Audiences not afraid of ‘Boogeyman’

Los Angeles — Movie-goers showed that they weren’t afraid of the “Boogeyman,” pushing the horror flick to the top of the weekend box office with a $19.5 million debut.

“Spider-Man” director Sam Raimi’s film about a man who tries to overcome his fear of what’s lurking in the closet by spending a night in his boyhood home beat romantic comedy “The Wedding Date,” which opened at No. 2 with $11 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Other estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.:

3. “Are We There Yet?”, $10.4 million.

4. “Hide and Seek,” $8.9 million.

5. “Million Dollar Baby,” $8.8 million.

6. “The Aviator,” $5.4 million.

7. “Meet the Fockers,” $5 million.

8. “Sideways,” $4.8 million.

9. “Racing Stripes,” $4.43 million.

10. “Coach Carter,” $4.4 million.

For young moms

High Point, N.C.– Reigning American Idol Fantasia Barrino said one song on her new CD, “Free Yourself,” is dedicated to young mothers who struggle to support themselves and their children, just as she does.

Her “Baby Mama” track has elicited some criticism as endorsing children out of wedlock, but Barrino, 20, said she wasn’t promoting teenage motherhood.

Barrino has a 3-year-old daughter named Zion. She said she wasn’t ashamed of being a teenage mother, but “if I could have waited, I would have.”

Young teens come up to her and tell her, “I’m a baby mama.”

“That’s cool,” she tells them, but then she asks, “What are you doing to try to better yourself?”

Dr. Laura’s son joining U.S. Special Forces

Santa Barbara, Calif.– Tough-talking radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s 19-year-old son will join the U.S. Special Forces later this year, an endeavor that could take him to the Middle East.

Schlessinger, famous for doling out conservative advice on her nationally syndicated call-in show, told about 300 people at a 425th Civil Affairs Battalion event on Saturday that she wasn’t too worried about her son, Deryk Bishop.

“I brought my son up to be a warrior,” she said. “I feel sorry for the mothers of the bad guys. And I just have a good feeling.”

Bishop, who enlisted last year, joined his mother on stage and told the audience including U.S. Army reservists that he resents how Americans criticize the war without recognizing the sacrifices soldiers make — a theme echoed by his mother.

“Real people were fighting, and I wanted to be part of that,” Bishop said.

A sensitive guy

Kent, Ohio — The macho hunter image of Ernest Hemingway is replaced by a picture of the author as a confident and happy man in one of his last manuscripts, to be published this fall.

Written while Hemingway was on safari in Kenya from late 1953 to early 1954, “Under Kilimanjaro” is lighter and more comedic than the author’s other work, said co-editor Robert Lewis, a Hemingway scholar at the University of North Dakota.

“Without this book, I think people would tend to stereotype Hemingway as they have in the past, as the macho man, the man of blood sports. … That man is completely absent from this book,” Lewis said. “It’s the work of a man, an author, who is confident in his person, happy in himself.”

The unabridged novel, published by Kent State University Press, is expected to be in bookstores in September. Excerpts have appeared in Sports Illustrated, and a version edited by Hemingway’s son was published under the title “True at First Light: A Fictional Memoir.”

Hemingway committed suicide in 1961.

Suge Knight arrested

Barstow, Calif.– Rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight was booked on suspicion of violating his parole after police found marijuana in his truck during a traffic stop in Barstow, Calif., authorities told The Associated Press Sunday.

Police said they searched Knight’s Ford pickup and found marijuana after pulling him over for making an unsafe U-turn. He was cited for not having insurance.

A woman in the vehicle, identified as Alexis Wilkenson, 18, of Las Vegas, allegedly had a fake ID and was arrested for investigation of providing false information to police.

Knight, 39, co-founder of the pioneering rap label Death Row Records, was released from prison in 2001 after serving time for assault and weapons violations. He recently served an additional 10-month prison sentence for violating his parole and striking a Hollywood nightclub valet.

Money isn’t everything

Oxford, Ohio — Filmmaker Spike Lee told college students that they should try to find a career that will make them happy, not necessarily one that will make them rich.

“Hopefully, you’ll be able to find a career path that you love and be able to make a living out of that,” Lee told about 1,000 Miami University students Thursday.

He urged students to use their college years to discover what they would enjoy doing during their lives.

“You do not want to be sitting 20 years from now when you dread waking up in the morning to go to a job that you hate,” Lee said.

Lee, who was born Shelton Lee in 1957, in Atlanta, has gained renown for edgy films that tackle issues of race, sexuality and urban living.

His credits include “School Daze,” “Do the Right Thing,” “Jungle Fever” and “Malcolm X.”

‘JAG’-lagged

David James Elliott is ending his “JAG” service after a decade, The Associated Press reports.

Elliott, who plays military attorney Cmdr. Harmon “Harm” Rabb Jr., will leave the CBS series when it concludes its 10th season in May, the network said Friday.

With his “JAG” deal ending this year, Elliott signed a series development deal with ABC and Touchstone Television.