AFP - Romantic tearjerker "Dear John" overcame scathing reviews to end "Avatar's" seven-week reign at the top of the North American box office this weekend, estimated figures showed Sunday.

AFP - Teenage heart-throb Taylor Lautner is to star as "Stretch Armstrong" in the latest Hollywood movie inspired by a best-selling action figure from toymakers Hasbro, a statement said Monday.

Reuters - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided which producers from "The Hurt Locker" and "The Blind Side" can walk up to the stage if either film wins the best picture Oscar on March 7.

AP - Michael Jackson's doctor wanted to seek his day in court Friday by surrendering before being charged in the singer's death, but prosecutors upstaged the plan by announcing that no case would be filed until next week.

AP - On Tuesday morning, just before the 2010 Academy Award nominations were announced, screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher couldn't get his TV to work. He scrambled to his computer and searched for the online broadcast of the nominations, his ears perking up for his name to be called.