Author: Keven Mawn

The West Point Association of Graduates recently decided to cancel an honorary ceremony for Tom Hanks.

The 69-year-old actor was due to receive the Sylvanus Thayer Award at the event on September 25, celebrating his long relationship with the U.S. Army. Alongside the reward, he was scheduled to meet a number of West Point Cadets, unfortunately for any fans of Hanks, it seems it wont be so.

Mark Bieger, president of the West Point Association of Graduates, believes that the U.S. Army should instead focus on its core missions: training the next generation of officers and preparing for combat.

Tom Hanks, “destructive and woke”?

President Donald Trump was delighted by the decision, as he is clearly not the biggest fan of Tom Hanks, having described him as destructive and WOKE.

A native New Yorker, Donald Trump was back in his hometown as a guest of Rolex on Sunday for the U.S. Open final between Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

The match was scheduled for 2.00 pm, but was delayed due to security preparations surrounding the President, the match eventually started at 2.48 pm. Long lines of people were still waiting outside Arthur Ashe Stadium at this point… yet to take their seats.

When Trump was introduced on screen during the national anthem, raucous boo’s were heard from the crowd amidst scattered applause for the polarizing figure.

The 79-year-old offered his detractors a wry smile, ultimately creating an even greater wave of booing during his second screen appearance. While some leaders appear chagrined when faced with thousands of boo’s from their constituents (especially in their home town), Trump seemed to take a dry pleasure in the response.

The United States Tennis Association shared a statement with the media, in order to avoid sharing reactions related to Trump’ s presence in the stadium. That said, with the powerful machine that is the internet, the videos will still have made the rounds.

Former U.S. President Barack Obama was among those present at the game, and unlike Trump, he received a lot of love from the New York crowd.

Trump ‘s last appearance at the U.S Open was in 2015, when he ran for the head of the Republican Party for his first term. He was also booed then.

Different days, but the same result for “The King of New York”!

The 35-year-old singer continues to rewrite history in the music world, with a new album entitled The Life of a Showgirl due for release on October 3, 2025.

Not even released yet, this album has already broken the record for the highest number of pre-orders in Spotify history.

Her album THE TORTURED POETS DEPARTMENT, released in April 2024, once set the same record.

Last month, she also became the first artist to have 4 albums with over 10 billion cumulative listens on Spotify, thanks to hits like Blank Space and Cruel Summer, among others.

Sky is the limit for the bride-to-be!

After years of rumors in the air, Amazon MGM Studios has announced the identity of the new Lara Croft, in preparation for the filming of the Tomb Raider series.

As confirmed on social networks, Sophie Turner, aka Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones, has landed the lead role in this significant new project. The series will start shooting on January 19, 2026, with Phoebe Waller-Bridge acting as creator, writer and executive producer.

#TombRaider live-action series is officially set to begin production on Jan. 19, 2026 with Sophie Turner as Lara Croft.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge serves as creator, writer, and executive producer. Chad Hodge has boarded the show as executive producer and co-showrunner.… pic.twitter.com/EtBx0N1grG

— Variety (@Variety) September 3, 2025

Production of the series was given the green light by Amazon Video in May 2024, while development of the project had been under discussion since January 2023.

Turner, 29, will succeed Angelina Jolie and Alicia Vikander, two actresses who have played Lara Croft on the big screen in the past.

This October, The Smashing Machine will hit cinemas, starring Dwayne The Rock Johnson as Matt Kerr.

The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, and The Rock showed up with a whole new silhouette, making him almost unrecognizable. Renowned for his generous muscle mass, the colossus is said to have lost some 60 pounds.

The former WWE wrestler has obviously decided to follow in the footsteps of his former colleague Dave Bautista, who has also undergone a drastic physical transformation in recent months.

This change is linked to The Rock’ s desire to make films that are meaningful and different to himself, rather than the pigeon-holed image that Hollywood has attributed to him over the years.

In addition, an emotional Dwayne Johnson and actress Emily Blunt received a 15-minute standing ovation following the public screening of The Smashing Machine.

And with a 100% start on Rotten Tomatoes, this would be the best on-screen performance for Dwayne Johnson, according to many observers.

With the arrival of several major films this summer, the box office was in a position to expect some very interesting financial figures.

The box office racked up no less than US$3.53 billion between May 1 and August 24. Hollywood’s objective was to break the $4 billion (US) barrier for the second time since the pandemic.

Only 2023, with the release ofOppenheimer and Barbie, exceeded $4G (US) during this period.

In fact, the summer period is the most profitable for the box office, accounting for 40% of annual revenues, but with this period drawing to a close, the mission will not be accomplished this year. Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian notes that the summer movie ecosystem is unstable, and believes that Hollywood will have to rethink its recipe to keep audiences interested for years to come.

On a positive note, with $3.53 billion (US) so far, 2025 has beaten 2024’s $3.52 billion (US).

Among the summer’s most profitable films, Lilo & Stitch topped the list with $421M (US) in North America and $1.03B (US) worldwide. It’s the only summer film to top the billion-dollar mark.

For the others, Jurrasic Rebirth with $844M (US), How to Train Your Dragon with $626M (US), Superman with $604M (US) and F1: The Movie with $603M (US) were also successful globally.

On the other hand, Marvel failed to repeat its past success with big titles, including Thunderbolts* with $382M (US) and The Fantastic Four: First Steps with $471M (US). Also, Elio with $150m (US), Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning with $597m (US) and M3GAN 2.0 at $39m (US) failed to live up to box-office expectation

August, September and October are seen as quieter months for the box office, so the end of the year looks slow, according to David A. Gross, of Franchise Entertainment Research. 2025 should, however, be able to beat 2024 in revenues by the end of the year, according to Gross.

In 2022, Roger Federer, at the end of an extraordinary career on the ATP circuit, has decided to hang up his tennis racket.

This doesn’t mean the Swiss isn’t still the talk of the town, as he’s just joined a select club: that of billionaire.

The former world number one has a net worth calculated at 1.1 billion US dollars, according to Forbes.

In fact, he is the richest tennis personality on the planet, even though he retired several years ago.

Lucrative endorsements and a stake in shoe brand On have made the Swiss star just the seventh athlete in the three-comma club—and a food tech investment may serve up another payday. https://t.co/1e8BqLZsaD (Photo: Richard Shotwell/Invision via Associated Press) pic.twitter.com/szrLpLvX2z

— Forbes (@Forbes) August 24, 2025

As a professional tennis player, Federer earned around $131 million (US) in prize money, just behind Rafael Nadal in second place with $135 million (US) and Novak Djokovic with $189 million (US) in first place.

Federer has, however, been involved in a number of large-scale projects that have added millions of dollars to his fortune, with the Swiss Shoe brand and his On clothing company. Added to this are powerful sponsors over the years, including Nike, Lindt, Mercedez-Benz, Rolex and Moët & Chandon.

Winner of 20 Grand Slams, Federer is one of only seven athletes in history to have earned the label of pre-tax billionaire by being active in his sport, according to Forbes. He ranks alongside LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Floyd Mayweather.

What’s more, he became only the seventh athlete of all time to officially join the three-comma club, having been surpassed by Ion Tiriac, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Junior Bridgeman, LeBron James and Tiger Woods.

His off-court investments have paid off as much in his bank account as in terms of popularity, with a 2.3% increase in engagement on his social networks, unlike Djokovic with 1.2% and Nadal with 0.5%.

The Maestro, even in retirement, is clearly not sitting still!

Are you familiar with Labubu products from China?

These plush toys, created by Kasing Lung, have been all the rage around the world, particularly over the past year, thanks to their many products, including key chains.

The Pop Mart company, manufacturers of these plush toys, has published its mid-year financial report, and sales are up 204% on the previous year, with profits up 362%. Pop Mart’s plush products as a whole boosted the company’s revenues in 2025 by 1200%, good for $854M (US).

In fact, Labubus generated no less than $670M (US) in the first half of 2025, an increase of 668% compared to the same period in 2024. These figures beat those of other popular toys at the same date, including Barbie with $374 million and Hot Wheels with $626 million (US). Labubus is expected to reach $1 billion in net value very soon, according to Wired.

Pop Mart, the Chinese company behind the Labubu franchise, has sold $670 million worth of related products so far this year—more than iconic US toy lines Barbie and Hot Wheels. https://t.co/yH8SH7j11p

— WIRED (@WIRED) August 19, 2025

These are the most popular products at Pop Mart, which has 571 stores worldwide, accounting for almost 35% of the company’s sales. As of June 2025, 40% of Pop Mart’s sales came from outside China, including a huge ratio in the United States, with sales of $315 million (US) in the first half of the year.

Celebrities such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian were seen this summer with these items in their bags, creating a viral effect on social networks.