Sesame Street to revamp Elmo’s World segment

Sesame Workshop plans to revamp their long-running Elmo’s World segment on Sesame Street ahead of its 47th Season.

Together with HBO, the company is looking to re-imagine Elmo’s World by using live-action films and interactive thinking games along with new characters such as Smartie, an animated cell phone and a pair of brothers related to Elmo’s friend Mr Noodle.

“Kids love to learn with Elmo, and they are sure to enjoy the beautiful new chalk-drawn world Elmo creates in his imagination. We are also thrilled to be working with the legendary ‘original’ Mr Noodle, Bill Irwin, and proud to bring two new diverse and multi-talented Mr Noodles into our ‘World,’” the Sesame Workshop creative director and EVP Brown Johnson in a statement said.

The upcoming season set to premiere in January.

Zayn Malik to star in new TV show about a boy band

Zayn Malik is launching his acting career with a new boy band drama. The show, which has now been named Boys, will follow a fictional boy band who earns a record label and become a global phenomenon.

A source said: “It’s a subject he knows lots about and he will call upon his experiences to advise the scriptwriters on the show.

“Zayn has started talks with his fellow producers about him appearing in a couple of episodes of Boys. He is really keen to kick of his acting career and sees this as the perfect opportunity to do so, especially as he will have a lot of creative control.”

They continued: “However the discussions are still ongoing and there is still a chance he may just play himself in the show.”

Zayn has previously shown an interest in acting, but once he shot to fame with One Direction on the X Factor in 2010, he had to cut his acting dreams short — apart from the band appearing in a questionable episode of iCarly and frequently doing impressions of one another.

He told: “I started acting when I was in school with theatre studies and then music came after. It completely stopped when I joined the band but I’d definitely be interested if I was given the right role.”

The Lion King movie

The Jungle Book and Iron Man director Jon Favreau is set to helm a new big-screen version of The Lion King.

“We can officially confirm that The Walt Disney Studios and director Jon Favreau are putting a new reimagining of The Lion King on the fast track to production,” the company said.

The live-action and animation hybrid remake of The Lion King will include songs from the beloved 1994 animated movie, which was adapted in 1997 as a Tony-winning stage musical still running on Broadway. Productions of the show are being performed around the world, as well.

Disney and Favreau are also collaborating on a sequel to The Jungle Book. Release dates for the films have not been announced yet.

Published in Dawn, Young World, November 26th, 2016