'The Proposal' opens at No. 1
LOS ANGELES, June 21 (UPI) -- "The Proposal" took over as the No. 1 movie in U.S. theaters this weekend, Box Office Mojo said Sunday.
The romantic comedy starring Sandra Bullock as a magazine editor who pushes her assistant to marry her so she can keep her work visa, tallied an estimated $34.11 million in gross receipts in its first weekend, pushing "The Hangover" to No. 2 with $26.89 million in ticket sales and "Up" to No. 3 at $21.34 million.
Another new offering, "Year One," a Harold Ramis comedy starring Jack Black, started out at No. 4 with a respectable $20.2 million.
The rest of the Top 10 included "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" at $11.3 million, "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" at $7.3 million, "Star Trek" with $4.7 million, "Land of the Lost" with $3.98 million, "Imagine That" with $3.1 million and "Terminator Salvation" at $2.8 million.
Gone from the top tier are "Angels & Demons" and "Drag Me to Hell."
Einstein photograph sold for $74,000
AMHERST, N.H., June 21 (UPI) -- An auctioneer in Amherst, N.H., says he sold a famed photograph of theoretical physicist Albert Einstein for $74,324.
Auctioneer Bobby Livingston said the autographed 1951 photo of Einstein wagging his tongue was sold online via RRAuction.com and the sale marked the highest price paid for an Einstein photo in history, The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger reported Saturday.
Livingston said the photo, taken during Einstein's 72nd birthday celebration at New Jersey's Princeton University, is "special."
"As soon as we got it, we knew it was something special," Livingston said. "This incredible man understood the universe more than any of the rest of us, and here he is at this moment, making a joke, like life is a gas, you know?"
The original photo was taken by then-United Press International photographer Arthur Sasse and the item up for auction was a print autographed and inscribed by Einstein as a gift for his friend, ABC journalist Howard K. Smith.
The Star-Ledger said the winning bid for the Einstein photo was made by New York autographs dealer David Waxman.
Disney stars crash prom in Canada
TORONTO, June 21 (UPI) -- Teenage Disney stars Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato crashed a prom in Toronto for students of the Etobicoke Collegiate Institute, a witness says.
An unidentified witness said Gomez, star of the Disney Channel series "Wizards of Waverly Place," and Lovato, who had a role in the Disney movie "Camp Rock," appeared to be having fun at the school dance, People.com reported Saturday.
"They were all dancing in a group and having fun," the witness said of Thursday night's event. "Selena was thrilled to see firsthand what a real prom is like and that her dress was much like the other girl's dresses."
Gomez, 16, arrived at the prom after leaving a dinner at the nearby Liberty Grand Entertainment Complex. The Disney actress then returned to the dinner to get Lovato, 16, and four other teenage friends, People.com reported.
The Web site said while the Disney stars and their friends were eventually asked to leave the school celebration, Gomez offered her fans an ecstatic Twitter message at the end of the night.
"PPP peeps and I crashed a prom tonight and danced with a high school!! Amazing!! I finally had prom!" Gomez said in her message.
Sources: Rapper Brown pampered in jail
NEW YORK, June 21 (UPI) -- New York City prison officials offered preferential treatment to rapper Foxy Brown while she was incarcerated, Department of Correction sources allege.
The unidentified sources allege the "Chyna Doll" rapper, who was jailed for a 2006 assault on two nail-salon manicurists, received unlimited phone and TV use while incarcerated, the New York Post reported Sunday.
In addition, the rapper received new clothing to replace her dirty apparel and prison officials helped coordinate a magazine interview and photo shoot for Brown, the sources allege.
"It's just out of control," one source said.
"There's a total lack of leadership at the top," another source added.
Brown, whose real name is Inga Fung Marchand, completed her nine-month prison sentence for her parole violation last April.
The sources told the Post that top prison official Imam Umar Abdul-Jalil was among those allegedly pampering the rapper. Abdul-Jalil is already the subject of a city probe over a lavish bar mitzvah allowed to take place in a New York jail.
