‘Underworld: Awakening’ tops domestic box office

LOS ANGELES: Vampires and werewolves lured moviegoers to theaters this weekend as the fourth “Underworld” film topped domestic box office charts and brought in an estimated $38.8 million around the world.

“Underworld: Awakening” stars Kate Beckinsale as a vampire leading the charge in a battle against humans trying to drive her species and the werewolves to extinction.

The fourth movie opened stronger than two of the three earlier films in the franchise, which opened in 2003. “Awakening” pulled in $25.4 million at North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters from Friday through Sunday, plus $13.4 million from 36 international markets, distributor Sony said on Sunday.

Playing in 3,078 domestic locations, the film’s weekend sales finished “at the high end of where we hoped,” said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Sony Pictures. Audiences were eager to see Beckinsale return to the lead role, he said. She had starred in the first two films but skipped the third.

“Awakening” is the first “Underworld” movie in 3D and cost about $70 million to produce. The movie fell flat with critics as just 24 percent gave a positive review on aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes. But audiences polled by survey firm CinemaScore awarded the movie an A-.

In second place, World War Two story “Red Tails” far exceeded studio forecasts with $19.1 million domestically.

“Red Tails” stars Terrence Howard and Cuba Gooding Jr. in a drama about Tuskegee Airmen — a black pilot group in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War Two. Producer George Lucas paid the film’s $58 million production cost plus marketing expenses, and distributor 20th Century Fox had forecast $8 million to $10 million in domestic ticket sales for weekend.

“Never in our wildest dreams did we think we could pull off a number like this,” said Chris Aronson, senior vice president for domestic distribution at 20th Century Fox. He said audiences clearly enjoyed the film, giving it an A grade in polling by CinemaScore. Critics’ reviews on Rotten Tomatoes came in at 34 percent positive.

WAHLBERG MOVIE DROPS TO THIRD
Last weekend’s winner, thriller “Contraband” starring Mark Wahlberg, finished its second weekend in theaters in third place, grabbing $12.2 million domestically.

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close,” a drama about a boy trying to make sense of his father’s death on 9/11, landed in fourth place with $10.5 million. The movie had opened in a small number of theaters on Christmas but expanded nationwide this weekend. The film stars Thomas Horn as the boy and Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock as his parents.

In fifth place, Steven Soderbergh-directed spy tale “Haywire” took in $9 million domestically, just beating distributor Relativity Media’s projection of about $8 million.

“Haywire” features mixed martial arts fighter Gina Carano as an operative who is double-crossed and becomes the target of assassins. While critics praised the film with an 82 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes, audiences were not impressed. The film earned a D+ rating from CinemaScore.

Elsewhere this weekend, two movies that won Golden Globe awards last week expanded to more theaters.

Silent film “The Artist,” winner for best musical or comedy film, doubled last weekend’s sales with $2.4 million after moving into in 662 theaters from 446 last week.

“The Iron Lady,” which won Meryl Streep best actress at the Globes for her role as Margaret Thatcher, dropped 32 percent from a week ago despite expanding by more than 800 theaters to 1,076 locations. The movie took in $3.7 million over the weekend.

The movie division of Sony Corp distributed “Underworld.” Time Warner Inc unit Warner Bros. released “Extremely Loud.” News Corp unit 20th Century Fox distributed “Red Tails.” The privately held Weinstein Co. released “The Artist” and “The Iron Lady.” Privately held Relativity Media released “Haywire” in the United States, and Alliance Films distributed the movie in Canada. AGENCIES

Tara Reid is Now Marriedto Zack Kehayov!

Tara Reid has announced via twitter that she got married whilst on holiday in Greece this weekend. It was first speculated that Reid got married to her former Danish millionaire businessman boyfriend Michael Lilleund.

However, Reid set the record straight today by tweeting “His name is Zack Kehayov.”

Reid shared the wedding news in a series of Tweets;

“I just got engaged!”

“Greece married!”

“Thank you for all your support! I love you guys”

“Love in Greece…. I am now a wife”

“Just got married in Greece I love being a wife”

Reid is probably most famous for her role in The American Pie movies and she has reportedly been engaged a few times now. One of her previous engagements was in January 2010 to internet entrepreneur Michael Axtmann but they called off her wedding three months later.

Reid recently finished filming American Reunion, the fourth movie in the American Pie franchise. There have been recent reports that Reid is in talks to take part in the Celebrity Big Brother series.

UK Deputy PM Clegg defends response to London riots

He also rejected claims government failed to provide leadership as the capital was hit by rioting over the weekend because senior ministers were away from London.

As it emerged that Theresa May, the Home Secretary is flying back to the UK for talks with police chiefs about the disturbances; Clegg defended the government s response to the trouble and condemned what he described as “needless opportunistic theft and violence – nothing more, nothing less”.

On his first day back in Westminster after his summer holiday Clegg said the violence was “completely unacceptable”. The government stood “side by side with those people in those communities who utterly condemn the violence and the theft”, he said.

There have been complaints that the government did not have a senior minister in London at the weekend when the rioting broke out. But Clegg insisted that senior members of the cabinet had been in regular contact by phone.

“I reject completely this notion that somehow this government hasn t been functioning very effectively,” said Clegg, who said he had spoken to David Cameron, who is on holiday in Italy, by phone on Monday morning.

“We have arranged things to make sure that this government works effectively on all the issues of the day. We are in constant contact with each other and we are working as effectively this week as we do in every other week of the year.”

Britney Spears and Rihanna Team Up For a Remix

Britney Spears and Rihanna are the latest to team up for a remix. Then again they are currently two of the biggest pop stars in the world. They have done a remix of Rihanna’s latest hit single “S&M”.

Both Britney and Rihanna engaged in some Twitter teasing over the weekend. Rihanna began with Tweeting;

“I got a #SEXY collabo comin your way supa dupa soon!!!! OH YEAH!!! By popular demand….”

She followed her own Tweet with, “Its BRITNEY BITCH!!!!”

Britney responded with, “You’re such a tease! I like it, like it …” then with, “You think they’re ready Ri Ri?”

Britney has added her own voice to the chorus and she also offers up an all-new verse, in which she breathlessly moans about her own bad girl ways.

Apparently “Umbrella” was actually originally written for Britney Spears, but she turned it down! The song turned out to be Rihanna’s biggest single and one of (if not the) hottest song that year. If it’s true she’s clearly not holding any grudges.

Libya oil output stops after attacks: rebels

BENGHAZI: Production at rebel-held oilfields in eastern Libya has stopped after they came under attack from forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi, a rebel spokesman said on Wednesday.

Oilfields in Misla and the Waha area were hit by Gaddafi’s artillery on Tuesday and Wednesday, spokesman Hafiz Ghoga told reporters in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.

“These oilfields are the ones that pump oil to Tobruk,” said Ghoga. “They stopped pumping today.”

Both fields are in the desert, hundreds of kilometres south of the rebel-held town of Ajdabiyah. Rebels have been trying to resume exports to raise revenue for their uprising.

Ghoga said Gaddafi’s forces hit Waha’s field 103 on Wednesday and Misla on Tuesday after a previous attack there at the weekend.

“These oilfields are the ones that pump oil to Tobruk. What we have marketed is what we have in reserve in Tobruk. We have one million barrels (in reserve).”

He added that until Tuesday the rebel-held east Libyan fields were pumping 100,000 barrels per day. Damage from the latest attacks was still being assessed.

“It was not an air strike, it was from the ground using vehicles. The vehicles had artillery on them,” he said.

“We are now providing more protection. We have even moved people from the front (to the fields),” Ghoga said.

He did not give details of the damage although when the first Misla attack was reported at the weekend, the rebels said a diesel storage tank was hit and the damage was not very serious.

The Liberian-registered tanker Equator sailed from Marsa el Hariga, near Tobruk, earlier on Wednesday apparently with the first cargo of crude sold by rebels since their uprising against Gaddafi began in February, shipping sources said.

Ghoga added: “We hope that production will continue at the rate of the past but because of the damage that has come to our fields because of Gaddafi’s military tools, our production has been affected.”

“We have a quantity of oil that needs to be marketed so that oil production does not stop and cause problems and it is in the port of Marsa el Hariga, but Colonel Gaddafi is trying to stop our efforts by hitting the oil fields.”

Libya was producing around 1.6 million barrels per day of oil and exporting some 1.3 bpd before the uprising. AGENCIES

”Black Swan” continues its twirl overseas

LOS ANGELES: Despite “Tangled’s” continued lock on first place, “Black Swan” landed just a feather away from taking the top spot at foreign theaters over the weekend, missing No. 1 by a mere $131,664.

An obvious “Oscar Bump” is strongly in play as international audiences in 29 territories boosted the mainstream art house wonder over the $150 million mark in global revenue with $16.7 million in weekend receipts.

Third place got an unexpected visitor as the Franco-Belgian comedy “Nothing to Declare” in just four territories earned an impressive $13.95 million and is approaching $50 million worldwide. For a film that most people stateside have never heard of, that’s not a bad haul.

In six more territories than last week another Oscar darling, “The King’s Speech,” held steady in fourth place with $13.2 million and a global cumulative that is just a shilling shy of $200 million. And other Oscar contenders continued to make their mark in the Top 20, with “True Grit” in ninth place and “The Fighter” in 19th place, having just crossed the $100 million mark in global dollars.

Here are the top 20 movies at international theaters last weekend, followed by international gross for the weekend (excluding North America), number of theater locations, number of territories, worldwide gross to date (including North America), and number of weeks in release as compiled Wednesday by global media measurement company Rentrak Corp. and provided by Hollywood.com:

“Tangled,” $16,871,286, 4,400 locations, 44 territories, $490,473,734, 12 weeks.

2. “Black Swan,” $16,739,622, 3,484 locations, 29 territories, $155,421,621, 11 weeks.

3. “Nothing to Declare,” $13,956,964, 1,129 locations, four territories, $46,882,950, three weeks.

4. “The King’s Speech,” $13,211,028, 3,893 locations, 26 territories, $199,976,798, 12 weeks.

5. “Sanctum,” $11,958,392, 3,856 locations, 13 territories, $45,453,535, two weeks.

6. “The Green Hornet,” $10,787,977, 7,822 locations, 59 territories, $200,046,313, five weeks.

7. “Yogi Bear,” $9,278,119, 4,246 locations, 31 territories, $155,338,796, nine weeks.

8. “Kokowaah,” $8,524,143, 876 locations, three territories, $21,659,756, two weeks.

9. “True Grit,” $8,469,692, 3,385 locations, 16 territories, $177,921,814, eight weeks.

10. “Gulliver’s Travels,” $7,644,591, 1,992 locations, 36 territories, $183,300,808, eight weeks.

11. “Tron Legacy,” $6,289,869, 2,075 locations, 26 territories, $356,084,840, nine weeks.

12. “No Strings Attached,” $5,525,670, 3,098 locations, 17 territories, $71,811,219, four weeks.

13. “Gnomeo and Juliet,” $5,348,317, 3,633 locations, seven territories, $34,476,335, one week.

14. “Just Go With It,” $5,229,806, 4,463 locations, 13 territories, $44,182,893, one week.

15. “Hereafter,” $4,487,711, 1,500 locations, 27 territories, $88,829,879, six weeks.

16. “The Tourist,” $4,234,232, 2,601 locations, 50 territories, $230,777,671, 10 weeks.

17. “Femmine Contro Maschi,” $3,362,288, locations NA, one territory, $10,450,509, two weeks.

18. “Detective K: Secret of a Peddler’s Inn,” $3,354,139, locations NA, one territory, $24,321,180, three weeks.

19. “The Fighter,” $3,321,450, 1,942 locations, 19 territories, $102,820,739, 10 weeks.

20. “Gantz,” $3,092,464, locations NA, one territory, $25,870,868, three weeks.

Heavy rain delays South Africa v India

CENTURION: Heavy rain delayed the start of the first test between South Africa and India at Centurion on Thursday.

The Gauteng region has been swamped by steady rain since the weekend and there has been little let-up, meaning there is no prospect of a toss in the immediate future.

The delay will give Indian pace bowler Zaheer Khan extra time to recover from his hamstring strain.

Centurion has had a sorry history of rain washing out play in previous years. AGENCIES

Nicole Richie, Will She Say “I do” This Weekend?

Nicole Richie was alleged to be marrying her fiance, Joel Madden, in his Hollywood estate following exclusive sightings of his staff dropping off big trucks rolling outside his place. Lionel, the mother of Nicole, fed up the reports.

The star was reportedly getting ready to be tied up with the lead vocalist of the pop punk band’s Good Charlotte this weekend. With the intensified activity in the lead singer’s house, this may imply that the rumour is true. In addition, there were a number of bodyguards spotted watching the area for the advanced security of the alleged upcoming event.

Samantha Ronson is expected to be the bridesmaid of the wedding since it is yet uncertain if Nicole’s close friend, Christina Aguilera, will be coming since she is currently busy for her new movie, Burlesque.

The lovers were already dating for more than 4 years and gave birth to two kids, Harlow and Sparrow. A source alleged that their daughter, Harlow, will be the flower girl of the said event.

"Don’t hunt down my son," says mother of WikiLeaks founder

CANBERRA: The mother of Australian WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said on Wednesday she was distressed by an international police alert for her son’s arrest and did not want him “hunted down and jailed”.

Global police agency Interpol issued a “red notice” on Tuesday to assist in the arrest of Assange, founder of the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks, who is wanted in Sweden on suspicion of sexual crimes.

Assange, 39, a former computer hacker now at the centre of a global controversy after WikiLeaks released a trove of classified U.S. diplomatic cables at the weekend, denies the Swedish allegations.

Christine Assange, who runs a puppet theatre in Australia’s Queensland state, said she was worried about her son’s wellbeing as Australia’s government joined the United States in launching an investigation into whether Assange and WikiLeaks had broken

NATO hails Kandahar progress but attacks continue

KANDHAR: Kandahar is rocked by explosions and gunfire most nights but military commanders say that NATO leaders meeting this weekend can be told that the tactics in southern Afghanistan are working.

The bustling city that is the spiritual home of the Taliban has been flooded with troops. Combat outposts and heavily-fortified police stations have been built and there is a constant stream of convoys and patrols on the streets.

US commanders talk of a more co-ordinated approach to security with their Afghan counterparts while hundreds of millions of dollars are being poured in to the city to shore up its dilapidated infrastructure and improve daily life.

In rural areas around Kandahar, too, village elders who just a few months ago were afraid to be even seen working with the government are now participating in “shuras” or local council meetings to make their

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