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Stan Lee’s still working at 94
Legendary writer Stan Lee is showing no signs of slowing down despite having just turned 94. “I plan to keep creating characters with my company, Pow! Entertainment,” Lee says. “We just launched a new animated series called Stan Lee’s Cosmic Crusaders, a new digital graphic novel God Woke, and our TV show Lucky Man is going into its second season.” Lee, whose real name is Stanley Martin Lieber, is a comic-book writer, publisher, television host, actor and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics. The man, who turned a year older on December 28 last year, added that he loves his work and feels very fortunate to carry on with it for as long as he can. — IANS
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Actor Akshay Kumar reveals his workload for 2017
Bollywood star Akshay Kumar has shared his line-up of films for the coming 12 months with his fans. “Busy summing up the year gone by? It’s time to not look back, but look ahead. Here’s what my 2017 looks like. Your thoughts, love and luck needed,” the 49-year-old tweeted. The first movie in the pipeline is a courtroom comedy drama titled Jolly LLB 2. Kumar’s second film is called Toilet — Ek Prem Katha, and is directed by Shree Narayan Singh. Following its release, the star will then be seen in the Tamil science-fiction action thriller 2.o before embarking upon his final project of the year, a biopic about Arunachalam Muruganantham called Pad Man. — IANS
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Film director Ali Abbas Zafar makes Facebook debut
Director Ali Abbas Zafar, who had a blockbuster year in 2016 with the smash hit film Sultan, stepped into the world of social media on New Year’s Day. “Day 1 of the year, lots of things to do starting with the official Facebook page @Aliabbaszafarofficial … Please follow for all the updates,” the 36-year-old tweeted. Zafar shared pictures and posts with fans from his base in Paris where he was spending time for ‘work and holiday’ before celebrating the new year in Italy’s Vatican City. In the film Sultan, Khan played the lead role of a wrestling champion called Haryana who tries to make a comeback to represent India at the Olympics. — IANS
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Rogue One: A Star Wars Story a hit with moviegoers
The films Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Sing loomed large at movie theatres over the new year’s holiday, racking up the biggest revenues. The Star Wars spin-off topped the box office for the third consecutive weekend, earning just under $50 million (Dh183,000) for the three-day period and a projected $64 million for the four-day holiday. The science fiction action film concludes a record-annihilating year for Disney. The studio became the first to top $7 billion in a single year, has fielded four of the five top grossing domestic releases, and should see four of its movies top $1 billion at the global box office. — Reuters
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Hollywood sign vandalised to read Hollyweed
For a few hours on New Year’s Day, the famous Hollywood sign in California was changed to read ‘Hollyweed’. Police said that during the night a prankster had used giant tarpaulin sheets to turn two of the iconic sign’s white ‘O’s’ into ‘E’s’. The vandal, who was captured on film by security cameras, could face a misdemeanour trespassing charge for having scaled a protective fence surrounding the sign above Griffith Park, according to authorities. The prank is not an original one having been previously carried out by a college student in 1976. — AP
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Bambi artist Tyrus Wong dies aged 106
Tyrus Wong, the artist whose works inspired the Disney film Bambi, has died aged 106. A Chinese immigrant who settled in the United States, Wong’s vibrant paintings captured the attention of Walt Disney and became the animated film’s distinctive style. “His influence on the artistic composition of the animated feature Bambi cannot be overstated,” said The Walt Disney Family Museum in a statement. Wong began working with Disney in 1938 as an “inbetweener”, drawing hundreds of pictures between poses to create the illusion of motion. Wong worked at Disney for three years before moving to Warner Brothers as a concept artist while designing greeting cards for Hallmark on the side. — IANS
