Entertainment News Roundup: UB40 founding member Astro dies after short illness; Box Office: 'Eternals' Reigns Supreme With $71 Million Debut and more

Wilson, known by his stage name Astro, left the band in 2013 to perform with breakaway group "UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro". Box Office: 'Eternals' Reigns Supreme With $71 Million Debut "Eternals" soared to the top of the weekend box office chart, buoyed by mania for all things Marvel.

Following is a summary of current entertainment news briefs.

UB40 founding member Astro dies after short illness

One of the founding members of British reggae band UB40, Terence Wilson, has died after a short illness, his band has announced. Wilson, known by his stage name Astro, left the band in 2013 to perform with the breakaway group "UB40 featuring Ali Campbell and Astro".

Box Office: 'Eternals' Reigns Supreme With $71 Million Debut

"Eternals" soared to the top of the weekend box office chart, buoyed by the mania for all things Marvel. But its $71 million debuts fell just short of projections, which had the superhero film debuting to $75 million. That's a sign, perhaps, that the iffy reviews muted "Eternals'" results or a signal that the underlying intellectual property, the story of a group of god-like extraterrestrials, didn't have the resonance of other comic book adaptations. Marvel has successfully introduced lesser-known heroes, such as the Guardians of the Galaxy, to movie fans and spawned successful franchises with them, but that series got a lift from critics and also debuted in a time before anyone had ever heard of COVID. So, a much different world order. "Eternals" still managed to score the fourth-best opening weekend for any movie during the pandemic era, sliding in behind Marvel's own "Black Widow" ($80.3 million) and "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" ($75.3 million) as well as "Venom: Let There Be Carnage" ($90 million), which was made by Sony but based on a Marvel comic creation. It's an impressive number -- and any other studio or feature would be thrilled to have a launch of that size -- but for a Marvel venture, it's hard to not view it as falling short of sky-high expectations. Heavy the head that wears the box office crown and all that. Internationally, "Eternals" took in $90.7 million, bringing its global haul to $161.7 million.

It's 'Yesterday Once More' as Richard Carpenter recalls 1970s pop duo

More than 50 years after "We've Only Just Begun" and "Yesterday Once More," Richard Carpenter is looking back on the California soft pop duo with his sister Karen that ruled the charts but got a rough ride from music critics. Now he is telling the story his way for the first time in "Carpenters: The Musical Legacy," a book based on hundreds of hours of interviews Richard gave to authors Mike Cidoni Lennox and Chris May. Crammed with photos, posters, programs, reviews and work schedules, it is intended as the definitive story of the 1970s recording stars.

Probes launched, lawsuit filed in Houston rap festival stampede

At least two investigations and one civil lawsuit were underway on Sunday into the deadly stampede during rap star Travis Scott's Astroworld music festival that killed at least eight people and injured dozens in Houston. Two of the victims were teenagers, aged 14 and 16, caught in the crushing surge of the crowd as Scott continued to perform, completing his set even after noticing fans were receiving medical treatment. Scott, the headline act and a hometown star who founded the Astroworld festival in 2018, later said he was unaware of the severity of the situation.

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