WASHINGTON — Conan O’Brien accepted the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday with a not-so-subtle broadside against President Donald J. Trump, whose takeover of the Kennedy Center, which awarded the prize, has shaken the art world.

A host of comedians including David Letterman, Adam Sandler, Sarah Silverman, and Stephen Colbert celebrated Mr. O’Brien for comic greatness while ribbing the Trump administration and putting a spotlight on the renowned arts facility that is now overseen by Trump allies.

But it was Mr. O’Brien, the longtime late-night television host and comedy writer, who aimed his comments most directly at the Republican president without using his name.

“Twain hated bullies,” Mr. O’Brien said. “He punched up, not down. And he deeply, deeply empathized with the weak.”

Mr. O’Brien described the award’s namesake as “allergic to hypocrisy” and suspicious of populism and imperialism. “He loved America but knew it was deeply flawed,” Mr. O’Brien said.

Mr. Trump, who came into office in January, has spent the last two months implementing much of the populist agenda that helped him get elected last year while advocating for US annexation of Canada and Greenland, firing federal workers, and deporting migrants who were in the United States illegally.

The show was the first signature event at the Kennedy Center since Mr. Trump announced he would become chairman of the institution, pushing out billionaire philanthropist David Rubenstein.

Mr. Trump dismissed board members appointed by former President Joe Biden and installed officials loyal to him. He handed leadership reins for the facility to Richard Grenell, a close ally and former ambassador to Germany who is serving as envoy for special missions in Mr. Trump’s current administration.

The new board, which includes White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Usha Vance, wife of Vice-President JD Vance, fired its former president, Deborah Rutter. Mr. Trump visited the center last week and declared it in “tremendous disrepair.”

Mr. O’Brien thanked Mr.Rubenstein and Ms. Rutter in his remarks, drawing loud applause from the audience.

“When he accepted the Mark Twain Prize, this was a very different place,” Mr. Colbert said from the Kennedy Center stage. “Today they announced two board members: Bashar al-Assad and Skeletor,” Mr. Colbert quipped, referring to the former president of Syria and a cartoon villain.

COMEDY GIANT
Other comedians joked that this would be the last Mark Twain Prize awarded by the Center. John Mulaney cracked that the facility, which is seen as a memorial to slain former President John F. Kennedy, would be renamed after Roy Cohn, a political fixer known for his role in Senator Joseph McCarthy’s anti-communist scare campaigns of the 1950s, and a lawyer for Mr. Trump in his early years in business.

Along with the annual Kennedy Center Honors in December, the Mark Twain Prize is one of the premier events at the renowned arts institution. Mr. Trump did not attend the event on Sunday and did not attend any of the Honors performances during his first term.

Mr. O’Brien hosted the Oscars earlier this month and is slated to come back in the emcee role next year. He was the host of Late Night with Conan O’Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien on NBC and Conan on TBS. He is a former writer for Saturday Night Live.

“You are a genius, my friend,” comedian and actor Will Ferrell said from the stage. “You’re an absolute giant in the world of comedy,” said actor and comedian Tracy Morgan.

Mr. O’Brien told reporters before the show that he wanted to go through with the event to support Kennedy Center workers. “Our country has been through many different sea changes, and my thought is I will be here specifically to honor Mark Twain and the people that this award stands for,” he said.

Previous winners of the Mark Twain Prize include Kevin Hart, Mr. Sandler, Jon Stewart, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Carol Burnett.

Sunday’s show will be available for viewing on Netflix on May 4. — Reuters

LOS ANGELES — Tom Cruise takes on what may be his final Mission: Impossible, a new Superman will wear the red cape, and the record-setting Avatar sci-fi series will return to movie theaters this year.

Those films and more are giving cinema operators hope that the long recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will continue in 2025. Five years after the start of the health crisis, moviegoing has not fully rebounded.

Box office receipts totaled $8.6 billion last year in the United States and Canada, 25% below the pre-pandemic heights of $11.4 billion in 2019.

The film industry was disrupted again in 2023 when Hollywood writers and actors went on strike.

“That complex matrix of filmmaking, where everyone wants the best talent and the best actors and the best sets, it takes a long time to get that running again,” said Tim Richards, founder and chief executive officer of Europe’s Vue Cinemas. “2025 is going to feel the tail end of that.”

Top names in the movie business will gather at the annual CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas early next month to talk about the state of the industry.

The conference draws executives from Hollywood studios and multiplex operators such as AMC Entertainment, Cinemark, and Cineworld, as well as owners of single theaters in small towns.

At the Academy Awards this month, Anora filmmaker and best director winner Sean Baker delivered a “battle cry” for filmmakers, distributors and audiences to support theaters.

“The theater-going experience is under threat,” he said, noting that the number of screens shrunk during the pandemic.

“If we don’t reverse this trend, we’ll be losing a vital part of our culture,” Mr. Baker added.

Shawn Robbins, director of movie analytics at Fandango and founder and owner of Box Office Theory, said the movie business was adjusting to “a new normal.”

“Event movies are increasingly drivers of the business,” Mr. Robbins said. “There’s even more weight on their shoulders in terms of box office dollars.”

Moviegoers still turn out for big-budget films, Mr. Robbins said, but have shown they are happy to wait to watch others at home.

“It is very common knowledge that a lot of movies will be available to stream within three to eight weeks, whereas it used to be a minimum of three months,” he said.

AVATAR AS TIPPING POINT?
Among the big hitters coming to theaters this year are Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, a movie that may be Cruise’s last appearance in the long-running action franchise. “One last time,” he says in the trailer. The film will debut over the US Memorial Day weekend in May, along with Walt Disney’s live-action version of animated classic Lilo & Stitch.

Brad Pitt plays a Formula 1 driver in the June release F1, and in July, Warner Bros. will release its new Superman movie directed by Guardians of the Galaxy filmmaker James Gunn and starring David Corenswet.

From Marvel, the anti-hero team Thunderbolts will kick off the summer moviegoing season in early May, followed by The Fantastic Four in late July.

Around the November and December holidays, offerings include the second part of musical box office phenomenon Wicked, animated sequel Zootopia 2, and Avatar: Fire and Ash, the third film in James Cameron’s Avatar series. The first Avatar is the highest-grossing movie of all time, and the second movie ranks third.

Mr. Robbins projected 2025 would end with a slight increase in domestic box office receipts compared with last year, “maybe flirting with $9 billion.” He said it is unclear when ticket sales will return to pre-pandemic levels.

Mr. Richards said he believed the new Avatar would kick off “an extraordinary three to five years” for cinemas.

“We’re going to see (Avatar) as the tipping point,” Mr. Richards said. “2026 has got an extraordinary number of great films.” — Reuters

LOS ANGELES — Animation studios Disney and Pixar are developing the film Coco 2, which is slated to release in 2029, Disney’s Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger announced during the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Thursday.

The first Coco film won two Academy Awards for best animated feature and best original song for “Remember Me.” It also won a Golden Globe for best animated motion picture and a BAFTA for best animated film.

The film told the story of Miguel, a 12-year-old with dreams of becoming a musician despite his family’s generations-old ban on music, who ventured to the vibrant Land of the Dead to unlock the real story behind his family history.

Coco 2 will include the same directors of the first Coco film, Oscar-winning director Lee Unkrich and co-director Adrian Molina.

“While the film is just in the initial stages, we know it will be full of humor, heart, and adventure,” Mr. Iger said about the animated sequel film. “And we can’t wait to share more soon.”

The film will be produced by Oscar-winning producer Mark Nielsen, who worked on Toy Story 4 and Inside Out. — Reuters

SEOUL — A South Korean court issued an injunction on Friday to stop members of K-pop group NewJeans from pursuing independent projects, marking the latest twist in a long-running dispute between the stars and their label that has gripped fans.

The Seoul Central District Court upheld a request from the label ADOR to maintain its role managing the group and prohibit NewJeans’ members from engaging in commercial activities without the label’s consent, the court said in a statement.

The five members of NewJeans announced their departure from ADOR last November, revealed a new name — NJZ — and promised to release a new song this month.

Friday’s ruling appears to throw that into doubt and the group said they would challenge the court’s decision.

“NJZ respects the court’s ruling. However, we believe that the decision did not fully take into account the complete breakdown of trust the members have experienced toward ADOR,” they said in an Instagram post.

NewJeans has been caught up in infighting between executives of the agency’s parent and the band’s creative director who has now left ADOR.

The K-pop controversy involving NewJeans made a string of headlines in South Korea and beyond last year, with accusations flying, audits, and an emotional press conference by the band.

The members have said they want to work with the creative director, accusing the firm of mistreatment. ADOR has denied such claims and said the contract remains in effect.

ADOR is a subsidiary of powerhouse label HYBE, home to another global K-pop sensation BTS.

ADOR thanked the court for its “judicious” decision.

“With our status as NewJeans’ exclusive agency now legally affirmed, we are fully committed to supporting the artists going forward,” the company said in a statement, adding that it would be present at the members’ performance on Sunday in Hong Kong. — Reuters