Disney's live-action remake of Lion King

Walt Disney Studios is teaming up with director Jon Favreau for a live-action remake of The Lion King (1994), one of the most successful animated movies in history, the company said on Wednesday.

No release date was announced for the production, which will build on Disney's success in reimagining its classics for contemporary audiences in films such as Maleficent (2014), Cinderella (2015) and The Jungle Book, which was directed by Favreau and has earned US$965.8 million (S$1.3 billion) worldwide since its April debut.

Grammys to honour rocker Tom Petty

Tom Petty, the 65-year-old heartland rocker behind hits such as American Girl and Free Fallin', will be honoured at a gala ahead of next year's Grammy Awards, it was announced on Wednesday. The Recording Academy named him as 2017's MusiCares Person of the Year to be feted in a Feb 10 concert two days before the awards.

Soap opera writer Agnes Nixon dies

Agnes Nixon, a celebrated creator and writer of television soap operas, died on Wednesday in Rosemont, Pennsylvania. She was 93.

In the 1960s and 1970s, she virtually reinvented soaps, creating for the ABC network One Life To Live, All My Children and other shows infused with social relevance and politically charged topics such as racism, abortion, obscenity, narcotics, the generation gap and protests against the Vietnam War.