3D "Lion King" rules box office for second week (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – "The Lion King" fended off Brad Pitt to keep the box-office crown for a second straight weekend.

Walt Disney Co's 3D re-release of the animated classic rang up an estimated $22.1 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales over three days as families turned out to see lion cub Simba's return to theaters.

Baseball drama "Moneyball" starring Pitt took second and family film "Dolphin Tale" finished a close third, according to studio projections released on Sunday.

Ticket sales for "The Lion King 3D" have far surpassed industry expectations for a movie that debuted in 1994 and will soon hit stores on Blu-ray disc. The film has grossed $61.7 million in North American (U.S. and Canadian) theaters since its release last weekend, plus $16 million in international markets, where it came out more than a month ago.

Combined, the "Lion King" re-release has brought in $77.7 million around the world. Disney will extend the planned two-week run in theaters, said Dave Hollis, executive vice president for motion picture sales and distribution at Disney.

"We are working to meet that demand," Hollis said.

Baseball and math didn't quite add up to a box-office win for "Moneyball," which finished in second place with $20.6 million domestically. Pitt plays real-life Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane, who used unconventional statistical analysis to field a small-budget team of overlooked players to make an unlikely playoff run.

The movie won positive reviews from critics and received an A rating from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

The film was based on a nonfiction book by Michael Lewis and cost about $50 million to produce. Sales hit the high end of studio projections, said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Columbia Pictures, which released the film.

Close behind was another story from the animal kingdom. "Dolphin Tale" brought in an estimated $20.3 million to take third place, a strong showing for a family film against the mighty performance from "Lion King."

The movie, starring Harry Connick Jr., Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman, is based on the true story of a dolphin that loses its tail in a crab trap and is rehabilitated with a prosthetic tail. The real dolphin that inspired the story portrays the dolphin in the film.

The movie won a rare A+ rating from audiences polled by CinemaScore. Also offered in 3D, the film was produced by Alcon Entertainment for about $37 million.

'TWILIGHT' STAR FINISHES FOURTH

Action film "Abduction," starring and produced by "Twilight" heartthrob Taylor Lautner in his first major role outside the popular vampire and werewolf series, pulled in $11.2 million to take fourth place.

In "Abduction," Lautner plays a teenager on the run after he discovers his parents aren't who he thought they were and his life has been a lie. He pieces together the truth while being pursued by the FBI and killer assassins. The film cost Lions Gate Entertainment about $35 million to make.

Spy thriller "Killer Elite," starring Robert de Niro, Clive Owen and Jason Stratham, finished in fifth place with $9.5 million. The film is the first movie released by Open Road Films, a joint venture between theater owners Regal Entertainment Group and AMC Entertainment Inc.

The weekend also saw surprise summer hit "The Smurfs" crossing a milestone with more than $500 million in global ticket sales since the 3D live-action and animated family film debuted in July.

Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp, released "Moneyball" and "The Smurfs." "Dolphin Tale" was released by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc. Lions Gate Entertainment distributed "Abduction."

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Eric Walsh)

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George Clooney rules out political bid in US (AP)

VENICE, Italy – Idealism loses out to cynicism in George Clooney's political drama "The Ides of March," which opens the Venice Film Festival.

Clooney directs and acts in the political drama that features Ryan Gosling as a gung-ho press secretary swept into a sex scandal in the final days of a Democratic presidential primary in Ohio. Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti are rival campaign managers who use loyalty as a weapon in their epic battle for victory.

Marisa Tomei plays a Times reporter angling for scoops on the campaign trail. And Evan Rachel Wood, a pretty campaign volunteer eager to play in the big leagues, is yet another figure giving female political interns a bad rap.

Clooney's idealistic presidential candidate, Pennsylvania Gov. Mike Morris, has a straightforward platform: He's nonreligious but defends the freedom of religion. He also opposes the death penalty and wants to phase out internal combustion engines to reduce American dependence on foreign oil.

Clooney plays the presidential candidate, but told reporters at the festival Wednesday he is not looking to be one in real life.

"As for running for president, look, there's a guy in office right now who is smarter than almost anyone you know, who's nicer and who has more compassion than almost anyone you know. And he's having an almost impossible time governing. Why would anybody volunteer for that job?" Clooney told a news conference.

"I have a really good job. I get to hang out with very seductive people. So I have no interest," Clooney said.

For Clooney, the film wasn't so much a political movie as a morality tale, exploring the question of whether the ends justify the means. The political arena "raised the stakes," a relaxed and jocular Clooney said, but the questions the film poses reside in many areas of life.

"You could literally put this in Wall Street, or you could put it pretty much anywhere. It's all the same sort of issues. It's issues of morality. It's issues of whether or not you are willing to trade your soul for an outcome," Clooney said.

In the film, many characters use seduction to get what they want: to get closer to power, to undermine the other campaign, to win political backing.

Giamatti called his character "an unabashedly seductive guy." His play to recruit Gosling's character to the rival campaign opens the film's exploration of loyalty and friendship in politics.

"My character is all about seduction ... the whole game of politics is a kind of sexy game in America, and I think (the movie) portrays it really well," Giamatti said.

And while Clooney and his fellow actors are willing to concede that Washington and Hollywood may share seduction and power as common currency, that doesn't mean the stakes are the same. Hollywood, they suggested, commands a disproportionate amount of popular attention.

"I do think there is a huge difference between Hollywood and Washington, you know, and what we are responsible for and what influence we wield. I think sometimes it gets forgotten, that the people who are governing us have a much more important position," Hoffman said.

The film's title — "The Ides of March" — highlights its undercurrent of betrayal. In Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar, a soothsayer warns the leader of imminent betrayal with the line "beware the ides of March."

"We thought that some of these themes seemed to be somewhat Shakespearean," Clooney said. "We will leave it up to people to decide who is Cassius and who's Brutus and who's Julius Caesar. Everyone has different points of view."

It is hard to shake off the film's ultimate cynicism, which seems to reflect the current mood and gridlock in U.S. politics. But perhaps such a movie requires a cynical moment. Clooney said he shelved the movie in the face of brimming optimism following the 2008 election of President Barack Obama.

"It took about a year, and that was over," he said, with irony.

Still, he expressed hope that this, too, will pass.

"Cynicism seems to be winning over idealism right now. I think it will change. I hope it will change. Soon," Clooney said.

Clooney, who has a villa in northern Italy on Lake Como, is a familiar face at the Lido. He's directed or acted in six films that have been shown in Venice since 2003, including "Good Night and Good Luck," `'Burn After Reading" and "Michael Clayton."

"The Ides of March" is Clooney's first directorial effort to headline the festival. It is vying for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept. 10.

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Judge rules Jackson trial jury will not be sequestered (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The jury in the upcoming involuntary manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor will not be sequestered, despite a request by defense lawyers who expect the case to be "the most publicized in history."

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor ruled against removing the jurors from their homes during the four- to six-week trial starting in September, citing the estimated $500,000 cost and saying he had "tremendous faith" in the jury system.

"I do not find sequestration to be the answer in this case," Pastor said at a hearing on Thursday. "I expect that the jurors will follow the high road."

Jury selection is due to start on September 8 for the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, with opening statements expected on September 27.

Murray, who was at Jackson's side when he died in Los Angeles on June 25, 2009, is accused of delivering a fatal dose of the powerful anesthetic propofol to the pop star as a sleep aid, and then failing to monitor him properly.

Murray could face up to four years in prison if convicted. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

The defense team has suggested that Jackson, 50, could have given himself a larger dose of the drug while the doctor was out of the singer's bedroom. They have argued that massive expected media coverage of the trial could jeopardize the doctor's right to fair trial.

"There is reasonable expectation that Dr. Murray's trial will be the most publicized in history," Murray's lawyers wrote in their request for jury sequestration.

Pastor said he would give strict instructions to the jury to avoid reading or watching media reports of the trial, and said they would be eating their meals in the jury room during the court day to restrict their exposure to the public.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

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Eminem takes the big stage as rap rules Bonnaroo (AP)

By CHRIS TALBOTT, AP Entertainment Writer Chris Talbott, Ap Entertainment Writer – Sun Jun 12, 3:46 am ET

MANCHESTER, Tenn. – After a little more than an hour of a hard-as-nails set that had the bikini-clad rumps shaking at Bonnaroo, Eminem thanked the crowd and left the stage.

Nearly 80,000 fans chanted "Shady! Shady! Shady!" in a thunderous roar for five minutes until hip hop's angry king returned to the stage for a triumphant encore of "Lose Yourself," capping the day rap took over Bonnaroo.

Saturday kicked off with Big Boi and Lil Wayne laying down early morning sets — inexplicably overlapping — shortly after Arcade Fire's Friday night finale, and the takeover continued with Wiz Khalifa on the big stage during a hot afternoon set before Eminem destroyed his Bonnaroo debut.

These weren't the first rappers at the four-day festival down on the farm in Tennessee. The event is known more for its granola-flavored ethos than its urban cool, but Jay-Z turned in one of the most memorable sets in the festival's 10-year history in 2010 and expectations were high for Saturday's takeover — the most concentrated collection of star MCs at Bonnaroo.

Big Boi mixed in his own songs with Outkast favorites. Lil Wayne played it naughty with the crowd and debuted tracks from his forthcoming album "Tha Carter IV," rattling the port-a-potties with a thunderous bass well into the morning.

And Khalifa kept the crowd sky high by preaching the gospel of weed to a willing choir that included a man who wore a "Marijuana Cures Racism" T-shirt, dancers with flowers in their hair and joints in their hands, and girls in bikinis crowd surfing.

The day was full of odd juxtapositions. Khalifa dropped his hit "Black & Yellow" while just a few hundred yards away Mumford & Sons tore through a set of fiery folk rock as fans watched over a nearby fence and from atop ATMs. The sold-out crowd appeared to be evenly split among the two rising stars of their genres.

Later in the evening, a reunited Buffalo Springfield set up Eminem's show with a fiery rendition of Neil Young's "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World." Fans rushed into the festival's largest compound as Young's echoing guitar died away, entering another world.

Eminem opened with "Won't Back Down" and "3 a.m." and never let up, featuring a mix of hits and new songs from his 2010 return to the top, "Recovery."

"It's been a minute since I been to the South," he shouted. "Did y'all miss us?"

Eminem was in top form, fast and angry as he stalked the stage in long camouflage shorts and a black t-shirt. He thanked his fans for standing by him before launching into "Not Afraid."

Bonnaroo's crowd may be a hippie enclave, but you wouldn't have known it Saturday night as most fans rapped right along with Eminem, brightened the sky with lighters to the Slim Shady and Royce Da 5'9"`s "Lighters" and played along to a naughty call-and-response before "Love the Way You Lie."

After the show the debate shifted from whether hip hop belongs at Bonnaroo to Shady 2011 or Hova 2010?

___

Online:

http://www.bonnaroo.com

___

Contact Chris Talbott at www.twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.

Yahoo! News

Eminem takes the big stage as rap rules Bonnaroo (AP)

By CHRIS TALBOTT, AP Entertainment Writer Chris Talbott, Ap Entertainment Writer – Sun Jun 12, 3:46 am ET

MANCHESTER, Tenn. – After a little more than an hour of a hard-as-nails set that had the bikini-clad rumps shaking at Bonnaroo, Eminem thanked the crowd and left the stage.

Nearly 80,000 fans chanted "Shady! Shady! Shady!" in a thunderous roar for five minutes until hip hop's angry king returned to the stage for a triumphant encore of "Lose Yourself," capping the day rap took over Bonnaroo.

Saturday kicked off with Big Boi and Lil Wayne laying down early morning sets — inexplicably overlapping — shortly after Arcade Fire's Friday night finale, and the takeover continued with Wiz Khalifa on the big stage during a hot afternoon set before Eminem destroyed his Bonnaroo debut.

These weren't the first rappers at the four-day festival down on the farm in Tennessee. The event is known more for its granola-flavored ethos than its urban cool, but Jay-Z turned in one of the most memorable sets in the festival's 10-year history in 2010 and expectations were high for Saturday's takeover — the most concentrated collection of star MCs at Bonnaroo.

Big Boi mixed in his own songs with Outkast favorites. Lil Wayne played it naughty with the crowd and debuted tracks from his forthcoming album "Tha Carter IV," rattling the port-a-potties with a thunderous bass well into the morning.

And Khalifa kept the crowd sky high by preaching the gospel of weed to a willing choir that included a man who wore a "Marijuana Cures Racism" T-shirt, dancers with flowers in their hair and joints in their hands, and girls in bikinis crowd surfing.

The day was full of odd juxtapositions. Khalifa dropped his hit "Black & Yellow" while just a few hundred yards away Mumford & Sons tore through a set of fiery folk rock as fans watched over a nearby fence and from atop ATMs. The sold-out crowd appeared to be evenly split among the two rising stars of their genres.

Later in the evening, a reunited Buffalo Springfield set up Eminem's show with a fiery rendition of Neil Young's "Keep on Rockin' in the Free World." Fans rushed into the festival's largest compound as Young's echoing guitar died away, entering another world.

Eminem opened with "Won't Back Down" and "3 a.m." and never let up, featuring a mix of hits and new songs from his 2010 return to the top, "Recovery."

"It's been a minute since I been to the South," he shouted. "Did y'all miss us?"

Eminem was in top form, fast and angry as he stalked the stage in long camouflage shorts and a black t-shirt. He thanked his fans for standing by him before launching into "Not Afraid."

Bonnaroo's crowd may be a hippie enclave, but you wouldn't have known it Saturday night as most fans rapped right along with Eminem, brightened the sky with lighters to the Slim Shady and Royce Da 5'9"`s "Lighters" and played along to a naughty call-and-response before "Love the Way You Lie."

After the show the debate shifted from whether hip hop belongs at Bonnaroo to Shady 2011 or Hova 2010?

___

Online:

http://www.bonnaroo.com

___

Contact Chris Talbott at www.twitter.com/Chris_Talbott.

Yahoo! News

Huckabee rules out 2012 White House run (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Mike Huckabee announced on Saturday he would not seek his party's presidential nomination in 2012, adding uncertainty to the race to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama.

"All the factors say 'go,' but my heart says 'no' and that's the decision that I have made," he said on his Fox News Channel television show.

"My answer is clear and firm: I will not seek the Republican nomination for president this year," Huckabee added.

A former governor of Arkansas, Huckabee had been riding high in some 2012 polls among Republicans. But he had not been raising funds or touring the country as he wrestled over whether to launch a second run for his party's nomination or stick with his Fox show, "Huckabee."

Huckabee, who unsuccessfully sought his party's presidential nomination in 2008, said he had his family's full support, promising poll numbers and evidence he could carry states beyond the South and appeal to voters beyond social conservatives.

But he said private reflection on his decision to stay out of the race gave him a "clarity and an inexplicable inner peace."

Obama, a Democrat, was far ahead of all possible Republican candidates mentioned in a Reuters/Ipsos poll this week. A number of high-profile Republicans have either declined to run or are still weighing their options.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney is expected to run, as is former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, who analysts say would attract the kind of evangelical, conservative voters who would have backed Huckabee.

Pawlenty said in a statement that "Mike and I agree our nation is facing big challenges and desperately needs new leadership and I plan to work hard to earn the support of the millions of Americans who have supported him."

Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich became a candidate this week, along with a number of long-shots, including libertarian-minded Texas Representative Ron Paul.

Still on the fence are Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann.

POLLS SHOW OBAMA FORMIDABLE OPPONENT

Wednesday's Reuters/Ipsos survey showed 45 percent of Americans believed Obama would win re-election, a 1O-point rise from a poll taken before November's congressional elections.

The survey is an indication of how difficult it will be for Republicans to dislodge an incumbent president in the November 2012 election.

The field of possible Republicans challengers to Obama has not generated much enthusiasm so far, with key figures waiting to announce their candidacy.

Obama, who made history in 2008 by becoming the first African-American elected president, leads possible Republican candidates by double digits.

Obama lead Huckabee by 51 percent to 39 percent, and Romney by 51 percent to 38 percent.

The president's approval rating is at 49 percent, a 3-point increase over last month, amounting to only a modest bounce after the May 2 killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Other surveys have given Obama a slightly larger post-bin Laden boost.

Link to the poll data: http://www.ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5233

(Editing by Peter Cooney)

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