Spirit of Rush reborn
Together for 33 years, singer-bassist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson and drummer-lyricist Neil Peart are enjoying their most successful single in a decade, Far Cry, from the band's just-released studio album, Snakes & Arrows.
Meanwhile, ticket sales for the accompanying tour, which kicks off June 13 in Atlanta and hits Canada for a slew of dates in July and September, are up 35% from the last time Rush hit the road in 2004.
Lee said there were two key ingredients in making Rush sound fresh again: Recording the 2004 EP of '60s covers, Feedback, and recruiting Grammy-winning co-producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Velvet Underground) for Snakes & Arrows, which was recorded in the Catskills and mixed in L.A., where Peart has lived for the past six years.
"It felt fresh," said Lee, relaxing in a back room recently at Rush's management offices in Toronto.
"A couple of things happened. The way we recorded Feedback was so basic and so back to roots, you know the three of us just in a studio playing together, that made us realize how much more exciting recording should be, rather than computerizing the whole thing and belabouring it. And also, playing those songs from that period was a great way of reminding us about certain truths that existed about writing rock songs back then, that shouldn't have changed. But in our own way we got very dense about our songwriting, and that was a way of bringing us out of ourselves a little bit more and reminding us about some of the fundamentals that go into writing a great rock song."
Secondly, as you might imagine, when the trio, which has sold 35 million albums worldwide, sets out to make a studio album --- the most-recent being Vapor Trails in 2002 --- there are many willing participants. Lee said finding the right one is key.
"We were talking to a number of producers and they were all very accomplished but we remained unsure. And then (Nick's) name was put forth, so we asked for a reel to be sent to us, and his reel was really good. It was well recorded. All the songs were well-written songs and really well-arranged songs, which is a rarity. You'd be surprised how many producer's reels have bad songs on them and let me tell ya, if you hear a bad song on a producer's reel, it's not a good sign."
Raskulinecz was then summoned to Lee's house in Toronto for a first meeting.
"Alex and I were working at my house at that time and we just sat down with him and within an hour we were totally enamoured with him," said Lee. "And we played him a couple of songs and he really responded and made some insightful comments right off the bat and we just had a feeling that this was a good thing to be around."
Raskulinecz then went to meet Peart in L.A., and the drummer, whose lyrical explorations of religion and war on Snakes & Arrows was partially inspired by his motorcycle trips across America's Bible Belt, came away with the same good feeling.
It was only when they got Raskulinecz into Allaire Studios that they realized what a big Rush fan he really was.
"He was a very stealth fan, I didn't really know he was that big a fan when we met him," said Lee. "He kept it quiet. He was very professional. And slowly as we got working together, it started to seep out. And the engineer we worked with Canadian Rich Chickie, also knew a lot more about our music than he initially led me to believe. So throughout the making of the record there was this little relationship they were having, little obscurities, like certain lyrics would be quoted out of the blue, and they'd be riffing on our songs from the past that I couldn't even remember. And I'm going, 'What's that from?' And they'd go, 'That's from one your songs, dude!' You couldn't help but smile because they very sweet."
As for Peart, who lost his wife to cancer and 19-year-old daughter in a car accident in a 10-month period in the late '90s, Lee said it was good to see him laugh again in the recording studio.
"He's doing great," said Lee of Peart. "I mean, what he's gone through in his personal life, I don't think it's something that ever really heals, but you move on. I think having the environment we had in this studio session and working with Nick and Rich, just created the most pleasurable recording experience in many, many, many years. And I think that showed us all, and particularly (Neil), how much fun it is to make a record. To be in a rock band. There are many, many aspects of what we do that are work, job-like, and there's a lot of pressure involved in it.
"(But) the appeal that rock music had to us as kids, it made us want to do this. And it's important to remember that because your music needs it to really be 'rock.' There's got to be fun in it. There's got to be that spirit. It was great to see everybody in that headspace again."
Practice makes perfect
When Rush launches its first tour since 2004 on June 13 in Atlanta, the band will be ready.
The veteran prog-rock trio from Toronto is as meticulous about gearing up for the road as it is about making albums --- in this case the just-released Snakes & Arrows.
"This time we're rehearsing in Toronto," Rush singer-bassist Geddy Lee told Sun Media recently.
"Rehearsal kind of takes three different stages. We do a couple of weeks of rehearsing on our own so that we can know all our notes and get them all in right order. Then we do four weeks of rehearsal as a band in a small hall. That's where we fine-tune the music. Then we spend two weeks in an arena with the full production while everybody tweaks the audio-visual. At the end of that, the show's ready for public consumption."
Adding to Lee's already hectic work schedule is the June wedding of his 26-year-old son. Julian, a mere four days before Rush hits the road.
"I have to be around," said Lee of why the band eventually will be rehearsing at a Toronto arena. "We're cutting it close."
As for whether Lee will be bringing new appliances on this trek -- for their 30th anniversary road trip he had both clothes dryers and vending machines on stage -- he's definitely mulling over his options.
"That's a hard decision," he said. "Listen, if a guitar player can have a bank of amps that he doesn't really need, I can have a bank of things that I don't really need. It's a comment. People ask and you always have fun with it, 'Well, you know, we want that warm, dry sound.' I don't think I'm bringing dryers on this trip. I have a few ideas I'm working on right now."
'Amazing Race' host seeking Canadian contestants for his new CBC reality show
TORONTO (CP) - Fans of "The Amazing Race," the award-winning travel-themed reality show, are accustomed to seeing a stern Phil Keoghan waiting at the end of every race to tell each team whether they've made it to the next round.
And now Canadians aspiring to compete on his new reality show, "No Opportunity Wasted," can meet Keoghan face-to-face to try to convince him they've got what it takes to be contestants on the show.
Keoghan arrives in Canada this week to interview potential participants on "NOW," as he calls it, a half-hour show that gives people the opportunity to complete a 72-hour, life-changing challenge that involves either conquering a lifelong fear or doing something to benefit others.
Based on his bestselling book of the same name, "NOW" has already had runs on U.S and New Zealand television. And now Keoghan, a native New Zealander who lived in Guelph, Ont., for four years as a child, is bringing the show to Canada where it will air on CBC-TV in October.
"It's exciting to be able to do it in Canada just because the psyche of Canadians is such that they're really going to get this," Keoghan said in a recent phone interview from Los Angeles. "Canadians love underdogs, they love people who are taking on the impossible and trying to better themselves."
As a New Zealander, Keoghan says he feels a real affinity for Canadians.
"I think the reason that New Zealanders and Canadians really connect is because Canadians are to Americans what New Zealanders are to Australians. There's this little brother mentality that makes us fighters, and we don't like to be told we can't do something - we just like to head out there and do it."
Starting in St. John's on Tuesday, Keoghan will make stops in cities across Canada for eight days, ending up in Vancouver on May 16.
"I am flying across the country to meet people in person," said Keoghan, who's also the executive producer of "The Amazing Race." "This is how I've always done it and I really believe this is the best way to do it, to meet people face to face."
In each 30-minute episode, two challengers who don't know they've been chosen will be surprised by Keoghan and asked to take on a "NOW" challenge. The show clears their schedules with bosses, families and friends.
Then the two challengers, total strangers with a common goal, work to complete a series of time targets to complete their challenge.
Keoghan says he's proud to be making reality television that has some meaning and substance.
He was inspired to follow a more motivational career path, he says, when he almost drowned in a scuba diving accident at the age of 19. The near-death experience prompted him to make a list of all the things he wanted to do in life before he died.
"It was a real wake-up call to follow my life list - it was a real motivator," Keoghan recalls. "In the beginning, at 19 years old, it was a very selfish list; it was everything that I wanted to do for me. Over a period of time following that list and turning that into a career, with maturity came the awareness that it wasn't all just about me.
"Now what I want to do is try to help people, and I've seen 'NOW' help people. I get these e-mails from people telling me how it's changed their life, and that's huge."
It's not always easy, Keoghan admits, to get television executives to see the benefit in making reality shows that don't humiliate people.
"I call them train wreck shows, and it's much easier to sell them because they can be huge; they get huge ratings. But after people have driven by those train wrecks and watched them for a while, they want something else."
"The Amazing Race," Keoghan says, is an example of a reality show that offers a bit more substance as viewers take in cultures and countries they might never see in their lives. "NOW," too, he says, offers something more.
"The biggest challenge in television, as a program-maker, is trying to make something that has some take-away, that actually gives the audience and the people who are on the show more than is taken from them to make a show," he says.
"Any show that you make, there is a certain amount of exploitation that takes place with people who are in front of the camera; you take something from them to create entertainment. And sometimes the balance is so out of whack that these people walk away from these shows in a terrible situation where they're demoralized ... I'm not judging it, but that's not real - ly what I want to make."
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(CP) - Phil Keoghan, host of "The Amazing Race," is in Canada for a week starting Tuesday to interview would-be contestants for his new reality show, "No Opportunity Wasted," and to sign copies of his bestselling book of the same name.
A list of stops on his tour of Canada:
St. John's, N.L.: Tuesday, May 8, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., Chapters, 70 Kenmount Road
Dartmouth, N.S.: Tuesday, May 8, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Chapters, 41 Mic Mac Boulevard
Montreal: Wednesday, May 9, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Indigo, 1,500 McGill College Avenue
Toronto: Saturday, May 12, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., Indigo, 55 Bloor Street West
Winnipeg: Sunday, May 13, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., Chapters, 1,225 St. Mary's Street
Regina: Monday, May 14, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Chapters, 2625 Gordon Road
Calgary: Tuesday, May 15, 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., Chapters, 9631 MacLeod Trail SW
Vancouver: Wednesday, May 16, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Chapters, 788 Robson Street
U2 Brings PopMart To DVD In June
U2 will on June 26 offer up the first DVD release of the 1998 home video "PopMart Live From Mexico City," which was taped at the city's Foro Sol Autodromo on Dec. 3, 1997.
The Island Records/Interscope/UMe project was originally filmed on analog video but has been transferred to digital and optically enhanced for the new version. The audio has also been remastered and mixed in 5.1 Surround Sound.
In addition to a single-DVD set, "PopMart" will be available in a special limited edition with a second disc featuring unreleased material. Among them are four live audio tracks recorded in Rotterdam, Holland, and three others taped in Edmonton, Alberta, plus alternate videos for "Staring at the Sun" and "Last Night on Earth," four tour documentaries and a stage visuals montage.
U2 is at work writing material for its next studio album, the follow-up to 2004's "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." No release date has been set for the effort.
Here is the track list for "PopMart Live From Mexico City":
"Pop Muzik"
"Mofo"
"I Will Follow"
"Gone"
"Even Better Than the Real Thing"
"Last Night on Earth"
"Until The End of The World"
"New Year's Day"
"Pride (In the Name of Love)"
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"
"All I Want Is You"
"Desire"
"Staring at the Sun"
"Sunday Bloody Sunday"
"Bullet the Blue Sky"
"Please"
"Where the Streets Have No Name"
"Lemon (Perfecto Mix)"
"Discothèque"
"If You Wear That Velvet Dress"
"With or Without You"
"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me"
"Mysterious Ways"
"One"
"Wake Up Dead Man"
Apple, labels focus on copy protection
LOS ANGELES - The last time Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs took on major recording companies, he refused to budge on his 99-cent price for a song on iTunes.
As a new round of talks ramp up this month, however, Jobs has opened the door to higher prices — as long as music companies let Apple Inc. sell their songs without technology designed to stop unauthorized copying.
Jobs contends that would "tear down the walls" by allowing consumers to play music they buy at Apple's iTunes store on any digital music player, not just the company's iPods.
Although most of the major labels insist that safeguards are still needed to stave off online piracy and make other digital music business models work, one company has already struck a deal with Apple.
Last month, Britain's EMI Music Group PLC, home to artists such as Coldplay, Norah Jones and Joss Stone, agreed to let iTunes sell tracks without the copy-protection technology known as digital-rights management. The DRM-free tracks cost 30 cents more than copy-restricted versions of EMI songs and feature enhanced sound quality.
The other major labels — Warner Music Group Corp., Vivendi's Universal Music Group, and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG — will be watching closely to see how the unrestricted EMI tracks sell.
"At this point, no one can ignore Apple or what Apple wants, given its position in the marketplace," said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Jupiter Research. "The fact that they were able to do this deal with EMI puts more pressure on some of the other labels to follow suit."
For their part, at least two of the recording companies will ask Jobs to sell a wider variety of content in digital bundles of songs, videos and other multimedia, according to two recording company executives familiar with their companies' plans. They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the confidential nature of the negotiations.
Apple already sells some bundled tracks, but the music companies hope expanding those offerings will boost online revenue and help offset lagging CD sales.
Apple and the recording companies declined official comment on their negotiations.
Four years ago, the majors bought into Jobs' one-price-fits-all vision and agreed to such licensing terms at a time when online music services were failing to attract significant interest from music fans.
Since then, the popularity of Apple's iPods has swelled and the sleek devices now dominate more than 70 percent of the digital music player market, by some estimates.
While studies have suggested that only a fraction of the music on most iPods is actually purchased on iTunes, the service has ridden the iPod's coattails and helped cement its position as the top-selling online music service and one of the biggest music retailers overall.
That's given Apple considerable leverage in its dealings with the recording industry.
Last year, the main issue that dominated iTunes licensing talks was pricing, as some of the big music companies urged Jobs to entertain charging more for some songs than others.
The dispute percolated for months, but Jobs didn't budge, not wanting to complicate iTunes' simple pricing scheme for singles.
Eventually, the music companies each agreed to one-year deals, which expire this spring.
Now, Apple is facing pressure in Europe to license its brand of DRM technology to rivals so consumers can play the music they buy on iTunes on any digital music player, not just iPods.
Critics of the recording industry have argued for years that the labels are alienating customers by placing copy restrictions on legal music downloads, especially as many CDs have been sold without them.
The technology behind such measures differs, depending on the retailer and the music device. Apple, for example, has its own version, called FairPlay, that only works with iPods, making it cumbersome for consumers to transfer songs from iTunes across other portable digital devices. Likewise, DRM systems used at other online stores won't work with iPods.
Many music fans who don't want to deal with the hassle simply turn to online file-sharing networks to download no-strings tracks for free.
The recording industry has argued that copy protection software itself is not what makes some songs incompatible with some digital players, but the fact that there are different versions of the technology in use. The music companies have called on Jobs to license FairPlay to makers of rival devices.
Jobs has countered that the best way to get rid of technological barriers is for record labels to strip the copy safeguards from their music. He defends keeping FairPlay closed, saying that if it was widely available, it would become easier for hackers to figure out how to bypass it.
No matter what, Apple plans to continue selling standard, copy-restricted versions of songs for 99 cents each. With the EMI deal, Apple will this month start selling $1.29 premium tracks that are not only DRM-free but also of higher quality, compressed at twice the usual bit rate.
John Heard, an iTunes user in Santa Monica, said he would jump at the chance to buy no-strings downloads, even if it costs more.
"If I have the choice between something that doesn't have copy protection or it does, I'm always going to choose the thing that doesn't have copy protection," said Heard, 28, a television producer who spends about $300 a year on music, almost all on iTunes.
Buying a better-sounding track is appealing to David Sholle, 54, of Long Beach, a college professor who has purchased several hundred songs from iTunes.
"I'd be willing to pay for that," he said.
Anticipating a more competitive market, other companies are looking to break into online music sales. Online retailer Amazon.com Inc. first approached the major recording companies 18 months ago about launching an online music store.
A recent meeting prompted speculation that Amazon might begin selling unrestricted MP3s and other music downloads as early as this month. The company has declined to comment.
David Pakman, president and CEO of eMusic.com Inc., said the elimination of copy protection could help his company mine the rare, catalog recordings owned by major labels but not typically available on iTunes.
EMusic already sells music from independent labels in the MP3 format and boasts some 300,000 subscribers.
Pakman believes the major record labels will also eventually relent on requiring copy restrictions.
"We really think the market is breaking our way," Pakman said. "A noteworthy major will probably take some steps in this direction later this year."
Clemens signs deal to return to Yankees
NEW YORK - The seventh-inning stretch was ending when the low, familiar voice of public-address announcer Bob Sheppard told fans at Yankee Stadium to direct their attention to the owner's box behind home plate. Standing there, microphone in hand, was Roger Clemens to personally announce his return to New York.
"Well, they came and got me out of Texas and I can tell you it's a privilege to be back," he said. "I'll be talking to y'all soon."
With his brief address, shown on the right-center field videoboard to 52,553 fans and many more watching on television, the Rocket rejoined the Yankees in most dramatic fashion.
He agreed to a $28 million, one-year contract that will start when he is added to the major league roster for his first start, most likely in three to four weeks. Clemens will earn about $18.5 million under the deal, which will cost the Yankees approximately $7.4 million in additional luxury tax, meaning they are investing about $26 million in a seven-time Cy Young Award winner who will turn 45 in August.
"Roger Clemens is a winner and a champion, and he is someone who can be counted on to help make this season one that all Yankees fans can be proud of," owner George Steinbrenner said in a statement. "The sole mission of this organization is to win a world championship."
Clemens helped the Yankees win World Series titles in 1999 and 2000, then left after the 2003 season intending to retire. But when Andy Pettitte signed with the Houston Astros, Clemens also joined their hometown team.
The Rocket retired again after the 2004 and 2005 seasons, only to re-sign the Astros both times. Pettitte changed the dynamic when he rejoined New York this season.
Clemens had limited his field to the Yankees, Astros and Boston Red Sox, his original team. But when Clemens' agent, Randy Hendricks, spoke to the Astros and Red Sox in recent days, they said they'd prefer he join up with them in late June or early July. The Yankees, according to Hendricks, said: "We'd like you yesterday."
"Make no mistake about it, I've come back to do what they only know how to do here with the Yankees, and that's win a championship," Clemens said. "Anything else is a failure, and I know that."
Yankees manager Joe Torre had known for a couple of days that a deal was in the works. Talks intensified Thursday, with general manager Brian Cashman negotiating by Blackberry with Hendricks, who was at Fenway Park. Hendricks called Clemens on Friday, when the pitcher was in Austin, Texas, and a deal was approved by New York during a Friday late-afternoon conference call with Steinbrenner, Cashman, team president Randy Levine and Steinbrenner's two sons.
Clemens got up in Houston at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday and flew up to New York. He arrived at LaGuardia Airport at about 1 p.m., changed at a Manhattan hotel and arrived at the ballpark in the sixth inning. He wore a Yankees cap and one of his Yankees World Series rings during a postgame news conference, but wasn't sure which one.
"It's nice to have a choice," he said.
After Clemens addressed the crowd, fans started chanting his name in waves, as more and more realized he had returned.
"It feels like coming back home," Clemens said. "You feel like you're welcomed and you know what it's all about."
He begins with a minor league contract, and will start his workouts in Lexington, Ky., where his son Koby is playing in the Houston Astros' farm system. He hopes to start pitching in minor league games in about two weeks.
Clemens didn't even have a chance to tell Pettitte or other friends about the deal in advance.
"I'm not looking forward to the phone call or seeing Andy here shortly. He's going to be mad at me," Clemens said.
Clemens is eighth on the career wins list with 348 and second in strikeouts with 4,604. He was 7-6 with a 2.30 ERA last season for Houston.
"The only time I'll be disappointed is if my body breaks down, and I'm going to put the work and the time in to hopefully not allow that to happen," he said. "I expect to perform like I was 25, that's my expectations. Anything short of that would be a disappointment."
The Yankees, 14-15 and 5 1/2 games behind AL East-leading Boston, have seen so many pitchers get hurt that they are set to become on Monday the first team in major league history to use 10 starters in its first 30 games. The Yankees tried to persuade Clemens to join them when he visited their spring training camp on March 7.
"Make no mistake about it, the Yankees were in both of my ears the whole time," Clemens said. "And that was well before they even had the problems that they've had on the mound."
Clemens will have the same travel privileges he had with Houston last year, when he sometimes skipped road trips if he wasn't scheduled to pitch, spending time at home with his family and working with Astros minor leaguers. Torre discussed the arrangement with his veteran players before the Yankees agreed.
"If he'd like, I'd carry his bags out to the car," Jason Giambi joked.
Red Sox players were saddened to lose out on Clemens, but being in first place cushioned the blow.
"It would have been nice to have him, but we didn't need him," Curt Schilling said. "I feel like we were a legitimate World Series contender without him."
Houston catcher Brad Ausmus was disappointed.
"I would much rather have Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens on this team with us," he said. "They're big-game winning pitchers. I loved playing with them."
Clemens, despite annual retirement announcements, shows few signs of slowing down. He joked when a question was asked about the length of the contract.
"That's what I'd like to know," he said. "I think I can go right into senior softball."
Spidey shatters records with $148M
LOS ANGELES - Spider-Man caught just about everyone in his web. The superhero's latest adventure, "Spider-Man 3," smashed box-office records with $148 million in its first three days, according to studio estimates Sunday.
That put it ahead of the previous record debut of $135.6 million set last summer by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."
With $59.3 million on opening day Friday, Sony's "Spider-Man 3" broke the single-day box-office record, also held by "Dead Man's Chest" with $55.8 million in its first day.
Since it began rolling out overseas on Tuesday, "Spider-Man 3" has taken in $227 million in foreign markets, bringing the film's worldwide total to $375 million. In just days, the movie has grossed $117 million more than its whopping $258 million production budget.
In just two days, it also nearly matched the $114.8 million opening weekend of 2002's "Spider-Man," which had held the debut record until "Dead Man's Chest" opened.
"Spider-Man 3" reunites director Sam Raimi, who also made the previous two installments, and stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst.
"Sam Raimi is a genius," said Amy Pascal, Sony Pictures co-chairman. "I could have never envisioned this. What I was hoping was we would just break the `Spider-Man 1' record. This is beyond my wildest dream."
The overall box office soared from "Spider-Man 3," with the top-12 movies taking in $176.6 million, up 77 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when "Mission: Impossible III" opened with $47.7 million.
"Spider-Man 3" outdid that movie by $100 million and grossed more in each of its first two days than "Mission: Impossible III" did over the full weekend.
Also among the records smashed by "Spider-Man 3" was a $4.8 million domestic gross at huge-screen IMAX theaters, topping the previous best of $3.6 million set by "300" in March.
Playing in a record 4,252 locations domestically, "Spider-Man 3" averaged a whopping $34,807 a theater.
Domestically, "Spider-Man 3" could enter its second weekend Friday with $200 million already in the bank. The film has the market largely to itself for the next week and a half, with no major competition arriving until DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" arrives May 18.
With "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and an onslaught of other potential blockbusters following, studio executives predict this could be a record summer for modern Hollywood.
"Spider-Man 3" packed in enormous crowds that were captive audiences viewing trailers for those upcoming flicks.
"If you could imagine the best kickoff to what could be the biggest summer of all time, this is the scenario," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "This will have a ripple effect on audiences exposed to the marketing for all the other summer films."
The gap between "Spider-Man 3" and the No. 2 movie — DreamWorks and Paramount's "Disturbia" at $5.7 million — was larger than any other movie's debut. "Disturbia," which had been No. 1 for three-straight weekends, raised its total to $59.9 million.
The weekend's only other new wide release, the romantic drama "Lucky You" from Warner Bros., bombed with $2.5 million to come in at No. 6.
Directed by Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential"), "Lucky You" stars Drew Barrymore as a budding Las Vegas singer, Eric Bana as skilled gambler and Robert Duvall as his estranged father in a tale set against the World Series of Poker.
Two critically acclaimed films opened well in limited release.
Fox Searchlight's "Waitress," starring Keri Russell as a small-town woman whose flavorful pies are named after the hard knocks in her messy personal life, debuted with $91,470 in four theaters. "Waitress" was written and directed by co-star Adrienne Shelly, who was slain in her Manhattan apartment last fall.
Lionsgate's "Away From Her," the directing debut of actress Sarah Polley, premiered with $56,000 in four theaters. "Away From Her" stars Julie Christie as a woman losing her memory from Alzheimer's and Gordon Pinsent as the devoted husband agonizing over her loss.
Both films expand to more theaters throughout May.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Spider-Man 3," $148 million.
2. "Disturbia," $5.7 million.
3. "Fracture," $3.4 million.
4. "The Invisible," $3.1 million.
5. "Next," $2.8 million.
6. "Lucky You," $2.5 million.
7. "Meet the Robinsons," $2.46 million.
8. "Blades of Glory," $2.3 million.
9. "Hot Fuzz," $2.1 million.
10. "Are We Done Yet?", $1.7 million.