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American investor Warren Buffett, 94, will remain as chairman of Berkshire Hathaway’s board of directors once he steps down as chief executive at the end of this year, the conglomerate announced Monday.Following a vote at the Berkshire Hathaway board of directors over the weekend, Buffett will step down as chief executive of the world’s 8th-largest company by market capitalization on January 1, 2026, and hand over the reins to the group’s current vice-chairman, Greg Abel. The vote, which was proposed by Buffett, will bring to and end the revered investor’s more than half-a-century running the group, which he turned into a financial behemoth. “The time has arrived where Greg (Abel) should become the chief executive officer of the company at year end,” Buffett, 94, told an annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, the city in the Midwestern state of Nebraska where Berkshire is based. Abel, 62, had been nominated to succeed Buffett in 2021. The Board of Directors voted unanimously on Sunday to appoint him to his new position, according to a statement from the group published Monday.Berkshire Hathaway, a former small textile company, has grown over the years into a gigantic conglomerate under Buffett’s leadership, and is now worth over $1 trillion on Wall Street — a first for an American group outside the tech sector.Warren Buffett preferred to invest for the long term in stable companies whose accounts he had closely scrutinized, enabling him to build up the world’s fifth-largest fortune over the decades. Today, his conglomerate owns dozens of businesses, from Duracell batteries to US insurer Geico, and shares in carefully selected companies, from Coca-Cola to Bank of America. Shortly before financial markets opened on Wall Street, Berkshire Hathaway’s shares were down around 3.2 percent in pre-market.

All 133 Catholic cardinals who will vote for a new pope have arrived in Rome, the Vatican said on Monday, two days before they gather at a conclave to elect the next head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.Hailing from 70 countries across five continents, the group — summoned following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 — is the largest and the most international ever.At stake is the direction of the Catholic Church, a 2,000-year-old institution with huge global influence but which is battling to adapt to the modern world and recover its reputation after the scandal of widespread child sex abuse by priests.The 133 so-called “Princes of the Church” who will vote — all those aged under 80, minus two who are absent for health reasons — will gather on Wednesday afternoon under the frescoed splendour of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican.Voting once that day and four times a day thereafter until a pope is chosen, they will stay at the nearby Santa Marta guesthouse but are forbidden from contacting the outside world until they have made their choice.They will inform the waiting world of their progress by burning their ballots and sending up smoke — black if no candidate has reached the two-thirds majority of votes, or white if they have a winner.On Monday morning, technicians installed red curtains on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, where the new pontiff will make his first appearance.At issue is whether the new pontiff will follow the popular Argentine pontiff’s progressive line or whether the Holy See will pivot towards a more conservative traditionalist leader. Francis, an energetic reformer from Buenos Aires, ran the Church for 12 years and appointed 80 percent of the current cardinal electors.But experts caution they may not choose someone in his model, with many warning there could be surprises.Vatican affairs specialist Marco Politi told AFP that, given the unknowns, the conclave could be “the most spectacular in 50 years”.  – ‘Calm the waters’ -Cardinals met on Monday morning for the latest in a series of preparatory meetings, so-called general congregations, and will gather again in the afternoon.All cardinals are invited to these, not just those eligible to vote in the conclave, taking the opportunity to discuss the issues that will face Francis’s successor.”Nobody campaigns, for crying out loud. That would be extraordinarily stupid and indiscreet, and improper and counterproductive,” said Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York.”But you just want to get to know folks, and it works well,” he said on his own podcast.Among the pilgrims and sightseers who gathered in the square on Monday, opinions varied widely about who could or should take over.”Maybe more of Pope Francis than Pope Benedict,” said German visitor Aurelius Lie, 36.”As long as he’s not too conservative (and) influenced by modern political leaders — (Giorgia) Meloni, (Donald) Trump,” he said, referring to the Italian prime minister and the US president.”Maybe the Church will be thinking: ‘We need a tough pope now to deal with these people.’ But their terms will end in a couple of years.”But Canadian priest Justin Pulikunnel did not hide his frustration at the direction Francis tried to take the Church, saying he personally sought a return to a more traditional leadership.”Well, I hope and I pray that the new pope will kind of be a source of unity in the Church and kind of calm the waters down after almost a dozen years of destabilisation and ambiguity,” he said on Sunday.- ‘Changing world’ -The conclave begins on Wednesday afternoon and could continue for days, weeks or even months — although both Francis and Benedict XVI — who was pope from 2005 until his resignation in 2013 — were elected within two days.Italy’s Pietro Parolin, who was secretary of state under Francis, is one of the favourites, as is Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.Among the so-called “papabili” are also Luis Antonio Tagle from the Philippines and Hungarian conservative Peter Erdo.But many more names have been discussed, and just like when Francis — then an Argentinian known as Jorge Bergoglio — was picked in 2013, a surprise candidate could emerge.Cardinal Louis Raphael Sako of Iraq told reporters before Monday’s meetings that he wanted “a pastor, a father who preserves the unity of the Church and the integrity of the faith but who also knows the challenges of today”.”The world is always changing. Every day there is news. The pope must read the signs of the times to have the right answer and not be closeted in his palace.”burs-ar/ams/sbk

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he had directed officials to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz prison, the notorious federal jail based on a small island in California that closed six decades ago.”REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ!” the Republican wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders,” he said.Alcatraz closed in 1963 due to high operating costs after being open for just 29 years, according to the US Bureau of Prisons, and now serves as a tourist attraction.Located two kilometers (1.25 miles) off the coast of San Francisco and with a capacity of just 336 prisoners, it held several well-known criminals, including Prohibition-era mob boss Al Capone, and saw many fantastical escape attempts by inmates.Trump has made cracking down on crime — particularly those committed by migrants — a key element of his second term in the White House.”When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Trump wrote Sunday.”No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets,” he said.- ‘Not a serious’ proposal – The island fortress entered American cultural lore after a 1962 escape by three inmates, notably Frank Morris, which became an inspiration for the film “Escape from Alcatraz” starring Clint Eastwood.It was closed on March 21, 1963, soon after the escape, because it was three times more expensive to operate than any other federal prison, according to the Bureau of Prisons. The major expenses were caused by the physical isolation of the island, with food, supplies, fuel and even drinking water having to be brought to the island every week.Besides the operating costs, an estimated $3 million-$5 million more was needed just for maintenance and restoration work, the Bureau of Prisons said.It reopened to the public in 1973 as a tourist site, bringing in more than one million visitors each year. “It is now a very popular national park and major tourist attraction,” said former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who represents San Francisco.”The President’s proposal is not a serious one,” she said on social media platform X. Trump has vowed to crack down on crime, particularly by migrants, and has invoked the 1798 Enemies Act — previously used only during wartime — to deport those his administration say are criminals and gang members. His administration has paid El Salvador millions of dollars to lock up scores of migrants it deported there, with Trump also repeatedly saying he would be open to sending US citizens convicted of violent crimes to the Central American country.UN experts said last week that the United States appears to be intentionally denying due process rights to more than 250 Venezuelans and Salvadorans who were deported.

Jury selection begins Monday in New York in the blockbuster federal sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who stands accused of years of harrowing abuse.Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty on all counts, insisting that any sex acts were consensual — but prosecutors say for years he coerced victims into drug-fueled sex parties using threats and violence.At a recent hearing, his attorney Marc Agnifilo offered a preview of his team’s defense by describing the artist’s free-wheeling “swinger” lifestyle.The prosecution said it had offered Combs a plea deal — the specifics were not disclosed — but that he had rejected it.Combs faces one charge of racketeering conspiracy, the federal statute known by its acronym RICO that was once primarily used to target the mafia but in recent years has been wielded in cases of sexual abuse, including against the fallen R&B star R. Kelly.It allows government attorneys to project a long view of criminal activity rather than prosecuting isolated sex crimes.If convicted, the one-time rap producer and global superstar, who is often credited for his role in ushering hip-hop into the mainstream, could spend the rest of his life in prison.Over the decades, Combs — who has gone by various stage names including Puff Daddy and P. Diddy — amassed enormous wealth for his work in music but also his ventures in the liquor industry.He was arrested by federal agents in New York in September 2024 and denied bail multiple times. Combs is being held at Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, a facility plagued by complaints of vermin and decay as well as violence.High-profile inmates there have included Kelly, Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur convicted of fraud.Combs has appeared in pre-trial hearings looking remarkably aged, his once jet-black, styled coif now overgrown and gray.The jury selection start date is notably the first Monday in May — which annually marks New York’s Met Gala, a glittering celebrity charity bash where Combs was once a red carpet mainstay.Just two years ago, he posed for the cameras at that event uptown — but on Monday, he will be downtown in federal court, as the panel of citizens tasked with determining his fate face a barrage of questions from lawyers on both sides.Jury selection is expected to wrap up in about a week, with opening statements tentatively scheduled for May 12.The proceedings are estimated to last eight to 10 weeks.- ‘Freak-offs’ -Core to the case is Combs’s relationship with his former girlfriend, the singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who is expected to be a key trial witness.A disturbing surveillance video from 2016, which was aired by CNN last year, shows Combs physically assaulting Ventura at a hotel.Prosecutors say the encounter occurred following one of the “freak-offs” they argue were a feature of his pattern of abuse.The so-called “freak-offs” were coercive, drug-fueled sexual marathons including sex workers that were sometimes filmed, according to the indictment.It is unclear how much of the CNN video will be shown to jurors as evidence in court — the footage’s quality has been a sticking point between the opposing legal teams — but Judge Arun Subramanian has ruled that at least some of it will be admissible.The floodgates opened after Ventura filed a civil suit alleging Combs subjected her to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs as well as a 2018 rape.That 2023 suit was quickly settled out of court, but a string of similarly lurid sexual assault claims against the Grammy winner from both women and men followed.- ‘Perfect storm’ -Industry watchers are monitoring Combs’s case as a potential inflection point in the music world which, beyond the case of Kelly, has largely evaded the #MeToo reckoning that has rocked Hollywood.Caroline Heldman — co-founder of the Sound Off Coalition, which is focused on sexual violence in music — said Combs’s case is a flashpoint of a broader pattern of industry tolerance and cover-up of abuse.”In the music industry, I think it’s the perfect storm of what celebrity does to people and what power does to people. It gives them an empathy deficit where the rules don’t apply to them,” she said.When it comes to Combs’s case, she told AFP she’s “optimistic that justice will be served.””I hope that this inspires other survivors to come forward.”

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he was ordering new tariffs on all films made outside the United States, claiming Hollywood was being “devastated” by a trend of US filmmakers and studios working abroad.The announcement comes as the White House is coming under mounting criticism over its aggressive trade policies that have seen Trump impose sweeping tariffs on countries around the globe.”I am authorizing the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform.”WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reposted Trump’s missive, saying “We’re on it.”No details were provided on how the tariff would be implemented.Trump’s post comes after China, which has taken the brunt of the US president’s combative trade policies with 145 percent tariffs on many goods, said last month it would reduce the number of US films it imported.”The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death. Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States,” Trump wrote Sunday.”Hollywood, and many other areas within the U.S.A., are being devastated,” he added, claiming that production being drawn to other countries was a “National Security threat.”The implications for the movie industry — or how exactly the tariffs would be enacted — were not immediately clear.There was also no mention in Trump’s post of whether television series, an increasingly popular and profitable sector of production for the screen, would be affected.- US not in top five -Hollywood is a major sector of the United States’ economy, generating more than 2.3 million jobs and $279 billion in sales in 2022, according to the latest data from the Motion Picture Association.But in the wake of the Hollywood strikes and the Covid pandemic impacts — which changed how Americans consumed movies, opting to watch at home instead of in theaters — the industry is still struggling to regain its momentum, industry insiders say.According to a January report by production tracking service ProdPro, the United States is a top filming hub with $14.5 billion in production spend — though that amount is a 26 percent drop compared to two years earlier.However a survey of studio executives revealed that their top five preferred production locations for 2025 and 2026 were all outside of the United States, due to competitive tax incentive schemes on offer. First was Toronto, followed by Britain, Vancouver, Central Europe and then Australia. California came in at sixth place.Ahead of his inauguration in January, Trump appointed longstanding supporters Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson and Jon Voight as special envoys to Hollywood.He said they would make the entertainment industry “STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE” in a post on Truth Social. Trump and the Republicans have traditionally received scant support from the entertainment industry, and a galaxy of stars from Taylor Swift to George Clooney backed Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. 

The historic Mount Tambora volcanic eruption spewed so much ash and debris that it triggered a “year without summer” and the apocalypse seemed nigh — an apt parallel to our own chaotic existence, says the eclectic musician Rufus Wainwright.The artist’s ambitious modern-day requiem, which draws inspiration from the 19th-century catastrophe as well as the Requiem Mass, will premiere stateside on Sunday in Los Angeles, with narration by the actor and activist Jane Fonda.The Canadian-American Wainwright composed “Dream Requiem” as the globe was picking up the pieces after the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and turned to Lord Byron’s poem “Darkness” which is centered on the fear and disarray that followed the 1815 Mount Tambora eruption.The artist, best known for his distinct theatrical pop, has focused more on opera in recent years and said the poem is all the more prescient given the looming threat of climate cataclysm, as well as our tumultuous contemporary politics.”In this day and age, it’s a similar kind of intense sense of doom,” Wainwright told AFP in an interview ahead of the Los Angeles show.”I think we’re a little less misguided than they were back then, but who knows what the future holds?”Wainwright’s global premiere of “Dream Requiem” was at the Auditorium de Radio France in Paris last summer, with Meryl Streep narrating and featuring soprano Anna Prohaska.A recording of the work is available from Warner Classics.Wainwright said Fonda’s participation in the upcoming performance with the Los Angeles Master Chorale lends additional intensity to the piece, given her long history of activism and her special emphasis in recent years on climate change.”She’s one of the great heroines,” he said of the storied 87-year-old film star. “Certainly with what America has been through in the last couple of months, I think it’ll be very powerful.”And that the show’s US premiere comes mere months after deadly wildfires ravaged parts of Los Angeles adds yet another layer, he said.- ‘Glimmer of life’ -Wainwright has written two classical operas, set Shakespearean sonnets to song and produced a tribute concert to Judy Garland in addition to releasing a string of pop albums.He has a particular penchant for Giuseppe Verdi: “When I was 13, I listened to Verdi’s Requiem from top to tail, and it was like I’d been infected by a virus,” he said.Musical settings of the Catholic Requiem Mass are themselves known as requiems; Verdi’s tells of the death-fearing living who seek deliverance.”I’ve always been more at ease, you know, communicating dread and foreboding,” the 51-year-old Wainwright said.But it’s not all gloom, he added: “A few weeks after I premiered it, and I had some distance from it, I realized, oh no, there is hope. There is sort of this little glimmer of life.””Redemption and forgiveness” go hand in hand with the dread, and “I like to maintain some modicum of hope,” Wainwright said. “Hopefully this is sort of like a resurrection, shall we say, of both that feeling of dread — but also that need to face the music and deal with the problem at hand.”

US President Donald Trump said Sunday he had directed officials to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz prison, the notorious federal jail based on a small island in California that shuttered six decades ago.The jail will house “America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding that the institution will be “substantially enlarged.”Alcatraz closed in 1963 due to high operating costs after being open for just 29 years, according to the US Bureau of Prisons, and now serves as a tourist attraction.Located two kilometers (1.25 miles) off the coast of San Francisco and with a capacity of just 336 prisoners, it held several well-known criminals, including Prohibition-era mob boss Al Capone, and saw many fantastical escape attempts by inmates.Trump has made cracking down on crimes — particularly those committed by migrants — a key element of his second term in the White House.”When we were a more serious Nation, in times past, we did not hesitate to lock up the most dangerous criminals, and keep them far away from anyone they could harm. That’s the way it’s supposed to be,” Trump wrote Sunday.”No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets,” he said.

The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to extend a recent pause in rate cuts this week as it waits to see how President Donald Trump’s stop-start tariff rollout affects the health of the world’s largest economy.Trump has imposed steep levies on China, and lower “baseline” levies of 10 percent on goods from most other countries, along with 25 percent duties on specific items like steel, automobiles and aluminum.The president has also paused higher duties on dozens of other trading partners until July to give them time to renegotiate existing arrangements with the United States.Most economists expect the tariffs introduced since January to push up prices and cool economic growth — at least in the short run — potentially keeping the Fed on hold for longer.”The Fed has to be very focused on maintaining inflation so that it doesn’t start moving back up in a more persistent way,” said Loretta Mester, who recently stepped down after a decade as president of the Cleveland Fed. “That would undermine all the work that was done over the last three years of getting inflation down,” she told AFP. – ‘Good place to be’ – Trump reiterated his call for Fed chair Jerome Powell to lower rates in an NBC interview published in full on Sunday, claiming the decision not to do so was largely personal.”Well, he should lower them. And at some point, he will. He’d rather not because he’s not a fan of mine,” Trump said.The Fed has held its key interest rate at between 4.25 percent and 4.50 percent since December, as it continues its plan to bring inflation to the bank’s long-term target of two percent, with another eye firmly fixed on keeping unemployment under control. Recent data points to the Fed’s inflation remaining broadly on track ahead of the introduction of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, while unemployment has remained relatively stable, hugging close to historic lows.At the same time, various “softer” data points such as consumer confidence surveys have reflected a sharp decline in optimism about the health of the US economy — and growing concerns about inflation.”Whether the economy enters a recession or not, it’s hard to say at this point,” said Mester, now an adjunct professor of finance at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.”I think the committee remains in good condition here, and most likely they’ll remain on hold at this meeting,” said Jim Bullard, the long-serving former president of the St. Louis Fed.”I think it’s a good place for them to be while there’s a lot of turbulence in the trade war,” added Bullard, now dean of the Daniels School of Business at Purdue University.Financial markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to announce another rate-cut pause on Wednesday, according to data from CME Group. – Pushing back rate cuts -US hiring data for April published last week came in better than expected, lowering anxiety about the health of the labor market — and reducing pressure on the Fed’s rate-setting committee to reach for rate cuts.Economists at several large banks including Goldman Sachs and Barclays subsequently delayed their expected date for rate cuts from June to July.”Cutting in late July allows the committee to see more data on the evolution of the labor market, and should benefit from resolving uncertainty about tariffs and fiscal policy,” economists at Barclays wrote in a note to clients published Friday.Other analysts see rate cuts happening even later, depending on the effects of the tariffs.”A slower reaction to economic weakness” could happen “if backward-looking data gives the impression of resilient demand while inflation gauges heat up,” wrote EY Chief Economist Gregory Daco.The rise in longer-run inflation expectations in the survey data points to growing concerns that tariff-related price pressures could become embedded in the US economy — even as the market-based measures have remained close to the Fed’s two percent target.”I would be sort of in the camp (saying) prove to me that they’re not going to be inflationary,” Mester said of tariffs, adding that it would be “unwise” to assume that inflation expectations were stable, given the recent survey data. But Bullard from Purdue took a different view, stressing the stability of the market-based measures.”I haven’t liked the survey-based measures of inflation expectations, because they seem to be partly about inflation but partly about many other issues, maybe, including politics,” he said. “This is a moment where you might want to look through the survey-based measures that are talking about very extreme levels of inflation that don’t seem likely to develop near-term,” he added. 

US President Donald Trump said in remarks airing Sunday that he does not know whether he must uphold the US Constitution, the nation’s founding legal document.In a wide-ranging NBC News interview, the 78-year-old Republican also said he was not seriously considering running for a constitutionally-barred third White House term, and blamed his presidential predecessor Joe Biden for the “bad parts” of the current economy.Trump has drawn widespread criticism for repeatedly brushing up against constitutional guardrails since returning to the White House in January, notably over his policy of mass deportations of undocumented migrants, some without the benefit of a court hearing.He insists such rapid expulsions are necessary in the face of what he has declared to be a “national emergency,” and that giving every migrant a court trial would take “300 years.”When NBC’s “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker asked if people in the United States — citizens and non-citizens alike — deserve the due process of law, as the US Constitution states, Trump said: “I’m not a lawyer. I don’t know.”Pressed more generally on whether he believes he needs to uphold the supreme law of the land, Trump repeated: “I don’t know.”The remarks in the interview — recorded Friday and broadcast Sunday — quickly made waves in Washington, including among some Republicans. “We’re either a free society governed by the Constitution or we’re not,” Republican Senator Rand Paul, a self-described constitutional conservative, posted on X without additional comment.- No third term? -Trump’s suggestion of possibly seeking a third term has been sharply questioned by legal and constitutional scholars.The 22nd Amendment states that “no person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”But Trump said in March he was “not joking” about seeking a third term, adding there are “methods” that would allow it to happen.Changing the Constitution to allow a third term would be difficult, requiring a two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress and ratification by at least 38 of the 50 states.But “this is not something I’m looking to do,” Trump told NBC — even while acknowledging that the Trump Organization’s official store is selling red “Trump 2028” hats.”I’m looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward.”Asked who that might be, he mentioned Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, adding: “We have a lot of good people in this party.”But Trump appeared to bristle when asked for his reaction to critics who warn he is leading the country toward authoritarianism.”Why don’t you ask it a different way? Many people want to come into our country. Many people love Trump,” he said. “I won the election.”Trump’s first 100 days in office were marked by economic turmoil, primarily over his plans to impose sweeping tariffs on most countries.But despite the world’s largest economy shrinking in the first quarter of 2025, he struck an optimistic if defiant tone in the interview, insisting US economics were sound and that “tariffs are going to make us rich.””I think the good parts are the Trump economy and the bad parts are the Biden economy,” said Trump.- ‘We subsidize Canada’ -The president also exaggerated some of the success he has had in bringing down prices, claiming gas has dropped to $1.98 per gallon in some states.According to the American Automobile Association, the lowest US price per gallon this week was $2.65, with the average at $3.16.With two days before Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney visits the White House, Trump was asked whether he planned to reiterate his call for Canadians to give up their sovereignty and become the 51st US state.”I’ll always talk about that,” Trump said, as he griped about how “we subsidize Canada” through a massive trade deficit.Trump, when pressed, said it was “highly unlikely” that he would use military force against Canada. “I think we’re not going to ever get to that point,” he said.But he did speak glowingly about US power, ruminating on an upcoming military parade in Washington to coincide with his 79th birthday, on June 14.”We’re going to have a big, beautiful parade,” he said, dismissing concern about the event’s high cost as his administration lays off thousands of government workers.”We have the greatest weapons in the world, and we’re going to celebrate it.”

New Marvel superhero film “Thunderbolts” triumphed over the North American box office this weekend, raking in an estimated $76 million in a promising start to the summer movie season, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported Sunday.”Thunderbolts” features Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell and David Harbour as a motley bunch of antiheroes. Julia Louis-Dreyfus plays a malevolent CIA chief.”This is a very good opening for a new superhero story,” said David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. With “excellent” reviews and audience scores, the film should “play extremely well around the world,” he said.Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian said on X that “this kickoff film of the summer movie season will ignite an epic month of May for movie theaters!”Ryan Coogler’s period vampire thriller “Sinners” starring Michael B. Jordan slipped to second place but still took in $33 million in its third weekend out, a showing The Hollywood Reporter called “phenomenal.”Warner Bros.’ video game adaptation “A Minecraft Movie,” starring Jack Black and Jason Momoa, rose one spot from last weekend to third, earning $13.7 million for the Friday-through-Sunday period. It remains the top release of the year, with total US ticket sales of $398.2 million and international sales of $475 million for a total of $873.2 million.Fourth place went to Amazon MGM Studios’ “The Accountant 2,” at $9.5 million. Ben Affleck plays a neurodivergent math genius with criminal ties, and Jon Bernthal is his hit-man brother.And in fifth was another video game adaptation, Sony’s gory horror film “Until Dawn,” at $3.8 million. Meantime, Alec Baldwin’s ill-fated Western “Rust” — made infamous when a weapon held by Baldwin discharged a bullet, fatally wounding the film’s cinematographer — finally opened in a limited release of 115 theaters. It took in just $25,000, according to The Hollywood Reporter.Rounding out the top 10 were:”The Amateur” ($1.8 million)”The King of Kings” ($1.7 million)”Warfare” ($1.3 million)”Hit: The Third Case” ($925,000)”The Surfer” ($675,000)