Hopes were raised today that the Oscars could still go ahead next month after Hollywood directors reached a tentative contract deal with studios.

Ronald McDonald is ditching Mickey Mouse for Shrek. McDonald’s has signed a two-year, non-exclusive deal to promote DreamWorks Animation SKG films beginning with the release of Shrek 3 in 2007.

Dick Tracy isn’t on his way – at least not to movie theatres any time soon - as Warren Beatty plans for a new Tracy flick may be scuppered by legal action.

Modest growth in the gross domestic product and a drop in oil prices gave Wall Street its best day of 2005 today as investors at least temporarily set aside inflation fears and picked up bargains in a heavily sold-off market.

Wall Street managed a moderate gain today in a volatile session that saw investors alternating between worries about interest rates and delight in a new wave of merger deals.

Writer-director M Night Shyamalan and The Walt Disney Co are bracing themselves for legal action, after a children's author declared similarities between her book and new movie The Village.

Disney has banned its film company subsidiary from distributing controversial director Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, which criticises President George Bush’s handling of the September 11 terrorist attacks and connects the Bush family with Osama bin Laden’s.

Wall Street wobbled through an indecisive session today, finishing modestly lower as investors, worried about the economy and terrorism, had no conviction to sustain even a mild wave of bargain-hunting.

The Walt Disney Co is planning an aggressive marketing campaign to give Mickey Mouse a hipper image and make him more appealing to a new generation of teenagers.