Monster | featured news

On a scale of 10, Super 8 pretty much scored an eight by collecting $12.2 million on Friday, according to early estimates. (It also grossed $1 million on Thursday from Twitter-publicized screenings at 324 theaters.) The sci-fi adventure, directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg, was never expected to leave the train station with huge numbers, with industry insiders predicting a $30 million opening. But Super 8 is now on track for a debut of about $34 million. The PG-13 movie will likely fall a bit short of the opening gross of the 2008 Abrams-produced monster flick Cloverfield, which gobbled up $40.1 million its first weekend. But for a $50 million film starring a mostly no-name cast, this is still a solid start.

When Connie Culp heard a little kid call her a monster because of the shotgun blast that left her face horribly disfigured, she pulled out her driver's license to show the child what she used to look like. Years later, as the nation's first face transplant recipient, she's stepped forward to show the rest of the world what she...