LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The breakout box-office success of the Matthew McConaughey movie "Mud" has surprised everyone - except independent film company Roadside Attraction, which has been nothing if not systematic in its marketing and release.

The Mississippi River-set coming-of-age drama has made nearly $17 million since opening back on April 26 and is easily the highest-grossing movie in the seven-year history of the company. All the more impressively, it's never played in more than 960 theaters.

"It's been an amazing ride," said Howard Cohen, co-president of with Eric D'Arbeloff at Roadside, which with Lionsgate Entertainment acquired and is distributing "Mud."

That ride isn't over yet. "Mud" broke into the top 10 in its second week and remains there , five weeks later. And Roadside's box-office grosses for 2013 are already up to $19.8 million -- better than 2012's total of $19.4 million.

What's more, with four movies still to come this summer, starting Friday with Joss Whedon's modern-day Shakespeare adaptation "Much Ado About Nothing," and three more due in the fall, Roadside looks like a lock to top its best year ever. That was 2011 when "Conspirator," "Margin Call," "Biutiful" and Oscar Best Picture nominee "Winter's Bone" helped them take in roughly $28 million.

"Mud" was written and directed by Jeff Nichols ("Take Shelter"), and co-stars Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepherd and Nichols regular Michael Shannon. It was financed by Everest Entertainment and produced by Everest and FilmNation Entertainment for about $12 million, and competed for the Palme d'Or at Cannes last year, which is where Roadside picked it up.

It follows two teenage boys (Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland) who encounter a fugitive (McConaughey) and form a pact to help him evade a bounty hunter and reunite with his true love (Witherspoon).

"Mud" quickly caught the eye of Roadside and Lionsgate executives at Cannes.

"We've focused primarily on intelligent, upscale movies with significant casts that have commercial elements, not pure art films, and Mud' certainly fit that profile," said Howard Cohen, co-president with Eric D'Arbeloff at Roadside.

Once the deal closed in July, the next questions were the timing of the U.S. release and how to market the film.

"At the time, there was a lot of Matthew out there," Cohen said. A revived McConaughey was on screen throughout 2012 in "Bernie," "Killer Joe" and Magic Mike." So the decision was made to go with a spring 2013 release, which allowed Roadside and Lionsgate to take the film to the Sundance and South by Southwest film festivals.

"It was very well received and reviewed at both,' Cohen said, "and that gave us a lot of buzz ahead of the opening." "Mud" rolled out on 363 screens in late April -- more than a month after Focus Features debuted "Place Beyond the Pines," an arthouse-thriller which targeted a similar audience but failed to gain much traction, despite having Ryan Gosling in the title role.

When it came to the marketing, Cohen said that they pursued a more commercial, rather than arthouse, strategy. "The trailer pushes the genre elements - the thriller aspect, the gunplay - while at the same time emphasizing the reviews, and mentioning Cannes. It presents the film not as a standard thriller and not as pure arthouse either, and that was because we wanted to go to a wider demographic," Cohen said. "That's how we went with the TV spots, too."

"Mud" has played to a primarily - 60 percent - female audience, despite its gritty story line, and very well in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

But set on the Mississippi River, it also has played very strongly in the South - particularly so in Austin, where McConaughey and Nichols live, and throughout Texas. In terms of box office, the No. 2-grossing theater for the film (behind the Arclight Hollywood) is in Little Rock, Ark., where it was shot.

"It's a Heartland story," Cohen said, "and Matthew McConaughey is very popular in those regions, but mainly the film speaks for itself."

Roadside doesn't develop or produce movies; it buys the rights, does the marketing and puts them in theaters. It's a lean operation, with just 18 full-time employees, well below the numbers employed by other specialty labels.

It's a formula that is working better than it ever has before, in part because it's found a groove with partner Lionsgate, which bought a 43 percent stake in 2007. The two companies have developed a reputation for being aggressive on the festival circuit, where Cohen and d'Arbeloff, along with Lionsgate's Jason Constantine, are familiar faces.

Last year, they left the Toronto International Film Festival with the rights to Stuart Blumberg's "Thanks for Sharing," Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's "Imogene," Whedon's "Much Ado About Nothing" and Sarah Polley's family documentary, "Stories We Tell."

The company doesn't list its releases on Box Office Mojo or Exhibitor Relations' slate of upcoming film, so you have to be paying particularly close attention - or check in on their clever and occasionally sardonic Twitter account - to know what's coming.

First up is "Much Ado About Nothing" in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. No one is expecting superhero-sized grosses from this one, but anything "The Avengers" director is involved in is bound to draw attention, and a nationwide rollout is planned for June 21.

"Redemption," a thriller starring Jason Statham, is set for June 28. Steven Knight ("Dirty Pretty Things") wrote and directed the tale of a man on the run from a military court martial, who descends into London's underworld, assumes another's identity and becomes an avenging angel.

On July 19, the company will roll out the Kristin Wiig comedy "Girl Most Likely" on roughly 300 screens. Annette Bening, Matt Dillon and Darren Criss co-star in the film, which follows a failed New York playwright transitioning from Next Big Thing to Last Year's News. That one's probably the one with the most commercial appeal.

"In a World ...," in which Lake Bell makes her writing and directing debut, will close out Roadside's summer on August 9. In the comedy, Bell plays a voice coach who ventures into the competitive all-male race to land the voiceover gig for the trailer of a massive blockbuster trilogy. Rob Corddry and Nick Offerman co-star.

It's a diverse slate, which will get even broader in the fall.

First there is the Gwyneth Paltrow-Mark Ruffalo sex-addiction comedy "Thanks for Sharing," on September 20. That's followed by the Lionsgate production "Grace Unplugged," starring Disney TV star AJ Michalka as a young Christian singer whose faith is put to the test when she gets her big break.

That one will debut on about 500 screens - about as big as Roadside ever goes with openings - on October 4. And two weeks later, Roadside will debut its recent Cannes pickup, the Robert Redford shipwreck saga "All Is Lost," which looks sure to draw awards attention.

All that adds up to a year that will be the company's best and could actually change the way Roadside does business.

"We may have to add a couple of people," Cohen said.

Goaltender Tuukka Rask made an astonishing 53 saves to keep the Bruins in the contest before Bergeron's tip-in at 15:19 in the second overtime period earned Boston a third straight win in the series.

Boston now leads the best-of-seven affair 3-0 and have a first opportunity to book a Stanley Cup Finals berth in Game Four at home on Friday.

The top-seeded and favored Penguins have been second best in the series so far, scoring just two goals in three games with the threat of elimination looming large on the horizon.

Pittsburgh has not been swept out of the playoffs since 1979.

Their latest disappointment was not the result of a lack of effort, with goaltender Tomas Vokoun stopping 38 shots one game after he was pulled early.

David Krejci put the Bruins ahead just 1:42 into the game, whipping the Boston crowd into a frenzy with his NHL-leading ninth goal of the post-season.

Chris Kunitz's snap-shot tied the game at 1-1 in the second and the teams remained deadlocked through the third period and opening overtime session.

The Penguins piled intense pressure on Rask throughout the third period and both overtimes but could not find a decisive breakthrough.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby remains without a point for the series against a Bruins team that has successfully stifled the potent Pittsburgh offense.

(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by John O'Brien)

The Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday that its index of service-sector growth rose to 53.7 from 53.1 in April. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion. Last month's figure is below the 12-month average of 54.4.

A measure of employment fell to 50.1 from 52, the lowest since last July. Service firms have been the main source of job gains in the past several months. Manufacturers have cut back sharply on hiring this year.

The new orders index rose last month, and a gauge of sales also increased.

Pierre Ellis, an economist at Decision Economics, said the slowdown in hiring could mean that "managers are not too confident that the business improvement will last." Still, hiring may rebound if sales and orders remain healthy, Ellis added.

The survey measures growth at businesses that employ about 90 percent of the U.S. workforce, ranging from construction companies and health care firms to retail businesses and restaurants.

Growth in the service industry depends largely on consumers, whose spending drives roughly 70 percent of economic activity. A steady recovery in housing and stronger consumer spending helped push the index higher earlier this year.

But Americans spent less in April as their income failed to grow. That signaled the economy may be slowing this spring.

The survey showed that 13 industries reported growth last month, led by hotels and restaurants, transportation and warehousing, and arts and entertainment. Five said business contracted, including mining, health care and real estate.

Most economists say higher Social Security taxes and steep cuts in government spending are dragging on growth. They forecast the economy will expand at around a 2 percent annual rate in the April-June quarter, down from 2.4 percent in the first three months of the year.

Still, in May consumers grew more confident, which suggests spending could rebound later this year. Measures of consumer confidence reached five year highs last month, as Americans grew more optimistic that the job market is healing.

And other trends may offset some of the impact of the taxes this year. Consumers have cut their debts. Rising home values and stock prices have increased household wealth, which typically makes people more likely to spend.

In general, service firms are in better shape than manufacturers. A separate survey by ISM released Monday showed that a measure of factory activity fell to the lowest level in four years in May.

Service companies have accounted for nearly all U.S. job gains in recent months. In April, they added 185,000 jobs, while manufacturers and government agencies cut jobs. Employers overall added 165,000 positions that month.

The eggs belong to Torvosaurus, a T. rex-like predator that stalked the late Jurassic some 150 million years ago. Torvosaurus grew to be around 30 feet (9 meters) long, but the fragmented embryos discovered in Portugal were probably only about 6 inches (15 centimeters) in length.

"This is shedding some light on the early stages of the development of these types of dinosaurs," said Ricardo Arajo, a doctoral candidate in paleontology at Southern Methodist University in Texas. []

A surprising find

The crushed clutch of eggs was found in 2005 by amateur fossil-hunter and fossil cast-maker Art Walen, who was on an annual vacation to the fossil-rich Lourinh Formation in western Portugal.

"He just stumbled across some eggshells, and he traced the eggshells up the cliffs and he found there were not only isolated eggshells, there was also an entire nest up there," Arajo told LiveScience.

Paleontologists from the Museu da Lourinh excavated the nest, which researchers first assumed belonged to a . Even in the field, however, the paleontologists began to think they might have something very different on their hands. The eggs' surfaces were ornamented with a strange, almost honeycomb-like pattern that was quite distinct from anything the researchers had ever seen, Arajo said.

Once the specimen was excavated and brought to the museum for preparation, the researchers got another surprise: There were embryo bones mixed in with the crushed eggs.

Such a find is "extremely rare," Arajo said. "There's probably a handful of situations like this in the world."

Dinosaur development

The bones enabled the researchers to link the nest back to a specific species of dinosaur. Torvosaurus was a theropod, a group that includes bothand modern birds. The specimens are the earliest theropod embryos ever found.

They're also the most primitive, Arajo said. Torvosaurus is on an early branch of the dinosaur family tree, making them "basal theropods," or very early examples of the group. So while(including some found recently in China) date back to earlier eras, Arajo said, the new discoveries are the most primitive in terms of dinosaur evolutionary relationships.

The find reveals some secrets of egg evolution. Modern bird eggs are made up of three layers, Arajo said, and most dinosaur eggs have two layers. The Torvosaurus eggs are so primitive that they have just one layer.

"This is the first evidence for a one-layered eggshell for theropod dinosaurs ever found," Arajo said.

The exceptionally preserved shells are marked by a series of wide, interconnected pores. Pores allow the eggs to "breathe," and their size depends on whether the eggs are exposed to moisture or dry air. The size and shape of the Torvosaurus egg pores suggest they were buried in a moist environment for incubation, Arajo said.

He and his colleagues report the findings today (May 30) in the journal .

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Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the average rate on the 30-year loan increased to 3.71 percent. That's up from 3.67 percent last week, the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.

The average rate on the 15-year mortgage, a popular refinancing option, rose to 2.98 percent. That's up from 2.94 percent last week, also a record low.

The rate on the 30-year loan has been below 4 percent since early December. Low rates are a key reason the housing industry is showing modest signs of a recovery this year.

In April, sales of both previously occupied homes and new homes rose near two-year highs. Builders are gaining more confidence in the market, breaking ground on more homes and requesting more permits to build single-family homes later this year.

Low rates could also provide some help to the economy if more people refinance. When people refinance at lower rates, they pay less interest on their loans and have more money to spend.

Still, the pace of home sales remains well below healthy levels. Economists say it could be years before the market is fully healed.

Many people are still having difficulty qualifying for home loans or can't afford larger down payments required by banks. Some would-be home buyers are holding off because they fear that home prices could keep falling.

The economy is growing only modestly and job creation slowed sharply in April and May. U.S. employers created only 69,000 jobs in May, the fewest in a year.

Mortgage rates have been dropping because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note. Uncertainty about how Europe will resolve its debt crisis has led investors to buy more Treasury securities, which are considered safe investments. As demand for Treasurys increase, the yield falls.

To calculate average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country on Monday through Wednesday of each week.

The average does not include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for 30-year loans was 0.7 point, unchanged from last week. The fee for 15-year loans also was unchanged at 0.7 point.

The average rate on one-year adjustable rate mortgages slipped to 2.78 percent from 2.79 percent last week. The fee for one-year adjustable rate loans was 0.5, up from 0.4.

The White House sees cybersecurity as a leading threat to the U.S economy and national security.

A recent government report found that more than 40 Pentagon weapons programs and nearly 30 other defense technologies have been compromised by cyber intrusions from China. The cybersecurity firm Mandiant also has linked a secret Chinese military unit to years of cyber-attacks against U.S. companies.

The Chinese government denies it engages in such spying against the U.S.

The Obama administration officials said they expect the cybersecurity issue to become a standing one in relations between the two countries going forward. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to be quoted by name previewing the meeting.

Two days of private meetings between Obama and Xi are scheduled to begin Friday evening at Sunnylands, a 200-acre estate in Rancho Mirage, Calif., once owned by the late publishing tycoon Walter Annenberg. It will be their first get-together since Xi took power in March.

The schedule also includes a private dinner on Friday followed by additional talks on Saturday morning.

Beyond cybersecurity, Obama also will raise China's record on human rights, ranging from censorship to the illegal detention of dissidents.

The civil war in Syria is another likely topic for discussion, though China is seen as having less influence on that issue than Russia, because of Russia's steadfast support of Syrian President Bashar Assad, including its supplying weapons to the Assad government.

North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons will also be a topic of discussion. In a shift from his predecessor welcomed by the U.S., Xi has taken a stern tone with North Korea and has told the North to return to nuclear talks with the U.S. and other world powers. The U.S. long has pushed China to take more aggressive action against North Korea. China is the North's strongest ally and biggest trading partner.

The Obama-Xi talks will be followed by a July meeting between U.S. and Chinese officials that will focus on cyber espionage.

Taking the bilateral talks outside of the White House and to a Southern California venue with sweeping mountain views and a lush golf course is aimed at forging more personal ties between the leaders as relations between the global powers they represent become increasingly complex.

The expectation by the White House is that the setting at Sunnylands will encourage a more informal and less scripted set of discussions between Obama and Xi than U.S. and Chinese officials have had to date.

Xi and Obama first met last year when Xi was vice president and he visited the White House. Xi has a warm relationship with Vice President Joe Biden that blossomed when they traveled together throughout China during Biden's 2011 visit.

___

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Parker's blast capped a five-run inning for the third-seeded Tigers (30-28), who hadn't played in the regionals since 1991. Volpe (10-3) allowed four hits and threw 120 pitches before leaving with a 7-0 lead after walking the leadoff batter in the eighth.

Peter Bowles and Dominic Fratantuono also drove in runs in the sixth for Towson, while Brendan Butler added a solo homer in the eighth.

The win for Towson added to what is arguably the best feel-good story in the tournament. The program was supposed to be cut because of financial problems in the athletic department and gender-equity imbalance, but the team was saved last month when the state of Maryland approved $300,000 to fund the team for two years.

"I'm thrilled our kids have a future," coach Mike Gottlieb said. "I'm thrilled I'm not looking for a job. I'm thrilled after 22 years personally, we're able to be back here in this environment. It was a long time without getting here. Just to be able to do that again after such a drought and at my age, that's very rewarding."

Despite the possibility that the team faced an uncertain future, Gottlieb said his players continued to play hard through it all.

"Maybe they discussed the future or a lack of one, I never heard of it," he said. "I never heard it. And they never played like they didn't care. They played hard. To their credit, we're here and we were able to get a victory today."

Jeremy Strawn (5-3) allowed seven hits and five runs in five innings for the second-seeded Owls (39-21), who had won 11 straight including a run to the Sun Belt Conference tournament title. Tyler Rocklein and Brendon Sanger drove in the Owls' two eighth-inning runs after Volpe's exit.

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LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists are stepping up clinical tests of gene therapy in a bid to help people with advanced heart failure pump blood more efficiently.

Researchers said on Tuesday they planned to enroll patients into two new clinical trials using Mydicar, a gene therapy treatment made by privately held U.S. biotech company Celladon.

After more than 20 years of research, the ground-breaking method for fixing faulty genes is starting to deliver, with European authorities approving the first gene therapy for an rare metabolic disease last November.

In the case of heart failure, the aim is to insert a gene called SERCA2a directly into heart cells using a modified virus, delivered via a catheter infusion. Lack of SERCA2a leads to ever weaker pumping in people with heart failure.

Although drugs offer some relief, there is currently no way of restoring heart function and the prognosis for those with advanced disease is worse than for many cancers.

One of the studies, led by scientists at Imperial College London, is part of a wider mid-stage Phase II project sponsored by Celladon that involves 200 patients worldwide, some of whom have already been treated in the United States and Denmark.

The second trial, which is due to start in the summer, will test the same treatment in 24 British patients already fitted with mechanical heart pumps to see how the approach may help in this particular setting.

It promises to be a long haul, with extensive Phase III studies still needed once results of the current mid-stage tests are received, which Celladon expects in the first half of 2015.

Gene therapy has experienced a series of advances and setbacks over the decades. The most notable blow came in 1999 when an Arizona teenager died in a gene therapy experiment. More recent results, however, have been promising in fields ranging from immune system diseases to blindness.

"It is a great example of the slow burn of good laboratory science translating into a potential clinical treatment," said Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, which is co-funding the second trial.

Because gene therapy replaces or boosts the activity of a faulty gene, it offers the possibility of a one-time "fix" - and that creates an economic challenge.

Any gene therapy is bound to be expensive, since a single dose could last a lifetime and the manufacturer will have just one shot at recouping its investment.

But Alexander Lyon of Imperial College, lead investigator on both studies, said it could be a cost-effective solution in heart failure if it avoided the need for interventions such as heart transplants at 200,000 pounds ($300,000) each.

($1 = 0.6455 British pounds)

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; editing by Patrick Graham)