Entertainment News Roundup: Ben Affleck out of rehab, Peggy Sue dies and lot more

Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.

'I was told I would never make it in film,' veteran Judi Dench says

Veteran actress Judi Dench, who has won an Oscar, BAFTAs, Golden Globes and various theatre awards during her 60-year career, says her biggest achievement was to star in a movie - because she was once told she had the "wrong" face for films. The 83-year-old, whose big screen roles have included Queen Elizabeth I and James Bond's mentor M, said on the green carpet at the Zurich Film Festival on Wednesday evening she had been told early on in her career "you'll never make a film".

Ben Affleck, out of rehab, calls addiction a lifelong struggle

Oscar winner Ben Affleck said on Thursday he had completed a 40-day residential alcohol rehab program but said that battling addiction "is a lifelong and difficult struggle." Affleck, 46, who also went to rehab in 2017 and 2001, said in a posting on his Instagram account that he remained in outpatient care, and thanked his family, friends and fans for their support.

Oscars body launches new initiatives to support women filmmakers

The organizers of the Oscars announced a string of new initiatives on Thursday aimed at encouraging female filmmakers. Called "Action: The Academy Women's Initiative," the program will include a one-year fellowship for women filmmakers and executives, a lunch that will bring together women across the industry, and a directory aimed at improving female networking and hiring opportunities.

Peggy Sue, the namesake of Buddy Holly rock classic, dies in Texas

Peggy Sue Gerron, whose name has echoed in the annals of rock 'n' roll for six decades as the crush in the Buddy Holly classic song "Peggy Sue," has died at the age of 78 in Lubbock, Texas, where she and Holly went to high school, officials said. The 1957 song from Holly and his band the Crickets was an anthem of the early days of rock 'n' roll and inspired a sequel tune from Holly called "Peggy Sue Got Married," which was also the title of a 1986 movie.

Online radio firm Pandora to handle U.S. advertising for SoundCloud

Internet radio company Pandora Media Inc and music-sharing service SoundCloud said on Wednesday that Pandora will take over handling the U.S. advertising for SoundCloud. The deal illustrates how Pandora, best known for its streaming music service, is gaining a revenue stream by selling its back-end advertising technology to others. Under the deal, Pandora becomes the exclusive operator of SoundCloud's advertising business. Financial details were not disclosed.

Half of 'Last Jedi' haters were bots, trolls, activists, study says

How much did movie fans hate "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"? Perhaps not as fiercely as social media might suggest, according to a U.S. academic study which found that half of the negative tweets about the 2017 movie came from bots, trolls or political activists, some of whom may be Russian.

'M*A*S*H' star Alan Alda to get lifetime achievement award

Alan Alda, the "M*A*S*H" TV star with a long career on stage and screen, will receive the annual lifetime achievement award from the Screen Actors Guild, the actor union said on Thursday. Alda, 82, who announced in July that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, will receive the honour at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards dinner in Los Angeles on Jan. 27.

Onetime rap mogul Marion 'Suge' Knight sentenced to 28 years for manslaughter

Former rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight was sentenced in a Los Angeles courtroom on Thursday to 28 years in prison for manslaughter in the death of a man he ran over with his pickup truck outside a hamburger stand in 2015. The sentence appeared to forestall any chance of a future recording business comeback for Knight, 53, known as much for repeated run-ins with the law as for his career as a hip-hop executive promoting the likes of Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre and Tupac Shakur during the 1990s.

Chinese movie star Fan Bingbing hit with huge tax evasion fines

China has ordered A-list movie star Fan Bingbing to pay about 884 million yuan ($129 million) in overdue taxes and fines, state news agency Xinhua said on Wednesday, as a crackdown on tax evasion in the entertainment industry gathers momentum. The 37-year-old actor, whose June disappearance touched off wild speculation about her whereabouts, has appeared in the "X-Men" and "Iron Man" film franchises, attracting more than 62 million online followers in China.

U.S. agency considers how it might implement new music royalty rules

As the Justice Department considers an overhaul of music royalties rules, its top antitrust enforcer said on Wednesday that regulators are considering how to minimize disruption for streaming services and other players if they move to a new system of compensating artists. The Justice Department, as part of a larger review, is reviewing two consent decrees from the 1940s that determine what digital streaming services, radio and television stations, bars and others pay Broadcast Music Inc or BMI, and American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, or ASCAP, to play music.

(With inputs from agencies.)