newsmakers

newsmakers

‘Catching Fire’ scorches with $161.1M opening

NEW YORK

Moviegoers satiated their appetite for the “Hunger Games” franchise by making the sequel, “Catching Fire,” one of the year’s biggest hits.

“The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” opened with $161.1 million at the domestic weekend box office, according to studio estimates Sunday.

It became the biggest November debut ever, as well as Lionsgate’s most- lucrative opening.

The result fell short of some expectations and failed to dethrone the year’s biggest box-office opening, “Iron Man 3” with $174 million. But the film opened massively worldwide, taking in a total of $307.7 million.

The marketplace largely ceded the weekend to “Catching Fire.” The only other new wide release was Disney’s Vince Vaughn comedy “Delivery Man,” which sputtered to an $8.2 million opening.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Where available, latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday also are included. Final domestic figures will be released today.

1. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” $161.1 million ($146.6 million international).

2. “Thor: The Dark World,” $14.1 million ($24.8 million international).

3. “The Best Man Holiday,” $12.5 million.

4. “Delivery Man,” $8.2 million ($1.2 million international).

5. “Free Birds,” $5.3 million ($575,000 international).

6. “Last Vegas,” $4.4 million ($2.4 million international).

7. “Bad Grandpa,” $3.5 million ($2.4 million international).

8. “Gravity,” $3.3 million ($46.6 million international).

9. “12 Years a Slave,” $2.8 million.

10. “Dallas Buyers Club,” $2.8 million.

Louise Erdrich wins American Book Award

NEW YORK

Louise Erdrich’s novel “The Round House” is among the winners this year of an American Book Award, which celebrates the diversity of the country’s literature.

Others among the 34 honored at a ceremony this weekend at the Miami Book Fair International included Philip P. Choy’s “San Francisco Chinatown: A Guide To Its History & Architecture” and Judy Grahn’s “A Simple Revolution: The Making of an Activist Poet.”

Critic Greil Marcus won for lifetime achievement. Natalie Diaz’s poetry collection “When My Brother Was an Aztec” and Will Alexander’s book of essays “Singing In Magnetic Hoofbeat” also won prizes.

There were no cash awards or individual competitive categories.

Obama, Cyrus on GQ’s ‘least influential’ list

LOS ANGELES

Dennis Rodman is at the top of a list no one wants to be on. He’s been named GQ’s No. 1 least influential celebrity of 2013.

The 52-year-old former basketball player who has visited Kim Jong Un in North Korea was selected as the top pick in the magazine’s third annual list of the least influential celebrities, which also includes twerking pop star Miley Cyrus, President Barack Obama, and celebrity chef Paula Deen. GQ called Rodman a “Q-list celebrity willing to commit borderline treason just to hang out with a dictator who himself aspires to be a Q-list celebrity.”

Deen, whose cooking empire imploded this year after she admitted having used the N-word to describe black employees, came in at No. 2 on the list behind Rodman, while former sexting U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner took the No. 3 spot.

Obama came in at No. 17 because “nothing gets done.”

Other celebrities deemed noninfluential include Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Ryan Reynolds and Will Smith.

Daughter says Jagger to be great-granddad

LONDON

Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger is set to become a great-grandfather early next year.

His daughter Jade told The Sunday Times that her 21-year-old daughter, Assisi, expects to give birth in several months.

She tells the newspaper she does not expect Jagger to slow down now that he’s set to become a great-grandfather. The ever-popular Stones plan to tour Australia next year.

Associated Press