'Witch Mountain' opens at box office peak
LOS ANGELES, March 15 (UPI) -- "Race to Witch Mountain" scored No. 1 at U.S. movie theaters this weekend, Box Office Mojo figures released Sunday showed.
The science fiction movie, starring Dwayne Johnson, racked up at estimated $25 million in ticket sales in its first weekend, pushing "Watchmen" to No. 2 at $18.07 million.
A Dennis Iliadis-directed formula horror show, "The last House on the Left," opened at No. 3 with $14.66 million in estimated gate receipts, followed by "Taken" with $6.65 million and "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail" with $5.13 million.
Still in the top 10 in its 18th week, "Slumdog Millionaire" is No. 6 with $5.03 in estimated sales, followed by "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" with $3.1 million, "He's Just Not That Into You" at $2.91 million and "Coraline" at $2.66 million.
Another new movie, "Miss March," a light-weight comedy co-directed and written by Zach Cregger and Trevor Moore, came in at No. 10 with $2.35 million.
The three new movies bumped "Confessions of a Shopaholic," "Fired Up" and "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" out of the top tier of movies.
50 Cent offers porno clip in rap war
NEW YORK, March 15 (UPI) -- U.S. rapper 50 Cent said in an online posting of a pornographic video that he was using the video to target fellow entertainer Rick Ross.
Using his alter-ego Pimpin' Curly, 50 Cent said the woman shown in the nearly 13 1/2-minute long video engaging in sexual acts with an unidentified man is the mother of Ross's daughter, AllHipHop.com reported Saturday.
The video released by 50 Cent on boobootv.com Friday represented the most recent escalation in the ongoing rap war between the "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" rapper and Ross.
The pair have exchanged verbal bars through their music as part of their rivalry.
In his online posting of the sex video, 50 Cent offered a profanity-laden message to Ross regarding the woman in the video, identified only as Brooke.
"Now every time you look at your little girl, her little pretty face man … There go her mama," 50 Cent said as Pimpin' Curly.
AllHipHop.com said 50 Cent's new album, "Before I Self Destruct," is due out this year and Ross is to release his "Deeper Than Rap" album April 21.
ABC finding success in online TV shows
NEW YORK, March 15 (UPI) -- ABC is dominating its U.S. TV network peers when it comes to online offerings, having nine of the top 10 most-streamed series, the Nielsen ratings group says.
Nielsen said in its February VideoCensus report that ABC's "Lost" topped all other series last month with 2.5 million unique viewers online and 48 million total streams, MediaWeek reported Friday.
The series' unique viewers tally for February marked a 41 percent increase compared with January, while its total streams represented a 20 percent jump.
ABC also managed to top 1 million unique viewers in February with "Dancing with the Stars" and "Grey's Anatomy."
Other top ABC shows in terms of online streaming last month were "The Bachelor," "Brother & Sisters," "Scrubs," "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Desperate Housewives" and "Private Practice."
MediaWeek said NBC's "Saturday Night Live" mitigated ABC's dominance on the list, coming in eighth overall in total February online viewers.
Source says Pinto may be next Bond girl
LOS ANGELES, March 15 (UPI) -- Mumbai-born actress Freida Pinto, star of "Slumdog Millionaire," could soon be the next female star of a James Bond movie, a source says.
An unidentified source said Pinto has been asked by Barbara Broccoli, who produces the James Bond spy films, about serving as the next Bond girl, People.com reported Sunday.
The source said the 24-year-old beauty, who starred as Latika in "Slumdog," has been in the sights of Bond creators before the franchise's last installment, "Quantum of Solace."
"Freida came to the attention of the Bond team when they were casting 'Quantum of Solace,'" the source said, but "she was too young at the time to have a part as a love interest for a secret agent."
Pinto recently parlayed her "Slumdog" fame into an Indian Vogue magazine cover shoot and a deal with the Estee Lauder cosmetics group, People.com said.
