LONDON — Actor Ian McKellen is expected to recover fully after falling from a London stage during a fight scene and being hospitalized, according to producers.

According to a representative for the Noel Coward Theatre production, McKellen, 85, was in “good spirits” after medics indicated a scan showed he was likely to recover completely following his fall on Monday night.

Ian Mckellen | AP news Image

Actor Ian McKellen, 85, Is In ‘Good Spirits’ And Expected To Recover From Fall Off Stage In London

According to producers, McKellen’s Tuesday performance was canceled, but he was anticipated to return to the stage on Wednesday.

The stage and screen veteran, who played Gandalf in the “Lord of the Rings” movie, yelled out in pain following the fall, according to a BBC correspondent at the theatre.

McKellen was cast as the rogue John Falstaff in “Player Kings,” a Robert Icke-directed dramatization of William Shakespeare’s two “Henry IV” history plays.

Ian Mckellen | AP news Image

Actor Ian McKellen, 85, Is In ‘Good Spirits’ And Expected To Recover From Fall Off Stage In London

McKellen lost his balance and fell off the stage in a scene with Toheeb Jimoh’s Prince Hal and Samuel Edward-Cook’s Henry Percy, which surprised the audience.

“Sir Ian seemed to trip as he moved downstage to take a more active part in the scene,” audience member Paul Critchley told the PA news agency, describing it as a surprise. “He picked up momentum as he moved downstage which resulted in him falling off the stage directly in front of the audience.”

Staff and two medics in the audience assisted the actor, according to a statement from the theatre.

The theatre was evacuated, and the play was canceled.

Ian McKellen | AP News Image

Actor Ian McKellen, 85, Is In ‘Good Spirits’ And Expected To Recover From Fall Off Stage In London

McKellen, who played Magneto in the “X-Men” films, is a well-known Shakespearean actor in Britain, having performed in Richard III, Macbeth, and King Lear.

He has received a Tony Award (for “Amadeus”), six Olivier Awards, and nominations for two Academy Awards, five Emmys, and several BAFTA awards.

SOURCE – (AP)

NEW YORK  — The Associated Press was informed by Live Nation executives that Jennifer Lopez has canceled her 2024 North American tour.

They said, “Jennifer is taking time off to be with her children, family, and close friends.”

Jennifer Lopez | NBC News Image

Jennifer Lopez Cancels Summer Tour: ‘I Am Completely Heartsick And Devastated’

In support of her first solo album in ten years, “This Is Me… Now,” and its accompanying film, she was scheduled to embark on her first tour in five years.

The tour was supposed to begin in Orlando, Florida on June 26 and end in Houston on August 31.

Jennifer Lopez | AP News Image

Jennifer Lopez Cancels Summer Tour: ‘I Am Completely Heartsick And Devastated’

Those who bought tickets through Ticketmaster will receive an immediate refund, according to a statement from Live Nation.

On her OntheJLo website and newsletter, Lopez addressed the fans with the following statement: “I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down.” Please understand that if I didn’t think this was absolutely necessary, I wouldn’t have done it.

“I swear I’ll make it up to you and we’ll all be together again,” she said. You all have my undying love until the next occasion.

Jennifer Lopez | Billboard Image

Jennifer Lopez Cancels Summer Tour: ‘I Am Completely Heartsick And Devastated’

Her successful album “This Is Me… Then” was released twenty years ago, and this year, she released “This Is Me… Now.” According to Lopez, the new record is a “miracle” and “a second chance,” as she told the AP. And I wish I could freeze this instant in time the same way that album did.

SOURCE – (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO  — Due to its dominance in chipmaking, which has made it a symbol of the artificial intelligence boom, Nvidia on Wednesday far exceeded Wall Street expectations for profit.

Net income rose more than sevenfold compared to a year earlier, jumping to $14.88 billion in the first quarter that ended April 28 from $2.04 billion a year earlier. Revenue more than tripled, rising to $26.04 billion from $7.19 billion in the previous year.

Nividia | AP News Image

Nvidia’s Profit Soars, Underscoring Its Dominance In Chips For Artificial Intelligence

“The next industrial revolution has begun,” CEO Jensen Huang declared on a conference call with analysts. Huang predicted that the companies snapping up Nvidia chips will use them to build a new type of data center he called “AI factories” designed to produce “a new commodity—artificial intelligence.”

Huang added that training AI models is becoming faster as they learn to become “multimodal”—that is, capable of understanding text, speech, images, video and 3-D data—and also “to reason and plan.”

According to FactSet, the company reported earnings per share—adjusted to exclude one-time items—of $6.12, well above the $5.60 that Wall Street analysts had expected. It also announced a 10-for-1 stock split, which it noted would make its shares more accessible to employees and investors.

And it increased its dividend to 10 cents a share from 4 cents.

Shares in Nvidia Corp. rose 6% in after-hours trading to $1,006.89. The stock has risen more than 200% in the past year.

Nvidia | AP news Image

Nvidia’s Profit Soars, Underscoring Its Dominance In Chips For Artificial Intelligence

The company, based in Santa Clara, California, carved out an early lead in the hardware and software needed to tailor its technology to AI applications, partly because founder and CEO Jensen Huang began to nudge the company into what was then seen as a still half-baked technology more than a decade ago. It also makes chips for gaming and cars.

The company now boasts Wall Street’s third-highest market value, behind only Microsoft and Apple.

“Nvidia defies gravity again,” Jacob Bourne, an analyst with Emarketer, said of the quarterly report. While many tech companies are eager to reduce their dependence on Nvidia, which has achieved hardware dominance in AI rivaling that of earlier computing pioneers such as Intel Corp., “they’re not quite there yet,” he added.

Demand for generative AI systems that can compose documents, make images and serve as increasingly lifelike personal assistants has fueled astronomical sales of Nvidia’s specialized AI chips over the past year. Tech giants Amazon, Google, Meta, and Microsoft have all signaled that they will need to spend more on the chips and data centers needed to train and operate their AI systems in the coming months.

What happens after that could be another matter. Some analysts believe the breakneck race to build those huge data centers will eventually peak, potentially spelling trouble for Nvidia in the aftermath.

Nvidia | AP News Image

Nvidia’s Profit Soars, Underscoring Its Dominance In Chips For Artificial Intelligence

“The biggest question that remains is how long this runway is,” Third Bridge analyst Lucas Keh wrote in a research note. He noted that AI workloads in the cloud will eventually shift from training to inference or the more everyday task of processing fresh data using already trained AI systems. And inference doesn’t require the level of power provided by Nvidia’s expensive top-of-the-line chips, which will open up market opportunities for chipmakers offering less powerful, but also less costly, alternatives.

When that happens, Keh wrote, “Nvidia’s dominant market share position will be tested.”

SOURCE – (AP)