NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

‘Mission: Impossible’ climbs to No. 1

LOS ANGELES

The stakes may be high for Ethan Hunt and his team in “Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation,” but it was hardly impossible for the Tom Cruise pic to conquer the box office.

The fifth installment in the nearly 20-year-old film series has earned $56 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. Opening weekend audiences were 62 percent male and 81 percent over age 25.

It’s the second-highest opening for a “Mission” film since “Mission Impossible II” took in $57.8 million over Memorial Day weekend in 2000.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros.’ “Vacation,” went a bit off track. The $30 million film earned $14.9 million over the weekend and $21.2 million since opening Wednesday. Starring Ed Helms and Christina Applegate, the R-rated film was imagined as a continuation of the 1983 road-trip comedy “National Lampoon’s Vacation” when a now-grown Rusty Griswold (Helms) takes his family to Wally World.

Holdovers “Ant-Man,” “Minions” and “Pixels” rounded out the top five.

British singer, TV host Cilla Black dies at 72

LONDON

Big-voiced British singer Cilla Black, a product of Beatles-era Liverpool who became a national treasure over a 50-year music and television career, has died. She was 72.

Spanish police said Sunday that the singer died Saturday at her home in Estepona, southern Spain. Black’s spokesman, Nick Fiveash, confirmed her death and said details would be released after a coroner’s report was completed.

Black was born Priscilla White in Liverpool, northwest England, in 1943. As a teenager, she sang part-time and worked in the cloakroom of the Cavern Club, where her musical talent was spotted by rising local stars The Beatles.

Signed by the Fab Four’s manager, Brian Epstein, she had a string of hits starting in 1964 with “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and “You’re My World.” Both went to No. 1 in Britain, and the latter also charted in the U.S.

She also had success with the Bacharach-David theme tune for the 1966 film “Alfie,” and recorded several Beatles songs, including “The Long and Winding Road.”

By the late ’60s she was famous enough to be known by her first name alone, and hosted a BBC variety show, “Cilla.”

Associated Press