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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Word of mouth might be kryptonite for "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," which fell a steep 68 percent in its second weekend in theaters according to comScore estimates Sunday. The superhero pic earned an estimated $52.4 million over the weekend, easily besting the modest new openers like "God's Not Dead 2" and "Meet the Blacks."
The Zack Snyder movie cost a reported $250 million to produce and around $150 million to market, and has earned an estimated $261.5 million to date.
It's a critical launching point for a series of interconnected movies in the DC Comics Universe from Warner Bros. that will include this year's "Suicide Squad" and next year's "Wonder Woman" and two "Justice League" movies, which is why its early performance — and hold — are being so intensely scrutinized.
Superhero movies tend to be frontloaded with fans, and a near 60 percent fall is not uncommon for major blockbusters in weekend two.
"Sometimes the bigger they are the harder they fall," said Paul Dergarabedian, comScore's senior media analyst. "This is often what happens when you have films that rank in the top 10 debuts of all time."
Snyder's "Man of Steel," for instance, fell 64.6 percent in its second weekend, and even "The Dark Knight Rises" dropped a hefty 61.4 percent. Things aren't terribly different in the Marvel universe either. Disney's "Avengers: Age of Ultron" tumbled 59.4 percent and Fox's "X-Men: Days of Future Past" plunged 64.2 percent.
Also, the first week "Batman v Superman" haul included the $27.7 million from Thursday night preview showings, whereas the second weekend sum does not account for those. The Friday of Easter weekend is also a holiday for many, making a straight comparison not entirely equitable.
Still, 68 percent is on the steeper side for a second week fall. Last year's much derided "Fantastic Four" reboot fell 68.2 percent and the divisive "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" dropped 69 percent in 2009.
In weekend one many wondered whether the poor reviews would kill the film out of the gates, but it ended up earning $166 million regardless.
"This has been a poster child in illustrating the disconnect between critics and audience," Dergarabedian said.
The second weekend, however, is where word of mouth starts to come into play, and on the fence audiences must decide whether or not it's worth their time and money.
But, the near future still looks promising for "Batman v Superman," which has the skies to itself for the next week until Disney's "The Jungle Book" opens on April 15.
The weekend overall is down significantly from last year, which saw the massive opening of "Furious 7."
Disney's "Zootopia" held on to second place with a robust $20 million, bringing its domestic total to $275.9 million. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2" took third in its second week with $11.1 million.
Rounding out the top five were two faith-based films, Pure Flix's "God's Not Dead 2," which opened in fourth with $8.1 million, and "Miracles From Heaven," which took in $7.6 million in its third weekend, bringing its total to $46.8 million. "God's Not Dead 2" did not do as well as the first movie, which opened to $9.2 million on about half as many screens, but, Dergarabedian notes that it is "still a winner as these films cost very little to make."
Freestyle Releasing's "The Purge" parody, "Meet the Blacks," meanwhile earned only $4.1 million for an eighth place debut.
Limited release openings like Richard Linklater's college baseball comedy "Everybody Wants Some!!" did well bringing in $323,000 from 19 theaters, while Don Cheadle's Miles Davis biopic "Miles Ahead" launched in four theaters to $122,751.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1."Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," $52.4 million.
2."Zootopia," $20 million.
3."My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2," $11.1 million.
4."God's Not Dead 2," $8.1 million.
5."Miracles From Heaven," $7.6 million.
6."The Divergent Series: Allegiant," $5.7 million.
7."10 Cloverfield Lane," $4.8 million.
8."Meet the Blacks," $4.1 million.
9."Eye in the Sky," $4.1 million.
10."Deadpool," $3.5 million.
CHICAGO (AP) — Heart failure patients with clogged arteries have a better chance of surviving 10 years if they get bypass surgery plus medicine rather than just drugs alone, according to an international study.
Earlier results from the same research raised questions about the benefits of bypass versus medicine alone, but researchers say the long-term evidence clearly favors the surgery.
The lead author of the study, Duke University cardiologist Dr. Eric Velazquez, said the results "are so definitive and so robust" that they would likely to lead to stronger recommendations favoring bypass surgery for these patients.
Nearly 6 million Americans and 23 million people worldwide have heart failure, and many of them also have artery disease similar to those studied. In recent years, bypass surgery has increasingly been recommended for such patients, along with medicines to ease heart failure symptoms.
Concerns were raised when results after nearly five years of research showed about equal number of deaths in bypass patients and in those who got only medicine, despite fewer heart-related deaths in the bypass group. Those findings were published in 2011.
The 10-year results were published online Sunday in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented at an American College of Cardiology meeting in Chicago.
The study involved 1,200 heart failure patients in 22 countries, including the United States. Most were men around age 60 when the study began. All were taking heart medicines, and about half were assigned to also get bypass surgery.
More than half the patients in each group lived beyond the study's first phase. The 10-year results are a look back at all patients studied.
A total of 359 bypass patients died from any cause, or about 59 percent, compared with 398 medicine-only patients who died, or 66 percent.
Deaths from heart disease-related causes totaled 247 in the bypass group, or 41 percent, versus 297 medicine-only patients, or 49 percent.
A journal editorial published with the study says the latest results "solidly support" strengthening treatment guidelines to say that bypass surgery is "probably beneficial" for these patients.
The long-term results "are very encouraging" and confirm what many doctors believed about potential benefits of bypass for these patients, said Dr. Ted Feldman, a cardiologist at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, Illinois. Feldman was not involved in the study.
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute paid for the study.
Jason Aldean beat Luke Bryan and Miranda Lambert for entertainer of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards — a first for the singer after earning nominations for the top prize over the years, while Chris Stapleton cleaned house in other categories.
Aldean also won over Garth Brooks and Eric Church on Sunday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
"I was just starting to think this one wasn't in the cards for me," Aldean said onstage near the end of the three-hour show, which aired on CBS. "This is one of the best nights of my professional career."
Stapleton had an even better night. It was a repeat of the recent Grammy Awards and last year's Country Music Association Awards. Stapleton took home six awards, including album, song, male vocalist and new male vocalist of the year (he won twice for album and song of the year as the artist and songwriter-producer).
Stapleton also shined with an impressive performance of the song, "Fire Away." His special guest this time wasn't Justin Timberlake, but his wife, Morgane, who sang next to her all-star hubby.
The critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter was humbled and shocked as he won the most awards of the night.
"You got to be kidding me. I thought for sure we were going to be girl-crushed on this one," Stapleton said onstage after winning song of the year for "Nobody to Blame" and beating Little Big Town's mega-hit "Girl Crush."
Other top moments from the show included Dolly Parton partnering with Katy Perry for "Coat of Many Colors" and "Jolene."
"Y'all finally got me in a pair of boots," Perry said onstage, sporting a bright pink and yellow country-flavored get-up. Parton wore a 2016 sparkly version of the famous coat she said "represents a very special time in my life" and was part of last year's NBC TV-movie about her childhood, "Dolly Parton's Coat of Many Colors." She won the Tex Ritter Award for films that honor country music.
Eric Church also had a special moment when he paid tribute to rock icons like David Bowie, The Eagles' Glenn Frey, Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead and former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland. Bryan introduced Church and said the performer was a big fan of vinyl records and was set to pay tribute to "four of his musical heroes." Church performed the track, "Record Year," and intertwined the late performers' songs into his performance.
Tim McGraw's performance was also a highlight: As he sang "Humble & Kind," a diverse group of people joined him onstage, from children to adults of every race. Some even dressed in clothes representing their backgrounds, and others wore clothes representing their occupation.
Other performers include Lambert with ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons and Keith Urban, Sam Hunt, Kenny Chesney, Little Big Town with Trombone Shorty and Kelsea Ballerini, who sang with pop singer Nick Jonas.
Carrie Underwood earned loud applause after singing "Church Bells." She was nominated for female vocalist of the year, but lost to Miranda Lambert, who won the honor for record-setting seventh time.
"I love to see here tonight a bunch of new country girls up here shining and singing their great songs that they wrote themselves," said Lambert, who also won vocal event of the year for "Smokin' and Drinkin'" with Little Big Town. "I'm really excited for women in country music, and I'm glad to be here as one of them."
Lambert was referring to breakthrough singers like Ballerini, who won new female vocalist of the year, and Cam, who was nominated for six awards and sang her Grammy-nominated hit, "Burning House," at the ACMs. They represent a small number of women who performed Sunday. In typical fashion of the last few years — at country awards shows and country radio — the night was dominated by the men.
Other winners included Little Big Town, Florida Georgia Line, Church, Old Dominion and Thomas Rhett, who took home single record of the year for "Die a Happy Man."
Blake Shelton, who didn't host this year's ACMs like usual with Bryan, joined his former co-host to open the show with a performance, taking the spot of new co-host Dierks Bentley.
Bentley was waiting backstage to jump into the performance before Shelton took his microphone to perform "Huntin', Fishin' and Lovin' Every Day" with Bryan. "The Voice" coach followed the collaborative performance with his own, of his recent single "Came Here to Forget."
After the performance, the hosts told a string of jokes, including one about country singers in the audience taking credit for the breakthrough career of leading nominee Chris Stapleton, who has written hits for dozens of country stars.
Stapleton's six of seven wins ties him with Brooks and Faith Hill for most wins in a night at the ACMs.
Presenters on Sunday included Kiefer Sutherland, who is working on a country album; British actor Tom Hiddleston, who portrays Hank Williams in biopic, "I Saw the Light"; Miss America Betty Cantrell; and singers Kacey Musgraves, Darius Rucker, Martina McBride and Jake Owen.