Entertainment on Parade

Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight vampire series has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and been translated into 37 different languages.

Think young women cannot propel a movie to box office success?  Think again!  Twilight, the vampire romance aimed at young girls based on the Stephenie Meyer novel, brought in a whopping $70.6 million for its opening on Friday and Saturday.

Based on exit polls, 75% of the audience watching Twilight this weekend was female.  With the success of Sex & the City, this now solidifies the fact that females can make or break a movie.  Polls also showed that a little over half of those ticket purchasers were under the age of 25.  A soundtrack to accompany the movie was released on November 4, 2008.  It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, selling 165,000 copies the first week.

Ashlee Simpson-Wentz’s first album “Autobiography” debuted at #1 in July 2004 and sold 398,000 copies the first week.

After what seems like a 3 year gestation period, Ashlee Simpson-Wentz has finally given birth to a son.  Ashlee and husband Pete Wentz welcomed 7 lb. 11 oz., 20 ½ inch son Bronx Mowgli last night at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

Ashlee announced her pregnant in May, only a few weeks after the two married.  Ashlee has said she wants more kids and Pete said he would like “a big soccer team or a band.”

(This image by Tyler Curtis is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License (cc-by-sa-2.0).

That’s all fine and dandy, but what is up with the name Bronx?  And, do you think the Ashlee and Pete realized their son’s initials are BMW?

Hugh Jackman was born the youngest of five children in Pymble, Sydney, New South Wales.

Australian hottie Hugh Jackman has been named as PEOPLE’s Sexiest Man Alive.  The 40 year old actor has appeared in a number of films including X-Men (as Wolverine), Kat & Leopold (for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe), Swordfish, Carousel (he sang!), Van Helsing (where he chased vampires), and The Prestige.  In between all those, Jackman starred on Broadway as Peter Allen in The Boys from Oz.  He won a Tony Award for that performance.  Serving as host of the Tony Awards in 2003, 2004, and 2005, Jackman won an Emmy in 2004 as Outstanding Individual Performer in a Variety, Musical, or Comedy. 

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After voicing a penguin in Happy Feet and a rat in Flushed Away, Jackman appeared briefly on television in Viva Laughlin.  He is set to star as Wolverine again next year and can currently be seen in Australia along side fellow country woman Nicole Kidman.

Michael Jackson was only 11 years old when he began performing with his brothers as part of the
Jackson 5.

Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa, a son of the king of Bahrain, has filed a lawsuit saying Michael Jackson owes him $7 million dollars for backing out of a deal for an album, an autobiography, and a stage play.  Jackson was supposed to appear in London this week to testify, but his lawyer claims that he is too ill. 

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Robert Englehart would like Jackson to testify by video link, stating that “It would be unwise for him to travel, given what he’s got now.”  What?  Has his nose completely fallen off his face now?  Englehart declined to go into detail “for obvious reasons.”  He did say that Jackson is innocent of the charges and that the $7 million advance was a gift.

Al Khalifa’s attorney says the evidence of illness presented is “very unsatisfactory.”  Nigel Sweeney, the judge in the case, said he would make a decision of whether Jackson could appear via video after consulting with medical experts for both legal teams.

Samantha Ronson is NOT happy about girlfriend Lindsay Lohan being pelted with flour by a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) member.  In her MySpace blog, Ronson said, “The girl who threw [the flour] acted like an animal herself.  I take that back, it’s an insult to animals to group her in with them, my dog is FAR more civilized than that person.  I think there are plenty of families that could have used that flour for a meal. Nice job, lady.”

(This photo has been released into the public domain by its copyright holder)

In case you missed is, Ms. Lohan was hit with flour as the couple arrived at the VIP Room Theater in Paris on Saturday.  Oh, by the way, Lohan was wearing a black fur stole, which must have set off the activist. 

It is curtains for the marriage between E! host Debbie Matenopoulos and music exec Jay Faires. Faires filed for divorce in a Los Angeles court yesterday, listing irreconcilable differences as the reason. In the papers, Faires requested that Matenopoulos not be granted spousal support. The couple married in July 2003, but separated in March 2008. The couple has no children together.

Matenopoulos, who hosts E!’s The Daily 10, released a statement saying she was “deeply saddened” by the divorce. She went on to say that Faires was “a man I truly believed I would be with forever” and that she does not “take marriage or family lightly.”