NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

‘Star Wars’ stays No. 1

LOS ANGELES

“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” stayed on top of the North American box office for the fourth straight weekend, beating out Leonardo DiCaprio in “The Revenant,” and becoming the third-largest grossing movie in the world ever.

According to studio estimates Sunday, the adventures of Rey, Finn and stalwarts from the previous “Star Wars” films raked in $41.6 million in the U.S. and Canada and $104.3 million overseas, led by a record-breaking opening in China.

Disney distribution Executive Vice President Dave Hollis said the expected $53 million debut weekend in China was “spectacular” given the film is the first “Star Wars” episode many Chinese people have ever seen. “We’re very encouraged,” he said.

In the U.S. and Canada, it is the biggest movie ever and the first to pass $800 million with $812 million so far.

Its global total now stands at $1.73 billion, according to The Walt Disney Co., passing “Jurassic World,” with $1.67 billion.

The film now has in its sights No. 2 “Titanic,” with its $2.2 billion box office haul in 1997-98, and No. 1 “Avatar,” from 2009-2010 at $2.8 billion.

“The Revenant,” a gritty R-rated movie directed by Alejandro Inarritu about an 1820s frontiersman who gets mauled by a bear, blasted through expectations of about $25 million in its first weekend of wide release with a $38 million haul after limited showings in New York and Los Angeles in December.

Of the Top 10 films this weekend, only Focus Features’ “The Forest” was in theaters for the first time over the weekend, coming in fourth at $13.1 million.

Focus president of distribution Jim Orr said the horror film topped expectations. It put “Game of Thrones” star Natalie Dormer in a forest at the base of Mount Fuji renowned for suicides.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Rentrak. Final domestic figures will be released today.

1. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” $41.6 million.

2. “The Revenant,” $38 million.

3. “Daddy’s Home,” $15 million.

4. “The Forest,” $13.1 million.

5. “Sisters,” $7.2 million.

Ghana intends to extradite suspect in UK actress slaying

ACCRA, Ghana

Ghanaian authorities intend to extradite a suspect in the slayings of a British actress and her two young sons in London, a senior police official said Sunday.

Arthur Simpson-Kent, 48, who was the boyfriend of former “EastEnders” actress Sian Blake, was arrested Saturday in western Ghana.

Simpson-Kent was “smoked from a thicket near Butre where he was hiding,” said Prosper Agblor, director general of the criminal investigations department.

Video footage showed Simpson-Kent being led through a police complex with his hands cuffed behind him. Britain hasn’t formally requested Simpson-Kent’s extradition, but authorities plan to make an application soon.

Simpson-Kent had disappeared after speaking to British detectives Dec. 16 after the killings of Blake, 8-year-old Zachary and 4-year-old Amon, who had last been seen three days earlier. The 43-year-old Blake had appeared in the long-running soap opera “EastEnders” in 1996-1997.

Associated Press