Entertainment News Roundup: '1917' Defeats 'Star Wars' With $36.5 Million Weekend

Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.

Box Office: '1917' Defeats 'Star Wars' With $36.5 Million Weekend

Sam Mendes' "1917" marched to box office victory, earning a solid $36.5 million from 3,434 theaters in its first weekend of wide release. Universal and DreamWorks' World War I drama also defeated Disney's "Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker," the final chapter in the sequel trilogy that has ruled box office charts since debuting in late December. The tentpole slid to second place, generating another $15 million for a domestic haul of $478 million.

Rapper Dave and singer Capaldi lead BRIT Award nominations

Rapper Dave and Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi lead the nominations for this year's BRIT Awards with four nods each, in a new, slimmed-down list of prizes at Britain's top pop music honors. Both will contest the same categories at next month's ceremony: male solo artist, best new artist, song of the year and Mastercard album of the year.

Independent film festival in China shuts, says 'impossible' to pursue independence

One of China's longest-running and largest independent film festivals has suspended operations "indefinitely", with the organizers saying it was now "impossible" to organize a festival with a "purely independent spirit". The China Independent Film Festival (CIFF), which was established in the eastern city of Nanjing in 2003 and has held 14 sessions so far, made the announcement late on Thursday.

(With inputs from agencies.)