MOVIE MAGIC: Moviegoers have streamed to the...

MOVIE MAGIC: Moviegoers have streamed to the theaters in big numbers recently, an industry survey shows (D1). . . . More than 1.2 billion people went to the movies last year alone. That’s a lot of popcorn. . . . The boom was fueled in part by the success of the mega-hit “Jurassic Park.” . . . Blockbusters “get people back into the idea of going into a movie theater,” said Ken Kramer, manager of Pacific’s Carriage Square Theater in Oxnard.

TO THE JURY: The fate of Father David Dean Piroli, accused of skimming cash from church collections in Simi Valley and Saticoy, is in the hands of a jury (B1). . . . Closing arguments concluded Tuesday in the six-week-long trial. . . . Piroli is charged with embezzlement and grand theft in connection with $60,000 missing from Simi Valley’s St. Peter Claver Church and Saticoy’s Sacred Heart Church.

SPORTS DEANS: As deans of the Channel Coast Officials Assn., Cal Houston and Burt Davis are as inseparable as Bert and Ernie (C6). Houston, 75, and Davis, 76, are pioneers of the association, which Houston founded in 1950. . . . “They made it one of the most professional officials associations around,” Royal High official Bob Hird said. . . . The duo keep each other humble with humor. . . . “If it wasn’t for this, we’d be a couple of old men looking for something on TV every night,” Houston said.

MALE ORDER: The Order of St. Augustine, which oversees Ojai’s St. Thomas Aquinas Parish and Villanova Preparatory School, is celebrating its 750th anniversary. Pope Innocent IV called the order together in 1244 in the Tuscany region of Italy. . . . In Ventura County, the Catholic order of men dates back to 1923, when Villanova Prep was founded, Father John Pejza said. . . . In celebration, a spirituality course will be offered in Rome, but locally members “are waiting to see what comes out of Rome as far as suggested celebrations are concerned,” Pejza said.