Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens is setting records for pre-opening ticket sales, with still a month to go before release. The movie, which was partly filmed in Abu Dhabi, is on track to have the biggest December opening ever, topping The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which took in US$85million (Dh312m) in the United States and Canada on its opening weekend in 2012. Ticket-seller Fandango says advance ticket sales for The Force Awakens have already topped every other movie. Imax says its ticket sales have topped $18m in the US, double the previous Imax record. Whether it becomes the biggest-grossing movie of all time – beating Avatar's $2.8billion worldwide – will depend on word of mouth and whether fans love it enough to return to see it multiple times during the festive holidays. The Force Awakens will have the advantage of facing relatively weak competition, especially in genre terms, for several months. Marvel's X-Men spin-off Deadpool doesn't come out until mid-February, while Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, from Warner Bros, does not debut until late March. – AP
Bieber sets new Spotify record
Justin Bieber’s new album has set a record for first-week streaming on Spotify. Purpose, the Canadian pop star’s first album in three years, was streamed 205 million times, with 77 million of the streams in the US. The figure far exceeded the previous first-week record, set three months ago by R&B singer The Weeknd. Bieber released Purpose, on which the 21-year-old reflects on life in the public eye, on the same day that British boy band One Direction put out its own album Made in the A.M. Spotify said it also beat The Weeknd’s previous record but could not match Bieber’s album. – AFP
Celine Dion to honour Paris attacks victims
Celine Dion will honour the victims of the attacks in Paris at today’s American Music Awards. She will perform Edith Piaf’s Hymne à L’Amour in French at the ceremony to pay tribute to all those affected. American Music Awards producer Larry Klein says the ceremony’s producers wanted to show solidarity. Jennifer Lopez will host and perform during the ceremony at the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles. Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, One Direction and Carrie Underwood will also be performing. – AP
Venkatesh to play role of cop in movie comedy
Bollywood Actor Daggubati Venkatesh will play a policeman in his next movie, directed by Dasari Maruthi. The Telugu-language comedy will be released next year. Venkatesh will team up with Bollywood actress Nayantara for the movie, which is rumoured to be titled Rajaratnam. Venkatesh and Nayantara previously worked together on the films Lakshmi and Tulasi. – IANS
Ticket sales in Paris down by 80 per cent
Sales of tickets for concerts in Paris are down by about 80 per cent since the French capital was hit by a series of attacks on November 13. Prodiss, the music industry producers group, said the figure was based on data from 20 of the city’s biggest promoters. Most of the people killed in the attacks died at a concert by the US group Eagles of Death Metal at the Bataclan venue in eastern Paris. “Producers are extremely worried about the future,” said a Prodiss spokesman. “They work on quite a narrow [profit] margin.” There are fears that the crucial holiday season could be catastrophic for the sector. French culture minister, Fleur Pellerin, has promised an emergency €4m fund to help get live entertainment running again and to aid with the cost of new security measures. But Prodiss said that is not enough. “We probably need more than twice that, about €10m,” the spokesman said, citing the need to hire more security staff and install scanners. – AFP
Kim Cattrall bows out of London play
Sex and the City actress Kim Cattrall has withdrawn from playing the title role in Linda on the London stage due to an unspecified health problem. She was due to star in the production, at the Royal Court Theatre, from Thursday but will be replaced by Noma Dumezweni. Cattrall said that she is following the advice of doctors "with great sadness". The 59-year-old is best known for her portrayal of Samantha in the Sex and the City series on HBO. – AP
Red chillies ties up with multi screen media
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s production business Red Chillies Entertainments announced an alliance with Multi Screen Media. Venky Mysore, the chief executive of Red Chillies Entertainments, said: “Red Chillies has consistently pushed the boundaries across the spectrum, creating and producing entertaining content and ensuring it engages audiences worldwide on all the different platforms. In a first for us, we are entering into a partnership with MSM that will explore content production across different platforms – TV, digital and films.” MSM has acquired the TV rights to Khan’s upcoming romantic action comedy film Dilwale. Directed by Rohit Shetty, the film – which also stars Kajol, Varun Dhawan and Kriti Sanon – is due to be released in cinemas on December 18. – IANS
Seth Myers and wife expecting
Late Night host Seth Meyers and wife, Alexi Ashe, are expecting their first child, People reports. Meyers and Ashe were married in Martha's Vineyard in 2013 just a month after announcing their engagement. The ceremony had guests including Andy Samberg, Ali Larter, Olivia Munn and Jason Sudeikis. – The National staff
