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Nollywood stars Uzor Arukwe and Linda Ejiofor have won the Best Lead Actor and Best Lead Actress awards, respectively, at the 2026 Africa Magic Viewers’ Choice Awards.
Arukwe clinched the Best Lead Actor award for his performance in Colours of Fire, beating a strong field of nominees that included Mike Ezuruonye (Oversabi Aunty), Lateef Adedimeji (Lisabi: A Legend Is Born), William Benson (To Kill a Monkey), Kanayo O. Kanayo (Grandpa Must Obey), Khumbuza Meyiwa (Bet I Love You), Wale Ojo (3 Cold Dishes), and Femi Branch (Red Circle).
In the Best Lead Actress category, Ejiofor was honoured for her role in The Serpent’s Gift.
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She emerged ahead of fellow nominees including Bimbo Akintola (To Kill a Monkey), Ifeoma Fafunwa (The Lost Days), Ariyike Owolagba (Something About The Briggs), Sola Sobowale (Her Excellency), Scarlet Gomez (Behind the Scenes), Genoveva Umeh (The Herd), and Gloria Anozie-Young (Mother of the Brides).
The awards recognise outstanding performances in African film and television and are among the most prestigious honours in the continent’s entertainment industry.
The Oscars will leave Hollywood after celebrating their centenary, organizers said Thursday, as they announced a long-term deal to hold the gala in central Los Angeles.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said the ceremony, the most important night of the year for the global film industry, would leave the Dolby Theatre on the Hollywood Walk of Fame after 2028.
The 2029 edition will instead be held at The Peacock Theater, part of the vast LA LIVE complex, next to the Crypto.com Arena, home to the Los Angeles Lakers.
“For the 101st Oscars and beyond, the Academy looks forward to closely collaborating with (owners) AEG to make LA LIVE the perfect backdrop for our global celebration of cinema, both for our live in-theater audience and for film fans around the world,” Academy CEO Bill Kramer and President Lynette Howell Taylor said.
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The 10-year deal with AEG comes as the ceremony leaves network television in the United States, to be broadcast instead worldwide by YouTube.
It also marks an end to a decades-long run for the ceremony at the Dolby, which is just a stone’s throw from the Roosevelt Hotel, where the very first Oscars were handed out in 1929.
While Hollywood is synonymous with the Oscars, the ceremony has not always been held there.
Stars have previously descended on a number of venues in the Downtown area, and for much of the 1960s, the ceremony was hosted in the beachside city of Santa Monica.
At this year’s awards, held on March 15, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” — a wild tale of leftist revolutionaries, white supremacists and immigrant detention centers — was crowned as best picture.
Warner Bros. Discovery said that Paramount has raised the price of its takeover offer to $31 per share, potentially setting the stage for a fresh bidding war with Netflix over the future of the Hollywood giant.
Paramount’s offer had previously stood at $30 per share since December — when the Skydance owned company launched its hostile bid to challenge a deal Warner struck with Netflix to sell its studio and streaming business for $27.75 per share.
A Warner Bros. Discovery buyout would reshape Hollywood and the wider media landscape — bringing HBO Max, cult-favorite titles like “Harry Potter” and, depending on who wins the Netflix v. Paramount tug-of-war, potentially even CNN under a new roof.
Unlike Netflix, Paramount wants to acquire Warner Bros. in its entirety — including networks like CNN and Discovery. The companies have spent the last couple of months in a heated, public back and forth over who has a stronger deal. And Paramount upping its offer only adds to the pressure.
