NEWSMAKERS | ‘Rio’ repeats at No. 1

NEWSMAKERS

‘Rio’ repeats at No. 1

LOS ANGELES

Anne Hathaway and Jesse Eisenberg’s talking birds have edged out Tyler Perry’s sass-talking grandma at the weekend box office.

Hathaway and Eisenberg’s animated family adventure “Rio” took in $26.8 million to remain the No. 1 movie for the second-straight weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.

“Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family” debuted a close second with $25.8 million, another solid opening for writer-director Perry, who also stars as boisterous, opinionated grandma Madea.

Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson’s circus romance “Water for Elephants” premiered in third place with $17.5 million.

“It’s nice to have two movies in the top-three,” said Bert Livingston, distribution executive for 20th Century Fox, which released both “Rio” and “Water for Elephants.”

The weekend’s other new wide release, Disney’s nature documentary “African Cats,” opened at No. 6 with $6.4 million.

‘Potter’ star Watson to transfer from Brown

LONDON

A spokeswoman for “Harry Potter” star Emma Watson says she will be transferring from Brown University to another university in the autumn.

Vanessa Davies denied reports that the 21-year-old actress was “bullied out” of the Rhode Island university, saying there was no truth in reports by a number of online publications that cited classmates and “insiders”.

Davies said Saturday that Watson, who plays Hermione in the movie series, has decided to pursue a different course not offered at Brown.

She added that the star “has absolutely loved her time at Brown” and made many good friends there.

Watson recently has taken time out of her studies to focus on her movie career. She has said that her first days in college were difficult.

Davies did not identify the university Watson will be transferring to.

Associated Press