Quick Takes: ‘Vow’ tops Valentine’s box office

Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams’ big-screen love proved to be couples’ top choice on Valentine’s Day, as “The Vow” sold a record number of tickets on the romantic holiday.

The tear-jerker released by Sony Pictures’ Screen Gems label raked in an estimated $11.6 million on Tuesday. That’s nearly double Tuesday’s No. 2 film, the Denzel Washington thriller “Safe House,” which collected $6.1 million.

Since opening on Friday, “The Vow” has collected a very healthy $56.1 million.

The previous box office record for a weekday Valentine’s Day was set by “Hitch.” The Will Smith romantic comedy grossed $7.5 million on Valentine’s Day 2005.

Overall, ticket sales amounted to $30.1 million on Valentine’s Day this year, up 38% compared with 2011’s holiday total of $21.8 million.

—Amy Kaufman

Grammys affirm Adele’s ‘21’

Buoyed by its multiple Grammy wins Sunday night and Adele’s return to the stage after vocal cord surgery, “21” held its grip on the No. 1 spot on the U.S. pop charts, selling 237,000 more copies last week, Nielsen SoundScan reported Wednesday.

Adele’s album has now spent a total of 20 weeks at No. 1, giving it the longest run at the top spot since Whitney Houston’s soundtrack to “The Bodyguard” racked up 20 weeks in the pole position beginning in late 1992.

SoundScan tracks sales through Sunday evening, so the full effect of the Grammy Awards won’t be evident until next week’s charts are revealed.

Whitney Houston’s sudden death on Grammy eve resulted in nearly instant sales of her work. Houston’s “Greatest Hits” reentered the chart at No. 6, having sold the bulk of its 64,000 copies in less than 24 hours.

A reconciled Van Halen entered the charts at No. 2 with “A Different Kind of Truth.” Released in conjunction with the launch of a new tour, the David Lee Roth-fronted album sold 187,000 copies.

Paul McCartney’s latest, “Kisses on the Bottom,” entered at No. 5 with 74,000 copies sold.

—Todd Martens

Sarandon gives to table tennis

Susan Sarandon has donated $75,000 to support table tennis programs in New York City public schools.

The city Department of Education said Wednesday that the money will pay for equipment and coaching. There are 27 high schools and middle schools that have added table tennis this year.

Sarandon is the co-owner of a Manhattan table tennis club called SPIN.

—Associated Press

Daredevil aims for Niagara Falls

Daredevil Nik Wallenda is set to walk a 1,800-foot tightrope across Niagara Falls this summer, a feat the seventh-generation member of the famed Flying Wallendas said has been his childhood dream.

“I feel like I’m on top of the world,” Wallenda said Wednesday after the Niagara Parks Commission, which months ago refused even to consider the idea, voted unanimously to allow the walk between the United States and Canada.

Approval from the Canadian panel was Wallenda’s largest remaining obstacle after he persuaded the New York Legislature to pass a bill allowing the walk last year.

Wallenda plans to run a 2-inch wire 60 to 70 feet above the 160-foot gorge, which will dip down in the middle, meaning he’ll walk downhill during the first half and uphill the second.

Wallenda has a deal with Discovery television to broadcast the spectacle live.

—Associated Press

Pre-Mardi Gras draws celebrities

Actress Patricia Clarkson got a brass-band reception Wednesday when she arrived in New Orleans, setting the stage for the all-women Krewe of Muses parade to roll Thursday night.

Muses kick off a string of celebrity-studded parades leading up to Mardi Gras on Tuesday. The parades are held by krewes — social clubs that spend all year putting together the elaborate floats and costumes.

The pop-rock band Maroon 5 rides with the krewe Endymion on Saturday night, comedian and actor Will Ferrell rides as king of Bacchus on Sunday night and rocker Bret Michaels will join Grammy-winning singer Cyndi Lauper in Orpheus on Monday.

—Associated Press

Finally

Renewed: TBS has ordered 35 more episodes of “Tyler Perry’s For Better or Worse,” a sitcom about three couples that premiered in November. The second season will launch this summer.

Reunion: The first Beach Boys live concerts in years to feature core founding members Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine will include the Hollywood Bowl on June 2. Tickets go on sale Feb. 26.