NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

With $27.5M, ‘Apes’ wins box office again

LOS ANGELES

Rebellious apes have held off Southern maids for a narrow win at the weekend box office.

Studio estimates Sunday pegged “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” at $27.5 million, good enough for its second-straight No. 1 finish.

The “Planet of the Apes” prequel came in just ahead of “The Help,” a drama about Mississippi maids during the civil-rights movement that debuted at No. 2 with $25.5 million.

The Warner Bros. horror sequel “Final Destination 5,” the latest in the franchise where death stalks victims who had been fated to die earlier, opened at No. 3 with $18.4 million.

The weekend’s other two new wide releases had soft openings. Sony’s action comedy “30 Minutes or Less,” starring Jesse Eisenberg as a pizza deliveryman forced to help rob a bank, was No. 5 with $13 million, just behind Sony’s surprise animated smash “The Smurfs,” which slipped to fourth-place with $13.5 million and lifted its three-week total to $101.5 million.

Prosecutors mull charges against Game

LOS ANGELES

Los Angeles County prosecutors will decide this week whether to press charges against The Game, after a tweet from the rapper’s account incited a telephone flash mob that overwhelmed the emergency phone system at a sheriff’s station.

Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore said Sunday that agency officials will send the results of their criminal investigation to the district attorney’s office in the next few days.

Whitmore says The Game, whose real name is Jayceon Terrell Taylor, could face a number of misdemeanor counts. Deputies have yet to make contact with the rapper.

The sheriff’s department alleges The Game tweeted the Compton station’s phone number on Friday and told his 580,000 followers to call the number if they wanted an internship. He later tweeted that his account had been hacked.

Baldwins dropping divorce filings

LAKE OSWEGO, Ore.

Daniel Baldwin’s wife says the couple is attempting to reconcile and is dropping divorce filings.

Joanne Baldwin told The Oregonian on Friday that “we have a lot of work to do in our marriage.”

The actor filed for divorce last month and was granted a restraining order against his 41-year-old wife.

The newspaper reports a Clackamas County court has dismissed the restraining order.

Baldwin’s manager did not respond to a request to comment.

Joanne Baldwin says she is living separately from her husband but they have joint custody of their two daughters, ages 1 and 3.

She was jailed July 13 after her husband reported she became violent when she drank and threatened to kill him.

A judge gave her a 10-day sentence for violating probation on a drunken-driving conviction.

Vindicator wire reports