PAT WELLENBACH / Associated Press
Walter Skold, on a mission to honor dead poets' work, reads a poem at a graveyard in Cundys Harbor, Maine.
Sideshow: A box-office hit for Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson's This Is It was the No. 1 Halloween thriller domestically with a $21.3 million opening weekend, according to studio estimates released yesterday. The movie 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.
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This Is It raised its domestic total to $32.5 million. It 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.
This Is It captures Jackson in rehearsals in the weeks before his death in June.
"They bet $60 million on this and got $101 million in just five days," said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. "It was a gamble and a bet that paid off."
Resurrecting dead poets
On the big screen, the leader of the Dead Poets Society at a boys' prep school was an inspirational teacher played by Robin Williams. In real life, it's a balding amateur poet who drives around in his "Poemobile," visiting the graves of dead poets and calling attention to their works.Walter Skold, founder of the Dead Poets Society of America, just finished visiting the graves of 150 poets in 23 states. Skold boasts that he set a literary land-speed record of 1.66 gpd (graves per day) over the course of his 15,000-mile journey.
While his graveside poetry readings - and occasional cemetery sleepovers - evoke the macabre, Skold insists his intentions are honorable.
"It's . . . a way to honor our literary forebears and to historically resurrect their works," Skold says. He visited the gravesites of such giants of the poetry world as Robert Frost, Walt Whitman, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Praising Madonna
Actor Ethan Hawke backed up Madonna on Saturday for her boldness in speaking out against discrimination against Gypsies.Hawke, in Romania to help promote his mother's charity supporting education for Gypsy children, placed the pop superstar alongside Bob Marley and John Lennon as part of a tradition of artists' speaking out against racism.
"She transcended being a pop star," Hawke told reporters. "She drew international attention and shone the spotlight on a level of racism and the need for greater education."
Rock-and-roll royalty
U2 brought three generations of chart-toppers with them onstage Friday - Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen, and the Black Eyed Peas - for another night of mix-and-match magic at Madison Square Garden. Metallica brought thunder to Lou Reed and Ray Davies. It was the second of two concerts to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the shows will be edited into an HBO special on Thanksgiving weekend.
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phillynews.com. This column contains information from Inquirer wire services.
