newsmakers

newsmakers

‘Purge’ shocks with $36.4 million opening

NEW YORK

The suspense thriller “The Purge” topped the weekend box office with a shocking $36.4 million that doubled industry expectations, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Audiences starved for a horror option flocked to the micro-budget Universal film starring Ethan Hawke.

Like that horror franchise, “The Purge” was made for relative peanuts — just $3 million — making it an extremely lucrative release for Universal. The studio had expected it to open in the high teens.

“Never did we expect it to open at this level,” said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal. “This result could not have been forecasted by anybody.”

There has been a dearth of horror films at the multiplex in recent weeks, which Rocco acknowledged was a major factor for “The Purge.” Written and directed by James DeMonaco, “The Purge” is set in a utopic United States in the year 2022, where crime has been eradicated except for one violently cathartic day a year when nearly all mayhem is legal.

The film opened strong with late night screenings Thursday night that alone took in $3.4 million.

The Google-promoting comedy “The Internship” opened with $18.1 million, but that was good enough only for fourth place behind two holdovers: “Fast & Furious 6” and Lionsgate’s “Now You See Me.” The illusionist heist film held strong, earning $19.5 million over the weekend, bringing its cumulative haul to $61.4 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com:

1. “The Purge,” $36.4 million.

2. “Fast & Furious 6,” $19.8 million.

3. “Now You See Me,” $19.5 million.

4. “The Internship,” $18.1 million.

5. “Epic,” $12.1 million.

Final domestic figures will be released today:

Brockovich arrested while boating in Nev.

Lake Mead, Nev.

Environmental activist Erin Brockovich, portrayed by Julia Roberts in a 2000 movie about her fight over the pollution of a California town, has been arrested on suspicion of boating while intoxicated at Lake Mead near Las Vegas.

Nevada Department of Wildlife spokesman Edwin Lyngar says Brockovich was arrested late Friday night after breath tests showed her blood-alcohol level was just over twice the legal limit of .08.

A game warden noticed she was struggling and needed assistance while trying to moor her motor boat at the Las Vegas Boat Harbor near Boulder City.

Lyngar says she had been out on the boat with a male companion but was alone when she tried to dock the boat.

The 52-year-old Brockovich didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

She was released from the Clark County jail after posting $1,000 bail.

US poet laureate is reappointed

NEW YORK

The nation’s poet laureate, Natasha Trethewey, has been appointed to a second one-year term.

The Library of Congress was set to announce Trethewey’s reappointment Monday.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning poet met with members of the public over the past year and published a poetry collection in the fall.

In her second term, she will collaborate with PBS senior correspondent Jeffrey Brown and the NewsHour’s poetry series on reports about poetry and society from around the country. Her next term begins in September.

The 47-year-old Trethewey also is poet laureate in her native Mississippi, where she is serving a four-year term.

She won a Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for her collection “Native Guard.”

Associated Press