LONDON (Reuters) - British film director Bryan Forbes, whose work included the 1970s psychological thriller "The Stepford Wives" and "International Velvet", has died aged 86, friends said. "The great British film director, Bryan Forbes, has died - a titan of cinema and an awesome force of screen, theatre, entertainment," British journalist and family friend Matthew d'Ancona wrote on Twitter. Forbes was married to British actress Nanette Newman and had two daughters, TV presenter Emma Forbes and journalist Sarah Standing. "Very sad to hear that Bryan Forbes died. ...

BEIJING (AP) — Authorities are investigating whether one of China's top film directors has fathered seven children in violation of the country's strict family planning laws, state media and a local official said Thursday.

Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Weiner and others share the best book they ever got for Mother's Day.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have begun investigating reports that Zhang Yimou, one of China's best-known movie directors, has seven children in violation of strict family planning rules, which could result in a fine of 160 million yuan ($26.05 million), state media said on Thursday. Online reports have surfaced that Zhang, who dazzled the world in 2008 with his Beijing Olympic ceremonies, "has at least seven children and will face a 160 million yuan fine," said the website of the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece. ...

By Ira Teinowitz LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Harvey Weinstein's hopes of getting Congress to enact a royalty-based compensation system for movie clips played on the web so far appears to be a long shot. None of the movie industry trade associations are rushing to champion Weinstein's idea. "While Harvey's ideas are characteristically interesting and provocative, the topic isn't something that we're able to comment on at this time," said Chris Green, supervisor of communications for the Producers Guild of America. ...

By Brent Lang LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Robert Downey Jr. may be striking a blow for good old-fashioned star power as he prepares to square off against Disney and Marvel over his slice of the pie on "The Avengers 2" and "Iron Man 4." If the two sides don't reach a new contract agreement it could rob the studio of the charismatic center of its two highest grossing superhero franchises, potentially jeopardizing Disney and Marvel's plans to continue expanding its comic-book universe beyond Tony Stark and Earth's Mightiest Heroes. ...

By Tim Kenneally LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Disney has cast "Game of Thrones" actor Richard Madden in the role of the Prince in its upcoming live-action movie "Cinderella," the company said Wednesday. Madden, who plays Robb Stark in HBO's hit dragons-and-swords fantasy series, joins a cast that includes Cate Blanchett as the wicked stepmother. "Wrath of the Titans" and "Downton Abbey" actress Lily James is playing the title role. Kenneth Branagh is directing the film. Producing duties are being handled by Alli Shearmur and Simon Kinberg. ...

(Strong language in paragraph 7) By Greg Gilman LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Warner Bros. has decided to release "The Hangover Part III" a day earlier, bumping its theatrical bow up from May 24 to May 23, the studio told TheWrap on Wednesday. Warner Bros. declined to comment on the reasoning, but with Universal's "Fast & Furious 6" hitting theaters the same holiday weekend, it's not hard to see why it wants the jump on the competition. Both billion-dollar franchises are aimed at the same male audience and both dream of topping the previous films' wild success. ...

By Gerry Shih SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - In the past twelve months, Zynga Inc has struggled with a contracting player base, a deflated stock price and waves of layoffs. Now it is coming to terms with downsized ambitions. As Chief Executive Mark Pincus, 47, leads the online games developer he founded in 2007 through perhaps the most crucial year of his tenure, he is pushing to restore revenues by doubling down on "FarmVille," the franchise that took Facebook users by storm four years ago and launched Zynga to stardom. ...

LONDON (AP) — British film director Bryan Forbes, whose work includes the original 1970s horror classic "The Stepford Wives," has died at age 86 after a long illness, a family spokesman said Wednesday.

By Steve Pond LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The Los Angeles Film Festival has added screenings of Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" and Pixar's "Monsters University" to its 2013 lineup, supplementing the previously-announced lineup of indie films with a couple of likely Hollywood blockbusters. "Monsters University," the sequel to the 2001 film "Monsters Inc.," will screen on June 18 as part of the official festival lineup. "Man of Steel," Snyder's reboot of the "Superman" franchise, will take place on June 12 and is being billed as a pre-Festival screening. ...

By Brent Lang LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Mia Wasikowska, Olivia Williams and Evan Bird have joined the cast of David Cronenberg's upcoming thriller, "Maps to the Stars." Already signed to the project are Julianne Moore, John Cusack and Robert Pattinson. Wasikowska is best known for starring roles in "Jane Eyre" and "Alice in Wonderland," Williams has had key supporting roles in "Rushmore" and "The Ghost Writer," and Bird appeared on AMC's "The Killing." Cronenberg's latest cerebral genre film is a ghost story that also skewers L.A.'s celebrity-obsessed culture. ...

By Lucas Shaw NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Producers Constantin Film and Unique Features must be confident in their "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones," due August 23. They have just signed the two stars, Lily Collins and Jamie Campbell Bower, in the sequel: "The Mortal Instruments: City of Ashes." The films are based on a successful series of young-adult books, five of which are in print with another set to hit shelves next March. More than 16 million copies of the series have been sold worldwide. ...

By Steve Pond LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Cannes Film Festival president Gilles Jacob, who has presided over the fest for 36 years, will be leaving his position as president when his term expires in 2015, Cannes told TheWrap on Wednesday. Jacob revealed his intention to leave the job in an interview with the French newspaper Nice Matin, saying that he promised his wife "several times" that he would retire. His remarks (in French) appeared in a one-paragraph note on the paper's website on Wednesday. "Mr. ...

By Todd Cunningham LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Ditch Spock's ears. Lose the wacky costumes. Don't have characters spend so much time yakking on the bridge of the Enterprise. That's the sort of advice Paramount is heeding as it prepares to open its sci-fi epic "Star Trek Into Darkness" on Thursday in the U.K., Australia and five other countries. Determined to make its sci-fi epic sequel a global hit -- unlike any of the preceding "Star Trek" movies -- the studio has gone to great lengths to make it more appealing to foreign audiences. ...

By Jeff Sneider LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Maybe good karma exists in Hollywood after all: "Jane Got a Gun" screenwriter Brian Duffield has been hired to write "Insurgent," the inevitable sequel to Summit Entertainment's "Divergent," TheWrap has learned. Duffield has endured a career's worth of headaches and heartaches the past couple months as "Jane Got a Gun" has suffered a series of setbacks stemming from director Lynne Ramsey's last-minute "departure" from the project. ...

By Lucas Shaw NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - Octavia Spencer will star alongside Kevin Costner in "Black and White," IM Global announced on Tuesday. IM Global has come aboard to sell the film to international buyers starting at the Cannes Film Festival next week. Cassian Elwes, an executive producer on the project, is handling domestic rights. The film reunites Costner with "The Upside of Anger" director Mike Binder, who wrote and will directed "Black and White." It will begin shooting this summer in New Orleans. ...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The anticipated June 2014 release of the fourth installment of "Jurassic Park," one of the highest-grossing film franchises, has been put on hold, Universal Pictures said on Wednesday. The decision was made to give "the studio and filmmakers adequate time to bring audiences the best possible version" of Jurassic Park 4, the studio said in a statement. The film was slated to be released in theaters on June 13, 2014. Universal has yet to announce a new date for the release. The three "Jurassic Park" films generated $1. ...

Things keep getting darker for video game giant Nintendo. The news that the company’s previous-generation Wii console outsold the new Wii U during the first quarter really put Nintendo’s troubles in perspective, and now more bad news has emerged for the video game giant. As picked up in a report from Joystiq, an Electronic Arts executive has confirmed on Twitter that the company is abandoning plans to build its new gaming engine for the Wii U. “[Frostbite 3] has never been running on WiiU,” EA DICE’s technical director Johan Andersson posted on Twitter. “We did some tests with not too promising results with [Frostbite 2] & chose not to go down that path.” Nintendo’s Wii U sought to be a console