‘Your Name’

    JAPAN’S hit animated youth fantasy film “Your Name” will land in Chinese cinemas this Friday.

    Earning 19 billion yen (US$171m) in Japan since it was released in August, it has made director Makoto Shinkai the second anime director to have a film reaching the 10 billion yen threshold, behind the famed Miyazaki Hayao. The story follows two high school students who constantly switch roles and have to adjust to their lives accordingly.

    ‘Battle of Memories’

    CHINESE actress and director Xu Jinglei, who has been absent from the big screen for years, is back with her new movie “Battle of Memories.”

    The US$22 million movie tells the story of a novelist who tries to recover from a painful divorce by having parts of his memories erased. With veteran actor Huang Bo co-starring with Xu as the novelist, the film directed by Taiwanese Leste Chen is scheduled for release in April.

    ‘Mannequin challenge’

    TAYLOR SWIFT celebrated Thanksgiving by enlisting her squad in a “mannequin challenge” video.

    The video posted on the singer’s Instagram account Thursday shows Swift and friends frozen in various poses on a Rhode Island beach before breaking out in a dance party. Swift is the latest celebrity to take on the “mannequin challenge,” which has become a social media craze over the past several weeks.

    Florence Henderson dies at 82

    FLORENCE HENDERSON, widely known for her role as “The Brady Bunch” matriarch Carol Brady, died Thursday. She was 82. Henderson starred in every episode of all five seasons of the family comedy series, and later appeared as Carol Brady in spinoffs.

    Other notable roles include “The Love Boat,” “Murder, She Wrote,” season 11 of “Dancing With the Stars,” and her hosting duties on Retirement Living TV’s “The Florence Henderson Show.” She earned her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996. (SD-Agencies)