It doesn't surprise me that last night's Emmys ratings fell to a record low, since I fell asleep right after Ray Romano's monologue and missed the broadcast entirely. According to Nielsen fast overnights, the Fox show averaged a 10.5 metered-market household rating and 16 share from 8 to 11:15 pm, down 20 percent from last year’s 13.1/20 for the show on NBC. There's never much to say about the show itself so I count myself lucky that I didn't watch it. But clearly I'm not on the same wave length as the Emmy voters. (See my previous: My 411 On This AM's Emmy Nominations.) Neil Patrick Harris was robbed. I don't understand how Sally Field was nominated much less the winner given the way she sucks the air out of every scene she's in. As for The Sopranos on top, I've said it before so I'll say it again: this will be the last year for a long, long while for HBO to clean up at the Emmys, given the pay channel's feeble fare that's forthcoming. (See my previous: HBO Needs To Wise Up, Or Get Whacked.) It's not like John From Cincinnati can win anything but Most Pretentious TV Series. So I hope those pay channel suits enjoy the kudos while they last. 

SUNDAY AM: Expectedly, Jodie Foster's star turn in The Brave One was good enough for the top spot of the U.S. box office. But it made only $13.5 mil from 2,755 theaters for what was a lower than expected weekend. (Projections had been $17M-$20M.) The good news is that Jodie remains one of the few Hollywood actresses still able to open a pic these days. The bad news? Only mixed reviews, an R-rating, and dark morality tale / revenge pic content did not produce the wider appeal of her PG-13 thriller Flightplan. Worse was the way The Brave One was promoted as a feminist chick flick by Warner Bros which still can't market anything but blockbusters. Overall, this remains a very slow time at the box office, with Friday's totals 3% behind last year.

In 2nd place is Lionsgate's 3:10 To Yuma, which continues to underperform despite terrific reviews and talent like Russell Crowe, Christian Bale and director Jim Mangold. It dipped only 34% its 2nd weekend out and took in $9.2 mil from 2,667 runs for a new cume of $28.5 mil. New Line's PG-13 horribly reviewed Mr. Woodcock managed #3, once again demonstrating that there's no movie too stupid and too awful that American audiences won't go to see. It debuted for $8.6 mil Friday through Sunday from 2,231 venues. Don't let that placement fool you: this is the latest bomb for New Line. I'm told the pic had major reshoots and ended up costing around $45 million. Given the genre and cast, it won't do anything in foreign so that's a big writedown for the studio. (Also, I have to ask, why in the world is Oscarwinner Susan Sarandon in this crap?) Sony's low cost coming of age comedy Superbad, even starting its 5th week in release, sits in 4th place; it earned $5.2 mil this weekend from 2,910 plays. It's new cume is $111.3 mil. No. 5 went to The Weinstein Co / MGM's horror hit Halloween which made $5.1 mil from 3,051 theaters with a new cume starting 3 weeks out of $51.4 mil.

Freestyle's newcomer Dragon Wars squeezed into 6th with just $5.1 mil from 2,275 dates. Unbelievably, Universal's blockbuster The Bourne Ultimatum is in 7th place even starting its 7th week in release. After taking in $4.2 mil this weekend from 2,611 venues, its new cume is a hefty $216.2 mil. In 8th place, New Line's hit Rush Hour 3 has a new cume of $133.1 mil after earning another $3.3 Fri-Sun from 2,208 dates. Focus Features extreme sports spoof Balls Of Fury was 9th, eking out $3.3 mil from 2,758 plays for a new cume of just $28.8 starting its 3rd week in release. And, finishing the Top 10, Universal's Mr. Bean's Holiday snuck in with $2.6 mil this weekend from 1,770 theaters. Meanwhile, New Line's other flop, Shoot 'Em Up, dropped 58% its 2nd weekend and out of the Top 10 altogether: its pathetic new cume is only $10.4 mil.

There's a lot of attention on two promising newcomers that platformed this weekend. Focus Features' well-received Eastern Promises starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen under the direction of David Cronenberg played in only 14 theaters from Friday through Sunday but had the best per screen average: between $11,000 and $14,500 each weekend night. That far exceeded the per screen average (between $4,329-$6,529) for Paul Haggis' Oscar touted In The Valley Of Elah, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron, which Warner Independent played in 9 venues. Meanwhile, despite mixed reviews, Julie Taymor's Across The Universe romantic musical told through Beatles songs (since Sony controls that catalogue) opened in 23 theaters with the weekend's 2nd best per screen average ($8,739-$11,609). Much was made of the pre-release brawling between Taymor, producer Joe Roth of Revolution Studios, and distributor Sony over the length and content of the pic. (See my story: Across An Alternate Universe.)

... is Andy Cohen, Bravo's senior v-p of production and programming. He has to be the most annoying host to be foisted upon TV viewers in a long, long time. Of course, there's the obvious conflict of interest issue. (Did he audition himself? Yes, but claims in interviews that he did so with "support and encouragement from my bosses. I don't have the power to say, 'OK, well, now I want a show at eight o'clock every night, so that's what I'm gonna do'.") But it's also never a good idea to put a showbiz suit in front of the camera anyway, unless that executive has the charm and charisma of a Brandon Tartikoff (and even he had the good sense to know that a little of himself went a long way). Cohen is uber-awful. He's Mr. Tries Too Hard because he must know he lacks the chops. Not only can't he referee a group, he's worse when attempting to interview: his questions are inchoate, he never asks follow-ups, and he's uncomfortable to watch. I'm certainly not the first person to think this, and I won't be the last. Enough already. Cohen's bosses needed to keep him confined to the Internet where he can't do any harm and leave on-air hosting to the pros.

As usual, Vanity Fair's James Wolcott elegantly sums up the issue at hand regarding that creepy blogger email I reported: read his commentary here.

New Info Throughout: It's always an event when she comes out with a film, since she's one of the few Hollywood actresses still consistently able to open a pic these days. But can Jodie Foster do it again with The Brave One which received only mixed reviews? Problem is, this is a dark R-rated morality tale / revenge pic and not the wider appeal PG-13 thriller Flightplan was. I say The Brave One's box office prospects are more on the order of Foster's similarly feminist themed The Accused from 1988. Worse is the way The Brave One has been promoted: producer Joel Silver has taken to calling it a “muscular chick flick” which I think is a huge mistake. Not only are chick flicks failing at the box office, unless they're of the lite variety like The Devil Wears Prada, Warner Bros still can't market anything except big bloated blockbusters. All of the above is why my box office gurus expect The Brave One to finish the weekend No. 1, but, while some see a $20 mil domestic gross from 2,755 theaters, others expect only high teens ($17 mil). That's still enough to put Foster head and shoulders above that other Oscarwinner Nicole Kidman box office-wise. The analysts say Lionsgate's 3:10 To Yuma in 2,667 dates should keep a good -40% hold on its audience for #2. In the third spot should sit yet another new bomb from New Line, the PG-13 horribly reviewed Mr. Woodcock with Billy Bob Thornton, lucky to reach $10 mil from 2,231 venues though one of my analysts thinks it won't get past $6 mil. "This is a huge disaster since I udnerstand that the film had major reshoots and ended up costing around $45 million," he told me. "Given the genre and cast it won't do anything in foreign so it's a big writedown for New Line." (And, I have to ask, why in the world is Oscarwinner Susan Sarandon in this piece of crap?) Sony's Superbad should take 4th place starting its 5th week in release in fewer dates, only 2,910. But it could have competition from Dragon Wars optimistically projected to make $4.5 mil in 2,269 venues.

Promising newcomers whose performance is worth watching are Focus Features' well-received Eastern Promises starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen under the direction of David Cronenberg playing in only 14 theaters, and Paul Haggis' Oscar touted In The Valley Of Elah, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Charlize Theron, which Warner Independent is platforming in 9 runs. Meanwhile, there's the expected mixed reception to Julie Taymor's Across The Universe romantic musical told through Beatles songs (since Sony controls that catalogue) which opens in 23 theaters this weekend. Much was made of the pre-release brawling between Taymor, producer Joe Roth of Revolution Studios, and distributor Sony over the length and content of the pic. (See my own story about it, Across An Alternate Universe.) As one insider told me, "She only cut four minutes. So everybody lost." Finally, The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere is only widening to 40 theatres this weekend. I'm told it was supposed to go to 600 "but given last week's opening it appears that The Weinstein Co is dumping the film," an analyst tells me.

SATURDAY (9/15)
 

Night Before Party
The Lawn at Century Park
6:00 pm
 

BAFTA/LA
Wattles Mansion (Hollywood)
2-5 pm
 

Entertainment Weekly
Opera and Crimson
8:00 pm
 

NBC
Spago
8:30pm
 

SUNDAY (9/16)

ET / People Magazine
7:30 pm
Disney Concert Hall
 

HBO
Immediately following ceremony
Pacific Design Center
 

FBC
Immediately following ceremony
Spago
 

TV Guide
Immediately following ceremony
Les Deux
 

Comedy Central
Following Award Show
The Falcon                         
7213 Sunset Blvd  
 

DirecTV
Following Award Show
692 N. Robertson Blvd.                          

Because of the Jewish holiday and my personal business, DHD posting will not be 24/7 until Monday. In the meantime, email me your tips...

So I gotta ask: Why? Has the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences lost its collective mind? The Oscar broadcast drew just 38.9 million viewers on Jon Stewart's watch in 2006. That number was smaller than the 39.9 million drawn by this year's ceremony hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. (Compare both to the 55 million who tuned in for Billy Crystal back in 1998. Those were the good old days.) I was on the radio that Oscar morning in 2006 and Australian Broadcasting Corp. said they'd never heard of Jon Stewart and asked me to explain who he is. Great host choice for international audiences. Now AMPAS is choosing him -- again -- to host their 80th awards on February 24th? Here's what I wrote about his Academy Award gig back in 2006, Why Jon Bombed:

"At least Jon Stewart admitted he was a poor choice to host the Oscars, given that his film experience amounted to little more than 'the fourth male lead from Death to Smoochy.' That filmed bit of schtick at the start of the telecast underscored how hard it is to get a decent host for this nightmare of a show. So it was inevitable that he'd bomb. And, yes, bomb he did. He looked nervous and edgy, his timing was way off, his standup ran in super slow-mo, and his jokes flatlined. What's more, he didn't even try to make excuses for the movie industry; instead, he acknowledged, 'Let's face the fact that this has not been the best year for Hollywood.' Especially when they can't get a better host than you, Jon-boy. Even his sharp political humor, what little there was of it, was dull. He slammed the Democrats twice, and told only one Cheney joke. (That got his biggest laugh.) He didn't lay a glove on Bush, and what's up with that? Isn't that why we tuned in, to see Mr. Liberal get himself in trouble with the Red State Right? Then he sets up what starts out like a winner, noting how 'a lot of people say this town is too liberal...out of touch with Mainstream America...a moral black hole where innocence is obliterated in an orgy of sexual gratification and greed...' But then he ends with, 'I don't really have a joke here.' Why not, for chrissakes? Didn't this gig pay you to write punch lines? Hang on, even Jon just told the audience he's a 'loser.' Well put, at least for tonight."

Hollywood has no institutional memory. One of the reasons that the vast majority of its execs aren’t in therapy, and should be, is because they don’t want to talk about the past even if it’s prologue. They’re purposefully amnesiac. Otherwise, they’d have to confront the lunatic decisions they make over and over again (since repeating the same behavior and expecting different results is one definition of insanity). Which is why I want to revisit Summer 2007 whose $4.18 billion worth of threequels and blockbusters smashed the May 1st through Labor Day domestic box office gross record. (Not adjusted for inflation or ticket prices, however, which is why Hollywood stats have as many asterisks these days as does baseball.) It’s not that Hollywood denizens started doing everything right. It’s more like they just started doing less things wrong. The product is still terrible. The process is still tainted. The system is still broken. Feed it with praise and its players will never engage in the introspection necessary to ask, “What the hell are we doing even playing this rotten game?” So let me review what Hollywood learned during its summer vacation:

Don’t make threequels with cast and director intact: So the first Spider-Man and Pirates Of The Caribbean and Rush Hour were humongous hits. And the sequels made even more moolah than the originals primarily because original stars Tobey Maguire, Johnny Depp and Chris Tucker were on board as well as repeat helmers Sam Raimi, Gore Verbinski and, yes, even Brett Ratner. The consistency certainly helped make the pics into profitable franchises in the first place. But by the time the threequels rolled around, the budgets became as bloated as the talent's salaries. Chris Tucker shook down New Line for a new pay record on Rush Hour 3, while Brett Ratner brought the studio to its knees when he went wildly overbudget. And both Spidey 3 and Pirates 3 broke the $300 mil cost barrier not counting marketing costs. Then again, directors Raimi and Verbinski respectively were allowed to do pretty much anything they wanted, even making absurdly ass-numbingly long pics, because the studios were so desperate to keep the franchises going. No one wants to get off the gravy train, but if the fourquels are ever going to see the light of day, hire hungrier helmers whom the studios can more easily bludgeon into obedience and/or hotter younger stars to freshen the franchises.

Don’t make expensive comedies: The whole point of greenlighting laughers is supposed to be because they’re cheap. They’re the K-Mart of motion pictures, not the Neiman Marcus (aka Needless Mark-Up). Judd Apatow’s Knocked Up cost only $30 mil. His Superbad was only $20 mil. Constrast that to Evan Almighty’s $210 mil. If a comedy has to rely on CGI for humor instead of spittakes and pratfalls, don’t make that script.

Don’t go after the religious market: There’s no surer guarantee of box office disaster than to make a movie aimed at appealing to The Passion Of The Christ audience. Look, that pic evolved from Mel Gibson’s deeply felt religious beliefs – not from a pitch meeting. Universal moguls dragged out every trick in the Christian playbook to Hail Mary make and market Evan Almighty's tired Noah’s Ark retelling. But the Passion crowd wants stories based on the New Testament. Heathen Hollywood didn’t comprehend that.

Don’t forget that the toys are more important than the toons: Granted, summer kiddie matinees are one of Hollywood’s most profitable traditions. But Sony still lost $50 mil on its underperforming Surf’s Up animated pic this summer. Then again, Pixar films have lost their magic and each keeps earning less than the previous one. At least last summer’s Cars was a merchandising bonanza. Not so with this summer’s Ratatouille because even Disney can't market a kitchen rat. I still don’t understand why Remy wasn’t transformed into Lucy Lapin or Gary Grenouille.

Don’t expect niche audience pics to gross over $200 mil: One of the reasons so many tentpoles did so well this summer is that they appealed simultaneously to several generations of moviegoers. Of course, wide demos went to see Spidey 3 and Pirates 3 and Shrek The Third. But also Transformers whose toys and toons were first introduced back in 1984. So not only did today’s tykes, tweens and teens want to see the bots battle, but so did guys in their 20s and 30s and 40s for whom nostalgia was the big draw.

Don’t bank on stale mythologies: Just as 300 breathed new life into tiresome toga tales, so did Pirates of the Caribbean provide a fresh take on what long hair, eye makeup and nice jewelry can do for a guy at sea. This summer’s handful of original pics helped reinvent the anti-hero, whether robots or Seth Rogan or EPA head Russ Cargill. Of course, I keep waiting in vain for comic book films to flop, but then I don’t do geek.

Don’t think the public wants torture porn: Gore icon Eli Roth is blaming piracy and critics for his Hostel Part II’s lousy box office, warning that the R-rated horror film is in serious jeopardy. But he got it all wrong even before the summer started when he wished in interviews that "hopefully we'll get to a point where there are absolutely no restrictions on any kind of violence in movies”. Horror flicks are alive and well as long as they don’t venture into torture porn hell. Problem is, Hollywood filmmakers are such an inbred bunch that they make films more for each other than for the audience so they always want to push the boundaries set by their rivals. In the case of torture porn, don’t. It’s icky.

Don’t believe in summer counterprogramming: The chances were nil that an adult-oriented downer movie like A Mighty Heart could do well, especially when sexy star Angelina Jolie dresses down and dons a horrible wig, if the alternatives at the megaplex are super robots, super heroes and super sperm. Talk about idiocy. Release those small, important, politically-themed Oscar hopeful films in the fall.

Don’t make chick flicks that even chicks won’t go to see: When I saw the ads for Evening and Georgia Rule and No Reservations and Lucky You, I gagged. Hey, I love a good romance,. But don’t stretch credulity and cast a real-life glamour gal like Catherine Zeta-Jones as a working single mother with boyfriend problems.

Don’t make movies starring Lindsay Lohan: This summer provided proof her act has worn thin. Moviegoers gave an "F" to Lindsay Lohan's horror flick I Know Who Killed Me. And 70-year-old Jane Fonda beat the 20-year-old head-to-head at the box office while starring in the same movie when exit polls showed 53% of the audience for Georgia Rule went to see Jane Fonda (even though she was channeling her father Henry), and only 34% went to see Lindsay Lohan (whose price quote sank by half after this summer).

Don’t make commercial movies with Nicole Kidman: When John Cusack can open a horror film (1408), and Nicole can’t (The Invasion), this actress has officially become box office poison. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Nicole should be paying film companies to hire her, not the other way around. I don’t care if she can act: she’s the female equivalent of Sean Penn. Let her finance her own films from now on.

Don’t think you can skate with a lousy trailer: Ads will always be the bedrock of a movie’s marketing campaign, and they’ve never been more important because of all the competition and clutter. Rush Hour 3 and I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry would have been stillborn had it not been for summer trailers funnier than the pics themselves. Stardust and Balls of Fury had terrible trailers and were flops at the box office.

Don’t forget that Judd Apatow is officially now a mogul: More bowing and scraping to him is therefore called for. And a bigger bonus than the $1 mil Universal forked over. I hear Amy Pascal is serious about having Sony buy him his own country.

Don’t expect the international box office to save Hollywood summers forever: Yeah, French and Russian TV sucks worse than NBC. But one of these days, and probably sooner rather than later, entertainment choices in Bolivia and Bahrain will become as myriad as those in the U.S., and foreigners will find better ways to amuse themselves than sitting through American crap like Daddy Day Camp.

With the success of this summer's Harry Potter And The Order of the Phoenix, Warner Bros announced today that its five Harry Potter films have combined to become the top-grossing film franchise worldwide in history. It surpasses even the box office total of all 22 James Bond and 6 Star Wars franchises, with two films yet to come -- Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The combined worldwide box office gross for the five Harry Potter films to date is in excess of $4.47 billion even as The Order Of The Phoenix is still going strong in theaters around the globe. In addition to holding the franchise box office record, all five of the Harry Potter films are among the 20 top-grossing box office hits of all time. The next Harry Potter film, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, will open on November 21, 2008. The seventh and final film, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, is planned for a 2010 release. None of this comes as much of a surprise since the Harry Potter films have truly been a cut above in terms of production and casting with perfect plotting provided by J.K. Rowling. Still, the studio should be congratulated for keeping up the quality. And Warner Bros Entertainment and Universal Orlando Resort have "The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter" coming to Universal’s Islands of Adventure theme park in late 2009.   

At least advertisers are showing they have a conscience, even if Les Moonves continues to demonstrate he doesn't. Advertising Age surveyed CBS' top 10 advertisers and found that half won't support the controversial reality show. Procter & Gamble, General Motors, Ford Motor, Verizon Communications, Pepsi-Cola and Anheuser-Busch all should be rewarded for taking a pass on the series that begins September 19th. (Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson declined to comment, AT&T and GlaxoSmithKline didn't return calls, and National Amusements owns the network.) "Kid Nation is just not in our brand strategy at this point," a GM spokesman told the trade. But when Advertising Age tried to list which advertisers were supporting the program, media buyers refused to name them. Can you spell s-h-a-m-e, boys and girls?

Finke/LA Weekly: A Mogul With No Conscience 

Summer TV is usually a seemingly endless wasteland of network repeats and reality shows. But Summer 2007 gave us some of the best scripted series ever on cable with the return of TNT's The Closer, TBS' The Boys, even USA Network's Monk and Psych. I know newcomers TNT's State Of Grace, Lifetime's Army Wives, Side Order Of Life and State Of Mind have their admirers, but I'm not one of them -- although each of these series is still above average. Instead, like everyone, I jumped on AMC's Mad Men bandwagon for all the obvious reasons: quality production, quality scripts, quality cast. Not only is Jon Hamm mesmerizing as a cross between Clive Owen and Bruce Willis, but Vincent Kartheiser is surprising as Topher Grace's evil twin. Just seeing recurring themes like sexism, anti-Semitism and homophobia from that specific time and place, plus attitudes about adultery, alcohol, smoking and therapy, is a valuable history lesson in how the hell we got into the societal mess we're in today. Funny how inconsequential the actual business of advertising is to the heart of this drama by Sopranos producer Matthew Weiner, but that can rectified during the second season. And there must be a third and fourth sooner rather than later.

My other favorite summer scripted series is USA Networks' Burn Notice which gifts us again with a new and improved Jeffrey Donovan (since he was unwatchable in 2004's Touching Evil) born to play a disaffected spy. Any character written to preen, with a sniper aiming at him, "How Do I Look? Good, right?" and then proffer his jacket's Armani label, is my kind of hero. And, for once, the girlfriend role is not just scribbled in as an afterthought: Gabrielle Anwar -- who knew she could act? -- plays tougher than the guys. Granted the show is an espionage version of Magnum P.I. set in Miami, but it's been the right relief for the summer TV blahs. Since it's also better than anything on NBC's fall schedule except Heroes, I suggest that when Bionic Woman fails, and it will, replace it with Burn Notice. Or Psych. Dead air would even be better.  

UPDATE: Starting Friday night, and intensifying all weekend, I heard the proverbial "word on the street" rumors that George Lane, theater talent agent extraordinaire, is the next to go (or to have gone ... as per the announcement will come eventually) at CAA. He was the reason the tenpercentery started a Gotham office when in March 2003 he stunned Broadway by bolting William Morris as senior VP and changing the legit landscape in terms of agencies. Now CAA weighs in with me and officially denies that Lane is exiting. I'm told Lane is perplexed how the rumors even started. He has long repped some of the top playwrights and directors in New York theater. He heralded a more energetic approach to theater by CAA (which at one point housed its theater agent in the I.M. Pei building's basement). Known as a difficult agent among producers because of his long list of demands, Lane was responsible recently for putting CAA star Julia Roberts in that widely panned revival from his client Richard Greenberg directed by another client Joe Mantello, Three Days Of Rain. Here's a photo of Lane with client from BroadwayWorld.com.

NO BOX OFFICE AMMO: '3:10 To Yuma' Modest #1, 'Shoot Em Up' Dead On Arrival

 

Ang Lee's sexually explicit Lust, Caution was the surprise winner of the 64th Venice Film Festival's Golden Lion For Best Picture today, just two years after he won with Brokeback Mountain. The movie is a World War II thriller set in Shanghai featuring long and sometimes violent sex scenes which Lee has hinted were real. "It is overwhelming, because this movie has taken me to some very difficult places," Lee told the red carpet award ceremony. Brian De Palma, whose Redacted shocked Venice with its brutal reconstruction of the real-life rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl by U.S. soldiers, won the Silver Lion For Best Director. Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, one of six U.S. productions in the 23-strong main competition, took one of two Special Jury Prizes for his conceptual biopic about singer-songwriter Bob Dylan featuring Cate Blanchett who won the Volpi Cup For Best Actress along with Brad Pitt as the surprise winner of the Volpi Cup For Best Actor for his portrayal in The Assassination of Jesse James. The other Special Jury Prize winner was Tunisian-born director Abdellatif Kechiche's drama The Secret of the Grain about immigration. Also awarded was the Golden Lion of the 75th Anniversary to Bernardo Bertolucci. Here are all the Venice awards.

SUNDAY AM: The star power of Russell Crowe and Christian Bale combined with director Jim Mangold helped moviegoers catch Lionsgate's 3:10 To Yuma train for $4.6 million Friday and $5.5 million Saturday at 2,652 theaters. The well reviewed pic's $13.7 mil weekend tally met expectations. But that doesn't put a dent in the pic's $50 mil budget financed by Relativity Media or the $27 mil P & A bought by Lionsgate. "Yuma's real problem is that about half of the audience was 50 or older," an analyst told me today. "That is the kiss of death for an action movie." Not so with The Weinstein Co / MGM's reimagined Halloween, which dropped 65% (-73% Friday alone) despite massive awareness. The horror pic clung to No. 2 with $2.9 mil Friday and $4 mil Saturday from 3,475 venues for a weekend tally of $9.3 mil and new cume of $43.3 mil. No. 3 went to Sony's Judd Apatow low cost, coming of age comedy Superbad which took in $8 mil from 3,069 dates for a good new cume of $103.6 mil starting its 4th week in release. New Line suffered yet another box office disaster as its Shoot 'Em Up underperformed, opening in 4th place Friday and dropping to 6th place by weekend's end with just $5.7 mil from 2,108 plays. What a shame for star Clive Owen. 

Overall, weekend box office was up over the same weekend last year even though movie theaters were somewhat empty. No. 4 was Universal's The Bourne Ultimatum which finished $5.4 mil from 3,010 dates with a new cume starting six weeks out of a hefty $210 mil. In 5th place, the Rogue/ Focus spoof Balls Of Fury eked out $6.1 mil from 3,081 venues. The holdover dropped 47% for a new cume of $24.6 mil. New Line's Rush Hour 3 held on to the 7th spot, making $5.1 mil this weekend from 2,690 venues for a new cume of $128.9 mil. Universal's Rowan Atkinson laugher Mr. Bean's Holiday ended #8 by squeezing out $3.3 mil from 1,778 theaters for a new cume of $25 mil.The Weinstein Co's The Nanny Diaries continues to lag, placing 9th with just $3.2 mil from 2,444 dates and a horrible new cume of $20.8 mil starting its 3rd week in release. And 20th Century Fox's holdover Death Sentence dropped out of the Top 10 altogether in favor of 8 weeks in release Hairpray from New Line: it did $1.7 mil from 1,393 theaters for a new cume of $114.6 mil. Among newcomers, Screen Gems' The Brothers Solomon was DOA with just $525K from 700 dates, while MGM's Richard Gere starrer The Hunting Party did $41K in four plays with the weekend's best per screen average.   

I don't have official confirmation yet but I hear there was a federal judge's decision in that ongoing Friars Club of New York vs Beverly Hills trademark infringement lawsuit. An unofficial source tells me: "Friars Club of New York won, so that means Friars Club of Beverly Hills can not use the Friars name in any way, shape, or form". The bicoastal rift (or is it roast?) has been between the 1904 non-profit New York Friars Club, located on 55th Street as a society for entertainers, and the Friars Club of Beverly Hills, begun as an annex in 1947 and then came under new ownership to be transformed into a for-profit venture. The two venues havn't shared ties in eons but they di share names. According to news reports, the feud began shortly after the then financially strapped Beverly Hills Friars Club was purchased in 2004 by a young pharmaceutical heir. That's when the New York Friars Club sued for trademark infringement in Federal District Court in Los Angeles over the use of the name "Friars". But then a Los Angeles judge ruled that the New York group's trademark violation against the name "Friars" was invalid. While the NY club has struggled as its members get greyer and lured younger members like Jerry Seinfeld and Howard Stern, the Beverly Hills site is still resting on its long ago laurels of late members like Milton Berle and Frank Sinatra. Ironically, the private club is now more vital than its ever been thanks to such marketing tools as an XBox game room and a cigar room and poker nights and other hip activities. It also planned a $10 mil renovation. But the NY Friars Club has history on its side.  

Does this mean Disney can kiss goodbye High School Musical 3 of that ridiculously profitable showbiz, publishing, music, toy etc franchise? Just weeks after High School Musical 2 broke TV records, one of its teen stars, Vanessa Hudgens, apologized to fans today regretting that a nude photograph of her was taken, then leaked onto the Internet. What must Zac Efron think? What must Bob Iger think? (Quick, someone get smelling salts for the Disney prez.) UPDATE: In a statement, Disney indicated it would stick with the star. "Vanessa has apologized for what was obviously a lapse in judgment," said Disney Channel spokeswoman Patti McTeague. "We hope she's learned a valuable lesson." The Disney rep said negotiations for the threequel's cast and creative team continue. My previous: 'High School Musical 2' Breaks TV Records

UPDATED BELOW: Hopefully, this isn't the start of a trend. "As soon as we found out about it, we raised a flag," NY Times' Culture Editor Sam Sifton told me today. He's talking about what The Denver Post did to a rave New York Times review of Julie Delpy's 2 Days In Paris. On August 24th, The Denver Post published Stephen Holden's August 10th review of the pic both in print and online. But not only was the critique abbreviated, its edit seemed to reflect the opposite tone and opinion of the original. So a clearly positive review became a negative one, even down to the headline. As if that weren't enough, The Denver Post then arbitrarily assigned a star rating -- 2 1/2 stars -- to the edited review that reflected the newly negative tone. (The New York Times does not even use star ratings.) Since The Denver Post subscribes to The New York Times syndicate, it had every right to pick up the review. But not to alter it or slap stars on it. Needless to say, Samuel Goldwyn Films went apeshit, claiming that The Denver Post edit impacted the distributor’s box office revenue in that town. I'm told that publicists alerted The New York Times, and the NYT syndicate promptly dealt with The Denver Post. As Sifton explained to me: "Our editors who run the syndicate come down heavily on people who mess around with our prose. In this particular case, it's a drag for the filmmaker. In other cases, it's a drag for our reporters. It's one thing to take a 1,200 word story about government malfeasance and put it in a small town paper six states away. It's something entirely different to cut down a review. But, to the best of my knowledge, someone in the Mile High City got booted about 2 miles up and won't do that again."

UPDATE: I just heard from Ed Smith, the Arts & Entertainment Editor for The Denver Post, in response to my request for his comment. I've edited down his email:

"Yes, we did a run a review of 2 Days in Paris by Stephen Holden of The New York Times. The review was edited, as are most wire reviews that run in our paper because of space. I was contacted by the local agency that represents the studio that released the film, complaining about the fact that the review was edited and that we gave it two and half stars (out of four). The studio complained to The New York Times wire service and culture editor at the Times about the editing of the review... On reflection, I probably was too harsh in my reading of Holden's review, and it probably should have been a three star review at least. I ran the entire, unedited review on our website and removed the stars from the posted version. We also decided that in the future when running wire reviews we will not award stars unless the originating newspaper did so and that is a practice we've put into effect."

Welcome to Fall 2007's first official weekend prediction. Lionsgate's 3:10 to Yuma has that incredibly interesting pairing of Russell Crowe and Christian Bale with director James Mangold, but it's causing consternation among my box office gurus. They agree it should be the No. 1 pic, but pessimists are predicting only a $10 mil debut from 2,652 theaters. Even optimists note that, while the tracking to them suggests a generous $12.5 mil opening (and even that is hardly OK for a $50 mil film with over $30 mil in P & A), Yuma's "awareness" number is "disproportionately small. Not a good sign." My analysts predict that MGM / The Weinstein Co's Labor Day record setting holdover, Halloween, should drop a gigantic -70% and muster $8 mil or so from 3,475 runs. Sony's Superbad in 3,069 dates should come in around $7 mil or $8 mill. As for New Line's ridiculous Shoot 'Em Up playing in 2,108 venues, I'm told to expect only $6 mil to $7 mil.

Just when I think I've seen it all... comes this email from Hollywood-Elsewhere.com blogger Jeff Wells to 3:10 To Yuma director James Mangold. I've authenticated it, and I've shortened it (because so much of it is incomprehensible filmspeak). But I am truly sickened that Wells spends the 2nd paragraph begging Mangold to, well, see for yourself. I understand that the director was appalled by the email. As all of Hollywood should be:

From: Jeffrey Wells
August 9, 2007 9:54:59 AM PDT
To: James Mangold
Subject: 3:10 to Yuma notes

Jim,
I'm just gonna be upfront with you, pardner, and tell ya right straight I can't get on the 3:10 to Yuma train and ride shotgun this time. Not like I did with Walk the Line, I mean. Not 100% anyway. It's clearly above-average and sometimes way above average but that ending....hoowee. Crowe [edited out because of spoilers]. Christian Bale is superb -- one of his career best -- and Crowe is high-end exceptional as always, and I greatly respect Bale's angry older son. A very good actor. DiCaprio-strength emoting. What's his name again? Don't bother -- I'll figure it out.

I am on my knees, Mr. Mangold, saying thank you, thank you and thank you again for persuading Vinessa Shaw to do her first flat-out, boob-baring nude scene. I was in heaven as Crowe drew her on his notepad. Please tell me there's somebody on the Yuma team who can slip me some stills of the shooting that day... please. I'm serious. I know you think like I do in this respect, so please ... as one good hombre to another ... you don't have to be the guy who passes along the stills. Just tell the still photographer or the editor or whomever caught her as she posed. I'm not a sleazebag either -- I don't pass along stills to the Mr. Skin crowd or my friends. This would be just for my, myself & I.  At the very least it would be great to grab some frame captures from the film itself. Or some unused footage of Shaw and Crowe doing whatever. Out-takes, perhaps.

I was hoping this would be akin to Open Range, a movie that really and truly seemed to have been made in the 1890s [contd....]

Since I'm mixed on your film it would be best for you and yours if I waited to say anything until just before it opens. I don't want to hurt anyone or anything. I respect you and what you've done, but it just didn't ring my bell like Walk the Line did... sorry.  Although I really and truly do like a lot of things about it.  Many things, really.  That whole middle section is almost pure pleasure.
Jeffrey Wells

And here is Jeff Wells' response after I asked for his explanation:

Nikki,
Yeah, Nikki, I have a comment -- it was seriously scummy of you to have run an off-the-cuff, one-guy-to-another letter about wanting to get a jump on photos of a hot actress that may or may not turn up on Mr. Skin a few weeks or months down the road. I'm going to pass along a major shocker to you, but you'd better sit down first. Ready? Guys like naked women -- actresses, amateurs, Helmut Newton models, French politicians..anywhere and under almost any circumstance. They dream about naked women, compare notes about naked women, ogle pictures of naked women. I think it's icky to loudly proclaim such interests, why is why I confine my enthusiasms along these lines to guys I know and (ahem) trust.

Vinessa Shaw, as it happens, has long inspired unmentionable thoughts on my part -- unmentionable, I should say, except when it comes to you and your column. Anyway, I was sitting at my desk one afternoon and thinking about that brief nude-sketching scene between she and Russell Crowe in 3:10 To Yuma was the bees knees, so I [edited for legal reason] asked him if there were any grabbable stills or hot outtakes (pant, pant). I really don't see what the big effin' deal is, except for your having posted a private e-mail that had nothing to do with anything except a surge of hormonal intemperance on my part that -- silly me -- I trusted would stay in Mangold's e-mail box.

One other point -- you're a good aggressive reporter so you should always ask yourself "why?" when you've been sent something like this. As in who benefits and who's angry at me about what thing I've recently written? You don't have to answer this question, but you way want to kick it around in your spare time. 

Let me say in conclusion that I will continue to celebrate the notion of naked women, enjoy pictures of naked women, go to movies with female nude scenes and otherwise express all those appalling libidinal dream-notions that absolutely required publishing this brilliant, earth-shaking expose on Deadline Hollywood Daily. Although I probably won't be sharing them with James Mangold any time soon.
Jeffrey Wells

Back on August 9th, I reported the rumors that Bart Walker had been fired from CAA. And again, on August 22nd, I reported the more specific rumor that the New York agent was leaving CAA to join indie prince John Sloss. Of course, a CAA partner swore up and down to me that none of this was happening. I told him I didn't believe him. Well, I was right: Walker today departed CAA to join Sloss as a partner in film sales agency Cinetic Media. The partners will launch a new talent management division, Cinetic Management. "We see Cinetic as a new kind of service company, one that will create innovative structures that benefit filmmakers as well as financiers so that their creative and economic goals are realized," Cinetic founder Sloss and Walker said in a joint statement. "Cinetic's move into management is a strong step in the direction of bringing artists into close proximity with ownership, finance, sales and distribution." Walker headed the motion picture division of ICM's NY office until he went to CAA in 2004. His most famous indie client Sofia Coppola has lost momentum as has Julie Taymor so it's not clear which of his clients will follow him. So why did Walker's move take so long? Well, CAA has this habit of placing its discarded agents around the Industry to make it look as if everything is amicable. In turn, the grateful peon is pathetically beholden to the agency for not being humiliated.

1. CAA Denies Rumors About Bookie & Bart
2. Bonus Time Won't Be Happy Time At CAA

The Hollywood candidate is going to announce his candidacy for U.S. President on a Hollywood show. And he's a Republican. Go figure. I'll have a lot more to say about this, but for now know that Law & Order's Fred Thompson will begin his White House bid Wednesday night on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno after skipping a Republican debate in New Hampshire. His campaign manager is telling new outlets that “it makes a lot of sense” for Thompson to appear on Leno instead of at the GOP debate because the candidate will reach “everyday normal Americans who don’t live in the 202 area code”. Nice scoop for Leno. But don't let Fred off the hook, Jay. Among other questions, ask him how he's going to run the country if his campaign is in turmoil (three communications directors already) before it even officially begins.

Meanwhile, David Letterman had on Hillary Clinton last week and Bill Clinton Tuesday night. The Hillary interview was a snooze. But Dave asked Bill if he could be Hill's vice president. Bill, who's hawking a new book on global charity, said: "I just don’t believe it’s consistent with the spirit of the Constitution for someone who’s been President twice to be elected Vice President. I don’t think it’s right and I wouldn’t want to do that. I’d want to do whatever I could do to be of highest and best use for her, but there are lots of wonderful people out there, including all the people that are running this time, [who] would be good Vice Presidents.”

1. Finke/LA Weekly: Does Mr. Middle-Of-The-Road Lean Left?
2. Finke/LA Weekly: Dave The Brave

Give me a day to get the site back to normal. Lots of stuff to post Thursday...

MONDAY AM: Overall, the top films for the Labor Day weekend made $141.6 mil, which smashed 2003's previous record of $132.2 mil and did 15% better than 2006's $123 mil. That's going to cause Hollywood to take a fresh look at releasing a lot more new product during this 4-day holiday which studios have traditionally shunned. The holiday was in keeping with what I've already reported: that Summer 2007's over-heated overall domestic gross set a new all-time record (though not adjusted for inflation or ticket prices). Media By Numbers puts the May 1st through September 3rd figure at $4.180 billion -- compared to $3.850 billion for 2006 and $3.95 billion for 2004. Revenue is up 8.57% and attendance up 3.82% over last year. Not only was this Hollywood's first $4 billion summer, but it crossed 600 million tickets sold for the first time since 2004 (though not close to the 653 million tickets sold during the Summer of 2002).

Moviegoers flocked to the three decades old Michael Myers horror franchise as the reimagined Halloween debuted to $11.1 mil on Friday and $8.6 million on Saturday and $6.9 million on Sunday at 3,472 theaters. The R-rated pic directed by Rob Zombie and based on the chilling 1978 original made a better than expected $26.7 mil for the 3-day weekend and should climb to $33.3 mil for the 4-day Friday through Labor Day. It's the biggest pure horror or thriller opening of the year, ahead of Disturbia and TWC's own 1408. That's also a new record for biggest Labor Day holiday 3- and 4-day domestic gross as well as biggest Friday gross for a Labor Day holiday (previous best Labor Day weekend opening was Transporter 2 with $20.1 mil, non-opening was Sixth Sense with $29.1 mil). As I'd predicted, the so-called ninequel did collapse 23% Saturday once audiences got wind of the terrible buzz. Still, it's a rare and welcome Dimension Film hit for embattled The Weinstein Co and distributor MGM, which is sick of getting fleas from TWC's many dogs.) No. 2 was Sony's low-cost coming of age comedy Superbad, falling out of the top spot for the first time since its release three weeks ago. The Judd Apatow-produced laugher made $3.4 mil Friday and $4.2 mil Saturday and $4.7 mil Sunday from an expanded run of 3,002 for a $12.3 mil 3-day weekend. Its 4-day holiday is $15.6 mil and its cume surged past $92.1 mil.

Rogue Pictures / Focus Features' Balls Of Fury, with a marketing campaign unfunny to the extreme despite the presence of Christopher Walken, limped into 3rd place with an opening of $3.4 mil Friday and $4.1 mil Saturday (up 20%) and $4.7 mil Sunday from 3,052 dates for a new 3-day weekend gross of $11.3 mil and 4-day holiday of $13.8 mil. The other newcomer to crack the Top 10 was 20th Century Fox's Death Sentence starring Kevin Bacon: it debuted in 8th place for the 3-day weekend of $4.2 mil from 1,822 theaters, but fell to 9th for the 4-day holiday of $5.2 mil.

No. 4 went to Universal's The Bourne Ultimatum with a hefty new cume of $202.6 mil after squeezing out another $10.3 mil for the 3-day weekend and $13.1 mil for the 4-day holiday from 3,290 venues. Overseas, the Matt Damon strarrer stayed strong for an estimated $15.1 mil at 2,404 dates in 31 territories and a new international total of $75 mil. It had No. 1 openings in 6 territories including Australia where it is dominating the market with 60% market share. But it was DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third that ruled at the international box office in the final summer weekend with $17.2 million. Brett Ratner's Rush Hour 3 from New Line has made $122.5 mil after its $8.5 mil 3-day weekend and $10.4 mil 4-day holiday from 3,008 plays -- good enough for #5.

In 6th place sits Rowan Atkinson's Mr. Bean's Holiday after the Universal laugher eked out $5.9 mil for the 3-day weekend and $8.1 mil for the 4-day holiday from 1,765 venues for a new cume of $21.1 mil. The 7th spot went to The Weinstein Co's slacker The Nanny Diaries with Scarlett Johannson. After a paltry $5.2 mil 3-day weekend and $6.7 mil 4-day holiday from 2,636 dates, this MGM-distributed pic's new cume is a disastrous $16.8 mil. War from Lionsgate starring Jet Li dropped a whopping 71% at the box office Friday compared to its opening a week ago: its new cume is a disappointing $18.1 mil after finishing the 3-day weekend in #9 with $4.2 mil and moving up to #8 for the 4-day holiday with $5.3 mil. Finishing the Top 10, Paramount's romantic fantasy Stardust hung in for a 3-day weekend of $3 mil and a predicted 4-day holiday of $3.9 mil from 1,766 runs; but its new cume starting four weeks in release is just $31.9 mil, thus cementing its status as a flop.