Beckinsale Voted Most Beautiful Brit

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Kate Beckinsale's character in "Van Helsing" may have never seen the sea, but British audiences think her face is worthy of launching a thousand ships.

The 30-year-old brunette beauty was voted Britain's most beautiful actress in a UCI Cinemas poll, reports British news sources. Beckinsale won a significant 27 percent of the vote from movie fans canvassed in Cardiff, Manchester and Greenwich. The poll marked the UK release of the Greek epic "Troy" and asked moviegoers which actress was a 21st-century Helen.

Also faring well in the poll is the teenage "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" star Keira Knightley, who earned 21 percent of the vote.

Rounding out the Top 10 beautiful Brits are: Kate Winslet, Anna Friel, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Rachel Weisz, Elizabeth Hurley, Helena Bonham Carter, Kristen Scott Thomas and Joely Richardson.

Beckinsale currently stars as a gypsy opposite Hugh Jackman in "Van Helsing" and will next appear in "The Aviator" opening in November. She is also known for her roles in "Pearl Harbor" and "Underworld."

Prince is about to get his due on DVD.

In addition to a 20th-anniversary two-disc special edition of Purple Rain, Warner Home Video on Aug. 24 is releasing Graffiti Bridge and Under the Cherry Moon on DVD for the first time.

Prince fans R gonna B excited 2 learn about the double-disc anniversary edition of Purple Rain.

The new version of Purple Rain ($26.99) has a widescreen digital transfer of the film and remixed Dolby Digital surround sound. New extras include featurettes on the Oscar-winning music and eight music videos.

"We wanted to bring (the treatment of the film on DVD) up to today's standards," says Warner's Mike Radiloff.

Prince's directorial debut, Under the Cherry Moon (1986), which co-starred Kristin Scott Thomas, and the sequel to Purple Rain, Graffiti Bridge, will be one-disc releases ($19.97). Each will have widescreen video and Dolby Digital surround sound.

Canadian Idol returning, promises to galvanize voters - but not in politics

TORONTO (CP) - This month will help shape the future of two individuals in Canada: one will have power to formulate laws and tax policy; the other will earn the chance to forge a stronger sense of nationalism in a completely different forum.

But when all the votes are tallied, it could be the Canadian Idol - not the prime minister - who ends up causing more buzz across the country.

In only its second season, CTV's singing competition, which launches Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET, promises to become a regular summer pastime, alongside cottage retreats and ice-cream runs.

An estimated 6.5 million Canadians tuned in to see Ryan Malcolm beat Gary Beals in last September's finale - a bigger audience than for the Grammys - giving CTV the bragging rights for the most-watched homegrown English-language series.

Canadians also eagerly watched the latest American Idol battle. More than three million of them tuned in to see Fantasia Barrino beat out Diana DeGarmo last week.

Don't think that federal politicians, who are spending this month campaigning for votes, haven't noticed.

Executive producer John Brunton said several have called the show asking how they can get involved with the hit series.

"They have been wanting to use our show as a platform," he said.

But show officials have largely kept them off the glittery stage.

"We've done it rather effectively," said Brunton, who has been with the show since the beginning of the first season. "It's not their place to be in our television show. It's just not right. It would turn the Canadian public off if we turned it into a platform."

That hasn't stopped them from trying, and a few even got into the televised show, albeit via tiny pre-recorded clips. Last year, Nova Scotia Premier John Hamm hosted a homecoming party for finalist Gary Beals. Conservative MP Rahim Jaffer stood up in the House of Commons and praised the show the day of the finale.

"I urge all Canadians to tune into Canadian Idol tonight and support both Ryan and Gary. I know I will be watching," he said.

Liberal MP Geoff Regan told the House the same day: "Canadians from coast to coast will be intently fixated on their televisions as history unfolds before them . . . I have been (struck) by the breadth of talent this show has brought to Canadians."

Idol judge Farley Flex said he doesn't blame politicians for trying, given the fan loyalty generated by competitors.

"When people press those buttons to vote for an individual . . . it's a sense of empowerment, as opposed to the political system, where there's so much apathy in voting," he said. "People just don't think that what they write on that ballot is going to have an impact on their lives. When you vote one night and your vote is represented the next night (on Idol), it's a very unusual experience."

It's an experience Canadian producers aren't going to change much this season. It'll work using the same format that's worked all around the world. The theme music is back. The atrocious Ben Mulroney's coming back to host. And Flex, Jake Gold, Sass Jordan and Zack Werner will take their seats behind the judge's table again.

Tuesday's premier episode will showcase competitors - the good, the bad and the worst - from Ottawa and Toronto.

An estimated 9,000 aspiring singers auditioned for Idol this year. Of those, the judges chose 155 "gold-ticket" winners to send to Idol headquarters in Toronto. That group will be reduced to 32 before the public can begin giving its two cents about who they want to win a recording contract.

This season promises another fierce competition for the Idol crown. Flex said the talent was sweeter sounding this time around.

"They were ready," he said. "They watched the show and went out and took vocal lessons. They really tried to prepare themselves for the experience."

The judges' standards have also risen from last year, so the level of talent is higher, which should provide more intense debate at the water cooler and on bar patios, said Flex, who manages Beals and Toya Alexis, a top-10 finalist from last season.

"There was a heightened level of expectation," Flex said. "We were giving advice every show last year. People could have literally taken notes and had a road map as to what would be well-received and what wouldn't."

That's not to say the William Hungs of Canada didn't show up. Producers promise enough of those ghastly vocalists to boggle viewers' minds.

Besides the wannabe pop stars, producers say there are some new twists with the wild-card stage, a new set and new genre-theme nights.

As well, Brunton said some superstar names are being courted to appear on the show. He hinted at such stars as Stevie Wonder, Shania Twain and Lionel Ritchie, although nothing is confirmed.

"We've got some tricks up our sleeves," he said. "We've got some really big stars that are interested in the program."

'Shrek 2' Speeds Past $200 Million at Box Office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Shrek 2" overpowered the new disaster picture "The Day After Tomorrow" to retain the crown at the North American box office during the first three days of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, the cartoon sequel sold about $73.1 million worth of tickets, while "The Day After Tomorrow" opened with $70 million.

Far off in the distance, "Troy" slipped one place to No. 3 with $11.5 million, while the Kate Hudson domestic comedy "Raising Helen" opened with a modest $11.2 million. The urban comedy "Soul Plane," starring Snoop Dogg, crashed on take-off, selling just $5.7 million worth of tickets in its first weekend.

After 12 days, DreamWorks' "Shrek 2" has grossed $237.8 million, having raced past the $200 million mark on Friday, its 10th day. Only "Spider-Man" did it faster, taking nine days in 2002. But DreamWorks said "Shrek 2" broke "Spider-Man's" old record for a second-weekend haul, which was $71.4 million.

The next record in the studio's sights is the one for a four-day Memorial Day holiday, which "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" set in 1997 with a tally of $90.2 million.

'TOMORROW' TOPS WORLDWIDE

The $70 million launch for Twentieth Century Fox's "The Day After Tomorrow," in which severe climate change turns New York into a frozen wasteland, exceeded the studio's expectations, said distribution president, Bruce Snyder.

The $125 million film stars Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal. It was directed by Roland Emmerich, of "Independence Day" fame.

Additionally, it opened in 102 other countries, taking in $82.1 million, driving the worldwide total to $152.1 million. Snyder said it was the best worldwide opening for a non-sequel, smashing the old mark of $107 million set three weeks ago by the monster thriller "Van Helsing." Fox is a unit of News Corp.'s Fox Entertainment Group Inc .

After 17 days, the total for Warner Bros.' "Troy" rose to $106.1 million. The holiday did not appear to do much for the film, which lost a hefty 52 percent of its audience from last weekend.

It was the same for Universal's sixth-ranked "Van Helsing," which earned $4.9 million, a drop of 54 percent. Its 24-day total rose to $108.8 million. Even Universal's summer 2003 bomb, "The Hulk," had made more after four weekends.

Warner Bros. Pictures is a unit of Time Warner Inc . Universal Pictures is a unit of NBC Universal, which is controlled by General Electric Co .

"Raising Helen," in which Hudson's character ditches her career to raise her late sister's three kids in the suburbs, was released by Touchstone Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co . Directed by Garry Marshall, the film also stars John Corbett and Joan Cusack.

"Soul Plane," which also stars Tom Arnold, Kevin Hart and Method Man, was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc . It was directed by Jessy Terrero. It cost less than $20 million.

In the limited-release world, MGM's United Artists banner did better with the high school satire "Saved!" The film, starring Jena Malone, Mandy Moore and Macaulay Culkin, sold $328,000 worth of tickets from 20 theaters in five markets. It expands next month.

'Scooby-Doo 2'; 'Ladykillers'; new Fox cheapies

Ghost Chasers

The Mystery, Inc., gang is back for more mischief in the $85 million dollar hit Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. With a little CGI assistance, the much beloved pooch will hit DVD on September 14th in separate anamorphic widescreen and full screen versions, courtesy of Warner Home Video. Each features 10 minutes of deleted scenes with optional commentary, the "True Ghoul Hollywood Story," "Dancing Dog" and "Triple Threat" featurettes, the "Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed Challenge" and "Behind the Mystery: The Mystery of the Missing Pants" games, two music videos and theatrical trailers.

The Con is On

Despite the presence of Tom Hanks, the latest loopy comedy from The Coen Brothers was another near-miss, a remake of the 60's caper The Ladykillers. Buena Vista Home Entertainment will give the flick another shot on DVD on September 14th, complete with a 1.85 anamorphic widescreen transfer, a Dolby 5.1 surround track, the "Danny Ferrington: The Man Behind the Band" featurette, "The Slap Reel" outtakes, "Gospel of The Ladykillers" deleted music scenes, theatrical trailers and a ROM-exclusive Script Scanner.

Killer Trucks

Rounding out today's news is the latest batch of cheapie announcements from Fox Home Entertainment, who will unleash a half dozen B-movie potboilers on September 7th. The goodies includeAlexander's Ragtime Band, Battle Creek Brawl, Bonanza: Under Attack, Bootmen, Iron Fisted Monk, Knockabout, Mr. Vampire, The Postman Fights Back and Working Trash. All are presented in their original aspect ratios and include no extras outside of trailers. Retail will be a cheapie $9.95 a pop.

The studio will also release three more well-known flicks on the 7th, including the early Tom Hanks vehicle The Man with One Red Shoe, the monster truck destruction of Maximum Overdrive and the silly sequel King Kong Lives. All are presented in anamorphic widescreen and Dolby 2.0 stereo, and include trailers. Retail will list for $14.95 apiece.

Sammy Hagar, Alex Van Halen discuss reunion tour, best-of set

May 27, 2004 06:57 PM - Reinstated Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar and drummer Alex Van Halen talked to reporters on Thursday (5/27) about Hagar's return to the group, the band's upcoming summer tour and a forthcoming hits compilation that includes three new cuts.

"The simple answer is: It just felt right," Alex Van Halen said of the decision to reunite after splitting on bad terms eight years ago. "Sammy and I got together [late last year] and it was like we hadn't missed a beat. We picked up right where we left off. The moment we hit the studio and started making music--which, for us, is ... where it [all] began--that kind of solidified it. That was it. Making music is the center of this band--that, and the friendship. So it was a no-brainer."

"We just felt like, 'Wow. The time is right,'" Hagar added. "If we'd have tried it maybe two years ago, it could've blown up, or maybe two years from now, it might be too late. Who knows? It just feels right."

In the months following Hagar's 1996 departure, both parties fired bitter parting shots at each other in the press, but all of that has been forgotten, according to Hagar.

"The whole point of being older is time going by, water going under the bridge, whatever it is, you kind of forget what happened, or why you were mad to begin with, or what you said," said Hagar. "All that stuff goes out the window. ... We decided that, rather than go to therapy like some of these other bands and dig through the dirt, we said, 'No, no, here's what we're gonna do: we're gonna pretend like it never happened. We're gonna, like, rise above it.' It's really what we did. I think we elevated, and it hasn't even come up."

Hagar recalled his return to Van Halen's recording studio, 5150, which is located on guitarist Eddie Van Halen's Southern California estate. The singer said the visit was planned as nothing more than a social encounter, but that a jam session quickly ensued.

"We jammed probably for five or six hours, 'til my voice was completely worn out," he said. "The chemistry between the four of us is very, very special. Even as long as we did it, you start taking it for granted--you forget about it--and then you come back and you walk in and you go, 'Oh, wow! This is exactly like it always was.' And that's a great, great thing to still have it sitting there waiting for you, and not have to look for it and not have to reinvent it."

Hagar, the Van Halen brothers and bassist Michael Anthony launch a summer tour in Greensboro, NC, on June 11, and will issue a two-disc hits compilation---originally billed as "The Very Best of Van Halen," but since renamed "The Best of Both Worlds"--on July 20. The new title--which is also that of a song housed on 1986's "5150," the group's first album with Hagar--is a reference to the compilation's inclusion of material that the band recorded during Hagar's tenure, as well as material from its days with original frontman David Lee Roth.

Ironically, it was Hagar's opposition to releasing a best-of set in 1996 that contributed to his departure from the group. The singer said that the circumstances are much different this time, however.

"I'm not down on doing a greatest-hits record at all this time," said Hagar. "Last time I was ... I didn't wanna do it at that time in my life, for whatever reasons. But, at this time in my life, it's the only way we could've gotten this tour out this year, and I think the fans need it, and we need it. We want it. It just has to happen."

The band recorded three new songs with Hagar for the best-of set, one of which--titled "It's About Time"--hit radio stations on Wednesday (5/26).

"Ed and Al probably had 10 other songs that we could have worked on, and if there'd have been time, we'd have loved to have done a whole record," Hagar said. "But the idea of, 'Do you wanna go out on tour this year or next year?' was like, 'Let's go now! Let's go now!'"

Hagar said the group had been working on a fourth song, but had to abandon the idea of including it on the hits package in order to focus on tour plans.

Alex Van Halen said that the band was not concerned about fans downloading the three new songs from the Internet rather than purchasing the complete hits compilation.

"No concern at all," he said. "The music is there, and if people figure out a way to get it, more power to 'em. I think the ultimate goal of music is that, once you've made it, as many people as possible hear it. That's basically our feeling about it."

On Trial

TV Guide says that former LAW & ORDER actress Carey Lowell may be headed to LAW & ORDER: TRIAL BY JURY, reprising her role of Assistant D.A. Jamie Ross.

CBC-TV unveils 2004-2005 prime time schedule of 'high impact' programming

TORONTO (CP) - A political thriller starring Paul Gross, TV movies about the lives of Shania Twain, Tommy Douglas and the real Winnie the Pooh, and of course the Olympic Games in Athens.

These are some of the highlights of CBC Television's 2004-2005 "must-watch" season unveiled at a fall preview event Thursday. Slawko Klymkiw, CBC's chief programmer, says a strategy he introduced in recent years of opting for high-impact Canadian-themed specials and miniseries is paying off in increased ratings.

"It's still an uphill battle," Klymkiw says. "Getting people to watch Canadian shows might be the toughest job in the world, but it's our job."

As for the trend away from full series drama - there are no new ones on the schedule although Da Vinci's Inquest and This is Wonderland return - network vice-president Harold Redekopp concedes difficulties.

"When you consider the kind of competition we're facing. And even Telefilm is saying 'Where are we going to put our dollars? We're going to put our dollars where it has the highest impact.' And they tend to be one-offs or short miniseries."

And while the public broadcaster continues to boast of its mostly Canadian schedule, the realities of domestic and international programming today are evident in many choices this season.

Redekopp and Klymkiw say international co-productions have become a necessary alternative in the wake of the shortcomings in Canadian funding sources.

"If I can find 70 or 80 per cent of the cash offshore and I can get five Canadian stars in there, and I can have a Canadian production company do it, this is not only good business, it's good public policy," says Klymkiw.

Redekopp adds that besides, Canadians have more of an international perspective.

"Canadians like to see their stories connected to world events."

As a result, viewers will see the co-produced likes of the miniseries Papa Alpha, about a Canadian relief mission worker in the Sudan (Canadian-Irish-South African) and A Bear Called Winnie, about the First World War army officer from Winnipeg and his adoption of a bear cub mascot for his regiment (Canadian-U.K.).

Also Chasing Freedom, about life in Afghanistan under the Taliban, but filmed in Canada (Canada-U.S.) and The Hamburg Cell, a movie about the Sept. 11 terrorists (Canada-U.K.-Germany-France).

Other so-called high-impact programs on their way include H20, featuring Paul Gross in what he describes as a "kick-ass" roller-coaster ride of a thriller about a possible political assassination and a prime minister with a secret agenda to sell off Canadian water to the U.S.

Il Duce Canadese is a four-hour miniseries starring Tony Nardi and Marina Orsini in the story of the wartime internment of Italian-Canadians in Montreal who were presumed to be pro-Fascist. And Megan Follows stars in Open Heart, about a cash-strapped hospital where an increasing number of child patients are dying.

Other titles promised last year but delivered this time around include Ciao Bella, a new sitcom about life in Montreal's Little Italy, and Trudeau the Prequel, but without Colm Feore as the former prime minister.

"We made a decision there," says Klymkiw. "We could never work out - and we tried very hard - between his schedule and our schedule. And we inevitably said 'Let's just go for a brand new cast and a brand new Trudeau.' And that's what we did."

Other names seem to be noticeably absent from some programming promises, too. The T.C. Douglas movie was to star his grandson, Kiefer Sutherland, but his name is not mentioned in media materials. Apparently it remains a "work in progress".

And incidentally, the only reference to Don Cherry during the CBC's gala launch event was in the form of a clip from an Air Farce parody sketch. And no cast has yet been announced for the Shania Twain biopic.

And while there are fewer conditional announcements than last year - when a number of program projects were accompanied in the CBC press kit by asterisks that said "pending funding" - they haven't disappeared altogether. Still up in the air, apparently, is a hoped-for comedy pilot called Getting Along Famously, featuring Colin Mochrie as a 1960s TV variety show entertainer.

Meanwhile, another Klymkiw strategy is what he calls traction.

In order to build an early prime time audience during the week, the enduring Brit soap Coronation Street will air four nights a week this summer and fall. And while Klymkiw insists CBC's Canadian content remains the same, the network is promoting more offshore projects this year, from a new Forsyte Saga to more Miss Marple mysteries to Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies.

- Some of the programming promised by CBC-TV during its 2004-2005 network season:

-H20. A genuine Canadian political thriller starring Paul Gross as the son of a possibly assassinated prime minister and who wins the leadership, but possibly with a secret agenda. Filmed in part in the Parliament Buildings, it airs as a two-part miniseries in late October.

-Sex Traffic. Shot in Halifax, London and Romania, this no-holds-barred Canada-U.K. two-part miniseries co-production stars Wendy Crewson in the story of the global business of trafficking in enforced prostitution.

-The Greatest Canadian. CBC's campaign to get the public to nominate candidates comes to a head this fall, with a five-week series that will select a winner. More than 100,000 nominations were sent in.

-Canadian Antiques Roadshow. Valerie Pringle hosts a domestic version of the Brit-originated concept that was such a hit on Newsworld. Pringle crosses the country in 13 episodes to air on Newsworld and the main network.

-Wayne & Shuster - The Legacy Collection. A showcase of the best of the legendary comedy duo.

-Canada's War in Colour: A three-part documentary from Yap Films that gathers from both public and private archives, rare, long-lost colour film footage taken during the Second World War.

-Athens 2004 - The Olympic Games on CBC Sports. The Summer Games return to Greece on Aug. 13 and CBC Sports will cover it for 17 days with Terry Leibel, Ron MacLean and Brian Williams.

-Making the Cut. CBC gets into the reality TV game with a 13-week series. Six lucky Canadians will win a search for the best unsigned hockey player who then gets a crack at the NHL.

-Shania. A two-hour movie chronicling the rise to fame of singer Shania Twain. No casting choices have been announced.

-The Tommy Douglas Project. A four-hour miniseries about the former Saskatchewan premier and federal NDP leader, considered the father of universal health care. Made with the approval of the Douglas family, there is no confirmation yet on earlier reports that Douglas's grandson, Kiefer Sutherland, would play the title role.

-Trudeau - The Prequel. Also announced last year but delayed. This follow-up to the earlier miniseries looks back on the former prime minister's early life in Quebec and his coming of age during the Duplessis era. But Colm Feore, who made such a splash as Pierre Trudeau in the original, will not be back in the role.

-Comedy Gold. A four-hour entertainment documentary celebrating the history of Canadian-born comedy from Mack Sennett to Mike Myers.

-A Beachcombers Christmas. Dave Thomas, Graham Greene and Jackson Davies return in the second spinoff of the legendary West Coast series. This one is about Dave's plans to hold an old-timers hockey game in Gibsons Landing.

-Distant Drumming: A North of 60 Mystery. The TV movies that have followed the original series seem to have been more popular. RCMP officer Michelle Kenidi investigates the case of an elderly tourist found beaten to death in Lynx River.

-Coronation Street. A hit during the CBC's British Week last year, the 40-year-old British soap will air four nights a week in prime time beginning in June. The series runs about six months behind telecasts in the U.K.

-Ciao Bella. Promised last season but delayed, this comedy is the story of a family of Italian-Canadians in Montreal.

-Back on the air for another year: Opening Night, ZeD, The Newsroom, The Red Green Show, Rick Mercer's Monday Report, Royal Canadian Air Farce, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Life and Times, The Nature of Things, The Fifth Estate, Marketplace and Venture. Gone: Disclosure.

Geffen Preps New Joni Mitchell Collection

Geffen has rounded up 16 of Joni Mitchell's more issue-minded tracks for the compilation "The Beginning of Survival," due July 27. The songs are drawn from the Mitchell album "Dog Eat Dog," "Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm," "Night Ride Home," Turbulent Indigo" and "Taming the Tiger." Among the guests sprinkled throughout are Don Henley, James Taylor, Willie Nelson and Michael McDonald.

The album's self-described "commentaries on the world in which we live" find Mitchell addressing such as topics as greed and corruption ("No Apologies," "Dog Eat Dog" and "Passion Play (The Story of Jesus and Zachius ... The Little Tax Collector)," featuring actor Rod Steiger), Western culture ("The Three Great Stimulants") and environmental responsibility ("Cool Water," "Lakota").

Also featured are "Slouching Toward Bethlehem" (adapted from a poem by W.B. Yeats), "The Beat of Black Wings," "The Reoccuring Dream," "Impossible Dreamer" and "The Windfall (Everything for Nothing)."

Mitchell co-produced the album and contributes an essay plus original artwork. The liner notes include a reproduction of an environmentally themed letter to the President of the United States, thought to have been penned by Susquamish Indian Chief Seattle in 1852.

"The Beginning of Survival" is Geffen's second recent archival Mitchell release, following last September's four-disc boxed set "The Complete Geffen Recordings." The artist has not issued a new studio album since 2002's Nonesuch set "Travelogue," which she has said will be her last.

'Family Guy' Crowd Heading to Montreal Yukfest

OTTAWA (Hollywood Reporter) - Wayne Brady, Caroline Rhea, Tim Allen, Tom Arnold, Jackie Mason and the voices behind the animated show "Family Guy" are among the comics slated to perform at the 22nd Just for Laughs Festival, running July 15-25 in Montreal, organizers said Tuesday.

Just for Laughs chief operating officer Bruce Hills said he is particularly excited about having Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Seth Green and Mila Kunis do a live script reading of "Family Guy." A question-and-answer session with cast and creator MacFarlane will follow the reading.

"The big thing this summer is 'Family Guy,"' Hills said. "That's a big one because they rarely do this, and that show is one of the biggest-selling DVDs out there."

Brady ("Whose Line Is It Anyway?"), Rhea ("The Caroline Rhea Show"), Allen ("Home Improvement") and Arnold ("The Best Damn Sports Show Period") are slated to headline six galas, with Brady and Allen handling gala duties twice.

The festival also is catering to children for the first time, with the North American premiere of James Campbell's stand-up comedy for kids ages 5 and older.

For more mature audiences, Mason, once a regular on "The Ed Sullivan Show," is performing his one-man show "Jackie Mason Freshly Squeezed." There also will be the world premiere of "Evil Dead 1 & 2: The Musical," a comedy based on the director Sam Raimi's campy horror classics.

Brady will be joined by his "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" co-stars Colin Mochrie, Greg Proops and Brad Sherwood as well as Sean Masterson ("The Drew Carey Show") for some improvisational comedy.

Also, British comic Dave Gorman will present his "Googlewhack Adventure," which premiered at the Melbourne Comedy Festival. New on this summer's roster is "Late Nite Down Under," a spotlight on the funniest acts from Australia and New Zealand, including performances by Colin Hay of the Grammy-winning band Men at Work.

Fantasia Barrino Crowned America's Idol

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Feisty soul singer Fantasia Barrino was voted the newest "American Idol" on Wednesday after a nationwide television search for the nation's next pop star.

Barrino, 19, edged out rival Diana DeGarmo at the end of the hit reality TV show that saw 70,000 wannabes audition in a bid to win a recording contract and instant stardom.

Victory was sweet for Barrino, a black single mom from North Carolina who had twice narrowly escaped being booted off by viewers earlier in the season in favor of cuter but weaker singers.

The close calls, along with the early exit of two other powerful black singers, prompted cries of racism. "This has been a very unpredictable season," record producer and "Idol" judge Randy Jackson said on Wednesday.

Producers said a total of 65 million votes were called in by telephone or text message on Tuesday after lines were kept open an extra two hours and extra numbers added to counter logjams and busy signals that have called voting procedures into question.

"Idol" host Ryan Seacrest told Access Hollywood that the two finalists were separated by a margin of just over 1 percent.

Barrino's style, which ranged from tender to earthy, moved the three-judge panel to tears and captivated audiences.

In an emotional final on Tuesday night watched by some 25 million viewers, acerbic British judge Simon Cowell declared her the best contestant ever in the "Idol" phenomenon which has swept more than 20 countries worldwide.

YOUNGEST FINAL CONTESTANT

DeGarmo, 16, was the youngest contestant to reach an "Idol" final. Her show-stopping voice and poise belied her youth while her bubbly friendly personality won fans alienated by Barrino's cheeky backchat. "My lips are big but my talent is bigger," Barrino quipped earlier in the season.

DeGarmo, a Georgia schoolgirl who started singing when she was 5 years old, suffered uncharacteristic pitch problems in the Tuesday night finale before a live audience at Hollywood's Kodak Theater.

DeGarmo is unlikely to go home empty-handed. Both last year's winner Ruben Studdard and runner-up Clay Aiken secured recording contracts. Tone-deaf contestant William Hung, who won the hearts and laughter of the nation in early auditions, has already released his own album.

"American Idol" has proved Fox TV's biggest hit and one of the hottest shows in the nation during the past three years, averaging some 25 million viewers.

But the show has been a victim of is own success, with jammed phone lines causing frustration among fans trying to cast their votes each week.

Hours before the winner was announced, Fox Broadcasting Entertainment President Gail Berman defended the integrity of the vote, which is independently audited.

"When you have a show this big, you are going to hear from some people who are not satisfied with whatever you do ... We are confident that we have the most sophisticated telephone voting system that you can put in place in this country," Berman told reporters.

Futurama concludes

The fourth and final season of the 31st century comedy Futurama is coming to DVD later this year from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

All sixteen episodes of the 2002-2003 season of the popular animated series are on the disc including the opera-laden final episode and a special episode featuring the cast of the original Star Trek. Audio commentaries are present on all the episodes. Additional features include international clips, animatics, a table read, a Star Trek panel and easter eggs.

The suggested retail price is $49.95. On August 24th the set will arrive.

Singer Courtney Love Pleads Guilty to Drug Offense

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Closing one chapter in a troubled period in her life, rock star Courtney Love pleaded guilty on Tuesday to being under the influence of cocaine and agreed to enter drug treatment.

Under the plea deal reached in Los Angeles Superior Court, the 39-year-old former lead singer for Hole will be spared any jail time and have the conviction removed from her record if she completes the treatment program, prosecutors said.

In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop a charge of disorderly conduct stemming from her arrest last October.

If she fails to complete the program or violates the terms of her probation, the singer will be required to serve at least 90 days in jail, prosecutor Jerry Baik said.

The terms of her probation will be outlined at a July 16 sentencing hearing. The singer likely will be required to submit to random drug testing and to report regularly to drug counseling and to a county probation officer, Baik said.

"It's not an unbearable program. It's something that can do more benefit to her than hurt her," Baik said outside court.

Love, who came to court in a flowered dress and high-heeled shoes with her platinum blond hair tousled, had no comment about the case.

She spoke little during the 10-minute hearing, answering Judge Patricia Schnegg's questions in soft monosyllables. When asked for her plea, she replied: "Guilty."

The plea agreement resolves one of two criminal cases filed against Love in connection with her Oct. 2 arrest outside a boyfriend's Los Angeles home, where police found her breaking windows in the middle of the night.

Hours later, Love was treated at a local hospital for what police described as a "medical emergency" -- an incident that led to separate charges of illegal possession of the prescription painkiller OxyContin.

She also faces criminal charges in New York, where she was arrested in March after throwing a microphone stand into a nightclub audience and hitting a man in the head.

Love is the widow of late Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain, who committed suicide in 1994. She was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1997 for her role in "The People Vs. Larry Flynt."

The Couch Potato Report - May 25th, 2004

This week in The Couch Potato Report there's a classic book that's become a classic film and two comedies that just aren't funny.

Back in February an epic journey of a raggedy gang of humans, hobbits, wizards, dwarves and elves hoisted the fantasy genre to Oscar glory.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING won a record-tying 11 Oscars, sweeping every category in which it was nominated, including best picture.

Now, the third chapter in J.R.R. Tolkien's THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy is set to dominate DVD and video sales and rental charts the same way it did the Oscars.

And deservedly so as director Peter Jackson has once again created an awe-inspiring adaptation of the Tolkien classic.

I won't go into specific plot points as I suspect by now you are either very familiar with THE LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy, or you couldn't care less.

I will say this, THE RETURN OF THE KING is a majestic film on an epic scale which preserves the integrity of the trilogy to its conclusion.

The only disappointment I have regarding this initial DVD and video release of RETURN OF THE KING is that it is only the three hour and twenty minute theatrical version of the film.

With the other two LORD OF THE RINGS films the studio had to wait until a few months after the release of the theatrical edition before releasing the extended directors cuts.

The extended cuts served as a way to promote the impending release of the next chapter in the series.

Now that there is no impending release, they are making people wait until Christmas anyway in order to not cut into the sales of this theatrical version.

Personally, I am willing to wait until then, as Peter Jackson has said that almost an hour's worth of extra footage will make its way onto the extended DVD version.

Yes, I will voluntarily wait, but I'm disappointed that I have to.

There is nothing disappointing about the movie THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, but the way it is being delivered to us fans is very disappointing.

Very disappointing are also the words I would use to describe Ray Romano's film WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT.

On TV everybody loves Raymond, myself included, as he is a hilarious performer.

I suspect few will like this movie about a plumber who runs for mayor against an ex-President. Gene Hackman plays the ex-president.

I went to see WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT in theatres when it came out expecting to laugh.

Unfortunately I didn't laugh at all.

A few weeks ago it was the film on the plane on my way back from vacation and I watched it again to see if I had missed a laugh or two.

Again, I didn't laugh once and I eventually fell asleep.

WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT is just a bland, uninteresting film.

You could, perhaps, get a kick out of it if you have no expectations and everything else has been rented, but even then I recommend that you skip WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT and just look for an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" on TV.

Trust me, you'll be better off.

The final new release this week is CLUB DREAD.

In this latest film from the comedy troop BROKEN LIZARD, who also gave us the hilarious SUPER TROOPERS, an inept staff at island resort must battle a killer.

This film doesn't know if it's a comedy, or a horror, a spoof of horror movies or what.

What's worse is that it is bad at trying to be any of them.

Here's my theory: A movie needs to be funny to qualify as a comedy, and this film is not funny. Not at all! It is extremely boring, and will be painful to watch for everyone who saw and enjoyed SUPER TROOPERS.

Am I sorry I saw it? No, I'm never sorry I see any movie I'm interested in seeing, especially any movie with Brittany Daniel in it.

Will you be sorry, well why don't you erase that as a possibility by either checking out SUPER TROOPERS or just look for an episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" on TV.

But now I'm repeating myself.

LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING, WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT and CLUB DREAD are available now at your favourite local video store.

COMING UP IN THE NEXT COUCH POTATO REPORT

Oscar Winner Charlize Theron stars in MONSTER. This based-on-a-true-story movie is about Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute who becomes a killer and falls in love. Sadly, the movie isn't as good as Theron, or even the A&E Biography on Wuornos.

In EUROTRIP a group of friends travel Europe for raunchy good fun. For the record, that might be the only time the word "good" will never be associated with this movie.

In the late seventies and early eighties hey were just the good ole boys, never meaning no harm and now you can watch THE DUKES OF HAZARD anytime you'd like as the COMPLETE FIRST SEASON is coming out on DVD.

And finally;

The third series in the hilarious BBC show COUPLING will now be available for us North Americans to laugh at.

And laugh we shall.

I'll have more about those new releases in seven days.

In fourteen days I'll talk about SCTV on DVD!

Enjoy the movies you choose and I'll see you back here on The Couch!

New Tunage!

Here are the new CD releases for Tuesday, May 25, 2004:

* AVRIL LAVIGNE Under My Skin (Arista)
* BONE CRUSHER Fight Music (Arista)
* DANNY COHEN Dannyland (Anti/Epitaph)
* LONESTAR Let's Be Us Again (Arista Country)
* REFUSED The Shape Of Punk To Come (Burning Heart)
* REFUSED Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent (Burning Heart)
* REFUSED The E.P. Compilation (Burning Heart)
* SARAH MCLACHLAN Acoustic EP (Nettwerk)
* SCATTER THE ASHES Devout/The Modern Hymn (Epitaph)
* TANGIERS Never Bring You Pleasure (Sonic Unyon)

Stars Ensnared On 'Spider-Man 2' Soundtrack

The full track list has been unveiled for "Music From and Inspired by Spider-Man 2," due June 22 via Columbia. As previously reported, Train's "Ordinary" and Dashboard Confessional's "Vindicated" are serving as simultaneous singles from the album, which will also feature a collaboration between Ours' Jimmy Gnecco and Queen's Brian May on "Someone To Die For" plus the new Maroon 5 track "Woman."

Other artists that have contributed previously unreleased songs to the album include the Ataris, Jet, Hoobastank and Yellowcard. Tracks by Smile Empty Soul, Midtown, Lostprophets and Taking Back Sunday will also be found on the soundtrack, alongside two score pieces by composer Danny Elfman.

The original "Spider-Man" soundtrack boasted the rock radio smash "Hero" by Nickelback's Chad Kroeger featuring Saliva's Josey Scott, which hit No. 1 on Billboard's Modern and Mainstream Rock Tracks charts.

"Spider-Man 2," starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, arrives June 30 at U.S. theaters.

Here is the track list for "Spider-Man 2":

"Vindicated," Dashboard Confessional
"Ordinary," Train
"Did You," Hoobastank
"Hold On," Jet
"Gifts and Curses," Yellowcard
"Woman," Maroon 5
"This Photograph Is Proof (I Know You Know)," Taking Back Sunday
"Give It Up," Midtown
"Lucky You," Lostprophets
"Who I Am Album," Smile Empty Soul
"The Night That the Lights Went Out in NYC," the Ataris
"We Are," Ana Johnsson
"Someone To Die For," Jimmy Gnecco featuring Brian May
"Spidey Suite," Danny Elfman
"Doc Ock Suite," Danny Elfman

Shrek 2 earns $129 million in 5 days, setting industry record

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Shrek 2 turned out to be even greener than expected.

The sequel about a verdant ogre and his chatty sidekick Donkey collected $108 million US at the weekend box office, almost $4 million more than its studio, DreamWorks SKG, predicted Sunday, according to final figures released Monday afternoon.

The computer-animated movie earned about $129 million Wednesday through Sunday for the highest five-day opening in Hollywood history, besting December's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which had $124.1 million.

Shrek 2 had the second biggest three-day weekend debut, behind only 2002's Spider-Man with $114.8 million.

It beat Spider-Man for the highest single-day gross. On Saturday, Shrek 2 earned $44.8 million, compared to the $43.6 million earned by Spider-Man on its first Saturday.

The top 20 movies at North American theatres Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theatre locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. and Nielsen EDI Inc.:

1. Shrek 2, DreamWorks, $108,037,878, 4,163 locations, $25,952 average, $128,983,060, one week.

2. Troy, Warner Bros., $23,925,330, 3,411 locations, $7,014 average, $85,960,779, two weeks.

3. Van Helsing, Universal, $10,561,655, 3,418 locations, $3,090 average, $100,526,335, three weeks.

4. Mean Girls, Paramount, $6,907,627, 3,054 locations, $2,262 average, $64,706,896, four weeks.

5. Man On Fire, Fox, $3,680,522, 2,104 locations, $1,749 average, $69,461,524, five weeks.

6. Breakin' All the Rules, Screen Gems, $2,845,368, 1,318 locations, $2,159 average, $9,053,501, two weeks.

7. 13 Going On 30, Sony, $2,512,234, 2,028 locations, $1,239 average, $52,080,216, five weeks.

8. New York Minute, Warner Bros., $1,302,152, 2,360 locations, $552 average, $12,622,044, three weeks.

9. Kill Bill Vol. 2, Miramax, $1,078,811, 854 locations, $1,263 average, $62,711,658, six weeks.

10. Super Size Me, Roadside, $973,644, 148 locations, $6,579 average, $2,941,708, three weeks.

11. Laws of Attraction, New Line, $924,734, 1,010 locations, $916 average, $16,849,742, four weeks.
 
12. Envy, DreamWorks, $604,606, 521 locations, $1,160 average, $12,181,484, four weeks.

13. A Day Without a Mexican, Telvisa Cine, $554,434, 103 locations, $5,383 average, $1,400,441, one week.

14. Walking Tall, MGM, $459,111, 689 locations, $666 average, $45,138,529, eight weeks.

15. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Focus Features, $342,428, 231 locations, $1,482 average, $32,944,436, 10 weeks.

16. Nascar: The Imax Experience, Warner Bros., $338,406, 72 locations, $4,700 average, $11,602,237, 11 weeks.

17. Godsend, Lions Gate, $316,135, 419 locations, $754 average, $13,994,861, four weeks.

18. Johnson Family Vacation, Fox Searchlight, $303,175, 394 locations, $769 average, $30,056,567, seven weeks.

19. The Passion of the Christ, Newmarket, $271,424, 715 locations, $380 average, $369,336,919, 13 weeks.

20. 50 First Dates, Sony, $231,731, 237 locations, $978 average, $119,861,977, 15 weeks.

Avril Lavigne seeks to showcase artistry after 'angry' debut

NEW YORK (AP) - Avril Lavigne knows her image: a moody, teen rock star with an acidic tongue, steely stare and tough-girl attitude.

"I have been labelled like I'm this angry girl - I'm like, this rebel, I'm like, punk, and I am SO not any of them. It's so funny, and I'm actually really shy," the petite, Canadian-born Lavigne says in typical teenspeak, sitting on a hotel bed wearing a black hooded sweat shirt, greyish pants, boxy shoes and socks bearing the message "boys are dumb."

Lavigne the one-dimensional angry rocker chick is just one misconception she hopes to dispel as she releases her second album, Under This Skin, on Tuesday. It's the follow-up to her hugely successful debut, 2002's Let Go.

Though she's only 19, Lavigne has had a profound effect on the pop world in her short career. In 2002, most teen female singing stars were little more than sexy nymphets singing prepackaged pop that was neither distinctive nor written by the stars themselves.

Along came Lavigne - a brash teen who didn't dye her hair blond, wear tight outfits or bounce to a bubble-gum beat. She played instruments (piano and guitar) and actually was credited with co-writing her own songs.

Girls looking for an alternative to Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera flocked to Lavigne. Her album sold more than five million copies and received a slew of Grammy nominations thanks to hits like Sk8er Boi, I'm With You, and Complicated.

Though she's not fond of the term, Lavigne became the anti-Britney - and flourished because of it.

"I get fan letters like all the time  . . . and pretty much every letter just talks about, 'Thank you for not being Britney Spears. I love how you're yourself and you stand up and you're strong,' " she says in a little girl's voice. "I came out and I was myself, dressing, like, my own way."

It wasn't just Lavigne's look - today her hair is light brown with black streaks - that got people's attention. She was billed as a true artist. Many adult performers don't write their own material, so a 17-year-old doing so made Lavigne seem even more authentic.

On her biggest hits, she was paired with the then-unknown production trio known as The Matrix, who were also listed as co-writers. But after The Matrix started becoming ubiquitous as pop writers and producers - working with everyone from Liz Phair to even Britney Spears and Hilary Duff - some people started wondering how much Lavigne had actually contributed to her hits. It didn't help that the trio, who declined to be interviewed for this article, later seemed to be diminishing Lavigne's contributions.

The issue still gets Lavigne steamed.

"I've been writing since I was a little girl. I've been playing guitar since I was a little girl. I've been writing full-on songs since I was 14; like, full-structured songs," she says defiantly. "I am a writer, and I won't accept people trying to take that away from me, and anyone who does is ignorant and doesn't know what they're talking about - and don't you dare!"

Not surprisingly, The Matrix is absent from Under My Skin. Lavigne instead co-wrote most of the songs with fellow Canadian singer Chantal Kreviazuk - whom she calls her new best friend. She also worked with Ben Moody, formerly of the Grammy-winning duo Evanescence.

Kreviazuk says Lavigne was in complete control of the album and its artistic flow. "She's just so motivated, so driven, when she sat down to write a song, she was just a pistol," she says. "I think that it's quite hilarious that people are saying the opposite, because she's so much a part of the songwriting process."

Though the record definitely has elements of her previous hits - great pop melodies with a rock feel - they also delve into more adult topics, like broken relationships, the loss of a loved one and complex emotions.

"This record definitely proves that I'm a writer and people can't (expletive) knock that, because each song comes from a personal experience of mine, and there are so much emotions in those songs," she says.

Lavigne acknowledges pressure to repeat the massive success of her debut, and admits it may not happen.
 
"You can go as quickly as you came. I believe that I have longevity. I myself will always be pleased. I'm always going to be doing music no matter how big I am, so I'd be satisfied, but you don't know what's going to happen," she says.

But Kreviazuk says that instead of worrying about her past success, Lavigne is more interested in being a well-rounded artist. And she's learned to shrug off the barbs she's received, let down her guard and let people see there's something more to her than an angry stare.

"I slowly watched this metamorphosis. I think one of the things she may have learned is that you can be cool and you can be happy. She has so much to celebrate, and she's aware she's got so much to celebrate," says Kreviazuk. "She doesn't need to be tough about it."

Man, Nature Mix Things Up in 'Day After Tomorrow'

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - To hear director Roland Emmerich tell it, there may be no May 29 or, for that matter, May 30. And this Monday's Memorial Day holiday in the United States -- kiss that one goodbye, too.

Emmerich, maker of 1996 hit "Independence Day" about aliens invading Earth, debuts his new doomsday film, "The Day After Tomorrow," on Friday. The new film offers a look at what could occur if man's messing with Mother Nature freezes us in a new Ice Age.

London, Tokyo, Moscow get blanketed by snow. New York is flooded and frozen like an ice cube tray. The southern U.S. emigrates to Mexico -- all in about seven days.

Make no mistake, "The Day After Tomorrow" is pure Hollywood fantasy. But well before its debut, the film has sparked talk of what really could occur if we fail to halt global warming.

Volunteers from environmental groups Global Exchange and Rainforest Action Network plan to leaflet theaters in 80 cities, and Moveon.org is holding a "Town Hall" on the issue in New York. It follows a similar London meeting two weeks ago.

The groups have no big complaints with the film, except to say that dramatic changes in weather would take decades and would be regional not global. In fact, most are glad Emmerich has shed light on the issue, and the director is happy to cop a plea of using dramatic license.

"Yes, it is over the top, but it has to be," he told Reuters. "Otherwise, it wouldn't be a Hollywood movie."

Emmerich does not consider himself an environmentalist, although he said he is concerned about the environment. But the idea that global warming, caused by burning fossil fuels, could lead to an Ice Age was intriguing. It had just the kind of ironic twist that makes a Hollywood plot, well, Hollywood.

GLOBAL SCALE, HUMAN DIMENSION

In "The Day After Tomorrow," Dennis Quaid portrays climatologist Jack Hall, who theorizes that Earth's warming atmosphere will lead to changing ocean currents -- a fact established by scientists. This in turn, would melt polar ice, raise sea levels and push cold arctic air southward.

Hall claims such a catastrophe is 100, maybe 1000, years away. Little does he know, it is already happening, and only days after he publishes his theory, Earth's climate shifts. That is where Hollywood comes in.

Tornadoes wreck Los Angeles. Tokyo is pelted with hail the size of melons, and the British Isles become a sheet of Ice.

In Manhattan, Hall's son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) is trapped with several friends when the sea rises to flood city streets and kill millions. Arctic researcher Hall sets out from Washington, D.C. to save Sam, turning the story from a global disaster into a human tale of survival against odds.

Emmerich said one key to making disaster movies work for audiences is to bring a personal dimension to them.

"People who live through disasters are normal, regular people. You identify with those people and ask yourself, 'what would I do?"' he said.

Emmerich, who wrote the story, said he shelved the first draft of "The Day After Tomorrow" following the Sept. 11 attacks, and slowly returned to it after six months or so.

The story had "an important theme," he said. "Sept. 11 was not only about destruction, but also about bravery and coming together. The film also shows the resiliency of New Yorkers."
 
On that point, scientists agree. The human race can revise its course and reverse global warming.

"To me, this is not a doomsday scenario," said Peter Frumhoff, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists, a non-profit Cambridge, Massachusetts, group. "It is a very pragmatic scenario ... we're in a position where we can make choices about what kind of future we want to make."

So, sigh with relief. There will be May 29 and, for that matter, May 30. And the upcoming holiday will be there too, but -- and here's the really good news in the United States -- you still don't have to go to work.

'Shrek 2' Success to Spawn More Sequels

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Record-breaking "Shrek 2" cast a bigger box-office spell than first imagined, convincing distributor DreamWorks SKG that even grumpy green ogres can live happily after -- at least for two more sequels.

Opening in a record 4,163 theaters last Wednesday, the computer-animated storybook satire posted $129 million in ticket sales during its first five days across North America, the most ever for a mid-week release.

The previous five-day record for a Wednesday opening was set in December by "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which grossed $124.1 million through its first Sunday.

For the three days beginning Friday, the traditional start of the weekend box office, "Shrek 2" generated $108 million, making it the second-biggest opening ever behind the $114.8 million release of "Spider-Man" in May of 2002.

"That's better than anyone could have anticipated, even in our wildest dreams," Jim Tharp, DreamWorks president of domestic theatrical distribution, told Reuters as final weekend figures were issued on Monday showing higher receipts than were initially reported.

The head of DreamWorks animation, Ann Daly, said that with the success of "Shrek 2," the studio would move ahead, one at a time, with plans for a third and fourth installment.

"It wasn't really advisable to start working on three and four until we knew that we actually had something in two, and certainly this weekend confirmed that we do," she said.

Daly said DreamWorks was in final talks with the principal voice actors to return, including Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz as the newlywed green ogres with horn-shaped ears, Eddie Murphy as the talking Donkey, and Antonio Banderas as the swashbuckling Puss in Boots.

"Shrek 2" also set a new benchmark as the biggest animated debut of all time, topping the $70 million bow of last year's undersea adventure "Finding Nemo," and marks the strongest 2004 opening so far, surpassing the $89.3 million posted by Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" in February.

"Shrek 2" clearly benefited from the wild popularity of DreamWorks' original fairy tale farce, which opened with more than $42 million in May 2001 and went on to gross $267.7 million in domestic theaters alone.

Paul Dergarabedian, head of box office tracking service Exhibitor Relations, said the Wednesday opening of "Shrek 2" also worked to the film's advantage, giving it two days of free press and positive word of mouth heading into the weekend. The movie's broad demographic appeal was an additional factor.

"This was really the first family movie of the summer, and there was definitely a pent-up demand. You can see that reflected in these grosses," Dergarabedian said. "It's not just a kids' movie: it's a movie for everyone."

Dergarabedian predicted that "Shrek 2" would hold up well next weekend as it competes for Memorial Day weekend business against the global warming disaster epic "The Day After Tomorrow," hip-hop comedy "Soul Plane" and the female-driven comedy romance "Raising Helen."

The success of the CGI-animated "Shrek 2" follows the box office disappointments of two recent hand-drawn cartoons released by DreamWorks -- last year's "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" and 2002's "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron."

Daly said DreamWorks' animation division is currently focused on two upcoming projects, "Shark Tale," due for an October release, and the new TV series, "Father of the Pride," about lions who perform in Siegfried and Roy's famed Las Vegas act, which debuts this fall on NBC.

THIS WEEK'S CDS

Avril Lavigne - "Under My Skin"

One reason Avril Lavigne's debut disc, "Let Go" sold over 15 million copies worldwide was that it was simple. The album was plain old rock 'n' roll by a 16-year old girl.

Lavigne's second disc is similar in that respect. Listen to the frantic Blondie referenced on

"He Wasn't" and you hear an uncomplicated melody. Where the disc breaks away is with emotional, adult lyrics.

In a way, this is a very risky disc for Lavigne, since most of her audience still isn't old enough to have experienced love or heartache. This kind of content may head-surf right over the kids at the mall, but it also has the potential to expand her fans. And who knows? The catchy melodies may hold the kids' attention long enough for them to grow into these songs.

Everlast - "White Trash Beautiful"

Even though Everlast doesn't break out the banjos and yodel on his latest album, "White Trash Beautiful," the disc heads the rapper further into the hills of hick-hop. On his third solo record, the one-time frontman for Boston's House of Pain raps and rolls his distinctive bass-bottom vocals through melodies that range from straight-ahead rap ("The Warning") to blues and country. With 15 tracks, the disc covers a lot of stylistic ground, but its theme stays focused on living life without love. The best of these dumpster love tracks is "This Kind of Lonely," which opens with the sound of rain, acoustic guitar chords supporting Everlast's guttural gravel, and ultimately bows to Saint Hank in a chorus of "I'm so lonesome I could die."

Felix da Housecat- "Devlin Dazzle and the Neon Fever"

Amid cheesy keyboard swirls, beat-box thumps and his sexy club-girl vocalists (who lapse into French), Chicago's Felix da Housecat has made dance music cool again. Felix has a way with party music that he says makes men want to dance and women want to strip. That formula was the essence of his work on Britney's "Toxic" and it riddles this disc, from "Short Shirts" to "Everyone Is Someone in L.A." The sound is '80s new-wave retro with loads of guitars and layered vocals, yet the music of "Devlin Dazzle" isn't intended for live performance. This is an intricate record that will be best appreciated through quality headphones that will give the listener total stereo separation.

Wilson Phillips - "California"

What better synchronicity to celebrate classic California rock than having Brian Wilson's daughters, Carnie and Wendy, and the late Papa John Phillips' girl Chynna perform them. On this album of cover songs - which includes Joni Mitchell's "California," of course, as well as "Dr. My Eyes," "Monday, Monday" and "Get Together" - the trio, collectively know as Wilson Phillips, is on the comeback. This album reminds you that these three women have a gift for harmony. Their voices, especially on Brian Wilson's "In My Room" and Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way," make it clear that they sound better together than when they appear as solo artists. Some songs have lite-FM arrangements, but most never veer far from the original charts.

Skinny Puppy - "The Greater Wrong of the Right"

Artistically paralyzed since the overdose death of bandmate Dwayne Goettel eight years ago, industrial/alternative act Skinny Puppy picks up where its 1996 "The Process" left off. The electronic music projects a familiar sense of foreboding, even on musically up-tempo tracks such as "I'mmortal" and "DaddyuWarbash." This is a dark, propulsive album with politically aware lyrics. Listen for Tool's Danny Carey's drumming and vocals by Static-X frontman Wayne Static on "Use Less," the disc's top track. The music here is aggressive, with vocals that talk their way through the melodies. They aren't perfect, but they're never bland. Listen to it loudly for a full appreciation of Skinny Puppy's biting storm-to-calm dynamic.

'Shrek 2' Rakes in $104.3M at Box Office

LOS ANGELES - It's a humongous "happily ever after" for "Shrek 2." The computer-animated fairy tale satire collected an estimated $104.3 million at the weekend box office, the second-biggest three-day tally in movie history behind 2002's "Spider-Man," which took in $114.8 million.

"Shrek 2" also scored the biggest opening ever for an animated film, easily topping "Finding Nemo's" $70.2 million. "Shrek," which opened in 2001, earned $42.3 million in its first weekend — but went on to collect $267.6 million and win the first Oscar for an animated feature film.

For the sequel, the grumpy green ogre collected $28.4 million on Friday, and then jumped a remarkable 58 percent Saturday to earn $44.8 million, according to Jim Tharp, head of distribution for DreamWorks.

Saturday's earnings broke Hollywood's overall record for highest one-day earnings, also held by "Spider-Man" with $43.6 million.

DreamWorks estimated the movie would earn an additional $31 million on Sunday — but even rival studios suggested the take would be higher than that. Final figures will be released Monday.

Last week's No. 1 film, the Brad Pitt epic "Troy," fell to second place in its second weekend, earning $23.8 million for a total of $85.8 million. The movie cost a reported $200 million to make.

Meanwhile, third-place "Van Helsing" crossed the $100 million mark with weekend earnings of $10.1 million, and "Mean Girls" ranked fourth with $6.9 million.

"'Shrek 2' was cutting into everybody else's audience," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co.

In the sequel, the title ogre (voiced by Mike Myers), his bride, Fiona (Cameron Diaz), and their pal Donkey (Eddie Murphy) visit Fiona's royal parents in the kingdom of Far, Far Away.

Critics loved the movie, which appealed to young kids with colorful characters, teenagers with comedy, couples with romance, and older audiences with a subplot about parents accepting the decisions of their grown-up children.

"Shrek 2," which opened Wednesday, screened in the largest number of opening theaters ever — 4,163 locations. It also brought in $125.3 million over its first five days, breaking the record set by "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which grossed $124.1 million.

The sequel is a great victory for DreamWorks, which has occasionally struggled to find its footing in the animated movie market. The first "Shrek" was a success and the studio had a modest hit with 1998's computer-animated "Antz," but traditionally animated fare like "Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron," "The Road to El Dorado" and "Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas" were all money-losers.

"For us, this is really more about proving that we have a creative rhythm as a company," said Ann Daly, head of animation for DreamWorks. "We found our tone and style."

About 60 percent of the audience was comprised of parents and their children, Tharp said. Studio exit polling found that 70 percent of respondents wanted to see the movie again, which bodes well for the movie's future in the competitive summer blockbuster season.

The weekend's total box-office earnings were up about 2 percent from last year, when "The Matrix Reloaded" and "Daddy Day Care" topped the list.

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. "Shrek 2," $104.3 million.
2. "Troy," $23.8 million.
3. "Van Helsing," $10.1 million.
4. "Mean Girls," $6.9 million.
5. "Man on Fire," $3.5 million.
6. "Breakin' All the Rules," $2.8 million.
7. "13 Going on 30," $2.5 million.
8. "New York Minute," $1.1 million.
9. "Kill Bill — Vol. 2," $1 million.
10. "Super Size Me," $953,455.

Cat Stevens Releases First DVD

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, hopes that the performance captured on his first DVD brings back the "energy, passion and beautiful messages" of the 1970s.

"Cat Stevens: Majikat: Earth Tour 1976" from Eagle Rock Entertainment features the artist's last concert, which took place in February 1976 in Williamsburg, Va. Among the DVD's 21 songs are "Peace Train" and "Where Do the Children Play?"

Islam says his last performance was also his first to be filmed. "I wasn't used to having cameras onstage," he recalls. "Once I got over that, it created an intensity which can be seen in the performance."

In a three-part interview featured on the DVD, the artist discusses his childhood, his rise to stardom and his life after converting to Islam and leaving the music industry.

"These interviews will help explain a lot of things about my life to people," he says.

In addition to launching the DVD, Islam this month announced the expansion of his U.K.-based charity Small Kindness. The organization, which will open a Los Angeles office, helps families in countries affected by war. Small Kindness currently runs a job-training center for Iraqi girls.

Moore's 'Fahrenheit 9/11' Has Hollywood Buzzing

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The White House calls the film "outrageously false," but Hollywood is hot for "Fahrenheit 9/11," documentary filmmaker Michael Moore's caustic broadside at President Bush.

A day after the film won the top Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival in France, industry observers on Sunday predicted the controversial movie would be a box office hit, even if some early reviews have hardly been favorable.

"I think it will be hugely successful," said D.A. Pennebaker, veteran documentary director whose films include the Oscar-nominated 1992 election campaign saga "The War Room." "It's going to get a lot of publicity."

In "Fahrenheit 9/11," Moore takes aim at Bush's handling of Iraq and the war on terror and traces links between the Bush family and prominent Saudis including the family of Osama bin Laden. It was greeted with a rapturous standing ovation at its Cannes world premiere, but not everyone was impressed.

Dan Barlett, the White House communications director, was quoted by the New York Times last week as saying of the film "it is so outrageously false, it's not even worth comment."

Also critical was the review in the entertainment industry journal Daily Variety which called the film a "blatant cinematic 2004 campaign pamphlet" and said it "fails to provide any hard facts or make any incriminating connections that a reasonably informed person doesn't already know about."

That may not matter to the fans of the man behind "Roger & Me," and the anti-gun documentary "Bowling for Columbine." Moore, in fact, laid the groundwork for "Fahrenheit 9/11" a year ago when he accepted the Oscar for "Columbine," and launched into a tirade against Bush on worldwide television.

A few weeks ago he was back in the news again, complaining that Walt Disney Co. had prevented its Miramax Films unit from releasing "Fahrenheit 9/11." Disney said it did not want to be associated with a political hot potato in an election year, and noted that Moore had known this for a year.

Miramax co-chairmen Harvey and Bob Weinstein are in the process of buying the movie with their own money and lining up a distributor, which is not expected to be a big problem.

Thanks to Moore's knack for self-promotion, "everybody in America is going to know about this movie, if they don't know about it already," said Michael Silberman, president of distribution at IDP Distribution, which recently released "Super Size Me," a documentary about the perils of fast food.

"Bowling for Columbine" is the most successful documentary in North America with ticket sales of $21.5 million. His new one should at least match that, industry executives say.

"Whether you like Harvey or not, he's a die-hard Democrat and he's going to see to it this film gets exposed. It's going to make a lot of money," said T.C. Rice, president of distribution at New York-based independent studio Manhattan Pictures.

Moore has said he wants "Fahrenheit 9/11" to come out as soon as possible so that it will influence the November presidential election and send Bush back to Texas.

That could be a tall order, according to Kim Serafin, a politically moderate radio talk show host in Los Angeles.

"He'll have lots of applause from the people he's already preaching to, the people that already like him and believe in him and think he's a great filmmaker," she said. "And the people who don't ... they weren't going to see this movie anyway."

On the other hand, the Cannes win has given the film some legitimacy, and the film could bring out Moore-haters if only so that they can "know thy enemy," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

"When people are talking about a movie like this, they want to see what all the fuss is about. In an election year it's all the more appealing to people because everybody's in this political mode," he said.

Murray to star in Jarmusch film

After a lot of chasing, director Jim Jarmusch finally has the lead man for his new film.

Bill Murray will take on the lead role in his as-yet-untitled comedy, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Murray, whose popularity has shot up since his Oscar-nominated role in last year's "Lost In Translation," had agreed to star if the picture could be sped into production to fit his schedule.

The film is expected to begin shooting in New York this summer.

Murray appears in Jarmusch's "Coffee & Cigarettes," which hits theatres on Friday.

John Fogerty Sets Summer Tour And A New Album Is In The Works

Former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty, who rarely plays concerts and issues new recorded material even less often, will tour extensively this summer before releasing a new album.

Fogerty opens his trek in late June and will touch down in more than 30 cities over the next two months. It's been about four years since Fogerty's last major tour.

The outing will be followed this fall with the release of Fogerty's first new studio album since 1997's "Blue Moon Swamp."

"I have been in the studio putting the finishing touches on my new record, scheduled to be out in mid to late September," Fogerty wrote in a message on his website. "We will put the release date up as soon as we know it."

Fogerty's most recent album was 1998's "Premonition," which included 18 live tracks that he recorded during a performance the previous year. It was around that time that Fogerty began to play CCR hits in concert; for well over a decade, he refused to play the songs because of a long-running business dispute with CCR's label, Fantasy Records.

Tour Itinerary

June 2004

25 - Saratoga, CA - Montalvo Garden Theatre
26 - Lake Tahoe, NV - Harvey's Amphitheatre
28 - Medford, OR - Jackson County Fairgrounds
29 - Eugene, OR - Cuthbert Amphitheatre
30 - Redmond, WA - Marymoor Amphitheatre

July 2004

2 - Spokane, WA - Lilac Bowl
3 - McCall, ID - Brundage Mountain Amphitheatre
4 - Big Sky, MT - Big Sky Outdoor Pavilion (w/ Allman Brothers)
6 - Missoula, MT - Caras Park Pavilion
7 - Nampa, ID - Idaho Center Amphitheatre
9 - Park City, UT - Deer Valley
10 - Denver, CO - Universal Lending Pavilion
11 - Kearney, NE - Tri City Arena
13 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre
14 - Omaha, NE - Omaha Civic Music Hall
16 - Walker, MN - Moondance Jam Festival
17 - Mankato, MN - Midwest Wireless Civic Center
18 - Cadott, WI - Chippewa Valley Rock Fest
20 - South Bend, IN - Morris Auditorium
21 - Peoria, IL - Civic Center Theatre
23 - Arnold's Park, IA - Arnold's Park
24 - St. Paul, MN - Minnesota State Fairgrounds
27 - San Diego, CA - Summer Pops Bowl
28 - Costa Mesa, CA - Orange County Fair
29 - Paso Robles, CA - California Mid-State Fair
31 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint

August 2004

1 - Phoenix, AZ - Dodge Theatre
4 - Albuquerque, NM - Sandia Casino
6 - Grand Prairie, TX - Nokia Live (NextStage)
7 - Austin, TX - The Backyard
8 - Houston TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre

Uninterrupted '24' Run Begins in January

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Regular viewers of FOX's "24" know that even if you catch every episode, figuring out where the plot is going is often a challenge. One week Kiefer Sutherland's Jack Bauer is in Mexico and the next week, Mexico doesn't matter anymore. One week Dennis Haysbert's President Palmer has a girlfriend whose husband is committing suicide and the next week she's gone, never to be mentioned again. Some weeks Jack's hooked on smack and a virus is about to take over the West Coast and then the next week, Jack's clean and sober and the virus is a secondary concern.

Throw in the programming interruptions that often preempt "24" for multiple weeks at a stretch and it's no wonder that the ratings for the award winning drama have been erratic this season.

FOX aims to bring stability back to "24" next year. The series won't return until January, when it moves into a new time period on Monday nights at 9 p.m. ET. The show will get a two-hour premiere and a two-hour finale. FOX Entertainment President Gail Berman also promises a two-hour special event episode in the middle of the season. The three instances of doubling down will allow "24" to reach its conclusion by the end of the May sweeps period.

The network's hope is that while the new time slot strips "24" of its protected post-"American Idol" hour, airing on Mondays will prevent the kind of schedule juggling that left the show on the shelf whenever "Idol" stretched to two hours. The plan is to air the entire season without a single repeat (long the "24" standard) and without a single week off (a miracle if it happens).

"'24' is appointment television and we believe that moving it to Monday, creating an event out of it with no breaks in the schedule, will enable the viewer to really get on the ride and have an event that takes you through to May with it," Berman says.

In its third season, "24" averaged 9.35 million viewers before the January premiere of "Idol." The boost from the popular talent show has only been moderate, lifting "24" to its season average of 10.18 million viewers, down by roughly a million from last season's numbers.

Except for random periods where the show has vanished from FOX's schedule for weeks at time, the network has been consistent in its support of the atypical series. In planning the new multi-tiered year-round schedule, though, executives determined that it was time to share the cushy "Idol" warmth.

"We need to make room on the schedule for new hits," Berman admits "We'd like 'American Idol' to be used as a launch pad for new opportunities for the network."

After it premieres in January 2005, "Idol" will provide a Tuesday lead-in for "House," a medical drama from "Quiz Show" screenwriter and "Homicide: Life on the Street" creator Paul Attanasio. The Wednesday results show, moved to 9 p.m., will reward veteran comedy "The Bernie Mac Show."

The move to Mondays isn't akin to being thrown to the Nielsen wolves for "24." FOX has placed the series behind one of its most anticipated new dramas of the season, "Athens." The new offering from Josh Schwartz ("The O.C.") takes a soapy look at a fictional New England college town and the unlikely friendship between a young English professor and an 18-year-old freshman (a relationship FOX is already likening to the bond between Seth and Ryan on "The O.C.").

'Family Guy' Returns Next Summer to FOX

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - In its three seasons on FOX, the animated comedy "Family Guy" danced around the network's schedules like a ballerina on methamphetamines. The show occupied three different Tuesday time slots, three periods on Thursday, two half-hours on Wednesday and one niche on Sundays. Either the show was incapable of finding an audience because it kept switching times, or it kept switching times because it couldn't find an audience. Either way, except for a dedicated, but miniscule following, nobody was watching "Family Guy."

After a popular DVD release and a successful late night run on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" block, FOX thinks "Family Guy" is ready for primetime again. Seth MacFarlane's dysfunctional animated family will return to FOX's schedules in the summer of 2005 with all new episodes.

"When I first joined the network my first order of business was ordering more episodes of 'Family Guy,'" says FOX Entertainment President Gail Berman. "I believe this show was way ahead of its time. It's now a huge DVD hit and we believe that 'Family Guy' has a ready-made fan base eager for its return."

"Family Guy" will return next summer with all of its vocal talent intact. MacFarlane will return as the voices of lumpy everyman Peter Griffin, homicidal baby Stewie and family dog Brian. Alex Bornstein returns as long-suffering wife Lois Griffin and Mila Kunis and Seth Green will be back as children Meg and Chris Griffin.

FOX's return to Quahog, Rhode Island is only part of the network's MacFarlane renaissance. His new animated series, "American Dad," launches as part of FOX's January 2005 schedule, following "Arrested Development" on Sunday nights at 9:30.

"American Dad" will get a high profile preview following a special episode of "The Simpsons," which will take the coveted post-Super Bowl slot on Sunday, Feb. 6.

MacFarlane lends his vocal talents to the new series as well, voicing Stan Smith, a CIA agent constantly on the lookout for terrorist activities. The Smith family also includes Roger (also MacFarlane) a space alien from Area 51 and Klaus (Dee Bradley Baker), a German speaking goldfish.

Giving Birth:

According to Dark Horizons, the new title of STAR WARS EPISODE III will be BIRTH OF THE EMPIRE and the film will climax with the battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin. "There's going to be a big announcement soon," said the scooper. "They've tried lots of titles but the most popular is BIRTH OF THE EMPIRE."

Meanwhile, if you haven't seen it, AICN has a picture from a supposedly recut version of RETURN OF THE JEDI that puts Hayden Christensen in the final scene. Just scroll down through the miles of purple text. Keep scrolling. It's called burying the lead, folks.

KUDOS!

Rebecca Romijn-Stamos will be honored as the Rising Female Star of the Year at the Video Software Dealers Association's Home Entertainment 2004 conference July 14 in Las Vegas.

"Shrek 2" Off to Fairy-Tale Start

A happy-ever-after beginning for Shrek 2.

The continued adventures of Mike Myers' Scottish-braying ogre picked up where the fractured fairy tale left off, cleaning up at the box office with an estimated $11.8 million from Wednesday's opening day.

DreamWorks hit the books, crunched the numbers and declared the bow a record--a "record for a mid-week opening by an animated film," topping the illustrious Pokémon: The First Movie, which coerced kiddies out of $10.1 million in 1999.

Brandon Gray of the ticket-tracking site BoxOfficeMojo.com, predicted a $60 million Friday-Sunday opening weekend for Shrek 2 and a five-day (Wednesday-Sunday) gross of about $84 million.

The original Shrek took in $42.3 million in its first three days of release in May 2001. It went on to score $267.7 million--its year's third-biggest moneymaker.

Gray said Shrek 2 should live up to its birthright, and avoid a Van Helsing (i.e., a precipitous fall at the box office following a big opening weekend) as the summer wears on.

"It has a shot at outgrossing the first movie," Gray said. "It will have longer legs than most sequels."

Still, it'll have a ways to go to become the top-grossing animated film of all-time, with Finding Nemo's $339.7 million being no easy catch.

The CGI-animated Shrek 2 reunites Myers with his costars from the first film: Cameron Diaz as the now-blushing bride, Princess Fiona, and, Eddie Murphy as plucky Donkey.

Julie Andrews and John Cleese, as Fiona's parents, are among the fresh voices in the sequel.

The first film was that rarest of beasts: The popular film that's popular with critics. Shrek 2 has shaped up the same way, with a rosy 88 percent positive-review average on RottenTomatoes.com. Exploiting a good thing while it's still well-liked, DreamWorks has already ordered up a third film.

About the only glitch in this fairy tale: A miffed screenwriter.

Ted Elliott, who with partner Terry Rossio cowrote the Oscar-nominated script for Shrek (two other writers also received credit and nominations), took to his and Rossio's Website, Wordplay (www.wordplayer.com), on Wednesday to vent about Andrew Adamson, the director of the original film and sequel.

In a post titled, "The only post I will make on the topic of Shrek 2," Elliott took issue with Adamson's story credit on the new film.

"More than half of the story elements in the movie were created by Terry and me," wrote Elliott, who is not credited on Shrek 2. "This the second time director Adamson has attempted to claim writing credit for the work of the other people. The first time, on Shrek, he failed; this time, he succeeded."

Elliott closed the brief post with even briefer advice to writers considering working with Adamson: "Do not," he wrote.

A message left with a DreamWorks seeking comment was not immediately returned Thursday.

Two New Classic Films Are Coming (Back) To DVD

Just announced from Universal is a much-requested new reissue of Richard Linklater's Dazed & Confused: Flashback Edition, which will hit the streets on September 14th. Remastered in anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1, extras include a new audio commentary with Linklater, deleted scenes and trailers.

Universal will also release the seminal 80's teen classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High on the 14th, now available in separate anamorphic widescreen and full screen editions. Each boasts the same extras as before.

Massive Stones concert transformed into two-disc DVD available June 29

TORONTO (CP) - Mick Jagger sent a videotaped message to Toronto on Thursday to launch a DVD of last summer's enormous outdoor concert to help the SARS-battered city.

The show, attended by 490,000 people, featured the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, the Guess Who and Justin Timberlake, among others. "It was definitely the biggest show we've ever done. It was one of the highlights of our career. It really remains in my memory," Jagger said. Producers of the two-disc DVD, in stores June 29, edited the 16-hour day into two-hours and 40 minutes of performances and behind-the-scenes footage, and included all the Canadian talent.

It will sell for between $32 and $39, depending on the retailer. To keep the DVD's length manageable, between one and three songs from each performer were chosen, except the Stones who got six.

Acts were sent a copy of their performance and were allowed to select their favourites.

Two highlights were also saved from the cutting room floor: AC/DC guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young on stage with the Stones for Rock Me Baby and popstar Justin Timberlake's Miss You duet with Jagger.

Bonus footage shows Jagger and Timberlake rehearsing for their duet, Burton Cummings introducing himself to Jagger and Rush's Neil Peart and the Stones' Charlie Watts discussing drums.

It's "one of the more historic gatherings of rock history," said concert promoter Michael Cohl of TGA Entertainment, who has organized the Stones' last few world tours.

Outside of Canada, the DVD will be cut down into a single disc. Most of the home grown acts will be cut.

It took producers 10 months to create the DVD because it involved negotiating rights and securing clearances with 45 songwriters, 15 artists, 10 record companies and 14 publishers, said Cohl, the executive producer.

The artists have all agreed to fork over any revenue from sales of the DVD to several charities, including ones for hospitality and health workers.

"We are giving our money that we get from royalties to the various charities and good works in Toronto," said Jagger. "Hopefully this concert and the awareness that it brought did something towards helping (Toronto tourism)."

Organizers have said the economic impact on a national level was $1-billion for the one-day event. Over $1 million was raised for charity, added Cohl, who got the ball rolling on the show by re-routing the Stones tour to make a stop in Toronto last July 30.

Cohl said the DVD is special because the show is the only one of its kind, being the largest ticketed single day event in history.

"It's the only show to draw 400,000-to-500,000 people ever where there was no one killed, where there was only double-digit arrests and barely over 100 people sent to hospital and most of them for minor things," he said. "It was a miraculous day."

Organizers are also offering a 60-minute highlight show free to any TV station around the world willing to air it.

So far, said Cohl, stations in over 50 countries have accepted the freebie. The special also includes a three-minute Toronto tourism pitch.

It will air close to the release of the DVD. In Canada, CBC and Citytv have grabbed the reel.

New trade terms see cost of EMI CDs rise $2 to $10 at HMV stores in Canada

TORONTO (CP) - A dispute between music label EMI and retailer HMV is hitting music fans and indie artists like Sum 41 and Oh Susanna in the pocketbook.

Experts say the price increases - between $2 and $10 - for CDs by artists such as Nickelback, Janet Jackson, Norah Jones, Radiohead and Sarah McLachlan, are just the latest manifestation of the industry's woes.

The increases, which took effect in early April, are due to a squabble over the wholesale price of EMI's CDs, and all the indie labels it distributes.

Both sides have been guarded about discussing the issue saying "trading terms" between the companies are confidential. However, each concedes that money is at the heart of the problem.

HMV wants EMI to maintain its volume discount on CDs so the chain can sell new releases at a cheaper price and get music lovers into its stores - rather than big-box competitors like WalMart and Costco.

"EMI chose to reduce the level of support that they had previously offered HMV," Humphrey Kadaner, president of HMV Canada, said in an interview with The Canadian Press.

As a result, Kadaner said HMV can't give EMI distributed products the same level of "value-added" support it gives other labels.

That means EMI artists don't get priority placement near the front of stores, their songs don't get played inside the stores and they're not listed on HMV's chart wall - often the first place a consumer will look when entering a music shop.

Kadaner said under the new trade terms, EMI passed on a higher price to HMV. Subsequently, the chain had to pass the hike on to the consumer, he said.

"We passed it on proportionally. We've maintained the same margin as before. We have not tried to use this as a vehicle to drive any incremental profitability," said Kadaner.

For its part, EMI Canada says it can't afford to capitulate to the chain's demands because sales at the chain dropped about 25 per cent last year.

Further, label head Deane Cameron says the label did not raise its CD prices.

"It's not fair for us to have trading terms that reward HMV for their volume if their volume is not there," he said. "HMV is selling a lot more DVDs these days. That's why we're getting elbowed out."

He added: "We asked them to consider different trading terms. That wasn't received too well and we appear to be in the penalty box. It's disappointing for artists to be punished to this extent."

It's far from the first time HMV, which holds the leading market share of pre-recorded music in Canada, has fought to increase its bottom line. Two years ago a messy dispute with Warner over wholesale prices pushed HMV to pull all Warner CDs from its stores.

It's no secret the CD market has been troubled in recent years. The Canadian Recording Industry Association says that on a per-capita basis, the Canadian music industry has been one of the hardest hit of any country in the world by illegal file swapping. Retail sales have decreased by more than $425 million since 1999, says the organization.

To stay afloat, HMV started selling DVDs a few years back, which some say saved the chain from bankruptcy.
 
"When this whole downloading thing happened their music business tanked," said Maureen Atkinson, senior partner at J.C. Williams Group, a retail and marketing consulting firm. "They really struggled, as did the recording industry."

But this latest ripple has more victims than just EMI. The label consists of 70 music labels representing over 1,500 artists around the world. In Canada, EMI distributes CDs for smaller independent labels, including Nettwerk, Popular, Marquis and Aquarius.

It's these smaller Canadian indie labels - which support home grown talent like Sum 41 and Broken Social Scene - that find themselves the biggest victims of EMI and HMV's trade fallout.

They have the most to lose because their artists aren't sold in big box stores like Future Shop and WalMart - which mostly only carry Top 40 CDs with very little back catalogue - and rely on specialty stores to sell their stuff.

"It's just not fair. Do they care that by raising the Oh Susanna disc to $28 they make it impossible for people to buy her CD in their store," said Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk. "That hurts the artist. That artist is a person. They're not a corporate entity."

Customers have already said the price of CDs is too high, added McBride.

"It's extremely short-sighted because people are already buying less and less CDs. The reason why HMV and EMI are having this little tussle is because EMI margins have been shrunk, the marketplace is shrinking and every player in this business needs to come to terms with that and be part of the solution - not get into these stupid little trade wars. Nobody wins."

Kravitz Says Album Is New Chapter in Life

LOS ANGELES - Two years after dropping out of the music scene, Lenny Kravitz says he has begun a new chapter in his life — a new album titled, "Baptism."

"I feel like the last record closed a chapter, a big chapter in my life, and this is the beginning of another one," he told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "I feel reborn, I feel great. I feel like it's my first record again."

Kravitz said he took a break from recording and touring for a more important job — taking care of his family.

"Being a dad comes first and that's the most important thing," he said. "It'd be a shame to be a great musician and whatever, but not to take care of your kid, that ain't happening."

Kravitz said he has been trying to keep a low profile, but it's been difficult with his relationship with Nicole Kidman making tabloid headlines.

"Sometimes it's in your face, but you know, people make up what they want, they write what they want, they lie," he said. "I just try to keep stepping."

Poll: 'Psycho' Is Best Movie Death Ever

LONDON - Janet Leigh's shower scene in "Psycho" is the "best movie death" of all time, according to a critics' poll published Thursday.

The 1960 Alfred Hitchcock thriller beat other iconic movies such as "The Godfather" and Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs" (23rd) in the non-scientific poll by Total Film magazine.

Stanley Kubrick's "Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb" (1964) came in second, with its surreal ending in which Slim Pickens rides an atomic bomb.

Other highly rated movie deaths were the fatal plunge of the ape in 1933's "King Kong," which came in third place, and the demise of Bambi's mother in the 1942 Disney movie "Bambi," which came in sixth.

"Some of the deaths in the poll, like The Wicked Witch melting in 'The Wizard Of Oz' (13th), are iconic but laughable, but nearly 45 years on, 'Psycho's' shower scene is still distressing," said Total Film deputy editor Simon Crook.

"It's the sheer violence of the edit rather than any explicit gore — 70 different angles, over 90 cuts and those shrieking violins. It's a master class in montage and audience manipulation."

Crook added: "Knowing that the blood is Bosco's chocolate syrup and that a pulped casaba melon stood in for the stabbing noises does nothing to reduce the impact."

Van Halen's Latest Hits CD Boasts Three New Cuts

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Van Halen has recorded three new songs for inclusion on "The Very Best of Van Halen," expected to come out later this summer to coincide with the rock band's reunion tour.

The cuts "It's About Time," "Up for Breakfast" and "Learning To See" feature vocalist Sammy Hagar, who has rejoined the group eight years after an acrimonious departure.

The double-disc "Very Best" (Warner Music Group) picks up the Van Halen story with the iconic "Eruption" from the group's self-titled 1978 debut. Every major hit is present, from the David Lee Roth (news)-era smashes "Jump," "Panama," "I'll Wait" and "(Oh) Pretty Woman" to such Hagar-associated material as "When It's Love," "Why Can't This Be Love" and "Finish What Ya Started."

Also featured are live versions of "Ain't Talking 'Bout Love," "Jump" and "Panama" from the 1993 concert set "Right Here, Right Now." Notably excluded are any songs from Van Halen's last studio album, 1998's commercial dud "Van Halen III," the lone release to feature former Extreme vocalist Gary Cherone.

Van Halen's first tour since 1998 will kick off June 11 in Greensboro, N.C. The band's manager, Irving Azoff, recently told Billboard the trek will ultimately consist of four legs of 22 shows each.

According to a spokesperson, the album's running order has not yet been finalized, contrary to the track list posted on Van Halen's official Web site.

Van Halen previously released a single-disc hits package, "Best Of, Volume I," in 1996. It featured two new tracks recorded during a brief and ill-fated reunion with Roth.

'Shrek 2' Set to Reach Record Number of Theaters

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Computer-animated "Shrek 2" will play in a record 4,163 theaters domestically this weekend, marking the first time a film has surpassed the 4,000-theater mark in its debut, studio DreamWorks said on Thursday.

The feature, in which the green ogre Shrek and his sidekick Donkey send up Hollywood and its obsession with body image, debuted on Wednesday this week to a one-day box office haul of $11.8 million, a record for an animated movie.

Given a theater count surpassing the previous domestic record held by last year's "X2: X-Men United," the sequel to 2001 smash hit "Shrek" looks to rake in cash at U.S. and Canadian box offices. "This is unprecedented ... I've never seen a movie open in that many theaters," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Los Angeles-based audience tracking service Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

DreamWorks' head of distribution Jim Tharp said the number of theaters showing the film had been raised from just over 3,700 on Wednesday as more theaters were able to open screens for the release.

Dergarabedian declined to predict just how big a success "Shrek 2" might be, but said $50 million in ticket sales for the three-day weekend "would not be out of the question."

If so, that would top last week's final $46.8 million for Trojan War epic "Troy," and be competitive with the $54 million first weekend haul for the previous week's vampire killer movie "Van Helsing." Those two films have been Hollywood's first major releases of the summer box office season.

The summer is the main movie-going period for the major film studios in the United States and the season, which begins in early May and lasts through the Labor Day holiday in early September, accounts for as much as 40 percent of the year's total ticket sales.

The first "Shrek" in 2001 took in $267 million at North American box offices and a total of around $455 million worldwide. Privately held DreamWorks has high hopes the sequel, which has earned solid reviews, can perform at least as well. The first day's ticket sales were a good indication it would.

"This was a spectacular opening and one that exceeded all of our expectations," DreamWorks' Tharp said in a statement.

The previous best one-day debut at midweek by an animated movie was "Pokemon The First Movie," a Warner Bros. title that opened in 1999 on a Wednesday to $10.1 million at domestic box offices, according to Exhibitor Relations.

SEINFELD WEB AD NABS SPOT IN NBC LINEUP

Jerry Seinfeld is back on NBC!

But it's only for one night and only for 10 minutes.

Seinfeld, the former Thursday king of NBC, is returning as part of an unusual primetime promotion for American Express.

The 10-minute promo is scheduled to run from 8:42 p.m. to 8:52 p.m., starting with the television premiere of the "Seinfeld & Superman" series that premiered in March on americanexpress.com.

The "web-i-sode" - titled "A Uniform Used to Mean Something" and running about four minutes - has Seinfeld and Superman (voiced by Patrick Warburton, "Seinfeld's" David Puddy) hanging out together in Manhattan.

But tonight's elaborate promo has also been designed to generate excitement for the second web-i-sode, "Hindsight is 20/20," which will have Jerry and his pal Supe on a road trip.

"Hindsight" premieres today at noon on the Amex Web site.

Neither Amex nor NBC would say whether the 10 minutes of primetime - some of the priciest real estate in all of television - was purchased outright by American Express.

The promo will be sandwiched between a "supersized" rerun of "Friends" and a re-airing of the 66-minute "Friends" series finale.

Those 10 minutes would be worth nearly $9.5 million based on reported rates for 30-second spots during regular episodes of "Friends" - $473,500, according to Advertising Age.

Eminem suit against Apple, MTV a go

DETROIT (AP) -- A federal judge says rapper Eminem's copyright infringement claims over use of his song "Lose Yourself" in a commercial for Apple Computer Inc. can go forward.

Apple featured a 10-year-old boy singing the Oscar-winning theme song to the rapper's movie "8 Mile" in an ad on MTV for the computer company's iPod music player and iTunes music service.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor ruled that the suit brought by Eminem's publishing company can proceed against several companies, including MTV parent company Viacom and advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day.

Taylor threw out two state law-based claims of unfair competition and unjust enrichment.

The television ad appeared many times during three months beginning in July 2003 and on Apple's Web site, despite the fact that the computer company had unsuccessfully sought Eminem's permission for the campaign.

Herschel Fink, a Detroit lawyer for the defendants, said no viewer would think Eminem was endorsing the iTunes service.

Eminem's lawyers say he has never nationally endorsed any product.

PACKING IT IN

Detective Lennie Briscoe turns in his badge on tonight's "Law & Order" after 12 years - but both he and the only man who's played him, Jerry Orbach, will return for the new "L&O" spinoff kicking off next season.

"It was a mutual thing," Orbach told The New York Post about his decision to leave "L&O," the show on which he's been a constant through hundreds of episodes - and many cast changes.

"Dick Wolf had the spinoff coming and it looked like the perfect opportunity to do one or two days a week rather than all eight days of the [shooting] schedule," said Orbach, 68.

"It's sort of like a golden parachute - as far as the real cops go, they would've retired me years ago."

Orbach will appear regularly on the new show, "Law & Order: Trial By Jury," scheduled to kick off later next season.

"Briscoe is now retired and is working for the DAs office as an investigator. It's just another venue for Lennie," Orbach said. "This show will have DAs, defense lawyers and judges who will revolve, so that I and a partner will be regulars and they can get a big star, like Helen Mirren, to do an episode.

"It could be very interesting."

Orbach said it was "very emotional" filming tonight's episode, after walking the "L&O" beat as Briscoe since 1992.

"I've been doing this an awfully long time; it's been 12 years with that group of people. You see the cast and crew more than you see your own family," he said. "You live with those people. They've become like a real family. It's a real lovefest."

Orbach will be replaced on "Law & Order" by Dennis Farina, an ex-Chicago cop known for his tough-guy cop roles in "Crime Story" and "Buddy Faro."

Orbach said this will, most likely, be his last regular series work.

"I used to say when I was working in the theater that if I ever had five seasons of a hit TV show I'd never have to worry about money and wouldn't have to do anything I didn't want to do," he said.

"The 12 seasons on 'Law & Order' really made that possible. It was a wonderful break for me at that stage of my career."

And the legacy of Briscoe?

"What the New York cops say - 'Keep making us look good,' " Orbach said.

CD Prices on the Rise Again

Universal promised $12.98 CDs. So why is D12 almost $20?

Last fall, music giant Universal announced a sweeping plan to cut the price of new records by thirty percent -- with some CDs selling for just $12.98. But anyone checking out racks at a music store will see recent releases from Universal artists such as D12, Hoobastank and Kanye West still selling for $14.99 to $18.98.

In April, Universal officially raised its suggested retail prices by one dollar. The company thought its gamble of charging less would spark massive sales. It didn't. The price cuts only hurt profitability. "We didn't get the increased sales we needed," says Jim Urie, president of Universal Music and Video Distribution. But he points out that Universal still offers the lowest prices among the major labels.

Universal's effort has also been thwarted by some retailers. Physically repricing millions of records at many chains is a time-consuming process. And many indie retailers had refused to go along with the plan, since it eliminated some advertising dollars that Universal had offered in exchange for premium placement. Sources say roughly half of music stores have adopted the price cuts.

While the albums topping the charts aren't yet a bargain, the back catalog of CDs that have been out for longer than eighteen months have helped overall prices inch down. At this time last year, the average full-length CD sold for $13.79; today, it's $13.29, according to marketing-information firm NPD MusicWatch. In early May, Warner Music announced a new plan to market some old titles for $9.98 to $11.98, including artists such as Madonna, Missy Elliott and Prince. For music shoppers looking for deals, the oldies are the only place to go.

Despite the imperative of making CD prices compete with free music on the Net and other entertainment options such as DVDs and video games, many retailers and labels have resisted the chance to cut prices. Right now, retailers, who are benefiting from a nine percent climb in music sales so far this year, have little incentive to drop prices on the best sellers. "If you have a hot new release like Usher, people are going to pay $18.99," says Clark Benson, CEO of the market-research firm Almighty Institute of Music Retail.

But big retailers such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart continue to gain market share by selling records for less than $10. "We continue to hear from consumers that CDs are too expensive," says Gary Arnold, senior vice president of entertainment at Best Buy. "The music industry needs to think with consumer glasses on."

Rival labels are not only hesitant to cut prices but may even be raising them. News reports have suggested that some labels want to boost the price of singles from ninety-nine cents to $1.25 at Apple's iTunes Music Store, though Apple denies it. But prices for some albums have climbed at iTunes, going beyond the usual $9.99 price per CD -- N.E.R.D.'s Fly or Die and Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon now sell for $13.99 and $14.99, respectively. Apple CEO Steve Jobs says labels could make more money selling full albums for $9.99 than one or two choice cuts for ninety-nine cents each. "We see prices of albums coming down and not going up," says Jobs.

Unreleased Cuts Bolster Simon Boxed Set

As first reported here last week, Warner Bros. will on June 29 release the nine-disc Paul Simon boxed set "The Studio Recordings 1972-2000." The set comprises the six albums the artist has recorded for Warner Bros. plus his first three post-Simon & Garfunkel solo releases, originally issued by Columbia. All nine albums have been digitally remastered and expanded with previously unreleased bonus cuts.

Simon's 1972 self-titled solo debut is bolstered with demos of "Duncan" and "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" recorded in February 1971 in San Francisco, plus a previously unreleased version of "Paranoia Blues." His 1973 sophomore set "There Goes Rhymin' Simon" will now include acoustic demos of "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" and "Loves Me Like a Rock," an unfinished run through "American Tune" and a work-in-progress rendition of "Let Me Live in Your City."

Simon hit an artistic peak on 1975's "Still Crazy After All These Years," which reached No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and won the Grammy for album of the year. Bonus tracks on its new edition are demos of the No. 5 pop hit "Slip Slidin' Away" and "Gone at Last" with the Jessy Dixon Singers and the track "Silent Eyes" from the film "Shampoo."

The artist then took a nearly five-year break and signed a new deal with Warner Bros. for the 1980 release of the soundtrack to his film "One Trick Pony." Four previously unreleased cuts enrich the new version: "Soft Parachutes," "All Because of You," "Stranded in a Limousine" and "Spiral Highway."

At No. 35, Simon's 1983 album "Hearts and Bones" notched the lowest album chart ranking of his solo career, but has endured as a fan favorite in the years since. Bonus cuts include acoustic demos of the John Lennon elegy "The Late Great Johnny Ace," "Rene and Georgette Magritte With Their Dog After the War" and "Train in the Distance," plus the previously unreleased work-in-progress track "Shelter of Your Arms."

Simon roared back into the mainstream with 1986's South African-inspired "Graceland," which has been certified for U.S. shipments of 5 million copies by the Recording Industry Association of America. The set, which won Simon his second Grammy for album of the year, is bolstered by a demo of "Homeless," an unreleased version of "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes" and an early take on "All Around the World or the Myth of Fingerprints."

Continuing Simon's world-music dabbling, 1990's "The Rhythm of the Saints" has been expanded to include the outtake "Thelma," an acoustic demo of "Born at the Right Time" and work-in-progress versions of "The Coast" and "Spirit Voices."

Another extended break from the studio followed before the 1997 release of "Songs From the Capeman," Simon's short-lived Broadway musical. The album will now feature a demo of "Born in Puerto Rico" featuring Jose Feliciano, the demo for "Can I Forgive Him" and the unreleased "Shoplifting Clothes."

The set is rounded out by Simon's latest solo release, 2000's "You're the One," which will include live renditions of "Old," opener "That's Where I Belong" and "Hurricane Eye."

As previously reported, Simon & Garfunkel's Old Friends trek will return to the road June 10 in Albany, N.Y.

INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT

Fox giving a surprise renewal to the critically lauded but woefully low-rated Jason Bateman sitcom Arrested Development, Variety reports. The network, which announces its full schedule on Thursday, also reupped the Eliza Dushku drama Tru Calling.

"Alias" Falls Off ABC Schedule

Two editions of the series Extreme Makeover seem especially appropriate for ABC's fall 2004-05 schedule, since the beleaguered network's lineup is undergoing quite an overhaul itself.

The most surprising move in new ABC Primetime Entertainment President Stephen McPherson's fall schedule, which was unveiled Monday at the New Amsterdam Theater in New York during the network's annual upfront presentation: no Alias. The butt-kickin' spy drama starring Jennifer Garner will instead stay off the air until January, when its fourth season will unspool, sans reruns.

In Alias' Sunday night time slot this fall: Desperate Housewives, a soapy drama about a suburban wife (Twin Peaks' Sheryl Lee) who kills herself, but continues to watch over the Knots Landing-ish shenanigans of her cul-de-sac neighbors. Melrose Place and General Hospital writer Charles Pratt Jr. produces the show, which also stars former Melrose baddie Marcia Cross, Lois & Clark's Teri Hatcher, Sports Night's Felicity Huffman and Eva Longoria (Dragnet and The Young and the Restless).

Housewives is part of the network's bigger strategy to depend on drama series to revive its place in the network wars. Overall, ABC will add seven new dramas to its schedule--three at midseason--plus two new comedies and two new reality series.

"Every night we ask tens of millions of Americans to invite us into their homes, and it's our responsibility to give them a reason to let us stay. I believe these programs, and this schedule, does just that," said the sound bite-ready McPherson.

Tens of millions of viewers may actually be a ratings dream for ABC, the fourth-place network that, in last week's ratings battle, for example, didn't have one show in the top 10 and finished the week averaging just 8.3 million viewers.

The network, which has yet to recover from the nose dive its ratings took in 2001 when viewers decided they'd seen one--or 12--too many installments of the overplayed Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in prime time, is not only leaning on dramas to boost its profile, but is also looking to TV veterans like Patrick Dempsey, Steven Bocho, Tim Daly and Kelly Osbourne--in a dramatic role--to lure viewers back to its lineups.

A rundown of ABC's other new series:

* The Benefactor (fall): Eccentric billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks Mark Cuban looks to--forgive us--trump NBC's successful reality series The Apprentice with his own competition, in which 16 butt-kissers endure a series of challenges to try to prove to Cuban why each of them is worthy of the million-dollar prize he's offering.

* Rodney (fall): Comedian Rodney Carrington is the latest stand-up comic to get his own sitcom, this one--surprise--featuring him as an everyday guy trying to be a decent husband and father. Very Home Improvement-y.

* Lost (fall): Created by Alias' J.J. Abrams, the drama revolves around a group of plane-crash survivors who are trapped on a deserted island. Stars Lord of the Rings' Dominic Monaghan, Naveen Andrews (The English Patient) and Harold Perrineau (Oz).

* Wife Swap (fall): A reality series, based on a hit British show, about two moms who swap families for 10 days and must first follow the rules of the new house, and then implement their own lifestyle for the rest of the time.

* Life as We Know It (fall): Based on British author Melvin Burgess' young-adult novel Doing It, the coming-of-age drama stars Kelly Osbourne (yes, that Kelly Osbourne) and newcomer Sean Faris (Undressed) and follows a group of sex-crazed teen boys (is there any other kind?) and their girlfriends. The series is produced by Freaks and Geeks producers-writers Gabe Sachs and Jeff Judah.

* Savages (fall): Keith