With an all-star cast led by ever-popular Sandra Bullock and supported by Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling and Rihanna, the Warner Bros. film was Hollywood’s latest experiment — after “Ghostbusters” — in replacing an all-male cast with female stars.

The result: one of the top 10 openings of the year so far, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations, and a better debut than the three earlier “Ocean’s” editions made by Stephen Soderbergh and starring a male principal cast.

The latest chapter stars Bullock as Debbie Ocean, sister of Danny Ocean — played by George Clooney in the Soderbergh films — as she assembles a gang of talented women to plan a seemingly impossible diamond heist from a glamorous gala in New York.

In second place was last weekend’s leader, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” starring Alden Ehrenreich as a young version of the swashbuckling space pilot. The Disney film took in $15.7 million, roughly half its previous weekend’s total.

Third spot went to “Deadpool 2” from 20th Century Fox, at $14.1 million. This latest in Fox’s X-men series stars Ryan Reynolds in the title role. Its worldwide ticket sales have surpassed $650 million.

In fourth was a new film, “Hereditary,” at $13.6 million, the best opening ever for A24, the indie production house behind “Moonlight,” “Lady Bird” and “The Disaster Artist.”

The horror film, about a family haunted after its matriarch dies, stars Toni Collette and Gabriel Byrne. Its decent opening came in spite of an R-rating and a D+ audience rating from CinemaScore.

In fifth was “Avengers: Infinity War,” from Disney-owned Marvel, at $7.2 million.

With a cast including Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch and Scarlett Johansson, the superstar-rich extravaganza is now a mere $500,000 away from becoming the fourth movie in history to cross the $2 billion mark worldwide.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“Adrift” ($5.3 million)

“Book Club” ($4.3 million)

“Hotel Artemis” ($3.2 million)

“Upgrade” ($2.4 million)

“Life of the Party” ($2.2 million)

The award is given to an individual who has had a remarkable career that spans a wide spectrum of films in multiple genres and languages. Kher, who also directs and produces, has two National Awards under his belt. He continues to be a stalwart in Bollywood even as he makes his presence felt internationally, having given some memorable performances in Hollywood as well. With an illustrious acting career spanning more than 500 films in several languages and many plays, IIFA is recognising Kher’s immense contribution to Indian cinema.

“Thank you IIFA for acknowledging my achievements in cinema. I am privileged to be a part of our film industry, which has been so generous in showing of love and warmth for me. My 34 years of work has helped me achieve great milestones and at a time when actors my age are offered the Life Time Achievement Award, I prefer to ride on another 34 years exploring new and exciting opportunities both at home and abroad. I am humbled and happy to be the recipient of this award instituted by IIFA. With every such award comes a sense of responsibility which I promise to be committed to, in our industry and also, as a representative of our country in the international arena,” Kher said in a press statement.

IIFA Weekend & Awards 2018 will bring together a host of events and engagements across various aspects including business and entertainment with the highlight being the IIFA Awards from June 22-24 at Siam Niramit Theatre.

Visit http://www.iifa.com for more update.

Bourdain committed suicide while in France filming an episode of his Emmy-winning CNN food and travel program “Parts Unknown”, the network said Friday.

French authorities said Bourdain died by hanging at a luxury hotel, the Chambard, in the village of Kaysersberg in the Haut-Rhin region of Alsace.

“At this stage, we have no reason to suspect foul play,” prosecutor Christian de Rocquigny du Fayel said.

CNN said Bourdain’s body was found in his hotel room by his close friend Eric Ripert, the French executive chef of New York restaurant Le Bernardin.

Bourdain’s sudden death drew tributes from around the world — from the current as well as former US presidents to celebrated chefs to ordinary people who vicariously joined him on his globe-trotting travels.

“Anthony was my best friend,” Ripert said on Twitter. “An exceptional human being, so inspiring & generous.”

“His love of great adventure, new friends, fine food and drink and the remarkable stories of the world made him a unique storyteller,” CNN said in a statement.

“His talents never ceased to amaze us and we will miss him very much.”

President Donald Trump said Bourdain was “quite a character” and described his death as “very sad”.

“I’m devastated, I couldn’t believe it, he was one of the best at it for all the shows. Every Sunday I enjoyed watching him,” said Norbert Wirsching, a patron at Le Bernardin restaurant.

A gifted storyteller, Bourdain promoted haute cuisine and street food alike in his travels, encouraging viewers to “eat and drink with people without fear and prejudice”.

“We ask very simple questions: What makes you happy? What do you eat? What do you like to cook?” Bourdain said in a 2014 Peabody Award acceptance speech.

“And everywhere in the world, we go and ask these simple questions. We tend to get really astonishing answers.”

‘To make us a little less afraid’

Bourdain delighted in introducing people to new cuisines. In one episode of “Parts Unknown”, he showed president Barack Obama how to slurp Vietnamese noodles at a restaurant in Hanoi.

“He taught us about food — but more importantly, about its ability to bring us together,” Obama said in a tweet. “To make us a little less afraid of the unknown. We’ll miss him.”

After a start washing dishes in a restaurant, the New York-born Bourdain gradually rose through the ranks to become a chef.

His 2000 best-seller “Kitchen Confidential” introduced readers to the workers toiling anonymously behind the scenes in American restaurants, many of whom are Spanish-speaking immigrants.

The book kicked off his celebrity career and led to his becoming a television host, starting with “A Cook’s Tour” on the Food Network.

He went on to host a show called “No Reservations” on the Travel Channel before moving to CNN.

On the network, anchors struggled to hold back tears as they reminisced about their late colleague and urged people faced with despair or who know people struggling with depression to call a suicide hotline.

CNN anchor John Berman remembered Bourdain as a “human contradiction”.

“He loved food. He wrote about food. He lived food. He thought we obsessed about food too much,” Berman said.

“He once said to me, ‘I wish people would stop taking pictures of food and have more sex.’ You know, because what he really wanted to do was to show people life.”

‘Beyond devastated’

Bourdain rhapsodised about the joys of food and drink but was candid about his struggles with own demons, including alcohol and drug abuse and depression.

He leaves behind a young daughter Ariane, from his relationship with his ex-wife Ottavia Busia.

He had been dating Italian actress Asia Argento since 2017 and became an outspoken advocate for the #MeToo movement after she revealed she had been sexually assaulted by the movie producer Harvey Weinstein.

“I came out of a brutal, oppressive business that was historically unfriendly to women,” Bourdain said in an interview in January with “The Daily Show”.

“I knew a lot of women, it turned out, who had stories about their experience, about people I knew,” he said.

Argento said she was “beyond devastated” by his death and asked for privacy both for herself and his family.

“His brilliant, fearless spirit touched and inspired so many, and his generosity knew no bounds,” Argento said on Twitter. “He was my love, my rock, my protector.”

Bourdain’s death comes just days after the suicide of another American celebrity, 55-year-old handbag designer Kate Spade.

“Success does not protect you from depression. It doesn’t protect you from suicide,” Jodi Gold, director of the Gold Center for Mind Health and Wellness, said on CNN.

According to statistics released on Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control, the suicide rate across the United States has risen 30 percent since 1999, and nearly 45,000 people took their lives in 2016.

Suicide presents a “growing public health problem”, with significant increases in 44 of the 50 states, said the CDC report.

You’re far from alone, according to a German study released Thursday decrying a “dramatic” decline in book readership as more time is spent online.

The number of people buying books in Germany plummeted by nearly 18 percent between 2013 and 2017, the study commissioned by the German Publishers and Booksellers Association found.

The drop was even steeper at 24 to 37 percent among those aged 20 to 50 — the same age group that now spends more than three hours a day on the internet.

“There’s growing social pressure to constantly react and be tuned in so you don’t get left behind,” Boersenverein head Alexander Skipis said in a statement accompanying the study, titled “Book buyers, where are you going?”.

Streaming services like Netflix with their binge-worthy television series in particular “exert a great appeal” and frequently replace books as a pastime, it said.

The findings are likely to make for grim reading in a country that prides itself on being well-read and is home to the world’s largest book fair.

The study, for which the GfK polling firm questioned 25,000 people, revealed that the long-held truism that every second German was a book buyer no longer stood up.

Last year just 44 percent of Germans over the age of 10 — or 29.6 million people — bought a book.

On a brighter note for the industry, those that are still bookworms are reading and spending more than before.

The average customer bought 12 books last year, up from 11 in 2013. The total amount spent jumped from around 117 euros ($138) to 137 euros.

The story is similar among e-books, with customer numbers slipping nearly eight percent between 2016 and 2017 to 3.5 million, but the amount of titles purchased per person went up.

Reacting to the findings, the Publishers and Booksellers Association said the industry should seize the opportunity to present books as an antidote to today’s hectic, digital world.

“People are yearning for a time-out,” said Skipis, stressing that all age groups reported having a “very positive” attitude towards books.

Some respondents offered their own suggestions for how to better incorporate books in their lives.

These ranged from apps that made personalised recommendations to encounters with fans and authors to make the reading experience more interactive, and putting books in unexpected places like the gym.

Celestial Tiger Entertainment, operator of the largest collection of pan-Asian channels dedicated to Asian entertainment, has announced that it is once again working with the Hong Kong Tourism Board to film the second year of the reality series “Extreme Ends”.

Set in Hong Kong, “Extreme Ends” showcases the richness and diversity of the island, where travellers can experience the best of everything and discover Hong Kong like a local. The four-episode series, slated to begin production in July, will follow the adventures of four celebrities from four different Southeast Asian countries, Thailand among them.

Each celebrity will bring along a travel companion to experience the “extreme” sides of Hong Kong, showing the SAR’s trendy attributes.

Casting has already begun in Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, to identify celebrities with vibrant personalities, off-the-chart energy levels and a huge appetite for adventure.

“We are delighted that Hong Kong Tourism Board has come aboard once more to collaborate with us on an original idea that will put a different spin on travel shows,” says Andy Chang, senior vice president of advertising sales, marketing and original productions, Celestial Tiger Entertainment.

“With the success of our previous collaboration, we are certain ‘Extreme Ends’ will show viewers across Asia a completely different side of Hong Kong, and perhaps, a different side of the celebrity cast they have not seen before.”

Betty Tsui, vice president, programming – KIX and Thrill, Celestial Tiger Entertainment concurs, adding, “We are thrilled to produce another exciting and extremely entertaining destination series which goes beyond conventional travelogues. For ‘Extreme Ends’, we plan to utilise different shooting techniques to demonstrate the extreme contrasts more dramatically. This ensures our action-loving and adventure-seeking KIX audience will see the most interesting extremes Hong Kong has to offer.”

For his part, Raymond Chan, regional director of the Hong Kong Tourism Board, is delighted to be partnering once again with Celestial Tiger Entertainment.

“Hong Kong remains a destination of choice for its diversified dining options, shopping experiences, nightlife and events; as well as thrilling adventures overseeing breathtaking natural scenery. The celebrities from the different Southeast Asian countries in the series will definitely bring new insights and inspire the audience to create their very own authentic experiences when they visit Hong Kong, and discover Hong Kong like a local,” he says.

CTE’s previous collaboration with the tourist board, “The Ultimate BROcation”, followed the adventures of four male celebrities from across Asia as they went on the ultimate holiday of every guy’s fantasy in Hong Kong.

CTE operates various pay television services including: Celestial Movies, the 24-hour first-run Chinese movie channel that goes out through TrueVisions, CCM, the world’s mostwidely distributed Chinese movie channel with an unparalleled array of Chinese movie masterpieces and KIX, which Thai viewers can watch on the KIK HD Channel 257 on cable TV TOT iptv.

Find out more at http://www.CelestialTiger.com and http://www.DiscoverHongKong.com.

Five of Singapore’s best films make their debut in Bangkok next week as the island state stages the fifth edition of the Singapore Film Festival at SF World Cinema from Thursday to June 17.

The event aims to strengthen diplomatic relations between the two Asean countries and promote cultural exchange. The past four events have been a big success with full houses at almost all the screenings. All films come with Thai and English subtitles and admission is free, with tickets given out prior to each show on a first-come, first-served basis. The five Singaporean films featured are:

Ramen The

After his father’s death, young chef Masato leaves his hometown in Japan and goes to Singapore in search of the truth about his past. In the process, he not only learns about his late Singaporean mother and her family, but also experiences the delightful flavours of local cuisine. He is inspired to create a new fusion dish that combines Ramen and Singapore’s iconic Bak Kut Teh (pork rib soup) – will he succeed?

Chennai 2 Singapore

Struggling filmmaker Harish travels from Chennai to Singapore in the hope of finding a producer for his film. But soon after arriving, he loses his passport and his prospective financier falls into a coma. As Harish stumbles through a series of hilarious misadventures, he bumps into Roshini, who is battling cancer, and is attracted to her. Will Harish reverse his bad fortune and find what his heart is searching for?

667

Specially commissioned by the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, this five-part anthology by five budding Singaporean filmmakers showcases their creative reflections as they embark on a journey in search of their heritage and cultural roots and how they make Singapore their home.

My Love Sinema

Set in colonial Singapore of the 1950s, this film tells the story of Kheong, a young man who moves from a village to the city in order to pursue his ambition of being a film projectionist. There, he falls in love with Wei, a young teacher who finds herself torn between her obligations as a dutiful daughter and her feelings for Kheong.

Diamond Dogs

A stage-three cancer diagnosis leaves Johnny, who is deaf and mute, in despair. With little else to lose, he agrees to join a deadly underground social experiment funded by the elite. The experiment pits fighters against one another in a test of animalistic aggression and adrenaline. Johnny’s battle to the top is brutal, fuelled by a fiery desire to take revenge on the man who caged him.

Already a hot favourite thanks to his role in the Netflix series “Something in the Rain”, South Korean actor Jung Hae-in was in Thailand last Saturday for a sold-out fan meeting at the 800-seat Ultra Arena at Show DC. Not one to waste an opportunity, Netflix quickly organised an interview for him with the press on Sunday morning at the Grand Centre Point Hotel on Soi Thonglor.

The boyish 31-year-old, who is rising fast on the ladder of K drama, has won fans with his sweet smile. He’s modest about it too, shedding a tear when fans at the meet and greet showed him a video clip of how they followed his work while waiting for him to come to Bangkok.

“It was very moving. I received great love from the Thai fans. I really want to come back again with another great project to be able to return all the love that I’ve received. Thais have such beautiful smiles,” says the actor, adding that he came to Thailand with his parents when he was very young but couldn’t remember much about it and on this occasion, he’s been too busy to visit the country properly.

Jung began his career when he was 26, which is late for an actor. Although he only had minor roles at first, he quickly gained recognition for his work in such dramas as “Blood”, “Goblin” and especially 2017’s “While You Were Sleeping”, in which he stole the limelight from the protagonists Lee Jongsok and Bae Suzy. His first lead role came in “Something in the Rain’ in which he co-stars with Korean superstar Son Yaejin. Jung plays Seo Joon-hee, a game designer in his early 30s who has just come back from working in the US. He falls in love with his elder sister’s best friend Yoon Jinah (Son Yaej-in) but the age gap as well as his occupation become an obstacle to winning acceptance from both their families.

The series was first aired on the JTBC TV channel in Korea before Netflix brought it to an international audience. Korean dramas rarely feature romances between a young man and an older woman but the chemistry between the couple quickly turned the series into a major hit.

Son is older than Jung in real life and has more experience in TV dramas. The actor admits he was so nervous when they first met, he couldn’t make eye contact with her. That changed in front of the cameras and the two found a chemistry that had the fans going wild.

“From my experience, the most important thing in a drama is trust. It’s hard to find at first but once there is complete trust, your reactions, your movements and the way you speak come naturally,” explains the actor.

“I think the series has done well outside Korea because it’s about love and everyone can relate to that. I also believe that the soundtrack had a lot to do with it as well,” he says.

Jettisoned into the spotlight, Jung has now become a much sought-after model and a presenter for many products. He earned the Most Popular Actor prize at the recent Baek-Sang Arts Awards and set off on a fan meeting tour that started in Taipei and will also take him to Hong Kong and Manila.

The actor admits that the 16-episode series has been very positive for his career. “As the main character, I quickly learned how to approach the role and carry it through the entire drama. The experience will definitely stand me in good stead,” he says, adding that while they are some similarities between the man he plays and the man he is in real life, there are also many differences.

“Seo is very mature and very serious, traits which I also share. But I’m not as funny and witty as he is, probably because he’s studied abroad and is freer.”

The success of “Something” has changed his life. “A lot of people recognise me and are cheering me, which is great, but there are also a lot of expectations for my next drama or for my next project. That gives me a sense of responsibility about being able to carry the weight of a leading role,” he adds.

“I want to be recognised as someone who delivers joy and happiness to the audience, so they can escape from the burdens of their daily life while they’re watching. That’s what being an actor is all about.”

“It is a good thing they are exposing them,” Allen told Argentina’s Canal 13 television network.

The publication of bombshell articles about movie mogul Harvey Weinstein in October has triggered a watershed moment that has since felled the careers of dozens of powerful men across a variety of industries.

“I should be the poster boy of the MeToo movement. I’ve worked in movies for 50 years, I’ve worked with hundreds of actresses, and not a single one has ever suggested any kind of impropriety at all,” he continued, adding that the women working in production in his films had all been paid the same as men.

The 82-year-old actor and director said that he was frustrated he was being bracketed with abusers exposed by the movement over allegations he molested his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, in 1992 when she was seven years old.

He was cleared of the charges, first leveled by his then-wife Mia Farrow, after two separate monthslong investigations.

“People who have been accused by 20 women, 50 women, 100 women of abuse and abuse and abuse, and I — who was only accused by one woman in a child custody case, which was looked at and proven to be untrue — I get lumped in with these people,” Allen said.

“This is just so crazy. This is something that has been thoroughly looked at 25 years ago by all the authorities, and everybody came to the conclusion that it was untrue. And that was the end, and I’ve gone on with my life.

“And now, for it to come back now, it’s a terrible thing to accuse a person of. I’m a man with a family and my own children. So of course it’s upsetting.”

The allegations resurfaced in the wake of the #MeToo movement, leading a string of actors Allen has worked with to distance themselves from him.

Moses Farrow, the adopted son of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, released a lengthy personal essay last month, disputing the story and accusing his mother of abuse.

The series first aired on ABC in January 1977. “Roots” received 37 Primetime Emmy Award nominations and won nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings for the finale, which still holds a record as the thirdhighestrated episode for any type of television series, and the secondmost watched overall series finale in US television history. The series introduced LeVar Burton in the role of Kunta Kinte.

A sequel, “Roots: The Next Generations”, first aired in 1979, and a second sequel, “Roots: The Gift”, a Christmas TV movie, starring Burton and Louis Gossett Jr, first aired in 1988. A related film, Alex Haley’s Queen”, is based on the life of Queen Jackson Haley, who was Alex Haley’s paternal grandmother.

In 2016, a remake of the original miniseries, with the same name, was commissioned by the History channel and screened by the channel on Memorial Day.

A saga of AfricanAmerican life, based on Haley’s family history, the central character Kunta Kinte is abducted from his African village, sold into slavery, and taken to America. He makes several escape attempts until he is finally caught and maimed. He marries Bell, his plantation’s cook, and they have a daughter, Kizzy, who is eventually sold away from them. Kizzy has a son by her new master, and the boy grows up to become Chicken George. He’s a legendary cock fighter who leads his family into freedom. Throughout the series, the family observes notable events in US history, such as the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, slave uprisings, and emancipation.