Carrey's 'Christmas Carol' wraps up $31M weekend

LOS ANGELES – Jim Carrey's Scrooge collected holiday donations from movie fans with his new take on "A Christmas Carol," which took in $31 million to open as the weekend's top movie.

The Disney animated version of the Charles Dickens classic knocked the King of Pop out of the No. 1 spot as "Michael Jackson's This Is It" slipped to second place with $14 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Sony's "This Is It," presenting rehearsal performances Jackson shot before his death last June, raised its domestic total to $57.9 million. Worldwide, "This Is It" has taken in $186.5 million.

Featuring Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge and also as the three holiday ghosts that show Scrooge the error of his miserly ways, "A Christmas Carol" came in on the low end of Disney's expectations for opening weekend.

On the other end of the spectrum, Lionsgate's acclaimed drama "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire" had a spectacular start, pulling in $1.8 million in just 18 theaters, averaging $100,000 a cinema. That compares with an $8,418 average for "A Christmas Carol" in 3,683 theaters.

"Precious" had a record average for films opening in 10 or more theaters. Others that have averaged $100,000 or more typically debut in only a few cinemas.

The weekend brought a rush of other new movies, led by George Clooney's comedy "The Men Who Stare at Goats," which finished at No. 3 with $13.3 million. The Overture Films release is a satiric look at U.S. military efforts to create "warrior monks" who can predict the future or walk through walls.

Debuting in fourth place with $12.5 million was Universal's "The Fourth Kind," starring Milla Jovovich as a psychologist studying alien abductions in Alaska.

Cameron Diaz and James Marsden's sci-fi tale "The Box" opened at No. 6 with $7.9 million. The Warner Bros. thriller centers on a couple given a mysterious box that can provide them $1 million, but at the cost of a stranger's life.

With nearly two months of playing time through the holidays, Disney is counting on steady business for "A Christmas Carol," particularly over Thanksgiving weekend and in the buildup to Christmas itself.

"You have to play these things for the long term," said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution. "You've got to have the patience and you've got to pick the right weekend. For us, the days when the malls turned to Christmas stores is when we wanted to go."

Director Robert Zemeckis shot the movie using the same performance-capture technology used on his 2004 holiday offering "The Polar Express." Carrey and his co-stars acted on a bare soundstage as digital cameras caught their performances, with computer animators later adding costumes, sets, props and other effects.

"A Christmas Carol" came in ahead of "Polar Express," which had an opening weekend of $23.5 million. But it fell well short of the $55.1 million opening for Carrey's previous holiday tale, "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in 2000.

Holiday-themed films tend to hold up well through the season, among them Disney's "The Santa Clause" comedies. After its modest start, "The Polar Express" went on to become a $160 million hit by the end of its run and has become a holiday perennial in rereleases in huge-screen IMAX theaters.

"A Christmas Carol" did three-fourths of its business in theaters showing 3-D versions. Huge-screen IMAX theaters, which represented only 5 percent of the theater count, accounted for $4.5 million, or 14.5 percent, of the movie's total gross, said Greg Foster, IMAX chairman and president.

"Precious," which won the top awards at last January's Sundance Film Festival, stars newcomer Gabourey Sidibe as a Harlem teen who gradually rises above an upbringing of incest, abuse and illiteracy.

After Sundance, Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry signed on as executive producers, helping to spread the word on "Precious," which has earned acclaim from critics and audiences at other film festivals. The film has Academy Awards buzz as a best-picture contender, along with Oscar prospects for Sidibe, co-star Mo'Nique and director Lee Daniels.

The movie started in only four cities — New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Chicago. Lionsgate plans to expand it this Friday to five more — Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Dallas and Houston, then take it into wide release Nov. 20.

"A lot of movie-goers are not happy with the release plan right now, because it's not in their cities yet," said David Spitz, head of distribution for Lionsgate. "That's always a good sign."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "A Christmas Carol," $31 million.

2. "Michael Jackson's This Is It," $14 million.

3. "The Men Who Stare at Goats," $13.3 million.

4. "The Fourth Kind," $12.5 million.

5. "Paranormal Activity," $8.6 million.

6. "The Box," $7.9 million.

7. "Couples Retreat," $6.4 million.

8. "Law Abiding Citizen," $6.2 million.

9. "Where the Wild Things Are," $4.2 million.

10. "Astro Boy," $2.6 million.

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Michael Jackson father seeks monthly allowance

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Michael Jackson's father is seeking money from his late son's estate to help him meet monthly living expenses estimated at more than 15,000 dollars, court papers filed in Los Angeles have revealed.

A motion filed on behalf of Joe Jackson on Friday argued that the administrators of the pop star's estate should have set up an allowance similar to the one established for the singer's mother Katherine.

The papers argued that the administrators, John Branca and John McClain, knew that Michael Jackson had financially supported his father for decades.

Joe Jackson, 81, receives 1,700 dollars a month in Social Security payments, according to the documents. He has diabetes and had a stroke in 1998.

A proposed monthly budget in the court papers lists more than 15,000 dollars in expenses, including 1,500 dollars for rent, 2,500 dollars for restaurants and 5,000 dollars for hotels and air travel.

"This court should exercise its sound discretion to award Mr. Jackson a family allowance because Michael Jackson actually supported him during his lifetime and he does not have other sources for support," the papers state.

A lawyer for Branca and McClain told the Los Angeles Times they were aware of Joe Jackson's bid for money.

"It was quite surprising to learn of the request. Mr. Jackson's petition will be considered as are all requests for money from Michael's estate," lawyer Howard Weitzman told the paper.

Judge Mitchell Beckloff previously approved nearly 30,000 dollars in payments to Katherine Jackson each month and another 60,000-dollar monthly payment for the care of the singer's three children.

Katherine Jackson lives in Los Angeles and Joe Jackson resides in Las Vegas. Michael Jackson had a difficult relationship with his father, who he accused of physically abusing him and his brothers during the early years of their career.

Joe Jackson was left out of Jackson's 2002 will which divided his multi-million-dollar estate.

Michael Jackson, 50, died from a prescription drug overdose on June 25. A criminal investigation into his death is continuing.

Joe Jackson seeks stipend from Michael's estate

LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson's father is seeking an allowance from his son's estate to help cover expenses that exceed $15,000 a month, according to court documents filed Friday.

The request seeking an unspecified amount for Joe Jackson was filed by lawyer Brian Oxman, who said there was no apparent reason for the administrators of the estate to not seek an allowance for the Jackson family patriarch.

Michael Jackson's 2002 will, however, omitted any mention of his father. The two had an often-strained relationship, and Michael Jackson said at one point that he would get physically sick — as a child and as an adult — at the sight of his father.

The singer's private trust calls for money to be paid to his mother, Katherine, his three young children, and various charities.

A judge has approved more than $26,000 in payments to Katherine Jackson each month, and a $60,000 monthly payment for the care of the children.

The latest court documents said Joe Jackson receives a $1,700 monthly Social Security payment and had relied on his son for support for many years.

"He does not have a regular or steady source of income, and he was dependent upon the money provided by his son, Michael Jackson, through his wife, Katherine Jackson, for his support," the filing stated.

"It was quite surprising to learn of the request," Howard Weitzman, an attorney for the administrators of Jackson's estate, said in a statement. "Mr. Jackson's petition will be considered as are all requests for money from Michael's estate."

Joe Jackson suffers from diabetes and had a stroke in 1998, the filing stated.

A former steelworker, he managed and trained his children and organized the Jackson 5. He has been married to Katherine Jackson for 50 years, but he lists his home in Las Vegas. She lives at a family home in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles.

The filings are inconsistent in several places, listing Joe Jackson's age as 80 in one place and 81 in another. A declaration states his monthly expenses exceed $20,000 a month, but an itemized list only includes slightly more than $15,000.

That list includes $1,200 a month on rent for his Las Vegas home; $2,500 to eat out; $1,000 on entertainment, gifts and vacations; $2,000 on air travel and $3,000 on hotels.

A phone message left for Oxman was not immediately returned.

A judge on Friday denied Joe Jackson's petition for an expedited hearing on the matter.

A hearing is scheduled for early 2010 at which time the payments to Katherine Jackson may be re-evaluated.

"The Mentalist" sold into syndication at TNT

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – The Simon Baker crime drama "The Mentalist," which just began its second season on CBS, has netted a rich off-network syndication deal with TNT.

The cable network will start airing reruns in fall 2011.

The show is said to have fetched more than $2 million an episode, a broadcast-series record, but neither TNT nor syndicator Warner Bros. Domestic TV Distribution would comment.

"The Mentalist" was the top new series last season, and has been a solid performer this fall in its new Thursday 10 p.m. slot.

But the economic downturn and a glut of procedurals have pushed off-network prices down from the heights of late 2004, when Spike TV shelled out a record $1.9 million an episode for CBS' "CSI: NY." That was followed by the USA Network/Bravo pact for "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" for just shy of $2 million an episode and the current record-holder, A&E's deal for "The Sopranos," valued at $2.5 million an episode.

By comparison, last year, another solidly performing CBS procedural, "Criminal Minds," was sold to A&E and ION for a combined license fee of about $850,000 an episode.

On TNT, a corporate sibling of the show's producer Warner Bros. TV, "Mentalist" will join a slate of off-network procedurals that includes "Law & Order," "Bones" and fellow CBS series "Without a Trace," "Cold Case" and "Numbers."

Created by Bruno Heller, "Mentalist" stars Baker as an independent consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation who solves crimes using razor-sharp observation skills.

With its light tone and quirky central character, "Mentalist" had been considered a good fit for USA, which is said to have been interested. But the show might have been considered too similar to that network's original series "Psych."

TNT has been an active buyer of late. The network also recently acquired the Warner Bros.-produced cop drama "Southland" after it was canceled by NBC.

Meryl Streep's daughter gets first Hollywood break

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Meryl Streep's daughter Grace Gummer is set to star in a television drama about the chaotic life of being a Hollywood "It" kid, marking Gummer's first big break into the acting industry.

Gummer, 23, will play a 17 year-old daughter of a famous celebrity couple in "Gigantic" a fictional series for TeenNick described as a coming-of-age story among the Los Angeles elite that skewers star-making promotional machinery, Nickelodeon said on Wednesday.

Actor Joe Mantegna's daughter Gia, 19, who grew up in Los Angeles, will also star in the series, which is set to premiere on youth-oriented TeenNick in early 2010.

"Our audience loves celebrity and pop culture, and Gigantic gives them a unique, relatable teen perspective on a world they rarely get to see," said Marjorie Cohn an executive vice president at Nickelodeon.

Gummer is the third of Oscar-winner Streep's four children with husband Don Gummer. Streep, who lives in New York, has largely kept her children out of the celebrity spotlight, but Grace appeared on the New York stage in November 2008 in a dark comedy called "The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents".

Her older sister Mamie Gummer, 26, had small roles in the 2009 film "Taking Woodstock" and HBO mini-series "John Adams."

Kirstie Alley takes weight-loss battle back to TV

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Kirstie Alley is to parlay her lengthy weight-loss battle into a U.S. TV series for what the actress called in a Tuesday Twitter message a "very funny docu about me losing weight, raising unpretentious kids, and biz."

The untitled reality show, to be aired on the A&E cable network next year, will follow Alley's life as a single mom at home with her teenage children as she launches a new weight-loss program.

Alley, 58, starred in the TV comedy "Cheers" and in the satirical 2005 show "Fat Actress" about an overweight actress trying to make her way in diet-obsessed Hollywood.

Her weight had then ballooned to about 200 lbs (91 kg) and she was later hired as the spokeswoman for U.S. weight-loss program Jenny Craig and lost about 75 lbs (34 kg) before regaining much of it.

Alley told fans on her Twitter account that she did not like before-and-after weight photos, and said the show would show her real weight loss journey.

"I hope it's not like any real show you've ever seen.. That's my goal.. I hate reality shows, so this outta be a REAL challenge," Alley said.

Oscar screenplay race lacking originality

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Awards season might have an originality issue.

Since it was introduced 70 years ago, the Academy Awards' original screenplay category has been a breeding ground for fresh new voices, launching careers and solidifying the legacy of writers as diverse as Orson Welles, Billy Wilder and Paddy Chayefsky.

But this year the category looks as thin as a supermodel on a crash diet.

The Coen brothers' "A Serious Man," Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" and Bob Peterson's and Tom McCarthy's "Up" are likely near-locks for noms. That leaves two slots, one of which could go to Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber for their quirky breakup story "(500) Days of Summer."

Beyond that, the voters are going to have to look farther afield. Almost certainly vying for attention are the duo behind the "Star Trek" update, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who also count cinematic tour de force "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" among their 2009 credits, though the Academy could qualify it as adapted. (The writers branch will meet in the coming weeks to make rule determinations.)

The field has changed pretty dramatically during the past several decades. The last time Tarantino was nominated (in 1994), he went up against Woody Allen, Richard Curtis and Peter Jackson; this go-round he could end up pitted against "The Hangover" scribe Scott Moore (most recent credit: "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"), who's also jockeying for a spot.

If this were just a down year, that would be one thing. But the lack of established writers is catching the eye of many in the development community as something more permanent.

"I think you can look at the state of the category as a direct result of studios' reliance on known brands and the death of the spec market," says one agent.

Original screenplays used to comprise the bulk of what Hollywood did. But ever since the studios became obsessed with remakes and sequels, there's been a depletion of new plot ideas that might have populated the category.

About the only fresh material these days comes from purely personal stories such as "A Serious Man" and "(500) Days" -- movies that come together only through an alignment of the planets and despite a highly unreceptive climate.

When execs at Sony passed on "(500) Days" -- joining nearly every other studio in doing so -- they asked Neustadter if he and Weber could pen "The Pink Panther 2" instead.

"I was like, really? Have you read our script?" Neustadter recalls (though the pair did end up doing a draft for the "Panther" sequel).

All this would be troubling enough if the Oscars existed independently of the realpolitik of Hollywood. But the current lack of original screenplays might reinforce the negative trend: Studios don't produce many, the Academy doesn't have many to choose from, and then the category loses stature, further disincentivizing studios from greenlighting those types of movies.

Because the category is relatively free of the politics of the acting categories and depends upon a more defined group of voters for its first-round selection than does best picture, original screenplay has an uncanny way of reflecting the movie zeitgeist.

When socially realistic, auteur-driven pictures such as "Chinatown" and "Network" were being cultivated by the studios in the 1970s, they won original screenplay Oscars. When such indie pics as "The Crying Game" and "Fargo" were taking the film world by storm in the 1990s, they won the prizes, signaling and fueling the renaissance of offbeat fare.

This year could see the same. If movies such as "Star Trek" and "Hangover" are in the mix, the current vogue for big-budget remakes and low-budget broad comedies will be reflected. The Welleses and Wilders of today just might be Kurtzman and Orci.

Michael Jackson film dances to No. 1 worldwide

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Michael Jackson's much-hyped concert movie reigned at the worldwide box office on Sunday, but its performance in North America was hardly a thriller.

"This Is It," composed mostly of rehearsal footage recorded in the weeks before the "King of Pop's" death in June, earned an estimated $101 million in the five days since opening globally on Wednesday, distributor Columbia Pictures said.

Moviegoers in the United States and Canada contributed $32.5 million. In the days leading up to its opening, industry forecasters had said it could earn at least $40 million.

Columbia said it had hoped for an opening in the $30 million to $40 million range.

"This has always, always been a worldwide play," said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution at Columbia's parent Sony Corp. "We're very happy with the results domestically, but ecstatic with the worldwide."

Top territories included Japan with $10.4 million, Britain with $7.6 million, Germany with $6.3 million, France with $5.8 million, Australia with $3.6 million and China with $3.2 million.

Rival studios, perhaps looking to put Sony in the hot seat, had been particularly bullish about the film. One executive, requesting anonymity, predicted the film could make $660 million globally during its limited two-week run -- $260 million domestically and $400 million internationally.

Columbia had shied away from issuing global forecasts because of a dearth of comparable concert films. The record for such movies is held by "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus -- Best of Both Worlds," which earned $65 million domestically last year.

The film's prospects were not helped by Halloween, which fell on a Saturday for the first time since 1998, siphoning off a large swathe of potential North American moviegoers on the biggest night of the week.

Columbia said it extended the planned two-week limited run in North America through Thanksgiving (November 29). Foreign territories will extend the run on a case-by-case basis.

The studio paid Jackson's estate and closely held concert promoter AEG about $60 million for the rights, but will deduct the production costs from its tab. As for box office revenues, which are usually split evenly with movie theater owners, Sony will share its haul with the estate and AEG according to a complex, undisclosed formula.

Columbia's sister company, Sony Music, has done much better with Jackson's recordings. His albums have sold more than 5.7 million copies this year in the United States, according to tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan.

For the traditional three-day period, beginning Friday, "This Is It" earned $21.3 million.

Last weekend's North American champ, Paramount Pictures' micro-budget horror flick "Paranormal Activity," slipped to No. 2 with $16.5 million in its sixth weekend, taking its total to $84.8 million. Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc.

No other new releases dared compete with Halloween festivities.

"Glee" cast to get Hollywood diversity award

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The cast of the quirky Fox TV show "Glee" will be presented with a Hollywood diversity award in November for their portrayal of a group of teen oddballs with a passion for song and dance.

The Diversity Awards committee said on Saturday that the "Glee" cast had won the favorite new diverse ensemble cast award for 2009.

The musical comedy series features an array of students in an uncool high school glee club, including a boy in a wheelchair, a geeky girl, a gay student, an Asian and an overweight African-American girl.

"The bunch are determined to overcome the odds and make it to the big time both in high school and the world beyond," the Diversity Awards executive committee said in a statement.

"Twilight"'s Korean-American actor Justin Chon, Nigerian-English-American newcomer Hope Olaide Wilson and Taraji P. Henson -- both stars of the Tyler Perry movie "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" -- are also among those to be honored at the November 22 awards gala.

The Diversity Awards are presented annually by the Multicultural Motion Picture Association to promote story lines, characters and actors of all backgrounds in the Hollywood film and TV industry.

Ryan Seacrest gets restraining order against stalker

LOS ANGELES - Court records show Ryan Seacrest has obtained a temporary restraining order against a man accused of stalking the host of "American Idol."

Seacrest's lawyers obtained the stay-away order Friday, hours after they say Chidi Uzomah was detained at the E! Entertainment Television headquarters in Los Angeles.

The filing claims Uzomah was carrying a knife and was trying to see the popular television and radio host.

Police refused to confirm details about the incident. Jail records reviewed Friday did not indicate 25-year-old Uzomah had been booked.