Monday, October 24, 2011
newsmakers
‘Paranormal Activity 3’ scares up $54M debut
LOS ANGELES
“Paranormal Activity 3” didn’t just go bump in the night. It made a ton of noise at the box office with a record-setting, $54 million opening.
The third film in Paramount Pictures’ low- budget fright franchise, which was No. 1 at the box office, had the biggest debut ever for a horror movie, according to Sunday studio estimates. It broke the previous record that part two set a year ago with $40.7 million. It’s also the biggest opening ever for an October release, topping the $50.35 million Paramount’s “Jackass 3D” made last year.
“Paranormal Activity 3” is actually a prequel, with the discovery of disturbing home-movie footage from 1988. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, who made the creepy documentary “Catfish,” took over directing duties this time.
Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com, said he was expecting “Paranormal Activity 3” to come in around $35 million for the weekend, simply because most newcomers have been underperforming this fall.
Last week’s No. 1 release, the futuristic boxing-robot adventure “Real Steel,” fell to second place. It made $11.3 million for a domestic total of $67.2 million. Worldwide, the Disney movie has grossed $153.3 million.
“Footloose” came in third with $10.85 million.
Will Ferrell receives Twain humor prize
WASHINGTON
The “Saturday Night Live” star who perfected his impersonation of “President George W. Bush” and later took his presidential act to Broadway received the nation’s top humor prize Sunday night in Washington.
Will Ferrell received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, with performances from Jack Black, Conan O’Brien, Larry King and the rock band Green Day in his honor. They were joined by Maya Rudolph, Molly Shannon and Lorne Michaels from Ferrell’s “SNL” days. The show was taped for broadcast next Monday on PBS stations nationwide.
On the red carpet, Ferrell said he’s proud to win the Twain Prize because it’s the “only legit” comedy prize that “puts the emphasis on humor and how hard it is.”
Ferrell said playing the Bush character is one of his favorite memories for its political laughs, especially when he took the character to Broadway.
“We hit it at the perfect time when people wanted some sort of comedy after the eight years we just went through.”
Shannon said she has known Ferrell since before “SNL.” She said that contrary to his TV persona, Ferrell is very serious and sweet to work with.
“He can really see people,” she said.
CBS correspondent Robert Pierpoint dies
LOS ANGELES
CBS News correspondent Robert C. Pierpoint — who covered six presidents, the Korean War, the Kennedy assassination and the Iranian hostage crisis in a career that spanned more than four decades — died Saturday in California, his daughter said. He was 86.
Pierpoint, who retired in 1990, died of complications from surgery at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital, Marta Pierpoint told The Associated Press. He had broken his hip Oct. 12 at the Santa Barbara Retirement Community where he lived with his wife, Patricia.
After making his name covering the Korean War — a role he reprised when he provided his radio voice for the widely watched final episode of “M*A*S*H” in 1983 — Pierpoint became a White House correspondent during the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration, a position he would hold through the Jimmy Carter administration.
“He lived quite an amazing life,” said Marta Pierpoint. She said her father was most proud of his coverage of the Korean War, Watergate and most of all the Kennedy assassination, an event that would still bring him to tears in an interview with his hometown paper three weeks before his death.
“I didn’t like what the priest said about a time to live and a time to die,” Robert Pierpoint told the Santa Barbara News-Press in an Oct. 2 story. “It was not Kennedy’s time to die.”
Pierpoint said of the six administrations he covered, Kennedy’s was the most fun.
Associated Press