Furious 7 took one final victory lap at the box office over the weekend before it gets overtaken by the release of The Avengers: Age of Ultron this week. A week after it became only the third film to break the US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) barrier internationally, it topped the North American box office for a fourth straight week. Age of Ultron, which will be out in the UAE on Thursday and in the United States on Friday, has already earned $201.2 million globally, after opening in 44 countries and territories last weekend. Furious 7, which was partly filmed in Abu Dhabi, had enough left in the tank to lead the domestic chart, with estimated ticket sales of $18.3m. While the film has been a huge hit in the United States, it's been even bigger abroad – particularly in China, where it's set a record by earning $323m. The film has made $1.3bn globally. Disney said Age of Ultron was exceeding 2012's The Avengers by 44 per cent so far. – AP
Tendulkar: No Bolly debut for daughter
Indian former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, who will soon appear in a documentary about his life, has denied rumours that his daughter will soon make her debut in Bollywood. “My daughter Sara is enjoying her academic pursuits. Annoyed at all the baseless speculation about her joining films,” Tendulkar posted on Twitter. It follows rumours that 17-year-old Sara had signed on to star opposite Shahid Kapoor in an unnamed film. Meanwhile, Tendulkar is preparing for his own big-screen debut. Last month, he invited fans to suggest a title for his biopic. Directed by the London-based writer-filmmaker James Erskine, it promises “never seen before footage” capturing the star’s phenomenal rise in the world of cricket. – IANS
Winehouse family slam film about Amy
The family of the British singer Amy Winehouse, who died at the age of 27 from alcohol poisoning, yesterday condemned a documentary about her life as "misleading". Amy, which is due to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month, traces Winehouse's story from her early career to the fame she won with hits such as Rehab and her death in 2011. A spokesman for the Winehouse family said they "would like to disassociate themselves from the forthcoming film about their much missed and beloved Amy. They feel that the film is a missed opportunity to celebrate her life and talent, and that it is both misleading and contains some basic untruths". The documentary is directed by the British filmmaker Asif Kapadia, whose film Senna, about the Brazilian Formula 1 driver, won a British Academy Film Award for Best Documentary in 2011. "We conducted in the region of 100 interviews with people who knew Amy Winehouse: friends, family, former partners and members of the music industry who worked with her, " the filmmakers said. "The story that the film tells is a reflection of our findings from these interviews." – AFP
Telugu actor dies in Nepal quake
Telugu actor K Vijay has died in the massive earthquake that hit Nepal on Saturday. Vijay, 25, was in the country with a 20-person unit to shoot the film Etakaram.com. The film's music director, Kishan, who is based in Hyderabad, India, said he received news on Monday that the actor had died after the car in which he was travelling overturned. Three other people were injured in the crash. – IANS
Jay Z hits back over Tidal criticism
Rap mogul Jay Z has defended his Tidal streaming service as viable and a boon to artists after a much-criticised start by the revamped company. “We are here for the long haul. Please give us a chance to grow and get better,” Jay Z wrote in one of several messages on Sunday on Twitter. He bought Tidal’s Swedish parent company Aspiro for US$56 million (Dh205.69m) this year amid the rapid growth of streaming services. Jay Z rolled out a redesigned service on March 30 at a New York event featuring Madonna, Daft Punk, Kanye West and Beyoncé. The artists said that they wanted to take charge of the future of streaming music, amid criticism by musicians that industry leader Spotify pays too little. But critics, including the British band Mumford and Sons, voiced dismay at the launch, especially the sight of exceptionally highly paid stars complaining about payments. Jay Z hit back, accusing “big companies” of spending millions of dollars in a smear campaign against Tidal. Tidal on Saturday ranked 1,027th among most-downloaded apps on iPhones in the United States and was 61st among music apps, according to monitoring service App Annie. – AFP
Lagerfeld in charge at fashion festival
German fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld took the helm at this year’s International Festival of Fashion and Photography in Hyères in southern France. The event, which puts up-and-coming designers in the spotlight is in its 30th year. The festival – which ran from Thursday to Sunday – offers rising stars of fashion a chance to present their work to established names and celebrities, with the jury this year including Princess Caroline of Hanover. Lagerfeld acted as this year’s artistic director and president of the jury, helping select from the 10 finalists who presented their work in a large aircraft hangar by the coast. The famed designer and photographer also gave a masterclass, but refrained from giving too much strict advice to young designers. “I think there are no rules,” he said. “They must do what they want, what they can.” He added that he hated the term “young creator”. Lagerfeld has always dodged questions about his precise age, but is thought to be 81. “There are either good or bad creators. This label ‘young’ is the most dangerous. When I was young, we could not be proud of being young – it just meant you lacked experience.” However, he did say the new generation of designers had one thing going for them, declaring that they “are much nicer and less pretentious” than their predecessors. – AFP
