JOHN KRASINSKI

Following the news can be relentlessly depressing, so much that some people use that as an excuse for avoiding it.

This week’s new entertainment releases include a new album from Lucinda Williams, the kickoff of the 20th season of the reality dating show “The Bachelorette” starring a 27-year-old therapist from Georgia who was featured on the last season of “The Bachelor,” and Idris Elba is stuck on the worst flight ever in the new series “Hijack” for Apple TV+.

Paramount Pictures, still riding high on the success of “Top Gun: Maverick’s” nearly $1.5 billion in worldwide ticket sales, brought a slew of stars from Rihanna to Martin Scorsese to CinemaCon for its presentation to theater owners Thursday.

John Krasinski returns as Jack Ryan in the Amazon Prime Video series “Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,” three years since we last saw him in the role.

The summer box office showed signs of slowing down this weekend as the animated “DC League of Super-Pets” opened in theaters across North America.

“The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” has hit the top box office target.

Just when a party was poised to break out in movie theaters, the below-expectation debut of “In the Heights” dampened Hollywood’s hopes of a swift or smooth recovery at the summer box office.

The movie theater chain AMC is raising $230.5 million through an 8.5 million share sale, cashing in on the meme stock frenzy that has sent its stock price up more than 1,100% this year.

John Krasinski’s thriller sequel “A Quiet Place Part II” opened over the Memorial Day weekend to a pandemic-best $48.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The wait for “A Quiet Place Part II” has been as long as the pandemic.

“The Midnight Sky,” which Clooney directed and stars in, is an apocalyptic sci-fi drama with some striking solitude. Debuting Wednesday on Netflix, “The Midnight Sky,” based on Lily Brooks-Dalton's novel “Good Morning, Midnight," is Clooney's seventh film as director and his biggest scaled production yet. ___AP: You finished shooting “The Midnight Sky” in February, right before the pandemic began. AP: What drew you to “The Midnight Sky”? I know people who are older -- older than me, even -- who live with real regret.

(AP Photo)LOS ANGELES – Yes, 2020 may seem like a complete fail with all the constant bad news and tragic moments. It’s been filled with gloom and doom(scrolling), but some celebrities and those inspired by them have tried to brighten a bleak year. He reassigned his 10 seamstresses in New York to produce thousands daily for health care workers on the frontlines. The singer and husband Emilio Estefan's restaurant Estefan Kitchen served up homemade meals for health care workers in Miami. The challenge coordinated offers by celebrities and athletes to raise funds to feed those in need during the pandemic.

on Aug. 31, 2020, actor Chadwick Boseman in character as T'Challa in "Black Panther" and 10-year old twins Lenny, left, and Bobby Homes paying tribute to Boseman at their home in in Mesa, Ariz. on Aug. 31, 2020. (Takiyah Dupas, Marvel Studios, Annalie Homes via AP)And now, for our annual look at the year in pop culture…. Truth is, people turned to culture of all kinds in 2020 — highbrow and lowbrow — to satisfy varied and sometimes conflicting needs: Distraction, inspiration, consolation, escapism, hope. A Broadway star serenaded health workers from his apartment window, and ballet dancers performed “Swan Lake” from their bathtubs. The world mourns an actor of immense talent who, like many of his characters, radiated a regal sense of dignity.

During advertising’s biggest night, Super Bowl Sunday, marketers battled it out to bolster their brands. PLANTERSPlanters teased its Super Bowl ad nearly two weeks before the game, releasing a teaser that showed its Mr. Peanut mascot seemingly being killed. The actual Super Bowl ad was relatively inoffensive, with a baby Mr. Peanut appearing at the funeral. There's a more involved marketing campaign with Ryder, but the Super Bowl ad didn't communicate much. HARD ROCK INTERNATIONALHard Rock International went all in on its first Super Bowl ad, maybe too much so.