NEWSMAKERS
NEWSMAKERS
‘Potter’ tops ‘Knight’ with $168.6M weekend
LOS ANGELES
The boy wizard has vanquished the dark knight and a band of pirates with a record-setting magic act at both the domestic and international box office.
Warner Bros. estimates that “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” took in $168.6 million domestically from Friday to Sunday. That beats the previous best opening weekend of $158.4 million, also held by Warner Bros. for 2008’s Batman blockbuster “The Dark Knight.”
Overseas, the film added $307 million in 59 countries since it began rolling out Wednesday, topping the previous best international debut of $260.4 million set in May by Disney’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.”
International results for “Deathly Hallows: Part 2” included record openings in Great Britain at $36.6 million and Australia at $26.7 million, according to Warner Bros.
Worldwide, “Deathly Hallows: Part 2” topped $475 million in a matter of days, putting it on course to become the franchise’s first billion-dollar worldwide hit.
The “Harry Potter” finale also set a record for best opening day domestically Friday with $92.1 million, nearly $20 million ahead of the previous high for “The Twilight Saga: New Moon” two years ago.
Paramount’s third “Transformers” blockbuster, which had been No. 1 the previous two weekends, slipped to second place with $21.3 million domestically. It remains the year’s top domestic hit with $302.8 million.
Rounding out the top five were “Horrible Bosses,” $17.6 million; “Zookeeper,” $12.3 million; and “Cars 2,” $8.3 million.
Ivanka Trump gives birth to daughter
NEW YORK
She’s been a model, a jewelry designer and a judge on her father’s TV show “The Apprentice.” Now add mother to the list of Ivanka Trump’s job titles.
Trump announced the birth of her first child Sunday in New York City via Twitter.
She says she and husband Jared Kushner “welcomed a beautiful and healthy little girl into the world.” No name was announced.
Kushner is the owner of the New York Observer newspaper. He and Trump wed in 2009. She converted to Judaism before the wedding.
The baby is the third grandchild for real-estate mogul Donald Trump. Ivanka Trump’s brother Donald Trump Jr. and his wife, Vanessa, have a daughter and a son.
Gosling recalls trying to impress 1st crush
NEW YORK
In his new romantic comedy “Crazy, Stupid, Love,” Ryan Gosling plays the ultimate ladies’ man who can get women into bed faster than it takes him to flash that winning smile and sparkling baby blues.
In real life, the Canadian actor started out as quite a romantic, entering a local air-band contest to win the heart of his childhood crush, Melanie.
He says the pair did a duet to “Uptown Girl,” which won him a kiss in the end.
The 30-year-old says he “got a lot of heat from it at school. But it was worth it.”
Gosling has earned critical acclaim for films including “Half Nelson,” “Lars and The Real Girl” and last year’s indie darling “Blue Valentine,” which garnered him his second Golden Globe nomination.
Associated Press