Holly to Bolly: Wonder Woman named UN ambassador, new Prince material to be released posthumously, and more

UN celebrates Wonder Woman’s 75th birthday

The United Nations celebrated Wonder Woman's 75th birthday on Friday by naming the comic book character as its new Honorary Ambassador for the Empowerment of Woman and Girls, despite protests that the spot should go to a real woman. The inauguration ceremony was marred by some 50 UN staffers protesting by the visitors' entrance to the UN, who then went inside the Economic and Social Council chamber and silently turned their back to the stage during the opening speech, some with their fists in the air. Protester Cass DuRant, who held a sign saying "Real Women Deserve a Real Ambassador," said the protesters "don't think a fictitious comic book character wearing basically what looks like a Playboy-type bunny outfit is really the right message we need to send to girls or even boys for that matter". – AP

New Prince material set for posthumous release

Fans of the late singer Prince will get new music from the artist, as two new albums will feature previously unreleased and unheard tracks from the artist's vault of recordings. Prince 4Ever, available to US audiences on Nove,ber 22, will feature the track Moonbeam Levels, originally recorded by Prince in 1982, Warner Bros Records and NPG Records said on Friday. The record will include a selection of Prince's greatest hits such as Kiss, When Doves Cry and Purple Rain, and will come with a booklet featuring never-seen photos of the artist taken by acclaimed photographer Herb Ritts. The album is the first posthumous release since Prince's sudden death in April at age 57, at his Minnesota estate. An all-star roster of artists including Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan came together last week in Minnesota to perform a tribute concert to the late artist. In early 2017, a new remastered and remixed version of Prince's 1984 record Purple Rain will be released. The release was agreed with the artist before his death and will feature old and new songs. No further details have been given yet on this album. — Reuters

Donald Glover joins Star Wars Universe

Donald Glover is joining the Star Wars Universe. Disney announced on Friday that the Martian and Magic Mike star will play Lando Calrissian in the upcoming Han Solo origins film. Alden Ehrenreich was previously cast as the title character. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller say the new film will explore Lando in his formative years, before the events depicted in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The as-yet untitled film is set for release in 2018. — AP

Motley Crue singer convicted of assault

Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil, who appeared in Abu Dhabi last November as part of the band's farewell tour, has pleaded guilty to misdemeanour battery for a pavement scuffle involving a woman outside a Las Vegas hotel in April. The judge in the case fined Neil US$1,000 (Dh3,673) and ordered him to undergo impulse control counselling and stay out of trouble for six months. The case came to light after bystander video surfaced showing actor Nicolas Cage physically restraining Neil on April 7 outside the Aria casino-hotel. Cage wasn't charged with a crime. Neil was accused of grabbing the woman and pulling her to the ground. — AP

Next Jurassic Park movie set to be biggest yet

Glen McIntosh, who worked on hit film Jurassic World as an animation supervisor, says the sequel of the 2015 movie will be "bigger and grander in traditional epic storytelling" format. "Well, we are always pushing the envelope of technology. All I can say is that it will be even bigger and grander in traditional epic storytelling way that [producer] Steven Spielberg and [director] Colin Trevorrow are known for," McIntosh told IANS on the phone from San Francisco. Trevorrow's previous movie, Jurassic World, stars Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard as employees of a dinosaur park who discover its newest creation — a hybrid dinosaur called Indominus Rex — has escaped from captivity. The movie also features Bollywood favourite Irrfan Khan. Trevorrow's sequel is slated for a 2018 release. — IANS

Benedict Cumberbatch loves Doctor Strange FX

British heart-throb Benedict Cumberbatch loved his close encounter with special effects when he swapped his Sherlock Holmes deerstalker for a superhero cape in his latest movie outing, Marvel's Doctor Strange. Stepping into the Marvel comics universe for the first time, the Oscar nominee plays the lead character in the Hollywood blockbuster, a neurosurgeon who encounters a hidden world of sorcery after losing the use of his hands in a car accident. "You could spin a camera 360 degrees and shoot on anything and it would be a frame in the final cut … You also had some green screen moments which were mind-blowingly difficult," he said at the movie's premiere in Los Angeles on Thursday. "The … preparatory kind of storyboarded animation they use to map out really complex sequences is so thorough, it's an art form in itself." Cumberbatch, known for playing the eponymous detective in the Sherlock television series and Oscar nominated for his role as mathematician Alan Turing in The Imitation Game, was joined on the red carpet by fellow Briton Tilda Swinton, who plays the mystical Ancient One in the new movie. — Reuters