Entertainment News Roundup: Fans of boy band BTS join swarm of Ants chasing South Korea's hit IPO; New York's Metropolitan Opera to remain closed for another year and more

Spotify, Hollywood producer Chernin to adapt podcast shows for films, TV Spotify Technology SA has signed a deal with Hollywood production house Chernin Entertainment to adapt the music streaming firm's podcast shows for films and television and sell them to other outlets, the companies said on Thursday.

Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.

South African hit 'Jerusalema' inspires people worldwide to shake off COVID-19 blues

From Sao Paulo to Sweden, thousands of people around the world, including priests, police, ministers and frontline workers, have posted clips of themselves dancing to South African house song "Jerusalema". With confirmed global coronavirus deaths nearing a grim milestone of one million, a vaccine still some time away and lockdowns and social distancing measures to curb the pandemic's spread weighing on public life, the up-tempo gospel groove has provided a moment's relief across borders and language barriers.

U.S. TV shows try a new election playbook: making voting part of the story

From "black-ish" to a "West Wing" reunion, television shows are using the power of entertainment in new ways to encourage more Americans to participate in the Nov. 3 election. Thirty years after "Rock the Vote," a liberal nonprofit group, fused pop culture and politics, TV makers are seeking to make dry topics like registering to vote, filling out the census and finding polling places feel vital and fun by writing them into the plots of popular shows.

New York's Metropolitan Opera to remain closed for another year

New York's famed Metropolitan Opera canceled its entire upcoming season on Wednesday and said it would remain closed until September 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, a sign of the continuing struggles for live entertainment. The 3,800-seat opera house normally stages more than 200 performances each season and welcomes nearly 800,000 visitors, according to its website.

U.S. senators, citing Uighurs, urge Netflix to drop planned Chinese sci-fi series

Five Republican U.S. senators have urged Netflix Inc to reconsider plans to adapt a Chinese science-fiction book trilogy into a TV series because they said the author has defended the Chinese government's treatment of Uighur Muslims. "The Three-Body Problem" and two sequels were written by Chinese author Liu Cixin. Netflix announced earlier this month that it was turning the books into a live-action, English-language TV series led by D.B Weiss and David Benioff, the creators of HBO megahit "Game of Thrones." Liu serves as a consulting producer on the project.

Fans of boy band BTS join swarm of Ants chasing South Korea's hit IPO

Kim Eun-hee wants to complete her collection of memorabilia of Korean boy band BTS by bidding more than $120,000 to buy shares in the group's music label Big Hit Entertainment in South Korea's hottest IPO, which could even shake money-markets. Fervour is building among die-hard South Korean BTS fans to secure at least one share of the K-pop band's label as order books for next month's listing opened this week.

Spotify, Hollywood producer Chernin to adapt podcast shows for films, TV

Spotify Technology SA has signed a deal with Hollywood production house Chernin Entertainment to adapt the music streaming firm's podcast shows for films and television and sell them to other outlets, the companies said on Thursday. The deal would unite Spotify, which has more than 1.5 million podcast titles, with media mogul Rupert Murdoch's former right-hand man and Chernin Entertainment founder Peter Chernin.

Hollywood superhero coming to Wrexham? Why not, say fans

Even for a Hollywood script the idea of a couple of household name American actors investing in a fifth-tier British soccer club for no apparent reason sounds a little far-fetched. Yet Wrexham, in North Wales, have confirmed that Ryan Reynolds, of Deadpool fame, and Rob McElhenney, creator and star of sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, are serious.

Rio de Janeiro samba schools delay 2021 Carnival parade over coronavirus

Samba schools in Rio de Janeiro decided on Thursday to delay Brazil's most famous Carnival parade that would normally have been held in February 2021, as the country grapples with the second-deadliest coronavirus outbreak in the world. Liesa, the independent samba league, did not give a new date for the festival, saying it would depend on a vaccine.

Coming to a cinema near you: the life of UK's Captain Tom

British centenarian and charity star Captain Tom Moore, who raised millions of pounds for the health service by walking laps of his garden during lockdown, has signed a deal to film a biopic of his life, he and the producers said on Wednesday. The film, to be shot next year, will be made by Britain's Fred Films and Powder Keg Pictures, whose credits include "Fisherman's Friends", about a group of Cornish fishermen who signed a record deal, they said in a joint statement.

Egyptian orchestra for visually-impaired women resumes concerts amid coronavirus

Egypt's Al Nour Wal Amal (light and hope) chamber orchestra, a music group of visually-impaired women, has faced many challenges over the decades, yet none was like this year's pandemic. After months without playing, the orchestra members resumed rehearsals three weeks ago and held their first concert since the start of the global health crisis on Sunday at the Manasterly Palace in Cairo.

(With inputs from agencies.)