Reuters Entertainment News Summary

Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs. AMC will no longer play Universal Studios films

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc, the world's largest movie theater operator, said on Tuesday it would no longer play Universal Studios films in any of its theaters globally, arguing that the studio is "breaking the business model". The decision came in shortly after the Wall Street Journal quoted NBCUniversal Chief Executive Officer Jeff Shell as saying https://on.wsj.com/35cWMQQ he expects to release movies simultaneously in theaters and direct-to-home formats. COVID strains: Dancer performs 'virus melody' in empty Budapest square

Dressed in black and wearing a facemask, the dancer leaps and pirouttes across Budapest's deserted central Heroes Square - to the strains of a melody that mirrors the molecular structure of the coronavirus. To mark World Dance Day, Zsolt Vencel Kovacs was performing his interpretation of part of the composition created this month by Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists. China's virus-hit box office faces losses of over $4.2 billion: state media

China's movie box office faces losses of more than 30 billion yuan ($4.24 billion) this year after the coronavirus epidemic forced theatres to shut and the production and distribution of films to be suspended, state media reported on Wednesday. The estimate was provided at a meeting organised by the industry's regulator, the National Film Administration, according to a report by state broadcaster CCTV-6's China Film Report. How housebound Brazil popstars and CEOs caught streaming mania and dominated YouTube

"Calling all the cattle! Our live broadcast is about to begin," Brazilian singer Marilia Mendonca whooped as she kicked off a recent three-and-a-half-hour quarantine performance of 'sertanejo' country music hits from her living room, streamed on YouTube. The concert, which drew 3.3 million peak concurrent viewers - a worldwide record for YouTube - was one of the most dramatic signs yet of how live streaming has gone viral in Brazil as the coronavirus lockdown has virtually paralyzed Latin America's most populous country. It was also just the culmination of a single webcast-filled day that saw everyone from CEOs to government ministers holding forth from their home offices and living rooms. Poland plans revenue surcharge on Netflix and others

Poland plans to introduce a 1.5% surcharge on the revenue of video-on-demand platforms such as Netflix, Finance Minister Tadeusz Koscinski said on Wednesday. "This will not be a tax, this will be a surcharge the culture minister wants to impose on (such) companies that generate profits thanks to Poland," Koscinski told a teleconference with journalists. Prince Harry helps mark 75th anniversary of Thomas the Tank Engine

Britain's Prince Harry is helping "Thomas and Friends" celebrate their 75th anniversary by introducing a special episode which features the cartoon trains as well as some members of the royal family. Fictional train Thomas the Tank Engine came to life in 1945 as a character in "The Railway Series" books by Reverend Wilbert Awdry, an Anglican clergyman, and later his son Christopher. Nightly show in Swiss block helps beat lockdown blues

Dressed in a black trench coat and hat, 36-year-old Audrey Lecomte performed "Singing in the Rain" on a drizzly Tuesday evening to the residents of Geneva's Round House apartment complex, who twirled umbrellas from balconies to the music. The nightly 6pm "choir" at the 1920s block, a 6-storey architectural monument built in a semi-circle, has become a way to cheer each other up during Switzerland's national lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19, now in its seventh week. Oscars to admit streamed films next year as coronavirus upends movie going

The organizers of the Oscars said on Tuesday that films released only on streaming platforms or video on demand while movie theaters are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic would be eligible for Academy Awards next year. The temporary change, which will apply only for next year's Oscars and will lapse when movie theaters reopen across the nation, was announced in a statement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Irrfan Khan, Indian actor in 'Life of Pi', dies of cancer aged 54

Irrfan Khan, an Indian actor who brought versatility and style to recent hit films and had roles in Hollywood movies such as "Life of Pi" and "The Namesake", died on Wednesday, aged 54. His death, after a prolonged battle with cancer, was confirmed by a spokesman who said Khan was surrounded by family at the time. He is survived by his wife and two children. Most Americans to avoid sports, other live events before coronavirus vaccine: Reuters/Ipsos

Fewer than half of Americans plan to go to sports events, concerts, movies and amusement parks when they reopen to the public until there is a proven coronavirus vaccine, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday. That includes those who have attended such events in the past, an ominous sign for the sports and entertainment industries hoping to return to the spotlight after being shut down by the pandemic.