NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Smith’s ‘Focus’ tops box office with $19.1M

NEW YORK

Will Smith’s con-man caper “Focus” disrobed “Fifty Shades of Grey” at the box office, but the film’s modest $19.1 million opening still left questions about the drawing power of the once-unstoppable star.

In second place was the Colin Firth spy thriller “Kingsman: The Secret Service,” which made $11.8 million in its third week of release.

After two weeks atop the box office, “Fifty Shades of Grey” continued its steep slide, landing in fourth with an estimated $10.9 million for Universal Pictures. “Fifty Shades,” which has made $486.2 million globally, fell just behind Paramount’s “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water,” which earned $11.2 million in its fourth week.

The weekend’s only other new wide release, Relativity’s horror film “The Lazarus Effect,” opened in fifth place with $10.6 million.

Prince William views tsunami site in Japan

ISHINOMAKI, Japan

Britain’s Prince William stood atop a hill in northeastern Japan on Sunday, and stretched below him was barren land known as the “Bay of Destruction,” which was swept by a tsunami four years ago.

On the last leg of his four-day visit to Japan, William laid a bouquet near a shrine gate that overlooks the bay, to commemorate the victims. Of the nearly 19,000 people who died in the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, nearly 3,300 were residents of the coastal town of Ishinomaki. About 22,000 lost their homes.

William, who earlier visited more lively and modern spots in Tokyo, had insisted that his first trip to Japan include the tsunami-stricken region.

Lady Gaga, Vaughn take the polar plunge

CHICAGO

Lady Gaga and Vince Vaughn made plunges into the icy waters of Chicago’s Lake Michigan at a fundraiser for the Special Olympics.

Special Olympics Chicago President Casey Hogan said Sunday that Gaga did the plunge with more than 4,500 other participants. Hogan says the singer’s appearance was “a very nice surprise.”

Gaga recently announced her engagement to “Chicago Fire” actor Taylor Kinney. Photos show her and a bare-chested Kinney going into the water together.

Vaughn also made the plunge. The native of the Chicago suburb Lake Forest was dressed in his Chicago Blackhawks jersey and jeans. The actor went in up to his knees, then eased himself down backward in the water.

Last year comedian Jimmy Fallon jumped in wearing a suit and tie, and helped raise more than $1 million.

Associated Press