Let’s dance: ‘Monsters University'

Family film Monsters University topped the US and Canadian movie charts for a second straight weekend, fending off competition from two new releases, the female buddy comedy The Heat and the explosion-filled thriller White House Down.

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The Duchess of Cambridge arrives for her visit to Warner Bros studios in Leavesden, Herts where the popular Harry Potter movies were produced.

Magic moment as Kate the Duchess of Cambridge opens Harry Potter studios with William and another Harry in tow

Love her or loathe her it is hard to deny that the Duchess of Cambridge has cast a spell over the general public - or the tabloids, at least. Today accompanied by her husband the Duke of Cambridge and brother-in-law Prince Harry the spellbinding affect was compounded by the fact trio were in Leavesden, Herts to officially open the Harry Potter Warner Bros studios to the public.

Disney deal gives BSkyB pay-TV movies stranglehold

BSkyB has shown it still has a stranglehold over the best new movies on pay-TV as it signed a major rights deal with Disney, dealing a blow to online movie-streaming rivals NetFlix and Amazon's LoveFilm.

BSkyB buoyant after subscription price rises boost profits

Subscription-price increases and a modest rise in customer numbers helped satellite broadcaster BSkyB report a strong rise in first-half profits.

Market Report: Traders love Eros after HBO Asia deal

Bollywood producer and distributor Eros International has just gone prime time.Its deal with HBO Asia, the pay TV group, is a "game changer" according to its house broker, Peel Hunt. The pair will launch two new premium, advertising-free movie channels, HBO Defined HBO Hits, in India.

DVD review: Arthur Christmas

Aardman's cartoon about Father Christmas and his two sons is bright, colourful fun.

Star Wars meets Angry Birds

Take one of the most popular games ever to hit the iPhone, mix it with the biggest movie franchise in the history of film, and what do you get? Angry Birds Star Wars.

George Lucas and Mickey Mouse

How fat cats killed off Mickey Mouse

Disney is said to have overpaid for Lucasfilm's Star Wars but the money's not at the box office any more

Walt Disney president and CEO Bob Iger with George Lucas, right, in Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park

Hollywood's empire strikes back: Disney buys Lucasfilm, maker of Stars Wars, for $4bn

Fans can look forward to Episode 7 in the sci-fi franchise with George Lucas as consultant

Nicholas Lezard: You can't treat Woody Allen like this

Mention certain literary estates to any number of editors, publishers and writers and you will see them shudder. These guardians of dead writers' works can be ferocious protectors of reputations. Stephen Joyce, grandson of James, destroyed more than 1,000 letters written by the writer's disturbed daughter Lucia to her father – as well as some to her from the man she loved, Samuel Beckett. Beckett's own estate gets very exercised when directors play fast and loose with his stage works, and T S Eliot's widow, Valerie, is considered largely responsible for the snail's pace at which her late husband's letters have been published.

Princess Sofia, star of the TV film Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess

Disney's Spanish princess 'not Hispanic enough'

Disney is scrambling to defend itself against claims that a new cartoon character, billed as its first ever Hispanic princess, doesn't look sufficiently Hispanic.

Princess Sofia, star of the TV film Sofia the First: Once Upon a Princess

She's Disney's first 'Latina' princess: So what happened to the fairytale ending?

Studio embroiled in another diversity row amid claims new character is not Hispanic enough

Pinewood is still pushing for more growth

Pinewood Shepperton, the film and television studios group, is pushing ahead with expansion plans despite losing its major planning application this year.

When football is a job not a joy: Michael Owen's inner voice is that of a footballer whose first instinct is to ask: 'What's in it for me?'

The Last Word: Football gets the heroes it deserves

Michael Owen and Carlos Tevez highlight the contempt with which many treat the game

Great Gatsby release pushed back to summer 2013

The movie remake of The Great Gatsby, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, has been moved for release to the summer of 2013 from December 2012, putting it out of contention for this year's Oscars.

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Special report: How my father's face turned up in Robert Capa's lost suitcase

Special report: How my father's face turned up in Robert Capa's lost suitcase

The great war photographer was not one person but two. Their pictures of Spain's civil war, lost for decades, tell a heroic tale
The unmade speech: An alternative draft of history

The unmade speech: An alternative draft of history

Someone, somewhere has to write speeches for world leaders to deliver in the event of disaster. They offer a chilling hint at what could have been
Funny business: Meet the women running comedy

Funny business: Meet the women running comedy

Think comedy’s a man's world? You must be stuck in the 1980s, says Holly Williams
Wilko Johnson: 'You have to live for the minute you're in'

Wilko Johnson: 'You have to live for the minute you're in'

The Dr Feelgood guitarist talks frankly about his terminal illness
Lure of the jingle: Entrepreneurs are giving vintage ice-cream vans a new lease of life

Lure of the jingle

Entrepreneurs are giving vintage ice-cream vans a new lease of life
Who stole the people's own culture?

DJ Taylor: Who stole the people's own culture?

True popular art drives up from the streets, but the commercial world wastes no time in cashing in
Guest List: The IoS Literary Editor suggests some books for your summer holiday

Guest List: IoS Literary Editor suggests some books for your summer holiday

Before you stuff your luggage with this year's Man Booker longlist titles, the case for some varied poolside reading alternatives
What if Edward Snowden had stayed to fight his corner?

Rupert Cornwell: What if Edward Snowden had stayed to fight his corner?

The CIA whistleblower struck a blow for us all, but his 1970s predecessor showed how to win
'A man walks into a bar': Comedian Seann Walsh on the dangers of mixing alcohol and stand-up

Comedian Seann Walsh on alcohol and stand-up

Comedy and booze go together, says Walsh. The trouble is stopping at just the one. So when do the hangovers stop being funny?
From Edinburgh to Hollywood (via the Home Counties): 10 comedic talents blowing up big

Edinburgh to Hollywood: 10 comedic talents blowing up big

Hugh Montgomery profiles the faces to watch, from the sitcom star to the surrealist
'Hello. I have cancer': When comedian Tig Notaro discovered she had a tumour she decided the show must go on

Comedian Tig Notaro: 'Hello. I have cancer'

When Notaro discovered she had a tumour she decided the show must go on
They think it's all ova: Bill Granger's Asia-influenced egg recipes

Bill Granger's Asia-influenced egg recipes

Our chef made his name cooking eggs, but he’s never stopped looking for new ways to serve them
The world wakes up to golf's female big hitters

The world wakes up to golf's female big hitters

With its own Tiger Woods - South Korea's Inbee Park - the women's game has a growing audience
10 athletes ready to take the world by storm in Moscow next week

10 athletes ready to take the world by storm in Moscow next week

Here are the potential stars of the World Championships which begin on Saturday
The Last Word: Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale's art of manipulation

The Last Word: Luis Suarez and Gareth Bale's art of manipulation

Briefings are off the record leading to transfer speculation which is merely a means to an end