Ben Child, The Guardian

Whitewashed swords and sandals epic Gods of Egypt sank beneath the sands at the US box office this weekend, a victim of scathing reviews and controversy over its casting of largely European actors as ancient Egyptian gods and mortals.

Spike Lee is to boycott the 2016 Oscars over the US Academy’s failure to nominate a single black actor for the second year running.

If you should accidentally discover, before you’ve even had the chance to view Star Wars: The Force Awakens for yourself, that Maz Kanata is Luke Skywalker’s twin, or that Chewbacca is BB-8’s uncle, you might well think the perpetrator of said spoiler ought to be locked up. According to police in Philadelphia, a change in the law is indeed well overdue: officers have taken to an official Twitter feed to declare that leaking Star Wars secrets ought to be illegal.

More than a thousand new members a day are signing up to join the Church of Jediism as fans prepare for the release this week of new Star Wars movie The Force Awakens, it is claimed.

Republican candidate endorses interrogation method that was scrapped by Bush administration because of torture concerns – and ineffectiveness