Hollywood
Japan’s first multiplex chain acquired by Lawson HMV Entertainment
NEW DELHI: United Entertainment Holdings, the parent company of cinema chain United Cinemas, has been acquired by Lawson HMV Entertainment (LHE), from the Advantage Partners investment fund.
In a deal said to be worth approximately US $100 million, Lawson HMV will acquire 100 per cent of the cinema chain’s shares. The deal is expected to be completed on 26 August.
Originally the Japan branch of UCI Cinemas, a partnership between Paramount and Universal, United Cinemas International was a pioneer of the multiplex concept when it opened its first cinema in Shiga Prefecture. In 2005, United acquired the four cinemas of Japan’s AMC Theatres and it merged with the Cineplex cinema chain last November.
United is currently the third-largest cinema chain in Japan, operating 331 screens in 36 cinemas.
A subsidiary of global convenience store franchise firm Lawson, Lawson HMV Entertainment operates Japan’s HMV stores, a record label and a popular ticketing service for concerts, films and other live events.
In a statement released by LHE, the company says that the deal will enable it to strengthen its role as a content holder. United Cinemas will stock LHE and Lawson products, and members of Lawson’s Ponta loyalty programme will receive special privileges at the cinema chain, thereby increasing cinema attendance.
Hollywood
Remembering Chuck Norris: the man, the myth, the legend at 86
From martial arts legend to internet folklore, fans honour his final level up
KAUAI: The world lost a legend on 19 March 2026, when Chuck Norris died aged 86. For a man long treated as immortal in internet folklore, the news felt almost unreal. Yet in true Norris fashion, the farewell has been less about mourning and more about myth-making.
Just days before his passing, on his 86th birthday, Norris shared a video from Kauaʻi, Hawaii, showing him sparring under the sun. His caption was characteristically wry: “I don’t age. I level up.” It now reads like a final wink to fans who had spent years elevating him to near-superhuman status.
His death followed a sudden medical emergency while on holiday. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, who described him not just as a global symbol of strength, but as a devoted husband, father and grandfather.
Online, grief quickly gave way to tribute in the language Norris helped popularise. Social media filled with one last wave of “Chuck Norris Facts”, the tongue-in-cheek myths that turned him into a digital demigod. The jokes wrote themselves, as always. Death did not take Norris, it finally dared to meet him.
Behind the humour, however, lies a formidable real-world legacy.
Long before the memes, Norris was Carlos Ray Norris, a decorated martial artist. After serving in the US Air Force, he rose to become a six-time world professional middleweight karate champion. His on-screen duel with Bruce Lee in Way of the Dragon remains one of cinema’s most iconic fight sequences.
Through the 1980s, he became the face of action cinema with films such as Missing in Action and The Delta Force, embodying a stoic, no-nonsense hero. In the 1990s, he reached living rooms worldwide as Cordell Walker in Walker, Texas Ranger, blending Western grit with martial arts flair.
Off-screen, his work carried equal weight. His foundation, Kickstart Kids, continues to teach martial arts to at-risk youth, focusing on discipline and self-worth. He also founded Chun Kuk Do, a martial arts system that trained thousands.
What made Norris unique was not just his strength, but his willingness to laugh at it. When the internet transformed him into an exaggerated symbol of invincibility, he embraced the joke. In doing so, he bridged generations, from cinema-goers to meme-makers.
His passing marks more than the loss of an action star. It signals the fading of a rare cultural crossover, where genuine athletic prowess met Hollywood heroism and early internet humour.
For many, remembering Chuck Norris means recalling a time when heroes were simple, punches were decisive and the internet still felt like a playground of shared jokes.
And if the myths are to be believed, this is not quite the end. It is simply Chuck Norris moving on to his next level.
