"Gone Girl" held sway at the North American box office for a second straight week, fighting back competition from a number of new films, final industry data showed Monday.

The mystery, starring Ben Affleck as a husband accused of murdering his wife (Rosamund Pike), raked in $26.4 million over the weekend, bringing its two-week haul to $77.8 million.

Chris Brown is the top nominee for the Soul Train Awards.

The R&B singer racked up seven nominations, including best R&B/soul male artist and song of the year for "Loyal." Beyonce earned six nominations and Pharrell Williams followed with five.

Noel Gallagher, part of the chart-topping Oasis group with brother Liam until their acrimonious 2009 split, announced on Monday he would release a new solo album in March.

The album, "Chasing Yesterday", will be his third solo effort after "The Dreams We Have as Children" in 2009 and "Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds" in 2011.

Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon said her new film "Wild" was the hardest role of her career, at the biopic's premiere at the London Film Festival on Monday.

Witherspoon plays the role of Cheryl Strayed, a woman who trecked across a vast tract of wilderness in the United States for three months to recover from the death of her mother, a marriage breakup and heroin abuse.

When Michael Keaton met Barack Obama shortly before Obama would become president, the then-senator had a question for the actor.

"Why don't you make more movies?"

Australian rapper Iggy Azalea is the lead nominee at the American Music Awards.

Dick clark productions announced Monday that the "Fancy" performer is up for six awards at the November 23 event at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live. Azalea's nominations include artist, new artist and single of the year for her No.1 smash "Fancy."

U.S. entertainment firm Universal Parks & Resorts will invest more than $3.0 billion with a Chinese partner to open a movie theme park in Beijing in 2019, the city government and state media said Monday.

The park, which will feature characters and scenes from Hollywood blockbusters such as Harry Potter and the Transformers franchises, will be located in the city's eastern district of Tongzhou, the city government's news office said on its verified account on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

Penelope Cruz is Esquire's "sexiest woman alive."

Cruz is the 11th woman to be given the title by the magazine. Previous honorees include Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Rihanna, Charlize Theron and Scarlett Johansson.

Four new films couldn't catch "Gone Girl" at theaters this weekend.

The Fox thriller starring Ben Affleck as a man whose wife goes missing is poised to top the box office for a second week with $26.8 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

After the bombs, the fur coats. After the air raids, the air kisses. After six months of war, even the fighters attending an opening night at the Donetsk theatre traded in weapons for a rare moment of refinement.

The steps of the Donetsk National Academic Ukrainian Musical and Drama Theatre, empty for months, rang out over the weekend as 700 well-heeled theatregoers rushed up to enjoy a long-delayed debut to the season.