Sideshow: Fellas show the love for Queen of Soul

The fellas love Aretha Franklin: Denzel Washington helped the Queen of Soul celebrate her 72d birthday in style, and Andre 3000 and Babyface are working on new music for the icon.

Franklin held an exclusive wee party Saturday in New York in advance of her Tuesday birthday. Washington entered the Ritz-Carlton Hotel quietly, though the crowd got excited upon realizing that was the Oscar winner under the baseball cap.

Franklin thanked the actor for attending, hours after she saw him on Broadway in A Raisin in the Sun.

Her longtime musical collaborator, Clive Davis, also attended.

Asked what she wanted for her birthday, Franklin said. "I'm looking for a record deal for my granddaughter Victorie and my son Kecalf," both of whom performed at the recent BET Honors special, which paid tribute to Franklin. "I would be happy with that," she said.

Dystopian thriller Divergent, the story of a society that divides people based on personality traits, starring Shailene Woodley and adapted from a series of young adult novels by Veronica Roth, dominated weekend movie charts with $56 million in ticket sales. The opening, though falling well short of forerunners Twilight and The Hunger Games, kicked off a new franchise for Hunger Games producer Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. The second film, Insurgent, is set for release in March 2015.

Walt Disney's family comedy Muppets Most Wanted finished second with $16.5 million, and Mr. Peabody & Sherman, from Dreamworks Animation Inc., was No. 3 with $11.7 million. Greek warrior sequel 300: Rise of an Empire was fourth with $8.7 million, and the independent faith-based new release God's Not Dead took in $8.6 million for fifth.