‘This Is It’ tops box office with $101M worldwide in first five days
LOS ANGELES — “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” pulled in $101 million worldwide in its first five days, and distributor Sony is extending the farewell performance film beyond its planned two-week run.
The film was the No. 1 Halloween thriller domestically with a $21.3 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The previous weekend’s No. 1 movie, Paramount’s low-budget horror sensation “Paranormal Activity,” slipped to No. 2 with $16.5 million, lifting its total to $84.8 million.
“This Is It” raised its domestic total to $32.5 million. The movie pulled in $68.5 million overseas, including $10.4 million in Japan, $6.3 million in Germany, $5.8 million in France and $3.2 million in China.
“He’s just loved everywhere on the planet,” said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, South America. Every continent in the world loved him and his music.”
“This Is It” captures Jackson in behind-the-scenes performances in the weeks before his death last June, as he rehearsed his biggest hits for the London shows.
Lil Wayne, Birdman hit with copyright suit
NEW YORK — A Florida man wants rappers Lil Wayne and Birdman to show him respect — for using his voice in an album track called just that.
Thomas Marasciullo filed a copyright infringement lawsuit Friday in a Manhattan federal court against the rappers, their record label and various music distribution outlets.
The lawsuit said Cash Money Records had him cut some “ ‘Italian-styled’ spoken word recordings” in 2006, then used them without pay or permission on “Respect” and other tracks from the rappers’ joint 2006 album “Like Father, Like Son” and Birdman’s 2007 “5 (Star) Stunna.”
A lawyer and representatives for Cash Money Records and Universal Music Group, which has a distribution and marketing deal with the label, didn’t immediately return messages Friday.
The gold-selling “Like Father, Like Son” hit the top of the R&B/hip-hop album chart. Several short tracks that Marasciullo says he wrote, recorded and copyrighted — including “Loyalty” and “Respect” — feature a man’s voice delivering mob-movie-flavored repartee.
Among the remarks, from “Loyalty”: “The main name in this game is respect and loyalty. Family is a big thing. When we do this kind of business, everything is with respect.”
The lawsuit says Marasciullo’s recordings were used in four tracks on that album and five on “5 (Star) Stunna.” It seeks unspecified damages for Marasciullo, who lives in Florida’s Hernando County. He and his New York lawyer didn’t immediately return telephone calls.
Crypt above Marilyn doesn’t sell in auction
LOS ANGELES — Marilyn Monroe isn’t getting a new neighbor any time soon.
The second auction of the marble mausoleum crypt above Monroe didn’t fetch any bids, according to organizer Eric Gazin of AuctionCause.com. A previous $4.6 million bid for the space fell through in August when Elsie Poncher first attempted to sell off her late husband’s crypt. The new eBay.com auction required a 1 percent to 5 percent refundable deposit to be able to bid.
Gazin says several people were preapproved to bid on the crypt at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, but no one did during the 10-day auction. He says the family is now “weighing their options.” Other celebrities laid to rest at the cemetery include Farrah Fawcett, Rodney Dangerfield, Dean Martin, Jack Lemmon and Eva Gabor.
