'Covenant' No. 1 over a limp weekend
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- "The Covenant" took top U.S. box office honors over a ho-hum film weekend, raking in $9 million in estimated gross receipts.
The critically praised "Hollywoodland" was second with slightly more than $6 million on 1,548 screens, more than 1,000 fewer than "The Covenant."
All figures are from Box Office Mojo.
"Invincible" was third with $5.78 million; "The Protector" was fourth with slightly more than $5 million in its first weekend.
"Crank" cranked out $4.8 million in receipts, good enough for fifth in its second weekend; "The Illusionist" was sixth with nearly $4.64 million; "Little Miss Sunshine" seventh with more than $4.4 million; "The Wicker Man" was a disappointing eighth with $4.12 million, dropping nearly 60 percent in its second weekend; "Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" ran ninth with an even $3 million in its sixth weekend.
Still clucking in 10th place, "Barnyard: The Original Party Animals" scratched up more than $2.58 million.
Idols not idle on American airwaves
NEW YORK, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Get ready for an onslaught of albums to hit U.S. store shelves from "American Idol" winners and wannabes in the coming weeks.
The Season Five champion of the Fox TV talent competition, Taylor Hicks, releases his first post-American Idol disc Nov. 14, The New York Post reported Sunday.
Hicks' runner-up, Katharine McPhee, has an album scheduled for release before the year's end while Kellie Pickler's album comes out Nov. 15 and Chris Daughtry's release date for his rock album is Nov. 21.
Season Two champ Ruben Studdard releases his third album Sept. 26, while runner-up Clay Aiken has a disc hitting stores next week.
Season-three winner Fantasia Barrino releases her second disc Oct. 17.
Designers unveil last century looks
NEW YORK, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Designers reached to the 20th century to inspire them for this season's fashions being unveiled during New York's Fashion Week.
Karen Walker, moving her show from London to New York for the first time, paid homage to grunge, teen pop and rave with cotton net sweaters, oxfords with anklets and bold pink and green nylon parkas, the New York Post said Sunday.
Other designers looked to popular teen television shows such as MTV's "Laguna Beach" for inspiration. Lacoste, for example, unveiled preppy sportswear marked by clean lines and a tasteful dash of cheeriness, the Post said.
One design house, Ruffian, looked to architects as Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry for its collection that was restrained, elegant and whimsical.
Alexandre Herchcovitch presented military-inspired jackets and pleated skirts paired with knee-length dresses and jumpsuits that combined a mix of colors with black and white, the Post said.
Poor Scottish family has good dance genes
LONDON, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- A working-class Scottish family living on disability payments has had its fourth son accepted into the prestigious Royal Ballet School in London.
Robert Clarke, 48, is a former steelworker who was permanently disabled in a head-on car crash, yet has had community support for his dancing sons in the small Scottish city of Airdrie, 12 miles east of Glasgow, the Sunday Times of London reports.
Monday, his 11-year-old son Reece, begins training on a full scholarship at the London school that only accepts 12 new students a year. He follows in the footsteps of brothers Ross, 23, Russell, 18, and Ryan, 12.
Their mother, Ann, said it's a mystery as to her sons' attraction to dance.
"I don't know why it happened. There were no ballet dancers in our family before," she said. "They were just normal boys, climbing walls, playing football same as everybody else -- except they loved to dance."
