AP Entertainment SummaryBrief at 4:57 p.m. EST

Everything you need to know about the 2026 Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The 42nd Sundance Film Festival kicks off this week in Park City, Utah. It marks the last edition in its longtime home and the first without founder Robert Redford, who died in September. Despite the changes, the festival remains vibrant with 90 features premiering through Feb. 1. Three of these films feature pop star Charli xcx. Sundance public programming director Eugene Hernandez describes the lineup as broad and eclectic. The festival will honor Redford with tributes and retrospective screenings. Sundance is set to relocate to Boulder, Colorado, next January.

Taylor Swift, Kenny Loggins, members of Kiss and more get into Songwriters Hall of Fame

New York (AP) — Taylor Swift, Kenny Loggins and Kiss founders Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley make up the 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees. It is no doubt an eclectic bunch of performers, spanning genre and generation. The 2026 Songwriters Hall of Fame induction ceremony will be held June 11 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. The Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1969 to honor those creating popular music. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song. A songwriter with a notable catalog of songs qualifies for induction 20 years after the first commercial release of a song.

How Duckwrth's imaginary Grammy button led to a real Grammy nomination

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Duckwrth manifested a Grammy nomination for his album “All American F—Boy.” He just didn't know it. The Los Angeles-raised singer, rapper and producer would pretend to press an imaginary Grammy button whenever he and his friends finished a new track. The album is nominated for best immersive audio album at the 68th annual Grammy Awards. If it wins, the trophy goes to mix engineer Andrew Law, who transformed the stereo audio into a surround-sound Dolby Atmos experience. Duckwrth wanted the album to feel like a film, blending punk and alt-rock with his genre-bending style. He describes the process as challenging and vulnerable but ultimately rewarding.

Rome pays last respects to fashion 'emperor' Valentino in a two-day public viewing

ROME (AP) — Rome is paying its last respects to legendary designer Valentino, whose high-glamour gowns and trademark shade of red became an iconic symbol of Italian elegance. Valentino Garavani, who has died on Monday aged 93, is lying in state at his foundation in Piazza Mignanelli on Wednesday and Thursday, just a few steps away from the world-known Spanish Steps. His funeral will be held on Friday in the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri in central Rome.

In operatic dispute, Met Opera director and designers order names stripped from 'Carmen'

NEW YORK (AP) — The production team of Bizet’s “Carmen” at the Metropolitan Opera demanded their names be removed from programs due to a restaging decision. Director Carrie Cracknell’s version, which opened on Dec. 31, 2023, moved the setting to a modern American town. The revival included a Jaguar convertible and three pickup trucks that moved. A restaging decision removed the Jaguar, added a motorcycle and used one stationary pickup. Set designer Michael Levine expressed frustration, saying it altered the original artistic intent. The Met cited financial reasons for the changes. The company plans to bring back Richard Eyre’s retired 2009 staging in the future.

'Dior is back:' Menswear turns a corner in Paris as Jonathan Anderson hones his vision

PARIS (AP) — Dior’s menswear show arrived with a stripped-back set and a loud signal of intent: spiky neon-yellow wigs that read like a flag planted in the Paris runway. In an annex of the Musée Rodin lined with curtain fabric, Jonathan Anderson — the 41-year-old Northern Irish designer celebrated for turning Loewe into one of luxury’s most admired labels and now Dior's creative director — pared the décor down to near-nothing. After a couple of early runway wobbles at Dior, on Wednesday Anderson’s clothes finally carried the argument. The stakes were visible in the room: Robert Pattinson, Lewis Hamilton and SZA were among the VIPs packed in close, celebrity heat that tends to turn a runway into a starry jury. As one person in the front row put it: “Dior is back. It’s a good day for fashion.”

Literary agent Georges Borchardt, who championed Nobel laureates, dies at 97

NEW YORK (AP) — Georges Borchardt, a renowned literary agent, has died at 97. He helped introduce U.S. readers to Nobel laureates like Elie Wiesel and Samuel Beckett. Georges Borchardt Inc., the agency he founded in 1967, says he died Sunday in Manhattan. Borchardt was known for his cosmopolitan taste and style. He managed the literary estates of Beckett, Aldous Huxley, and Tennessee Williams. He also represented authors like Ian McEwan and Tracy Kidder. A Berlin native, Borchardt emigrated to the U.S. in 1947 and became a pivotal figure in the literary world. He managed the literary estates of Beckett, Aldous Huxley, and Tennessee Williams. Borchardt was awarded the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by France in 2010.

Kristen Bell returning as host to SAG's Actor Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kristen Bell is returning as host of the Screen Actors Guild’s Actor Awards for a third time. SAG-AFTRA, the actors union that presents the annual awards, announced Wednesday that Bell will emcee the March 1 awards, formerly known as the SAG Awards. Though the ceremony has often gone without a host, Bell was their first in 2018 and she returned again last year for the awards’ first time on Netflix. Netflix will again stream live the awards from the Shrine Auditorium & Expo Hall in Los Angeles. “One Battle After Another” leads all nominees with seven nods, including for best ensemble.

This just in from The New York Times: Its first 2-player game, and an evolving business model

There's a lot more to The New York Times than its news stories, and that's by design. The success of ancillary products on its website — Games, the Wirecutter product recommendations, mounds of recipes in cooking and podcasts — have fueled the news company's success over the past decade. Digital subscriptions keep rising from people who can't kick their Wordle habits. It has led The Times to more than double its staff of journalists over the past decade, particularly remarkable at a time of rapid contraction in the news industry. Wednesday's a big day at The Times' Games site, as it introduces its first competition designed for two players.