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‘Black Adam’ tops box office again on quiet weekend

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‘Black Adam’ tops box office again on quiet weekend

NEW YORK (AP) — On a quiet weekend in movie theaters before the upcoming release of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Warner Bros.′ “Black Adam” topped the box office for the third straight weekend with $18.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

“Black Adam,” Dwayne Johnson’s bid to launch a new DC Films superpower, has surpassed $300 million globally in three weeks of release, including a domestic tally of $137.4 million. That puts the $195 million-budgeted film — the third film this year to lead the box office three consecutive weeks — on a trajectory to likely surpass the $366 million that “Shazam!” grossed in 2019, but less certain to notch a profit in its theatrical run.

When Walt Disney Co.’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” lands in theaters Thursday, it’s expected to score one of the biggest opening weekends of the year. Ryan Coogler’s original debuted with more than $200 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters in 2018, and forecasts suggest it could open with around $175 million.

With “Wakanda Forever” looming, only one new film opened in wide release: “One Piece Film: Red,” distributed by Sony Picture’s anime division, Crunchyroll. The Japanese anime sequel, part of the “One Piece” franchise, debuted in second place with $9.5 million. While not as robust as the openings of Crunchyroll’s “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero, which garnered, $21.1 million in August, or Funimation’s “Jujutsu Kaisen 0: The Movie,” which earned $18 million in March, “Red” again showed that anime is proving an uncommonly dependable draw in North American theaters. The 15th film in the franchise but the first to be released widely in the U.S., “Red” attracted an especially young audience, with about 75% of ticket buyers between ages 18-34.

Third place went to “Ticket to Paradise,” the George Clooney and Julia Roberts romantic comedy. The Universal Pictures release collected $8.5 million in its third weekend, bringing the $60 million-budgeted rom-com’s cumulative total to $46.7 million domestically and $137.2 million worldwide. For a genre that’s struggled in theaters in recent years, “Ticket to Paradise” is showing staying power, especially as the favored choice for older audiences.

Even with Halloween coming and going, Paramount Pictures’ “Smile” also continued to hold well in theaters. In its sixth week of release, the horror flick added another $4 million to bring it to $99.1 million overall.

Some of the year’s top Oscar contenders have struggled to make much of an impact in wide release. James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” a coming-of-age tale set in 1980s New York, expanded to 1,006 theaters in its second week, grossing $810,000 for Focus Features. Focus’ “Tár,” starring Cate Blanchett as a renowned conductor, took in $670,000 in 1,090 theaters for a five-week total of $3.7 million. MGM’s “Till,” about Mamie Till-Mobley’s pursuit of justice for her 14-year-old son, Emmett Till, added $1.9 million in 2,316 theaters for a four-week gross of $6.6 million.

Best of the bunch so far has been Searchlight Pictures’ “The Banshees of Inisherin,” starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as rowing Irish friends. It took in $3 million in 895 locations in its third weekend of release, brining its global total to $10.2 million.

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Black Adam,” $18.5 million.

2. “One Piece Film: Red,” $9.5 million.

3. “Ticket to Paradise,” $8.5 million.

4. “Smile,” $4 million.

5. “Prey for the Devil,” $3.9 million.

6. “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile,” $3.4 million.

7. “The Banshees of Inisherin,” $2 million.

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8. “Till,” $1.9 million.

9. “Halloween End,” $1.4 million.

10. “Terrifier 2,” $1.2 million.

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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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Former pro surfer and actor dies in shark attack while surfing in Hawaii

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Former pro surfer and actor dies in shark attack while surfing in Hawaii

A well-known Hawaii lifeguard who was killed in a shark attack while surfing off Oahu’s North Shore was a former professional surfer with acting credits to his name, including a role in one of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies.

Tamayo Perry, 49, was killed Sunday near Goat Island, Shayne Enright of the Honolulu Emergency Services Department said in a statement.

It’s not known if Perry was the first professional surfer to be killed in a shark attack, since the definition of a professional in the sport can be blurry, said Brendan Buckley, the editor of Stab Magazine, a website devoted to surfing.

“But in terms of a high-level surfer that people around the world know and respected, he’s the first that I’m aware of,” Buckley told The Associated Press Monday from his office in Portugal.

Perry and his wife, Emilia Perry, operated the Oahu Surfing Experience, offering surfing lessons. According to his biography on the business’ website, he surfed professionally for over 15 years, highlighted by winning the Pipeline Master trials in 1999.

The Pipeline off Oahu’s North Shore is famous for creating a tube that surfers ride for as long as they can. But it’s also the most deadly wave in the world, killing some of the world’s best surfers, Buckley said. Surfing it became Perry’s specialty, he said.

Surfers either focus on competitions or what they can do outside of those meets.

Perry “was never like somebody that was going to contend for a world title,” Buckley said. “He was more of the type to just kind of hunt down big, crazy waves and have that documented.”

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“For a while, he was one of the top, top, top people out there,” Buckley added. ”He got some of the craziest waves of his era. He was insanely respected by obviously everybody there and everybody around the world for what he did.”

Perry said on his website that he took to heart lessons learned from a near-fatal accident while surfing the Pipeline years ago.

“The lessons I’ve taken from that event have inspired me to my goal of instilling proper surf etiquette and safety into those whom I teach,” he wrote.

Emilia competed as a professional bodyboarder in western Australia before moving to Hawaii when she was 18. She and Tamayo met when she was bodyboarding out to a Pipeline wave.

“A few years later, I picked up a surfboard, we got married and there was no turning back,” she wrote. “The vast amounts of ocean knowledge that Tamayo has ingrained in me over the years is priceless.”

Tamayo Perry began his career as a lifeguard on the North Shore for the City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety in July 2016, Enright said.

Perry’s other passion was acting. He had several small roles credited to him on the film website www.imdb.com, including playing a buccaneer in “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” in 2011. That same year, he appeared in an episode of the television series “Hawaii Five-0.” He was also in a couple of national commercials.

“When I’m not acting, I’m still quite a character, so there’s always a ton of fun to be had,” he said.

Photographer Brian Bielmann had known and worked with Perry for 25 years, shooting the surfer in both Hawaii and Tahiti. Perry and several friends wound up at a party about five months ago, when Bielmann said they had an incredible bonding experience.

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“There’s about five of us there, and we’ve all called each other and just said, ‘We just are so thankful that we had that night with him,’” he said. “Everybody is just shaken to the core. I mean, it’s a gnarly thing to have happen no matter who it is, but to find out it was Tamayo, it’s crazy, man.”

Honolulu Ocean Safety and the city’s fire, police and emergency medical services departments responded to Malaekahana Beach on Oahu’s North Shore just before 1 p.m. Sunday after a caller reported seeing a man who appeared to have suffered shark bites, Enright said.

Lifeguards brought Perry to shore, where he was pronounced dead, Enright said.

Ocean Safety personnel posted shark warnings in the area following the attack, Enright said.

Honolulu Ocean Safety Acting Chief Kurt Lager said Perry was “a lifeguard loved by all.”

“Tamayo’s personality was infectious and as much as people loved him, he loved everyone else more,” Lager said at a news conference.

“Tamayo was a legendary waterman and highly respected,” Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said, calling Perry’s death “a tragic loss.”

The last fatal shark incident in Hawaii was Dec. 30 when a man surfing off Maui was attacked about 150 yards (137 meters) from shore.

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Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.

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Coachella: Earthquake shakes SoCal desert during music fest

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Coachella: Earthquake shakes SoCal desert during music fest

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) — A small earthquake shook the Southern California desert Saturday near Coachella, where the famous music festival is being held this weekend. No damage or injuries were reported.

The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 3.8, hit at 9:08 a.m. about 8 miles (13 kilometers) northeast of Borrego Springs in Riverside County, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The epicenter was about 20 miles (32 kilometers) southeast of Coachella. It struck at a depth of about 7 miles (11 kilometers), the USGS said.

A dispatcher with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said there were no calls reporting any problems from the quake.

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Matthew Perry died from acute effects of ketamine, autopsy says

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Matthew Perry died from acute effects of ketamine, autopsy says

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Matthew Perry died from the acute effects of the anesthetic ketamine, according to the results of an autopsy on the 54-year-old “Friends” actor released Friday.

The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner said in the autopsy report that Perry also drowned in “the heated end of his pool,” but that it was a secondary factor in his Oct. 28 death, deemed an accident.

People close to Perry told investigators that he was undergoing ketamine infusion therapy, an experimental treatment used to treat depression and anxiety. But the medical examiner said the levels of ketamine in Perry’s body were in the range used for general anesthesia during surgery, and that his last treatment 1 1/2 weeks earlier wouldn’t explain those levels. The drug is typically metabolized in a matter of hours.

The report says coronary artery disease and buprenorphine, which is used to treat opioid use disorder, also contributed.

The amount of ketamine detected “would be enough to make him lose consciousness and lose his posture and his ability to keep himself above the water,” said Dr. Andrew Stolbach, a medical toxicologist with Johns Hopkins Medicine who reviewed the autopsy report at the request of The Associated Press.

“Using sedative drugs in a pool or hot tub, especially when you’re alone, is extremely risky and, sadly, here it’s fatal,” said Stolbach, who noted that both ketamine and buprenorphine can be used safely.

Perry was declared dead after being found unresponsive at his home in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. Investigators performed the autopsy the following day.

The actor had taken drugs in the past but had been “reportedly clean for 19 months,” according to the report.

Perry had played pickleball earlier in the day, the report says, and his assistant, who lives with him, found him face down in the pool after returning from errands.

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The assistant told investigators Perry had not been sick, had not made any health complaints, and had not shown evidence of recent alcohol or drug use.

Postmortem blood tests showed “high levels” of ketamine in his system, which could have raised his blood pressure and heart rate and dulled his impulse to breathe.

Buprenorphine, commonly used in opioid addiction and found in therapeutic levels in Perry’s blood, could have contributed to the breathing problem, the autopsy said. It would have been risky to mix the central nervous system depressant with ketamine “due to the additive respiratory effects when present with high levels of ketamine,” according to the autopsy report.

The report said his coronary artery disease would have made him more susceptible to the drugs’ effects.

Perry was among the biggest television stars of his generation when he played Chandler Bing alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s megahit sitcom “Friends.”

His castmates, like many of his friends, family and fans, were stunned by his death, and paid him loving tribute in the weeks that followed.

Perry was open about discussing his struggles with addiction dating back to his time on “Friends.”

“I loved everything about the show but I was struggling with my addictions which only added to my sense of shame,” he wrote in his 2022 memoir. “I had a secret and no one could know.”

A woman whose name is redacted in the autopsy report told investigators that Perry had been in good spirits when she spoke to him a few days earlier, but had been taking testosterone shots which she said were making him “angry and mean.” She said he had quit smoking two weeks earlier.

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The woman said he had been receiving the ketamine infusions for his mental health, and that his doctor had been giving them to him less often because he had been feeling well.

Ketamine is a powerful anesthetic approved by U.S. health regulators for use during surgery, but in the past decade it has emerged as an experimental treatment for a range of psychiatric and hard-to-treat conditions, including depression, anxiety and chronic pain.

While not approved by regulators, doctors are free to prescribe drugs for these alternate uses if they think their patients could benefit, and hundreds of clinics across the U.S. offer ketamine infusions and other formulations for various health conditions.

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AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson in Washington state, Health Writer Matthew Perrone in Washington, D.C., and Ryan J. Foley in Iowa City, Iowa, contributed reporting.

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