Not only did the one-two punch of Barbie and Oppenheimer, crowned by America as "Barbenheimer," leave audiences enraptured this past weekend, but the double feature's opening box office performance could have seriously challenged the movie might of superhero blockbusters.

The Bayreuth Festival intends to present “Rienzi” for the first time in 2026 for its 150th anniversary, going outside of the canon of Richard Wagner’s final 10 operas for the first time

American singer Jason Aldean has spoken out to thank his fans after his “racist” song Try That In A Small Town becomes a hit. The country singer’s track saw a 999 per cent increase in streams after it began trending last week for its content following the release of the accompanying music video. The tune also made it to number 2 on the Billboard Chart. The lyrics of the song have been accused, by some, of having violent and racist undertones. The chorus says: “Try that in a small town, see how far you make it down the road. Round here we take care of our own. “You cross that line it won't take long for you to find out, I recommend you don't try that in a small town.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter On Twitter, Aldean shared a montage clip featuring imagery taken behind the scenes of his tour. In one clip, Aldean addressed the crowd referencing the controversy around the song. “So, somebody asked me, ‘Hey man, do you think you’re going to play this song tonight?’. The answer was simple. The people have spoken and you guys spoke very, very loudly this week.” Aldean denied that the track has any racial undertones, taking to social media last week to write: “In the past 24 hours I have been accused of releasing a pro-lynching song (a song that has been out since May) and was subject to the comparison that I (direct quote) was not too pleased with the nationwide BLM protests. “These references are not only meritless, but dangerous.” The music video for the song features imagery of riots and protests and was pulled from the air by television network Country Music Television (CMT) in the US three days after it was first shown. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

'All due disrespect, I hope you take offense,' A$AP Rocky raps in a viral outtake

'We are aware of the Barbie Movie rumours and are awaiting guidance from legal but as a rule we are pro-Greta,' joked the band

Rapper Offset has teased new music with a hilarious spoof skit featuring the actress Jamie Lee Curtis. Offset made the announcement of new music with a viral clip posted across his social media pages, that featured Curtis playing the role of a news presenter and himself parodying a musical legend. It appears the rapper took inspiration from the funk performer James Brown and his infamous 1988 CNN interview after he was released on bail for alleged assault on his wife. Curtis, as the news reporter, could be heard asking Offset: “Your fans are saying that there's a lot of drama between you and your beautiful wife, Cardi B.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Offset simply laughed in response, and Curtis’ reporter character replied: “You’re not going to answer my f**king question, are you?” Curtis continued, saying, “She seems upset, Offset”. Offset ended the video, stating, “Let’s talk about some music” before the words “July 28th” appeared on the screen. The video parodied the Brown interview in which reporter Sonya Friedman attempted to ask the singer about his relationship and the charges, but Brown evaded the question by laughing, singing and veering the conversation to his tour. On Twitter, the clip has been viewed 2.5 million times and people have commented on the creativity of the announcement. “The James Brown reference got me cackling!!!” one person said. Someone else wrote: “I wanna know what the call to Jamie was like for this one.” “Got queen Jamie Lee Curtis to help re-enact one of the greatest interviews of all time. This is art,” wrote another Twitter user. Someone else said: “Amazing promo.” The hilarious promo comes after Cardi B publicly warned her husband Offset amid cheating accusations. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Justin Simien took inspiration from the movies he watched during childhood during the making of the Disney picture 'Haunted Mansion'.

“A smart home is much better than a dumb home,” says Drew Scott. He and his brother, Jonathan

Sophie Ellis Bextor delighted her children with her new single because all five of them and explains why it is "really special" to them all.

Christopher McQuarrie and Tom Cruise have been working on epic underwater scenes for the upcoming movie 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part Two'.

The release of Oppenheimer has got off to a box office success, but fans in some countries have been left feeling cheated after a nude scene with Florence Pugh was censored with CGI. On 21 July, the highly-anticipated Christopher Nolan film was released in movie theatres drawing millions of people around the world to cinemas. The film about the “father of the atomic bomb” stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr and Florence Pugh. Pugh, who played the character Jean Tatlock, was pictured after a sex scene sitting naked on a sofa having a conversation with Oppenheimer, played by Murphy. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter But for some cinemagoers in India, the full effect of the scene was diminished by the use of CGI to cover Pugh with a dress. To ensure the film would be classified in the U/A category, Universal Pictures made an edit to the Indian version of the film by placing a dress over Pugh to shield the nudity. One user joked: “The best ever CGI work in India award goes to the Indian censor board for Florence Pugh's black dress in Oppenheimer.” But, others pointed out that it wasn’t only India that screened the censored version of the film. According to other Twitter users, the same CGI-edited version was also played in cinemas in Indonesia, Pakistan and the Middle East. Another claimed: “In Malaysia, they deleted both 1st and second sex scenes because they didn't add anything to the plot (it was an R rated movie, I paid to see that). “But they couldn't delete this scene because it's important to the plot so they choose to cover her.” Someone else suggested that in Nepalese cinemas, the Pugh nude scene was simply cut altogether, without them realising the significance it had on the rest of the film. According to figures, Oppenheimer’s domestic opening weekend made a gross of $83m (£64.75m). Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Hoda Kotb revealed some dating advice her friend gave her while she was discussing how Lainey Wilson kept her relationship a secret for two years