“Godzilla vs. Kong” remained atop the domestic box office in its third weekend of release. The Legendary and Warner Bros movie added another $7.7 million, boosting its North American tally to $80.5 million.

The film looks to be the first to cross $100 million in the U.S and Canada. Its ticket sales are especially notable, and not just because movie theaters across the country have been operating at reduced capacity.

Given the impaired marketplace, new releases have been few and far between. That has given “Godzilla vs. Kong” and other holdover titles free rein over box office charts.

Universal’s “Nobody,” an action thriller starring Bob Odenkirk, landed in second place with $2.5 million. The film has made $19 million in the U.S. and $34 million globally in four weeks.

Sony’s “The Unholy” secured the No. 3 spot with $2 million in its third weekend in theaters. The thriller has generated $9.5 million to date.

Disney’s action adventure “Raya and the Last Dragon” came in fourth with $1.9 million over the weekend. The family friendly movie, has amassed $37 million in North America since it first hit theaters.

Rounding out the top five is Warner Bros “Tom and Jerry,” an animated/live-action hybrid about the infamous cat and mouse duo. It pulled in $1.1 million, bringing its North American tally to $42 million.

Veteran singer and national award recipient, Ebenezer Obey-Fabiyi, has revealed that his mother never believed he could become successful through music.

Fondly referred to as Chief Commander, the legendary singer, while speaking in an interview, noted that his mother wanted him to become either a lawyer or doctor.

Obey said, “She did not want me to play music because she wanted me to be a successful person in life. As for my mother, she did not believe that it could happen through music. She wanted me to be either a lawyer or a doctor. She thought my success would come through either being a lawyer or a doctor. She would wake me up at midnight, praise me, and then ask me to listen to her advice. She would tell me to stop beating drums about.

“She would say, ‘don’t you want to be a successful person? If you face your studies and become a lawyer, they would be calling me Iya Lawyer’. She would ask if I would not like to drive a pleasure car. I will respond that I will like to ride a pleasure car. My mother did not know and I could not blame her. But finally, when she saw that it was music I wanted to do, she let me be.”

He explained that his mother’s fear stemmed from the fact that she believed all musicians were alcoholics and smokers. Obey said when his mother revealed her fears to him, he promised her that he would be a good example as a musician.

Obey said, “One day, I was bold enough to ask my mother why she did not want me to be a musician. Then she told me that musicians smoke cigarette, Indian hemp, and they are drunkards. She said that she did not give birth to a drunkard or Indian hemp smoker.

“I thank God that my mother did that to me because I promised that if those were the reasons she did not want me to become a musician, I will go into music and I will be a good example. It was a good warning because everything that my mother said, I met them when I started music; however, I always remembered my mother’s words.

“By the grace of God, I thank God that I promised my mother that I would be a good example and I have been a good example.”

The veteran singer further stated that his mother witnessed his success before she died at the age of 97 in 1995.

“My mother was alive to see part of my success. My mother went to be with the Lord in the year 1995. She saw my success and she was very happy that her dream for me to be a successful person came through, even though it was not being through a doctor or a lawyer, as she wanted me to be; but she was a happy mother.

“She knew that my name was all over the world. She knew that I had taken my music to almost all the parts of the world. She was a proud mother. She was very happy. She died at the age of 97. She was fulfilled before she went to meet the Lord.”

Renowned artist Bjorn Ulvaeus behind disco pop group ABBA with megahits like “Dancing Queen” and “Mamma Mia” co-wrote a report entitled “Rebalancing The Song Economy,” which urges revamping pricing structures to ensure fairness for writers behind the music.

Ulvaeus, 75, became president of the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers (CISAC) — a Paris-headquartered rights network representing some four million creators and publishers across the arts — last year.

Pre-pandemic, performing artists could count on income sources like concerts and merchandise, but “most professional songwriters are just that” — songwriters, he said.

Now everyone is relying on streaming, which accounts for 83 percent of US music industry revenue, according to the Recording Industry Association of America.

But many artists have long said they aren’t reaping the benefits.

Streaming giants pool subscription money and divvy it up based on aggregate play counts to rights-holders or management organizations, who distribute it according to their agreements.

Artists have long disparaged that dominant model, holding it favors the globe’s biggest stars at the expense of music’s middle class.

Ulvaeus said, Apple recently disclosed it pays, on average, a penny per stream, approximately double what Spotify — which has far more users and thus more streams — pays rights-holders.

The breakdowns of which players — labels, distributors, streaming services, and the owners of performance and publishing copyrights — receive what fraction of revenues depends on specific record deals that are rarely public. But songwriters, especially if they are not also performers, generally receive the smallest pieces.