Sandra Diaz-Twine wins $1 million and a new SUV as final Survivor
NEW YORK (AP) - In a Survivor contest packed with villains and indelible characters, Sandra Diaz-Twine, a mother of two from the Northwest United States, had the staying power to win the television game.
Diaz-Twine beat Lillian Morris, the tearful Scoutmaster from the Cincinnati area, in the final vote revealed during CBS's three-hour finale of Survivor: Pearl Islands on Sunday. An office worker for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Diaz-Twine wins $1 million US and a new sport utility vehicle.
"I'm in shock! I'm in shock!" Diaz-Twine said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I didn't think I was going to win so I didn't make any plans for the money."
She didn't have too much trouble thinking of a few ideas, however: new cars for her mother and grandmother, a cruise vacation and "something for my husband."
She said she was surprised that Morris had cast the deciding vote that enabled her to be in the game's final two contestants instead of Jon Dalton, who had been the game's most notorious villain since Richard Hatch won the Survivor first season. But she said it proved the unpredictability of the game.
The CBS game has proven the most popular, long-running reality show on TV and this fall's edition did particularly well. With more than 22 million viewers the week before last, it was the week's most-watched prime-time program, according to Nielsen Media Research.
The colourful pirate Rupert and Dalton helped make this fall's game - set on a remote island off Panama - particularly popular.
Dalton had earlier lied and said his grandmother had died to win a good meal.
Diaz-Twine was no saint, either, at one point swearing on the life of her two children that she was voting with Dalton when, in fact, she was lying.
"I was mumbling under my breath, 'I'm gonna get you, sucker,' " she said. "Jon had back-stabbed me too many times for me to trust him."
'Something's Gotta Give' Rules Box Office
LOS ANGELES - Love among older adults conquered the box office as Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton's romance "Something's Gotta Give" debuted in the top spot with $17 million.
The previous weekend's top film, "The Last Samurai," slipped to second place with $14.05 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The Farrelly brothers' comedy "Stuck on You," starring Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins, opened at No. 3 with $10 million. The teen romance "Love Don't Cost a Thing," featuring Nick Cannon, debuted in fourth place with $6.5 million.
The overall box office slipped, with the top 12 movies grossing $83 million, down 8 percent from the same weekend a year ago.
Ticket sales will surge this week with "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," the conclusion of Peter Jackson's adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy classic. The film opens Wednesday.
"Return of the King" could surpass the $62 million opening weekend for last year's middle chapter, "The Two Towers," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
In limited release, a reissue of "Two Towers" took in $700,000 this past weekend, pushing the film's total gross to $340 million and priming the pump for "Return of the King."
"This past weekend was the calm before the storm," Dergarabedian said. "Everybody's waiting for `Return of the King' and the onslaught of all the holiday movies coming after that."
Opening Friday is Julia Roberts' "Mona Lisa Smile." Christmas week brings Nicole Kidman and Jude Law's Civil War epic "Cold Mountain," Steve Martin's comedy "Cheaper by the Dozen," Ben Affleck's sci-fi tale "Paycheck" and a live-action version of "Peter Pan."
Distributor Sony hopes the well-reviewed "Something's Gotta Give" will linger in theaters through the holidays. Keaton stars as a 55-year-old playwright in a love triangle involving a 63-year-old womanizer (Nicholson) and a 30-something doctor (Keanu Reeves).
"For the holidays, this is the perfect piece of entertainment, especially in a market that for the most part has had either children's films or darker-themed adult films out there," said Jeff Blake, Sony Pictures head of distribution. "This is funny, well-written, and we think works for all audiences."
Though aimed at older adults, "Something's Gotta Give" scored well among younger crowds, with viewers under 30 accounting for a third of the audience, Blake said.
It was Sony's ninth movie this year to debut as No. 1 for the weekend, breaking the old industry record of eight set three times in past years by Warner Bros., Blake said.
Playing in 2,677 theaters, "Something's Gotta Give" averaged a solid $6,350 per showing, compared to a $3,330 average in 3,003 theaters for "Stuck on You" and $3,544 in 1,844 theaters for "Love Don't Cost a Thing."
In limited release, Tim Burton's tall-tale adventure "Big Fish" debuted strongly, grossing $215,000 in six theaters for a $35,833 average. The father-son reunion story stars Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Jessica Lange and Billy Crudup.
The 17th century drama "Girl With a Pearl Earring," starring Colin Firth as Dutch artist Vermeer and Scarlett Johansson as a servant who inspires him, also opened well. In seven theaters, the film took in $90,000 for a $12,857 average.
"Big Fish" and "Girl With a Pearl Earring" expand to more theaters Christmas week.
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Something's Gotta Give," $17 million.
2. "The Last Samurai," $14.05 million.
3. "Stuck on You," $10 million.
4. "Love Don't Cost a Thing," $6.5 million.
5. "The Haunted Mansion," $6.3 million.
6. "Bad Santa," $6.21 million.
7. "Elf," $6.2 million.
8. "Honey," $5.1 million.
9. "Dr. Seuss' the Cat in the Hat," $4.2 million.
10. "Gothika," $2.7 million.
Saddam Story Covers All Networks on Sunday Morning
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - The dramatic capture of Saddam Hussein predictably drew the complete attention of the cable and broadcast networks.
CNN got on the air first with a Reuters report at 5:03 a.m. EST on Sunday, and the network enjoyed the additional edge of having reporter Alphonso Van Marsh embedded with the unit that captured the former Iraqi dictator, although he did not go along on the actual raid. CNN had two reporters stationed in Tikrit, while the other networks immediately sent out correspondents from their Baghdad bureaus.
Van Marsh's presence enabled CNN to provide viewers with video of the U.S. troops celebrating upon return from their mission.
ABC News faced complications as "World News Tonight" anchor Peter Jennings was actually working at the time -- but in Los Angeles, where at 2 a.m. PST he was with a police unit working on a special about Los Angeles police chief William Bratton when Hussein was captured.
Instead of going on the air from the West Coast, ABC decided to ship Jennings back to New York -- which was on the verge of being hit by a major snowstorm -- in time to host "World News Tonight Sunday" and an 8 p.m. primetime special.
ABC's Sunday morning coverage was fronted by "Good Morning America" co-host Charlie Gibson, and "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos.
ABC and CBS News went on the air with special reports shortly after CNN, as MSNBC hit the air next at 5:17 a.m., and Fox News at 5:27 a.m. ABC and CBS went into full-time special coverage at 6 a.m. and 6:16 a.m. respectively.
At that hour, not too many viewers noticed who went on when, but a Fox News spokeswoman said the network wanted to confirm the wire reports independently before going on the air. Reuters had picked up the story from an Iranian news agency.
NBC News did not cut in with any special reports, but went live at 5:52 a.m.
Anchors Dan Rather and Tom Brokaw led CBS and NBC's coverage all Sunday morning past President Bush's noontime news conference. CBS left the air for football at 12:20 p.m., while MSNBC's Lester Holt anchored a simulcast edition with NBC from 12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m.
Shepard Smith led Fox News' coverage, Holt anchored for MSNBC, and Aaron Brown and Paula Zahn were at CNN's desk on Sunday morning. Smith also fronted halftime reports on Fox's NFL coverage.
At ABC, Stephanopoulos hosted two editions, with news cut-ins of "This Week" from 9 a.m.-noon, although New York's WABC-TV cut away from 10:30-noon to cover the snowstorm. ABC News left the air at 12:30 p.m.
CBS and NBC were scheduled to devote their 7 p.m. newsmagazines "60 Minutes" and "Dateline" entirely to Hussein's capture, and CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC were set with their regular weeknight primetime schedules. FNC's Smith was scheduled to host a 9 p.m. special on the capture.
American Film Institute Honors Year's Top 10 Films
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Fantasy vied with reality on Sunday as the American Film Institute named the year's 10 best films, listing epics like "The Last Samurai" and the final installment of "The Lord of the Rings" alongside slice-of-life movies "American Splendor" and "In America."
The 10 films to win the AFI Awards 2003, listed in alphabetical order, were "American Splendor," "Finding Nemo," "The Human Stain," "In America," "The Last Samurai," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "Lost in Translation," "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," "Monster" and "Mystic River."
The American Film Institute names the year's 10 top films and television shows without giving rating preferences.
"We don't rank them because what we want to celebrate is the creative collaboration in front and behind the camera that made these stories possible," said Jean Picker Firstenberg, AFI director and chief executive officer.
The winners of the AFI Awards in television were "Alias," "Angels in America," "Arrested Development," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "Joan of Arcadia," "Nip/Tuck," "Playmakers," "Soldier's Girl," "24," and "The Wire."
The AFI Awards, which started in 2000, aim at helping to define the contest for the coveted Oscar awards, which will be given out in February.
The AFI said the winners were chosen by its 13-person jury in which scholars, artists, critics and AFI trustees discuss, debate and determine the most outstanding achievements of the year.
"I think what AFI is trying to create is an almanac for the 21st century so we can look back and see what we consider excellence in narrative storytelling in 2003," Firstenberg told Reuters.