n t t t t t t t n t t t t t t t tThe Rise of Fake Pot n t t t t t t t n t t t t t t tSubscribe n t t t t t tCommon Core Sparks Parent RevoltChristians and Tyrants

(READ Why Rio 2 is a soaring musical but a flightless comedy) n

Stateside, though, what slammed into Rio 2 like an eco predator’s earthmover? Blame Saturday. Action movies typically earn a high proportion of their weekend haul on Thursday nights and Fridays, while animated features find their strength at Saturday matinees (when families show up). Three years ago, on its second weekend, Captain America The First Avenger rose a modest 26% from Friday to Saturday, while the original Rio enjoyed a 69% leap on its first Saturday. But this weekend the norm was reversed The Winter Solider jumped an impressive 49%, and Rio 2 a mere 28%. That’s how the red white and blue muscle man beat the blue macaws. n

CA TWS did fall from 56% its first weekend u2014 a drop less than The First Avenger’s 61% and the 2008&#8242 s The Incredible Hulk (60%) but more severe than those for the first Iron Man (48%), the first Thor (47%) and 2012 megahit The Avengers (50%). Among the Core Four of Marvel’s Avengers team, 56% is a middling sophomore slump. But the new movie, benefitting from its positioning as a sort of sequel to The Avengers, has already earned $159 million in 10 days in North America, just shy of the total domestic take ($176.7 million) of the first Captain America. Abroad, it’s gangbusters $317.7 million in fewer than weeks, or more than $100 million above what The First Avenger managed in its entire overseas run. n

(READ Corliss’s review of Captain America The Winter Soldier) n

Among other new releases, the horror film Oculus (no relation to the virtual reality headset company) earned a preternatural $13 million on a thrifty $5 million budget. Its CinemaScore was a bogeyman’s C, about average for R rated thrillers. The more expensive Draft Day, starring Kevin Costner as an NFL GM trying to land the best college player, pulled in just $9.75 million, though it aced a CinemaScore of A for females, B plus for males. It could hang around until the real draft day, on May 8 but, as a business investment, the movie is fourth and long. n

In theology related cinema, the low budget God’s Not Dead continued to shadow the big budget Noah (aka The Creator’s All Wet). The Christian fundamentalist movie, made for just $2 million, is also battling The Grand Budapest Hotelfor the year’s top gross among indie productions. Both have earned around $40 million, which in the nano world of off Hollywood movies is a bonanza. n

Jim Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive, starring Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston as a rock star vampire and his undead bride, led this weekend’s specialty releases with a smart $97,000 at four theaters. David Gordon Green’s rural drama Joe, with Nicolas Cage as an ex con uncomfortably mentoring a troubled teen, earned $106,000 at 48 venues u2014 a per screen average of $2,208, or less than a tenth of the Jarmusch film’s. n

(READ Corliss’s reviews of Only Lovers Left Alive and Joe) n

The Railway Man, a post World War II trauma thriller headlined by Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman, opened to $64,500 on four screens. And Cuban Fury, a salsa dance comedy with Nick Frost, Rashida Jones and Chris O’Dowd, broke a leg on its way to a lame $550,000 at 79 theaters. That factors to about $700, or 80 people, at each venue for the whole weekend. In second week action, the minimalist sci fi mystery Under the Skin, with Scarlett Johansson as an alien sent to Scotland to kill human males, expanded from four to 54 theaters and scared up $309,o00. n

(READ Rashida Jones on Cuban Fury u2014 and Selfies) n

BURYING THE LEDE This is the last of my weekly box office reports 262, plus some specials, over five years. The gig has been fun and instructive, for me anyway. But as a believer in the wisdom of statistics u2014 for baseball players and movie grosses u2014 I can’t justify the effort and bandwidth for a column that attracts fewer readers than the stories I wrote for my high school newspaper (and St. Joe’s Prep did not have a huge student body). I may occasionally write about certain box office trends, and perhaps contribute seasonal wrapups, but for now this is it. Look for me to do more coverage of show business news items and recommendations of new and old movies outside the B.O. top 10. n

I enthusiastically recommend the box office columns of Tom Brueggemann at Thompson on Hollywood and Scott Mendelson at Forbes, both of which are posted on Saturdays and Sundays. Brueggemann, who draws on decades of experience as a film booking executive, always provides a sensible sense of the long view u2014 wisely wary, for example, of hype about record breaking grosses that doesn’t consider ticket price inflation. Mendelson, who grins mischievously from his Forbes photo like a young John McEnroe, is firstest with the mostest in his Saturday B.O. insights. You should be as happy reading their work as Mary Corliss will be to find her husband again available for Sunday strolls and museum visits. n

Here are the Sunday estimates of this weekend u2019s top grossing pictures in North American theaters, as reported by Box Office Mojo n

1. Captain America The Winter Soldier, $41.4 million $159 million, second week
n2. Rio 2, $39 million, first weekend
n3. Oculus, $12 million, first weekend
n4. Draft Day, $9.75 million, first weekend
n5. Divergent, $7.5 million $124.9 million, fourth week
n6. Noah, $7.45 million $84.9 million, third week
n7. God’s Not Dead, $4.5 million $40.7 million, fourth week
n8. The Grand Budapest Hotel, $4.05 million $39.5 million, sixth week
n9. Muppets Most Wanted, $2.2 million $45.7 million, fourth week
n10. Mr. Peabody & Sherman, $1.8 million $105.2 million, sixth week

Los angeles city council approves e-cigarette ban

Es.cigarettes-online-store.com review

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to ban the use of electronic cigarettes, popularly known as “vaping,” from restaurants, bars, nightclubs and other public spaces within the nation’s second largest city.

If signed into law by Mayor Eric Garcetti, the measure would take effect in 30 days, said Tony Arranaga, spokesman for Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, one of the sponsors of the bill.

Los Angeles would join a growing list of cities, including New York and Chicago, that restrict the use of e cigarettes, battery powered cartridges filled with nicotine liquid that create an inhalable vapor when heated.

At stake is the future of an industry that some analysts believe will eventually overtake the $80 billion a year tobacco business.

Advocates of e cigarettes say they are less dangerous than tobacco products and can help smokers quit.

But public health experts fear they may act as a gateway to smoking for the uninitiated. Critics also point to potential harm posed to individuals who may inhale second hand vapor from e cigarettes, saying too little is known about the effects of the chemicals contained in the cartridges.

Under the measure passed by the City Council, e cigarette use would be prohibited from bars, nightclubs, restaurants and outdoor areas where tobacco smoking is generally restricted, such as parks, beaches, farmers markets, recreational areas and outdoor dining spaces.

The bill provides exemptions to allow e cigarettes in vaping lounges and stores, similar to exceptions made for cigar and hookah lounges under traditional anti smoking restrictions. E cigarettes would also be permitted for theatrical purposes.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Meredith Mazzilli)