Just when we thought we couldn’t love Vogue anymore, they go and put Serena Williams on their cover for the second time.
The athlete is on the Apri…
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean Penn’s “The Gunman” was no match for the rebel kids of “Insurgent.”
The second installment in the “Divergent” series easily topped the box office with $54 million from 3,875 theaters, according Rentrak estimates Sunday. Penn’s geopolitical thriller stumbled with only $5 million. While the second films in both the “Hunger Games” and the “Twilight” series boasted opening weekend gains over the first, “Insurgent’s” opening nearly matches that of its predecessor, “Divergent,” which debuted to $54.6 million just last year.
Many predicted a bit of growth for this second film, which sees the return of stars Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Kate Winslet to author Veronica Roth’s dystopian world. But, both distributor Lionsgate and box office analysts see the consistency as a good thing.
“We’re extremely pleased with the outcome,” said Lionsgate’s President of Domestic Distribution Richie Fay.
“I think this is exactly where we thought we’d be,” he added. “We attracted a few more males this time around, and I think we’re headed in the right direction. The uptick from Friday to Saturday was considerably higher than it was for ‘Divergent.’ That, the A- CinemaScore and what’s coming into the marketplace will allow us to grow very nicely.”
According to Lionsgate, 60 percent of audiences were female.
Rentrak’s Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian credits Lionsgate’s consistent release date strategy and impressive marketing campaign for the strong repeat performance.
“It’s really about driving a very fickle audience, that teen, YA — whatever you want to call them — they’re really tough to get a handle on. Their tastes change like the wind,” he said. “The key is keeping the young adult audience engaged, excited and enthusiastic.”
“Insurgent” also performed well overseas, taking in $47 million from 76 markets, bringing its worldwide total to $101 million.
Disney’s live-action “Cinderella,” meanwhile, fell 49 percent in Week 2 to take second place with $34.5 million. The PG-rated film has earned an impressive $122 million domestically to date.
Also in its second weekend in theaters, the R-rated Liam Neeson-led action film “Run All Night,” managed a slight edge over Open Road’s “The Gunman.” Neeson’s film, a Warner Bros. release, dropped 54 percent with its $5.1 million weekend, while Penn’s film debuted in fourth place with only $5 million.
“You have a lot of R-rated competition out there right now,” noted Dergarabedian, who also added that Penn’s foray into the action genre has not garnered the best reviews.
“Kingsman: The Secret Service,” one of the better performing R-rated releases in recent weeks, rounded out the top five with $4.6 million in its sixth weekend in theaters. The 20th Century Fox film has now earned over $114.6 million domestically.
“Over the past couple of weeks, films driven by the female audience have done much better than films driven by the male audience. But that’s all going to change because ‘Furious 7’ is on the way,” Dergarabedian said.
“Put on your seatbelt and get ready, because it’s going to be an incredible ride in the coming weeks,” he said.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. “Insurgent,” $54 million ($47 million international).
2. “Cinderella,” $34.5 million ($41.1 million international).
3. “Run All Night,” $5.1 million ($5 million international).
4. “The Gunman,” $5 million ($900,000 international).
5. “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” $4.6 million ($8.5 million international).
6. “Do You Believe?” $4 million.
7. “The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” $3.5 million ($3.2 million international).
8. “Focus,” $3.3 million ($7.9 million international).
9. “Chappie,” $2.7 million ($5.1 million international).
10. “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water,” $2.4 million ($3.2 million international).
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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Rentrak:
1. “Insurgent,” $47 million.
2. “Cinderella,” $41.1 million.
3. “Home,” $19.2 million.
4. “Taken 3,” $18.6 million.
5. “Lost and Love,” $16.2 million.
6. “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” $8.5 million.
1. “Focus,” $7.9 million.
2. “Big Hero 6,” $6.6 million.
3. “Chappie,” $5.1 million.
4. “Run All Night,” $5 million.
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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.
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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/ldbahr
I hear ya. Ever since the dumping-ice-water-on-your-head fundraising stopped being a thing, your Facebook feed has felt just a little bit dull.
But as Spring decides to take its own Ice Bucket Challenge again and again in the Northeast, the internet is moving on to a new cause.
And this one’s inspired by two animated dogs.
Enter the so-called “Twizzler Challenge.” It’s where two willing participants chow down on the same piece of licorice Lady and the Tramp-style. On camera. And then challenge their friends who have 24 hours to do the same or donate to the worthy cause.
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Those who partake in the challenge or donate benefit New York Collaborates for Autism, which funds and creates schools, programs and services for people with autism nationwide.
You can trace the origin of this challenge to Comedy Central’s “Night of Too Many Stars: America Comes Together for Autism Programs,” when a viewer challenged “Today’s” Willie Geist to take the Twizzler Challenge with Uzo Aduba of “Orange is the New Black,” and the two obliged.
Since then, it’s mainly been television personalities and actors who’ve decided to publicly participate, but it likely won’t be long until the innocuous challenge branches out and penetrates the mainstream.
Although the #TwizzlerChallenge seems to eschew the pain risk of its frigid predecessor, the new challenge pushes the door wide open for close encounters of the awkward kind. (Looking at you, Lauer.)
Still, if its impact mirrors the social media success of the Ice Bucket Challenge, which raised $100 million for the ALS Association in only one month, look out for it to become the next meme of the season.
What else are you going to do during those March Madness commercial breaks?
The post Is the ‘Twizzler Challenge’ for autism the web’s new viral fundraiser? appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
(RNS) With the largest Presbyterian denomination’s official endorsement Tuesday (March 17), American mainline Protestants have solidified their support for gay marriage, leaving the largest mainline denomination — the United Methodist Church — outside the same-sex marriage fold.
Methodists, with more than 7 million members, rejected same-sex marriage at their last national conference, in 2012. They are likely to revisit the question at their next conference, in 2016, but a growing membership in Africa, where there is little acceptance of homosexuality, makes it unlikely the denomination will accept gay marriage.
Another denomination generally considered mainline, the American Baptist Churches USA, does not allow same-sex marriage, nor do a handful of smaller mainline denominations. But the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and now the Presbyterian Church (USA) sanctify the marriage of two men or two women. The 3.8 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America gives congregations the autonomy to decide for themselves.
“There is no group that has moved more quickly or more dramatically on this issue than white mainline Protestants,” said Dan Cox, research director of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit that studies trends in American religion.
In 2003, 36 percent of white mainline Protestants supported gay marriage, compared with 62 percent in 2014, Cox said.
And though there is not one Protestant on the Supreme Court, the fact that an increasing number of the nation’s churches are inviting gay couples to the altar is likely to weigh on the justices as they consider upcoming cases that would allow them to make gay marriage a right.
Cox notes that among white mainline Protestants, Presbyterians and Methodists in the pews hold strikingly similar views on gay marriage. In that same 2014 PRRI survey, 69 percent of Presbyterians approved of same-sex marriage, while 67 percent of U.S. Methodists did.
“Support for gay marriage in these denominational families is quite strong,” Cox said. “It’s hard to say the churches are actually leading on this issue. They are reflecting where their followers already are.”
The Rev. Jeremy Smith, minister of discipleship at First United Methodist Church in Portland, Ore., said the Presbyterian vote reminds Methodists to ask themselves why their own doctrine is the way it is.
“Why is this still on the books?” he said. “In the Methodist Church we have been behind the culture.”
The majority of church-affiliated Americans belong to denominations that forbid gay marriage, including Roman Catholics, most Baptists, Pentecostals, evangelicals and Mormons.
Mainline Protestants, once the majority in America, have lost ground in recent decades to other denominations and to independent churches.
This week’s Presbyterian Church vote was long expected after 61 percent of General Assembly delegates voted in June to allow gay and lesbian weddings. That made the 1.8 million-member PCUSA among the largest Christian denominations to take an embracing step toward same-sex marriage.
But the change did not become church law until a majority of the 171 regional presbyteries, or geographic regions, voted to ratify the new language. The threshold was reached Tuesday when the Palisades Presbytery in New Jersey became the 86th to approve a change in the denomination’s constitution making marriage a commitment “between two people, traditionally a man and a woman.”
DAVENPORT, Iowa — There are some Democrats in Iowa who aren’t all that “Ready for Hillary.” So far, there’s little evidence they’re ready for Martin O’Malley, either.
“I think it’s because they haven’t met me yet,” O’Malley said.
Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D) addresses the International Association of Firefighters delegates at IAFF Presidential Forum in Washington on March 10, 2015. O’Malley has been campaigning in Iowa, where certain Democrats have a strong desire for an alternative to Hillary Rodham Clinton. Credit: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts
The former Maryland governor spent this past weekend campaigning in Iowa, where certain Democrats have a strong desire for an alternative to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will enter the race for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination as a dominate front-runner. Some don’t find Clinton liberal enough, others enjoy their role vetting candidates and still others value a competitive caucus season for party fundraising and organizing.
“I think probably Clinton is a shoe-in, but I want someone in the race who will push a little bit to the left,” said Monica Kurth, of Davenport, who attended the Scott County Democratic dinner where O’Malley spoke on Friday evening.
No matter the reason, those seeking competition for Clinton acknowledge besting the former secretary of state will require an act of herculean political strength. O’Malley, in a way, does, too. At a certain point, he said, “the race quickly narrows between the once inevitable front-runner and the new and unknown candidate who emerges to offer a more compelling alternative.”
O’Malley, who first came to Iowa in 1983 as a volunteer for Gary Hart’s presidential campaign, has invested heavily in the state. He made four trips to Iowa last year, put 14 staffers to work on state campaigns and contributed nearly $50,000 to local candidates. He now has one Iowa staffer on the ground exploring his chances for support in the caucuses.
Many of the more than 200 people who turned out to see O’Malley in the Mississippi River city of Davenport on Friday said they were meeting him for the first time. He touted his time in office during his speech, including his work to raise Maryland’s minimum wage and increase state spending on education. The crowd enthusiastically applauded and rose to their feet several times when O’Malley bemoaned income inequality and called for more oversight of Wall Street and the financial industry.
“Over the last 12 years, wages have been going down, not up,” said O’Malley, who concluded eight years as governor of Maryland in January. “In fact, last year, Wall Street bonuses alone were double the combined earnings of every single American working for minimum wage to take care of their family. Until we solve this problem, we cannot rest – as a party or as a people.”
They were comments aimed squarely at those still pining for Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to get into the race, something she has said repeatedly she will not. An effort to draft Warren into the race has been underway for months, organized by the liberal groups MoveOn.org and Democracy for America.
Among that crowd, O’Malley isn’t yet the first alternate to the preferred alternate – Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
“His name has not come up in visits I’ve had with my progressive people at all,” said Brenda Brink, a liberal activist from Huxley, Iowa, of O’Malley. “I think people are just so interested in Bernie or Elizabeth.”
Or, perhaps, Joe Biden. Former Obama campaign volunteer William Pierce organized and launched a super PAC called Draft Joe Biden this past week, with plans to hire state coordinators in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina and the singular goal of persuading the vice president to get in the race.
“I’m a lifelong Clinton fan. But the thing is, this isn’t a dynasty – it isn’t a monarchy,” Pierce said. “We need people outside of the great Clinton family to represent us.”
Officially, O’Malley has not launched a campaign, but his decision to pass up the chance to run for the seat of retiring Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski was viewed by most as confirmation of his intentions to compete for the Democratic nomination.
“He was fantastic. He touched on every issue that is near and dear to my heart,” said Maria Bribriesco of Bettendorf after his Friday speech. “I think he will give (Hillary) a run for her money.”
This report was written by Catherine Lucey of the Associated Press.
The post Former Maryland governor hopes to be Clinton alternative in 2016 appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
Condo garage fire
Butler VFD on the scene
The Huffington Post’s full interview with President Barack Obama will be published Saturday afternoon.
Obama makes his first public comments on the Israeli elections in the Friday interview. He also addresses the ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, his powers to grant clemency and more.
The president chastises Senate Republicans for refusing to confirm his attorney general nominee, Loretta Lynch. In remarks already published, he says that it’s inexcusable to hold Lynch “hostage” as a bargaining chip for separate legislation.
“You don’t hold attorney general nominees hostage for other issues,” Obama says. “This is our top law enforcement office. Nobody denies that she’s well-qualified. We need to go ahead and get her done.”
On orders from Lima’s mayor, and much to the dismay of the city’s artistic community, municipal workers began covering up murals in the historic downtown district of Peru’s capital last week.
City hall workers paint over a mural at the Plaza de la Democracia in downtown Lima on Mar. 14, 2015. Credit: Enrique Castro-Mendivil/REUTERS
“It’s an atrocity,” Pedro Pablo Alaiza, Lima’s former manager of culture told the Agence France Presse.
Mayor Luis Castaneda, who was elected to office in the fall of 2014, confirmed that he had ordered the coverup of the murals and said it was part of a project to revitalize Lima’s downtown, Reuters reported.
The first mural to go was that of indigenous revolutionary Tupac Katari, whose fate was sealed with the stroke of a brush and the color yellow, the same hue used for Castaneda’s conservative party election campaign.
A man walks past a mural in downtown Lima on Mar. 12, 2015. Credit: Mariana Bazo/REUTERS
A woman walks past the same wall, which was painted to cover a mural, in downtown Lima on Mar. 14, 2015. Credit: Enrique Castro-Mendivil/REUTERS
Artists and residents took to social media to protest the erasure, using the hashtags #SalvemosLosMurales (Let’s Save the Murals) and #MuralesenLima (Lima Murals).
The murals first appeared between 2011 and 2014, during the term of Castaneda’s predecessor and political rival, Susana Villaran.
A man carries bottles near a mural in Lima on Mar. 12, 2015. Credit: Mariana Bazo/REUTERS
At the same spot in downtown Lima, a man sits next to the painted-over mural on Mar. 14, 2015. Credit: Enrique Castro-Mendivil/REUTERS
Following the erasure of tens of murals in downtown Lima, the words on the wall read, “Long live the murals”. Credit: Enrique Castro-Mendivil/REUTERS
Take a look at photos of more of the murals of Lima, Peru:
A wall of graffiti is seen at Caylloma street in Lima on Mar. 12, 2015. Credit: Mariana Bazo/ REUTERS
A woman walks next to a mural and a food stand on Paseo De La Republica street in Lima on Mar. 12, 2015. Credit: Mariana Bazo /REUTERS
A mural at Lampa street in Lima on Mar. 12, 2015. Credit: Mariana Bazo/REUTERS
A man walks next to a house with a mural named El Arcangel at Contumaza in Lima on Mar. 12, 2015. Credit: Mariana Bazo/REUTERS
At Pachitea street in downtown Lima on Mar. 12, 2015, people walk past a mural. Credit: Mariana Bazo/REUTERS
The post Community in uproar after Lima mayor orders destruction of public murals appeared first on PBS NewsHour.
The author of the wildly popular novel The Fault In Our Stars came incredibly close to having a different profession altogether.
In a HuffPost Live conversation on Thursday, John Green explained that he was at one time an aspiring minister, working as a student chaplain at a children’s hospital while at divinity school. After six months he came to understand that his views on religion and death were more nuanced than he had previously thought, concluding that he “wasn’t cut out for it.”
“It was a lot harder than it had been in my imagination,” he told host Nancy Redd. “I realized that…all of these fancy theological ideas that I had from reading lots of theology books didn’t really matter much when it came time to be with kids who were dying or when it came time to be with families who had just lose their children. All of that complicated theology sort of fell by the wayside for me.”
“Lots of people, they don’t experience what I experienced,” the Paper Towns author continued, “but my experience was that it fell apart and all there was was loss and pain.”
Unsure of where to turn, Green spent ten years writing The Fault In Our Stars, a way of “trying to understand some of the ways through that [experience].”
And though the job wasn’t the right fit, the novelist has nothing but the utmost respect for those who’ve dedicated their lives to serving religious causes and working with ailing children.
“I am amazed by the people who do it everyday,” he said. “They have not just courage but tremendous guts.”
Watch more from John Green’s full conversation with HuffPost Live here.
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