AP Entertainment SummaryBrief at 3:22 p.m. EST

How Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal found the emotional power of 'Hamnet'

TORONTO (AP) — Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet,” starring Paul Mescal as William Shakespeare and Jessie Buckley as his wife, Agnes, is expected to be one of the top Oscar contenders of the year. That goes especially for the performances of its two young stars. In an interview, Buckley and Mescal discuss making one of the year’s most emotionally powerful films. If “Hamnet” has moved audiences, it has shaken its stars. Focus Features releases “Hamnet” in theaters Wednesday. The film based on Maggie O'Farrell's prizewinning novel imagines the possible connection between the death of the Shakespeares' son, Hamnet, and the birth of the playwright's greatest tragedy.

'Rush Hour 4' will be distributed by Paramount after Trump's reported request

NEW YORK (AP) — After President Donald Trump’s reported intervention, Paramount Pictures is set to distribute Brett Ratner’s “Rush Hour 4,” a project that Hollywood had eschewed after earlier sexual misconduct allegations against the director. Paramount Pictures on Tuesday was in closing talks to distribute the film, according to a person close to the negotiations who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to announce a deal. Paramount would be stepping in to take a distribution fee on the film, not finance it. In 2017, during the #MeToo movement, six women said Ratner sexually harassed them in a Los Angeles Times report.

Movie Review: 'Zootopia 2' is a cuddlier, tamer sequel

The original “Zootopia” was a minor miracle. Here was a Disney animated film that took themes of race and prejudice and managed to make a sensitive-to-all-sides tale, anthropomorphize it and, as a bonus, sneak in a Department of Motor Vehicles sloth gag that the DMV is still wincing from. A sequel coming almost a decade later, “Zootopia 2” isn’t as good. It’s a more timid and tame movie that leans largely on the still winning duo of Judy Hopps and the small-time hustler fox Nick Wilde, writes AP Film Writer Jake Coyle in his review. Both are now out-to-prove-themselves rookies on the police force in this fun but watered down sequel.

Clair Obscur leads the AP's list of 2025's top video games

In a year in which technology news was dominated by artificial intelligence, the outstanding video games were still being designed by human beings. Top of the list is Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which Associated Press writer Lou Kesten calls “a landmark achievement" with profound storytelling, stunning graphics and music and impeccable voice acting. The rest of 2025's top 10 includes The Outer Worlds 2, Silent Hill f, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Donkey Kong Bananza, The Séance of Blake Manor, Avowed, Ghost of Yōtei, South of Midnight and The Alters.

3 men charged in shooting death of rising Latin singer DELAROSA in LA

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Prosecutors have charged three men with murder in the death of 22-year-old Maria De La Rosa, who was fatally shot over the weekend in Los Angeles. De La Rosa, a Latin artist who performs under the name DELAROSA, was sitting in a parked car early Saturday when three men came up to it and demanded money. Prosecutors say they fired multiple rounds, hitting all three occupants. De La Rosa later died at a hospital. Two men have been arrested, and an arrest warrant has been issued for the third man. DELAROSA has more than 40,000 followers on Instagram.

Movie Review: Wagner Moura is on the run in Brazil, 1977, in ‘The Secret Agent’

Wagner Moura plays a man on the run in oppressive times in “The Secret Agent.” Opening in theaters in limited release Wednesday, the Kleber Mendonça Filho film is set in 1977 in Brazil during Carnival festivities. In her review for The Associated Press, film writer Lindsey Bahr writes that the film maintains a tense and foreboding tone, while also leaving room for humor and absurdity. She praises the ensemble cast and adds that it is “the best kind of personal film, imbued with so many things that Mendonça Filho loves, both resurrection and elegy.” “The Secret Agent” is rated R.

The greatest mystery of Rian Johnson's 'Knives Out' movies? Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc

NEW YORK (AP) — The greatest mystery in Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” movies might be Benoit Blanc. Over the course of three films, Johnson and Daniel Craig have stingily dropped clues to Blanc’s past and personal life. Since Blanc first introduced himself in “Knives Out” as “a respectful, quiet, passive observer … of the truth,” following the breadcrumbs has been a sport of its own. Every “Knives Out” movie is a wholesale change. New setting. New case. New cast of characters. But Craig and Johnson are the mainstays. Together, they’ve turned Blanc, the gentleman sleuth, into one of the greatest protagonists in recent movies.

Rick Atkinson's Revolutionary War trilogy to be adapted into graphic editions

NEW YORK (AP) — Military historian Rick Atkinson, known for his Revolutionary War trilogy, is venturing into graphic books. Ten Speed Graphic plans to release a graphic edition of “The British Are Coming” next June, just before the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Five more graphic books are planned, with Nora Neus writing and Federico Pietrobon illustrating. Atkinson, a Pulitzer Prize winner, collaborates closely on the project. Initially skeptical, he changed his mind after seeing other adaptations. The aim is to reach a wider audience without simplifying the complex history.

American menswear designer Jeffrey Banks is finally sharing his story and starting a new chapter

NEW YORK (AP) — Menswear designer Jeffrey Banks' memoir is a love letter to his family and the fashion community. The book is a visual feast of photos from Banks' early days working at Ralph Lauren and later building his own menswear brand. He even includes a recipe or two. Banks says he wanted to write the book for his mother who is turning 105 in January. Banks has whole sections of the book dedicated to those who supported him throughout his career. Even with more than 50 years in the fashion business, Banks is not close to being done as he plans on relaunching his menswear label next year.