gucci

Robert Pattinson: The Batman

Sandra Bullock: The Lost City

Timothée Chalamet: Dune

Winner: Tom Holland: Spider-Man: No Way Home

Best Performance In A Show

Amanda Seyfried: The Dropout

Kelly Reilly: Yellowstone

Lily James: Pam & Tommy

Sydney Sweeney: Euphoria

Winner: Zendaya: Euphoria

Best Hero

Daniel Craig...

“Everybody got some kind of Hell/Just different levels,” Brandy Clark and Brandi Carlile sing on “Same Devil,” Clark’s brand-new spectral country ballad featuring Carlile on harmony vocals.

Written by Clark, Hailey Whitters, and Marla Cannon-Goodman and produced by Carlile, the daring original explores a number of sociopolitical topics, from drug addiction to repressed sexuality to legislative politics.

“There’s a suit-wearin’ snake with a million dollar smile,” Clark sings in a verse reminiscent of both her recent song “Bigger Boat” as well as Eric Church’s 2018 both-sides polemic “The Snake.

Exclusive: “I’ve got a feeling,” goes the Pogues’ classic song “Fairytale of New York,” “this year’s for me and you.”

It might well be a good year indeed for the former frontman of the Celtic punk band as Magnolia Pictures have picked up the North American rights to the Johnny Depp-produced documentary Crock of Gold – A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan.

First put out to market earlier this year at the European Film Market, the Julien Temple-directed look at the hard-living English-born poet was acquired by Magnolia after a bit of bidding war, I hear. From Temple’s Nitrate Film, Depp’s Infinitum Nihil and Stephen Malit, the deal was closed by Magnolia EVP Dori Begley and Svp Acquisitions John Von Thaden, and by HanWay Films on behalf of the filmmakers.

HanWay Films has worldwide sales rights on the project. Altitude Films will distribute the film in the UK and Ireland,...

Now, I’ve been opinionated here lately, but I haven’t compiled any sort of list, and we all like a list, don’t we? So, I figured I’d create a list that is purely my opinion but, from knowing how many people in and out of wrestling feel, it will be a series of opinions shared by many too. We can all shoot the breeze and throw around who we think are the best at something, and it’s all just opinion. We all have different views on what makes the best, what we feel are the best. So, this is my opinion of the ten best talkers in the history of pro-wrestling. Please let me know if you agree or disagree, I’d love to hear your thoughts on who makes your list and who tops it.

10. Chris Jericho

Chris Jericho is still cutting damn good promos today,...

“Did you know it snowed in Las Vegas just a few weeks ago?” host Reba McEntire asked the crowd during her opening monologue at this year’s Acm Awards. “It was so cold it froze us women out of Entertainer of the Year.”

Reba was making light of the fact that, for the second year in a row, the nominees for Entertainer of the Year — the top honor at the Academy of Country Music Awards, held Sunday night in Vegas — included no female nominees. But even if the ACMs found...

Dan + Shay picked up trophies in three categories Sunday on the Academy of Country Music Awards telecast, while Kacey Musgraves prevailed in two in a ceremony broadcast on CBS from Las Vegas.

The entertainer of the year award, meanwhile, in something of an upset, went to Keith Urban, who had never before gotten that honor from the ACMs, although he has won a same-named trophy from the rival Cma Awards in the past.

Dan + Shay’s notoriety outside of country music grew when their performance of “Tequila” became the most Shazam-ed song at the Grammy Awards in February. That song won for single of the year and song of the year Sunday night, while the twosome also picked up the trophy for duo of the year. They came into the ACMs with the most nominations as well — after never before winning an Acm, or a Cma for that matter.

Eric Church is never one to play it safe, especially when it comes to awards shows, and he chose to highlight his potent song “The Snake” on Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards with the help of Ashley McBryde. Written out of frustration with the divisive state of the country and a political system that often seems more intent on winning than fighting for the people it’s supposed to serve, the Desperate Man track was an edgy, topical choice for a prime-time audience.

Performing in front of a...

“Let’s funk it up,” Eric Church called out near the halfway point of his concert in Omaha, Nebraska, on Friday night, the first of two shows he’ll perform in the city to launch his 2019 Double Down Tour. The band followed his lead, kicking off an especially greasy version of “Hangin’ Around,” a track off Church’s latest album Desperate Man. The freewheeling jam underscored the vibe of the tour’s opening night, one where loose, funky explorations were given just as much space as the singer’s radio hits.

When Eric Church, with some nuance, noted his problems with the National Rifle Association in a Rolling Stone cover story earlier this year, the internet blew up in certain troll networks. Folks figuratively spit on him, in clear ignorance of his actual words, predicting/threatening that fans would abandon him en masse. Others applauded him for speaking up, hoping perhaps he’d lead a charge against country’s relative vow of silence around gun safety following last year’s mass shooting at Route 91 Harvest in Las Vegas — a festival Church performed at.

One year ago this week, Eric Church celebrated the final moments of his 2017 tour on the Las Vegas Strip, where he played an outdoor show to 22,000 attendees at the Route 91 Harvest festival.

“You guys have fun tonight in Las Vegas!” he shouted from the front row, after leaping from the stage to the ground during the final moments of “Springsteen.” Then, while casinos like the Mandalay Bay glittered in the distance, he grew emotional, telling the crowd that “this song, 100 percent, is about nights like tonight, when the weather is...

The son of wrestling legend The British Bulldog (real name Davey Boy Smith) is a wanted man -- after throwing a cup of coffee straight in the face of WWE Hall of Famer Jake "The Snake" Roberts. New Orleans Pd is investigating an incident that occurred the day before WrestleMania 34 -- when Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Roberts had an altercation during an autograph-signing sesh on Canal St. The Snake told cops Davey Boy Jr.

Eric Barbier, director of The Last Diamond: "This is the kind of film that has not been made for a long time. In France we have done quite a few of these heist movies in the past, but suddenly we seemed to have stopped doing them. I find the a bit sad." Although director Eric Barbier has signed an elegant and sophisticated thriller The Last Diamond his start in the business was with a very different proposition: Le Brasier, made in 1985 and set in the coal fields in the north of France in the Thirties. It was an expensive production which was so shunned by the public and some the critics that it took him a long time to get back in to the fray. It had consumed almost ten years of his life. He burst back with Toreros, set against the world of bullfighting and dealing with a relationship...

Sneak Peek French actress Olga Kurylenko ("Magic City") in the July 2013 issue of "Vogue" (Ukraine), photographed by Phil Poynter:

Kurylenko was discovered as a model at the age of 14 and at 16 moved from Ukraine to Paris, France to pursue a modelling career.

She started her acting career in 2005 and received her first major role as 'Nika Boronina' in the movie adaptation of the video game "Hitman" (2007).

She then played 'Bond' girl, 'Camille Montes', in the 22nd James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace" (2008).

Recently she starred in director Terrence Malick's "To the Wonder" (2012), and alongside Tom Cruise in "Oblivion" (2013).

She also starred in "Magic City" as 'Vera Evans" for 8 Episodes and will next been seen as 'Headmistress Ellen Kirova' in the feature "Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters", currently in pre-production.

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek Olga Kurylenko in the restricted feature "The Serpent" (2007)...