NEWMAN’S OWN

It's difficult to pick out just 10, but here are some of the greatest roles and scenes in Paul Newman's long career:

1 CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF (1958) Newman received his first Oscar nomination playing Brick Pollitt, an alcoholic ex-football player who resists the advances of his beautiful and frustrated wife Maggie while staying at the Mississippi plantation of his dying father, Big Daddy (Burl Ives).

Best scene: Newman's performance manages to suggest Brick's feelings for a deceased former roommate in this heated exchange. Maggie: "You know what I feel like? I feel all the time like a cat on a hot tin roof." Brick: "Then jump off the roof, Maggie. Jump off it. Cats jump off roofs and land uninjured. Do it. Jump."

2 THE HUSTLER (1961) Newman entered the first rank of American actors with his portrayal of pool shark Eddie Felson, who challenges Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). Newman was nominated for Best Actor twice for this role, winning his only acting Oscar for reprising it 26 years later in "The Color of Money."

Best scene: After defeat at the hands of Fats in the Big Apple, Eddie moves to Kentucky, where he hooks up with a sleazy gambler whom he allows to maul his crippled girlfriend (Piper Laurie). One of the most powerful moments comes when Eddie discovers her lifeless body; she's slashed her wrists. Realizing what he's lost, a chastened Eddie returns to New York for a climactic match with Fats.

3 HUD (1963) Newman's charm and appeal to audiences allowed him to go to darker places than earlier Hollywood leading men. He received his third Oscar nomination as the unregenerate heel Hud Bannon, who pursues the flirtatious housekeeper ( Patricia Neal) at the family's ranch.

Best scene: "The only question I ever ask any woman is, 'What time is your husband coming home?' " brags Hud. The scene where he breaks down her door still has the power to shock.

4 HARPER (1966) Newman re-invented the detective movie as an LA private eye. He reprised the role in "The Drowning Pool" 10 years later.

Best scene: Without a line of dialogue, Newman and screenwriter William Goldman establish the character before the opening credits are over. Harper wakes up in his office, where he has fallen asleep with the TV on. Trying to make coffee, he discovers he's out - and fishes used grounds out of the wastebasket. The look on his face as he digests his first cup is priceless.

5 COOL HAND LUKE (1967) In arguably his signature role, Newman copped his fourth Best Actor nod as Luke, a rebellious chain-gang prisoner. His nemesis, The Captain (Strother Martin) is inspired by Luke to utter one of the most famous lines in movie history: "What we've got here is .. . a failure to communicate."

Best scenes: Besides a bare-knuckle fight with another prisoner named Dragline (George Kennedy) and a much-imitated sequence of prisoners watching a woman washing a car, one of the best remembered has Luke eating 50 hard-boiled eggs while the other inmates bet on whether he can.

6 BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) Newman appeared in a number of Westerns. His most beloved cast him as the 19th-century outlaw Butch Cassidy opposite Robert Redford's Sundance Kid.

Best scene: While the courtship scene with Katharine Ross (scored to "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head") is famous, George Roy Hill's movie is renowned for the scene where after a lengthy chase our heroes are trapped by armed pursuers on a cliff high over a river. When Butch tells the Kid to jump, he protests he can't swim: "Are you crazy?" Butch replies. "The fall will probably kill you."

7 THE STING (1973) Newman's only Best Picture winner was a reunion with Robert Redford. Newman plays master grifter Henry Gondorff in 1936 Chicago, who agrees to help Redford's Johnny Hooker avenge the murder of his mentor by henchmen of racketeer Doyle Lonnegan (Robert Shaw).

Best scene: To get even, they create a bogus horse-racing parlor where Lonnegan puts down a million-dollar bet on a phony race. During a police raid, Gondoff shoots Hooker, who supposedly set him up, and an FBI agent shoots Gondoff. After Lonnegan flees, it's all revealed as a sting to separate him from his money.

8 SLAP SHOT (1977) The most popular of Newman's sports-themed flicks casts him as Reggie Dunlop, the coach of a bush-league hockey team that doesn't taste success until they start getting violent.

Best scene: Most of Newman's dialogue was much stronger than anything being delivered by major movie stars during this era. Among his most printable remarks in heckling players, which got big laughs at the time: "Hey Hanrahan! Hanrahan! Hanrahan! Suzanne sucks p - - - y! Hey Hanrahan she's a dyke! I know, I know! She's a lesbian, a lesbian, a lesbian!"

9 THE VERDICT (1982) Newman aged more gracefully than practically any other star of his generation. He was pushing 60 when he received his first Best Actor nomination in 15 years for playing Frank Galvin, an alcoholic lawyer who grasps at redemption in a malpractice suit against a Catholic hospital.

Best scene: His finest moment comes in the jury summation, written by David Mamet: "In my religion, they say, 'Act as if ye had faith . . . and faith will be given to you.' If we are to have faith in justice, we need only to believe in ourselves. And act with justice. See, I believe there is justice in our hearts."

10 NOBODY'S FOOL (1994) Newman scored his last Best Actor nod (he was nominated again, in support, as a mob boss in "The Road to Perdition," his final on-screen appearance in a feature) as another drinker, a small town ne'er-do-well Sully, who has a reunion with his now-grown son and grandson.

Best scene: This is one of Newman's all time-best performances in a career full of great ones. He's especially charming in scenes with his landlady, played by Jessica Tandy. But the best may be a quiet sequence where he puts his grandson on his lap and takes him for a ride in his old red pickup truck.

Audiences adopt 'Chihuahua' with $29M weekend

LOS ANGELES - "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" was barking up the right tree with movie-goers, who put the Disney comedy at No. 1 for the weekend with a $29 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Featuring a talking Chihuahua with Drew Barrymore's voice, the family flick about a pampered pooch lost in Mexico led a surge of new movies that boosted Hollywood business, which generally has slumped the last two months.

The top-12 movies hauled in $95.4 million, up 42 percent from the same weekend a year ago, when "The Game Plan" was No. 1 with $16.6 million.

"We had a huge weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "That's really due to the little Chihuahua. The little dog made a big difference."

The previous weekend's No. 1 movie, the DreamWorks-Paramount thriller "Eagle Eye," slipped to second-place with $17.7 million, raising its total to $54.6 million.

The PG-rated "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" took advantage of a long drought for movies aimed at families, who found the idea of a chatty Chihuahua irresistible.

"They're so cute, and they seem to have great facial expressions, so that adds to all the fun of the whole thing," said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution.

Hollywood's other new wide releases had fair to poor premieres.

Sony's "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," starring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings as teens who fall for each other on a wild New York City night, had a sturdy No. 3 debut of $12 million.

The Warner Bros. Western "Appaloosa," which had played two weeks in a handful of theaters, expanded solidly to come in at No. 5 with $5 million. "Appaloosa" was directed by Ed Harris, who stars with Viggo Mortensen and Renee Zellweger.

Vivendi Entertainment's "An American Carol," a satire of Hollywood's liberal politics from director David Zucker ("Airplane!"), debuted at No. 9 with $3.8 million. The movie stars Kevin Farley as a Michael Moore-type filmmaker aiming to abolish the Fourth of July holiday.

Universal's "Flash of Genius," starring Greg Kinnear as the engineer who invented intermittent windshield wipers then spent decades suing automakers over the innovation, opened weakly with $2.3 million, finishing at No. 11.

Two other movies, the comedy "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" and the apocalyptic "Blindness," both bombed.

Miramax's "Blindness," featuring Julianne Moore, Danny Glover and Mark Ruffalo in a nightmare tale about a plague of sightlessness, took in just $2 million, averaging an anemic $1,185 in 1,690 theaters.

"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People," released by MGM and starring Kirsten Dunst and Simon Pegg in a celebrity satire set at a slick magazine, did $1.4 million in 1,750 theaters for a feeble $801 average.

By comparison, "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" averaged $9,020 in 3,215 theaters; "Nick and Norah" pulled in $4,957 in 2,421 locations; "Appaloosa" did $4,799 in 1,045 cinemas; "An American Carol" took in $2,325 in 1,639 sites; and "Flash of Genius" did $2,120 in 1,098 theaters.

In narrower release, Bill Maher's documentary "Religulous" opened well, placing No. 10 with $3.5 million in 502 theaters, averaging $6,972. The Lionsgate release follows Maher as he travels the world to mock one of his favorite topics, organized religion.

Anne Hathaway's "Rachel Getting Married" had a strong start in limited release, taking in $302,934 in nine theaters for a whopping $33,659 average. The Sony Pictures Classics drama stars Hathaway as an addict who leaves rehab to come home for her sister's wedding and forces her family to relive the anguish of past tragedy.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," $29 million.
2. "Eagle Eye," $17.7 million.
3. "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist," $12 million.
4. "Nights in Rodanthe," $7.4 million.
5. "Appaloosa," $5 million.
6. "Lakeview Terrace," $4.5 million.
7. "Burn After Reading," $4.08 million.
8. "Fireproof," $4.07 million.
9. "An American Carol," $3.8 million.
10. Religulous, $3.5 million.

"Chihuahua" has paws on the box-office prize

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - It's looking like a dog of a weekend at the box office. Disney's dog, to be exact, as the Burbank studio unspools its PG comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" amid expectations that the live-action with talking dogs feature could fetch up to $30 million during its opening weekend.

The film's canines are voiced by Drew Barrymore, Jamie Lee Curtis, Andy Garcia and George Lopez.

Family patrons form the target audience, but Disney executives hope the young-at-heart crowd also will come along for the four-legged romp.

"In all the screenings we've done, we have gotten nothing but wonderful marks from all the audiences who were on hand," Disney distribution president Chuck Viane said. "So there's no question that this is a commercial, family film, but I believe we can expand on that audience."

With "Chihuahua" sure to bow at No. 1, last weekend's top dog -- DreamWorks/Paramount's "Eagle Eye" -- could grab second place, if the Shia LaBeouf/Michelle Monaghan thriller rings up half its $29.2 million opening gross during its sophomore session.

But Sony's young-skewing PG-13 comedy "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist" also will compete for the silver-medal position. The musically driven romantic comedy starring Michael Cera ("Superbad") and Kat Dennings ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin") appears safe to open in the teen millions, and a particularly robust weekend could help it soar a bit higher than "Eagle."

Whatever the precise pecking order of the top films, their combined grosses should power the industry to a second consecutive year-over-year weekend uptick after a sluggish start to the fall box-office season. Less than $85 million was registered during the comparable year-ago frame, whose biggest opener was the disappointing $14 million bow by a remake of "The Heartbreak Kid."

This weekend's four other wide openers look likely to max out in the upper single-digit millions.

Miramax's "Blindness" -- starring Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Gael Garcia Bernal and directed by Fernando Meirelles -- is getting a wide bow, but the atmospheric thriller likely will need positive word-of-mouth from its first frame to fuel a leggy run toward commercial success. MGM and After Dark's R-rated comedy "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People," starring Simon Pegg ("Hot Fuzz"), should skew a bit older than "Playlist" and gross much lower.

Vivendi's political spoof "An American Carol" skewers liberal sensitivities and is likely to play best with even older audiences. "Carol" represents the first film release for Vivendi, whose next scheduled film is the Mariah Carey-starring "Tennessee" in December.

Spyglass Entertainment's Universal-distributed drama "Flash of Genius" stars Greg Kinnear but has barely registered in prerelease tracking surveys. Based on the true story of Robert Kearns, inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper, "Genius"might find its true road to decent returns in the DVD market.

Universal this weekend also will offer 750 sneak previews of its October 10 pigskin film "The Express," starring Dennis Quaid and Rob Brown.

Yogi, Boo-Boo ready for their close-ups

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - Warner Bros. is taking a trip to Jellystone Park.

The studio is developing a feature version of "Yogi Bear," the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon. "Surf's Up" co-helmer/co-writer Ash Brannon will direct the film.

Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia, who executive produced "That '70s Show" and are writing the feature "Tooth Fairy" for Fox, are penning the screenplay.

The project, culled from Warners' vast library, is planned as a live-action/animated hybrid along the lines of Fox's 2007 hit "Alvin & the Chipmunks." Much of the movie will be live action, but Yogi Bear and sidekick Boo Boo will be done in CG animation.

Yogi Bear first appeared as a supporting character in 1958 in another classic cartoon, "The Huckleberry Hound Show." In 1961, he got his own show, which has aired in reruns frequently over the past half-century.

Yogi's exploits take place in Jellystone Park, where he and Boo Boo get into good-natured mischief and must elude their nemesis, Ranger Smith.

Brannon has worked on such Pixar hits as "Toy Story 2" and "A Bug's Life."

Paul Gross war epic to screen for Canadian troops in Kandahar

Canadian troops in Afghanistan are getting a special advance screening of Paul Gross's epic First World War film, Passchendaele.

Gross — who wrote, starred in, and directed the tale of love and valour — said Monday that soldiers stationed in Kandahar will be among the first Canadians to see his film on Friday.

"It has taken an uncommonly long time to bring this movie to the big screen, but we are finally able to present it to the Canadian public and in some small way pay homage to the sacrifice of our forefathers in the Great War of 1914-1918," Gross said in a statement.

"It seems fitting that the troops who today so valiantly serve our country are among the first to see it," Gross added on Monday night, as he and co-stars Caroline Dhavernas, Joe Dinicol and Meredith Bailey hosted a special screening in Ottawa for dignitaries including Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean, army commander Lt.-Gen. Andrew Leslie and various military brass.

He noted that several soldiers from the Canadian Forces added a dose of realism to the film — largely shot at an aboriginal reserve not far from Calgary — by helping out as background actors and choreographing battle scenes.

And instead of staying in hotels provided by the production during filming, soldiers camped out on set at a site they dubbed Camp Hornberg in honour of Cpl. Nathan Hornberg. The 24-year-old mechanic from the King's Own Calgary Regiment was killed while serving in Afghanistan.

Gross is in the midst of an eight-city national tour to promote Passchendaele, a $21-million project that he began envisioning about a dozen years ago after being inspired by war stories told by his grandfather. The movie opened the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.

The film starts with a harrowing battle that leaves Sgt. Michael Dunne, played by Gross, wounded. The Canadian soldier later falls in love with a nurse, Sarah (portrayed by Dhavernas), at a Calgary hospital. When Sarah's asthmatic brother David (Dinicol) decides to join the fight, Dunne feels compelled to protect him from the horrors of war and they both find themselves at the epic battle of Passchendaele.

Gross takes his special screenings to:

Winnipeg on Thursday.

Halifax on Oct. 6.

Montreal on Oct. 7.

Quebec City on Oct. 8.

Edmonton on Oct. 9.

Calgary on Oct. 15.

Vancouver on Oct. 16.

Passchendaele will be released across Canada on Oct. 17.

'Eagle Eye' soars to No. 1 at box office with $29M

LOS ANGELES - Shia LaBeouf's conspiracy thriller "Eagle Eye" debuted at the top of the weekend box office with $29.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Paramount-DreamWorks release was the second No. 1 premiere for LaBeouf and director D.J. Caruso, who also teamed on 2007's hit "Disturbia."

Opening in second place with $13.6 million was another reunion, the Warner Bros. romantic drama "Nights in Rodanthe" featuring "The Cotton Club" and "Unfaithful" co-stars Richard Gere and Diane Lane.

The previous weekend's top flick, Sony's thriller "Lakeview Terrace," slipped to No. 3 with $7 million, raising its 10-day total to $25.7 million.

The Samuel Goldwyn release "Fireproof," a Christian drama starring Kirk Cameron as a firefighter who turns to God to help save his marriage, premiered in fourth-place with $6.5 million.

"Eagle Eye" helped pull Hollywood out of the box-office doldrums that have lingered the last two months. The top 12 movies took in $87.8 million, up 15 percent from the same weekend last year.

"You put a summer-style movie in the heart of the fall, and you can take advantage of the marketplace," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Spike Lee's World War II drama "Miracle at St. Anna" opened weakly with $3.5 million, coming in at No. 9. The Disney release features Derek Luke in a saga of four soldiers from an all-black unit stuck behind enemy lines in Italy.

Two other movies — Fox Searchlight's "Choke" and Lionsgate's "The Lucky Ones" — opened in narrower release of about 400 theaters each, compared to 3,510 cinemas for "Eagle Eye."

"Choke," starring Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston in a quirky tale of a sex addict who feigns choking in restaurants to get money for his mom's psychiatric care, opened outside the top 10 with $1.3 million.

"The Lucky Ones," a road trip tale among three Iraq War veterans (Tim Robbins, Michael Pena and Rachel McAdams), bombed with just $208,000.

"Eagle Eye" stars LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan as strangers hurled together in an escalating series of politically motivated adventures, their lives controlled by a mysterious female voice directing their actions through technology.

"The conceit of the film is intriguing to all," said DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan. "Between GPS, employee codes, bank PIN numbers, this could conceivably be within the realm of possibility within a few years."

The movie secures LaBeouf's position as a steady box-office draw. His other credits include "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and "Transformers," along with the latter's upcoming sequel.

"Nights in Rodanthe" features Gere and Lane as strangers who fall for each other over a weekend at a secluded inn as a hurricane approaches.

The romance made for good counterprogramming to the action-oriented "Eagle Eye," said Warner Bros. general sales manager Jeff Goldstein. Female movie-goers made up three-fourths of the audience for "Nights in Rodanthe," he said.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Eagle Eye," $29.2 million.
2. "Nights in Rodanthe," $13.6 million.
3. "Lakeview Terrace," $7 million.
4. "Fireproof," $6.5 million.
5. "Burn After Reading," $6.2 million.
6. "Igor," $5.5 million.
7. "Righteous Kill," $3.803 million.
8. "My Best Friend's Girl," $3.8 million.
9. "Miracle at St. Anna," $3.5 million.
10. "Tyler Perry's the Family That Preys," $3.2 million.

Canadian actress McAdams to play Sherlock Holmes's love interest

St. Thomas, Ont., actress Rachel McAdams, who starred in The Notebook, will be directed by Guy Ritchie in the film Sherlock Holmes.

Robert Downey Jr. is her co-star in the reimagining of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's sleuth.

The movie features a less stuffy Holmes, who has a more adventurous approach to sleuthing, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Ritchie is Madonna's husband and the British director behind films such as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Jude Law plays Dr. Watson and Mark Strong, who starred in Ritchie's RocknRolla, is the villain, Blackwood.

McAdams, who studied drama at York University in Toronto before going on to a career in Hollywood, is Holmes's love interest Irene Adler.

Conan Doyle created her character, an opera singer reputed to have had an affair with the King of Bohemia, in the 1891 story A Scandal in Bohemia.

McAdams's upcoming roles also include State of Play with Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe, which is due in theatres in April, and The Time Traveler's Wife, based on the best-selling book, which will be released in fall 2009.

The Lucky Ones, a story about returning Iraqi War vets, in which McAdams stars with Tim Robbins, screened at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.

'Ghost Town' vanishes at box office

HOLLYWOOD -- It looked like a can't-miss proposition.

There was that proven Topper-meets-Heaven Can Wait premise, an enviable 86% favourable rate on the Rotten Tomatoes review site, and Ricky Gervais, in his first lead feature role, was being hailed as a bona fide big screen comedy star.

But when it hit the megaplex over the weekend, Ghost Town was all but dead on arrival, scaring up an eighth place-ranking $5 million take.

So why the vanishing act?

Good question.

Paramount, the studio distributing the DreamWorks picture, began smelling trouble a few weeks ago when audience tracking figures revealed there was little anticipation for the film and scaled back the number of theatres lined-up to show it.

Could it have been that the movie's "He sees dead people ...and they annoy him" tag-line sounded more like a Sixth Sense spoof than a romantic comedy?

And if it was supposed to be a romantic comedy, shouldn't they have shown co-star Tea Leoni in the ads, instead of just Gervais and a see-through Greg Kinnear sitting on a park bench?

Or maybe, despite the accolades, the general public considers Gervais more of a television commodity and chose, accordingly, to wait for Ghost Town's DVD arrival?

All of the above could have played a role in the movie's box office no-show, but a more likely reason had to do with a crowded marketplace that was targeting the same, adult, female-skewing audiences.

You had the Coen Bros.' Burn After Reading with Pitt and Clooney, Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys, and even the critically savaged The Women all drawing bigger crowds than Ghost Town.

Of course, good word of mouth could still provide some life support for the next few weeks, but the initially disappointing results just go to show that in the ever-shifting world of movie release scheduling, timing is everything.

Michael Moore political movie released free on Web

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Filmmaker Michael Moore released his latest documentary for free on the Internet on Tuesday, marking a first for the maverick director who aims to encourage young people to vote -- preferably for Democrats -- in November's U.S. presidential election.

"Slacker Uprising," a feature-length film documenting Moore's tour of swing states during the 2004 presidential election year, was made available for a free download instead of being released in movie theaters.

The maker of the award-winning anti-Iraq war blockbuster "Fahrenheit 9/11," said in a statement the gesture was "entirely as a gift to my fans."

"The only return any of us are hoping for is the largest turnout of young voters at the polls in November," Moore said.

Moore has long been known as a firebrand filmmaker. He took on large corporations in 1989's "Roger & Me" and the U.S. gun industry in 2002's "Bowling for Columbine," which earned him an Oscar. "Slacker Uprising," made for about $2 million, comes on the heels of Moore's blistering expose of the U.S. health care system, "SiCKO," in 2007.

Although "Slacker Uprising" chronicles the director's efforts to get young people on either side of the political spectrum to vote, he said the documentary was also a "tribute to the young voters who are going to save this country from four more years of Republican rule."

Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain are in a neck-and-neck race for the White House in the November 4 election, according to opinion polls.

Moore encouraged fans to download, e-mail or share the movie with everyone and anyone, or to show it in schools, colleges, church halls and community centers, adding, "I don't want to see a dime from this."

He said several websites, including iTunes and Amazon.com, were providing streaming or downloading services for free.

Moore marked the release with a one-hour online chat with fans. Hundreds of Obama supporters responded on the www.slackeruprising.com message boards, thanking Moore.

"Wow .. I really enjoyed the film ... sent it to all my friends on yahoo, myspace, facebook ... we cannot have another republican in the White House ... Vote Obama 08," wrote a contributor called Don.

The documentary is also available as a low-cost DVD for those not in the download community.

Crime pays for Samuel L. Jackson at box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Samuel L. Jackson ruled the North American box office for the second time this year, while moviegoers largely ignored three other new releases as overall weekend sales resumed their downward spiral.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, Jackson's cop thriller "Lakeview Terrace" sold a modest $15.6 million worth of tickets during its first three days of release. It barely surpassed the $14 million opening for Jackson's 2006 bomb "Snakes on a Plane."

But Screen Gems, the distributor of the $20 million film, said the three-day tally was at the upper end of its expectations. Screen Gems is a low-budget division of Sony Corp.

Jackson plays a vindictive cop who makes life hell for his new neighbors. Reviews were mixed, even though it was directed by Neil LaBute, the filmmaker behind such edgy dramas as "In the Company Of Men."

The 59-year-old actor was last at No. 1 with the sci-fi action movie "Jumper," which opened with $27 million in February and finished with $80 million.

As for the other three rookies, the Lionsgate romantic comedy "My Best Friend's Girl," starring Kate Hudson and Dane Cook, opened at No. 3 with $8.3 million; the MGM cartoon "Igor" was No. 4 with $8 million; and Paramount/DreamWorks' Ricky Gervais comedy "Ghost Town" was No. 8 with $5.2 million.

Last weekend's champ, the Coen brothers' comedy "Burn After Reading" slipped to No. 2 with $11.3 million. The Focus Features release, which stars George Clooney and Brad Pitt, has earned $36.4 million after 10 days, and should end up in the $50 million range, the studio said.

SALES FALLING

Overall sales fell 4 percent from the year-ago period to $93 million, said tracking firm Media By Numbers, and have now dropped for eight of the last nine weekends. Year-to-date sales are flat, and the number of tickets sold is down by about five percent, the company said.

A week ago, Lionsgate had predicted that "My Best Friend's Girl" would be No. 1, and the $8.3 million opening was at the lower end of expectations, the studio said. Observers speculated the film might have been too raunchy for Hudson's core female fan base.

Hudson went to No. 1 in February with "Fool's Gold," which opened to $21.6 million. Cook was No. 2 last September with a $13.7 million opening for "Good Luck Chuck."

"Igor" revolves around a hunchbacked servant who dreams of scientific stardom. John Cusack leads the voice cast. The $25 million film was produced by independent animator Exodus Film Group, which said it was pleased with the $8 million opening. In addition to the usual family audience, the film also drew teens and young adults, Exodus founder/CEO John Eraklis said.

"Ghost Town" marks the feature headlining debut of Gervais, the wry co-creator of the BBC comedy "The Office." He plays a misanthropic dentist who sees dead people. The film played mostly to women and old people, not exactly Hollywood's preferred audience. A DreamWorks spokesman predicted the $20 million film would do better internationally. It opens on October 24 in the United Kingdom.

Canadiens movie stars NHL legends

MONTREAL - The celebrations surrounding the Montreal Canadiens' centennial anniversary will include a movie slated for release on the storied hockey club's 100th birthday next year.

"Pour toujours, les Canadiens" (The Canadiens Forever) has begun filming in earnest and will include members of the Canadiens past and present.

The fictional movie features a 17-year-old college player and a 10-year-old boy who is waiting for a kidney transplant at a children's hospital where his mother works.

The history of the Canadiens will be evoked in a number of different ways, including through the teenager's father, a filmmaker who is preparing a documentary on the Canadiens' 100th anniversary to the detriment of his neglected family.

"I've never been so afraid to tackle a project," director Sylvain Archambault told a news conference at the Bell Centre on Tuesday.

The film has a $6-million budget and will continue shooting until mid-December.

"Between fear of failure and the pleasure I've felt making this movie and meeting all these people ... it is the chance of a lifetime."

Archambault and Jacques Savoie, who will write the screenplay, are well established in Quebec's entertainment scene.

The pair walked away Sunday with a rash of awards at the Gemeaux, handed out for French television achievement, for "Les Lavigueur," a miniseries based on the true story of a working-class family from Montreal that won a $7.5-million lottery jackpot in 1986.

The film, slated for release on Dec. 4, 2009, will include a number of well-known Quebec actors, including Dhanae Audet-Beaulieu as the teenager and Antoine L'Ecuyer as the hospitalized boy.

The movie will also include various current Canadiens such as team captain Saku Koivu and star sophomore goaltender Carey Price as well as Habs legend Jean Beliveau.

The players, both active and retired, will play themselves.

"I had five players yesterday (Monday) at Sainte-Justine Hospital," Archambault said. "I had Carey Price, (Christopher) Higgins, (Mike) Komisarek, Francis Bouillon and Saku Koivu ... everyone played themselves, but if there was one who will be more featured than the others, it's Saku Koivu."

Koivu battled back from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2001.

"In a context where he interacts with a sick child, and we know Saku's story, who overcame enormous odds ... it's easy for him to connect with other people. I was amazed by the quality of Saku Koivu."

As for Beliveau, Archambault says he isn't sure what sort of role the 77-year-old Hockey Hall of Famer will play.

"I know at the end of November, I have three days of filming at Colisee Jean Beliveau in Longueuil," Beliveau said.

Beliveau, known as "Le Gros Bill," won 10 Stanley Cups as a player with the Canadiens and said he's honoured to be part of the project.

"It warms my heart ... to play a role in a film that has such a big importance for the organization, for the City of Montreal and fans," Beliveau said.

'Burn After Reading' is No.1 at the box office

LOS ANGELES - Joel and Ethan Coen scored their biggest opener to date by raking in $19.4 million in ticket sales for "Burn After Reading" and helping end a seven-week attendance slide at theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The madcap comedy starring Brad Pitt, George Clooney and John Malkovich raked in $7 million more than the writing-directing duo's last box-office hit, the 2004 comedy "The Ladykillers," according to box office tracker Media by Numbers.

"Burn After Reading's" success comes just a year after the brothers gained widespread acclaim for the drama "No Country for Old Men," which won four Academy Awards and grossed $73.3 million.

Their Oscar credentials and the star-studded cast combined to make "Burn After Reading" a hit, said Jack Foley, president of distribution for Focus Features.

"The Coens have broken into more commercial territory with this film," Foley said. "They've become more of a household name."

The weekend's three other new releases also turned in solid performances.

Writer-director Tyler Perry's "The Family That Preys," starring Kathy Bates and Alfre Woodard in a drama about two families from different social classes, debuted at No. 2 with $18 million. Five out of six of Perry's films have opened at No. 1 or No. 2 on their opening weekends, said Steve Rothenberg, president of domestic distribution for Lionsgate.

Rothenberg said he expected "The Family that Preys" to continue to play well over upcoming weekends as Perry's movies typically do.

"It should have good legs," he said.

Overture Film's "Righteous Kill" opened at No. 3 with $16.5 million, proving that A-list stars Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino still draw fans. The movie played to a wide range of ages and both genders, said Kyle Davies, Overture's executive vice president of theatrical distribution.

"The primary appeal is to see these two legends together," he said.

Picturehouse's "The Women" — starring Meg Ryan and Annette Bening in a remake of George Cukor's 1939 comedy-drama — was No. 4 with $10.1 million.

The weekend's total box-office draw should surpass $100 million, breaking a seven-week slide in ticket revenue, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers. Last weekend was the slowest moviegoing weekend in five years, with just $67.6 million.

He attributed the uptick to the variety in genres that studios offered this weekend.

"Audiences want a lot of choice," he said. "Each of these movies had a particular demographic. This was the cinematic equivalent of a magazine rack."

The next seven films in the top dozen were holdovers, grossing $4.3 million or less.

The Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" continued to rack up its gross with another $4 million, for total box office revenue of $517.7 million to date.

Last weekend's top-ranked "Bangkok Dangerous" starring Nicolas Cage dropped to eighth place with $2.4 million.

These are the Top 12 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, as estimated by Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Burn After Reading," $19.4 million.
2. "Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys," $18.0 million.
3. "Righteous Kill," $16.5 million.
4. "The Women," $10.1 million.
5. "The House Bunny," $4.3 million.
6. "Tropic Thunder," $4.2 million.
7. "The Dark Knight," $4.0 million.
8. "Bangkok Dangerous," $2.4 million.
9. "Traitor," $2.1 million.
10. "Death Race," $2.0 million.
11. "Babylon A.D.," $1.7 million.
12. "Mamma Mia!," $1.7 million.

CANADA POINTS TO OSCARS

TORONTO - If the films unveiled here are any indication, this year's fight for the Best Actress Oscar will pit American Anne Hathaway against Britain's Keira Knightley.

Hathaway, who was passed over at nomination time for both "Brokeback Mountain" and "The Devil Wears Prada," should have more luck with her tour de force as a troubled woman who takes leave from a lengthy stint in rehab to attend her sister's nuptials in "Rachel Getting Married."

Jonathan Demme's darkly funny movie, his best in years, has a knowing script by Jenny Lumet, daughter of director Sidney Lumet and granddaughter of Lena Horne. It's out next month.

Knightley, previously nominated for "Pride and Prejudice" - which also had its North American debut at the Toronto International Film Festival - seems a lock for "The Duchess," set for release on Sept. 26.

She shines as the 17th century bride of a powerful British duke (Ralph Fiennes) who became an international style icon - and had other unhappy parallels with her distant relative Lady Diana, including his and her lovers.

There is also Best Actress buzz around two other Brit actresses: Sally Hawkins as the optimistic heroine of Mike Leigh's "Happy-Go-Lucky" and veteran Kristin Scott-Thomas in the French movie "I've Loved You So Long," as a woman who returns from prison after serving 15 years for murdering her son.

Four contenders also emerged for Best Actor honors. The hottest at the moment is the most unlikely - '80s star Mickey Rourke, who makes a spectacular comeback as a washed-up New Jersey grappler who is forced to re-examine his life after a near-fatal heart attack in Darren Aronofsky's crowd-pleasing "The Wrestler."

Another strong contender is Puerto Rican actor Benecio Del Toro, who previously won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Steven Soderbergh's "Traffic." His charismatic performance as the Argentine doctor-turned-guerilla who became Fidel Castro's right-hand man is the main virtue of Soderbergh's 41/2-hour epic "Che," which turned up in Toronto in a version that was 17 minutes shorter than the one unveiled in May in Cannes.

"Syndedoche, New York," the directing debut of writer Charlie Kaufman ("Adaptation"), is brilliant but challenging. A nomination is quite possible for Philip Seymour Hoffman as the main character, an obsessed playwright who spends two decades writing and rehearsing a play on a scale-model version of New York City he has constructed in a vast warehouse. Hoffman is extremely popular with his fellow actors and he won the Best Actor award for "Capote" over Heath Ledger in "Brokeback Mountain."

More of a long-shot possibility is Greg Kinnear, previously nominated as Best Supporting Actor for "As Good As It Gets" a decade ago. He's warmly excellent as an electrical engineer who invented the intermittent windshield wiper - and spent decades suing Ford and other auto companies who stole his idea - in the fact-based "A Flash of Genius."

Unlike some previous years, there weren't many Best Picture candidates unveiled in Toronto, where "Brokeback Mountain" and "Atonement" both took on front-runner status only to stumble on Oscar night.

The only Best Picture candidate here this year was the hugely popular "Slumdog Millionaire," Danny Boyle's exuberant, fact-based tale of a Mumbai street urchin who won 2 million rupees as a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?" - and then was tortured by authorities who suspected he cheated.

Ricky Gervais eyes the Riddler

Until now, Ricky Gervais has made a career out of playing socially awkward misfits.

First, there was David Brent, the foot-in-mouth paper company chief on the British “Office.” Then he played Andy Millman, a hopelessly misguided thespian who dreams of stardom on “Extras.”

Bit parts in “For Your Consideration,” “Night at the Museum” and “Stardust” followed.

So with his television characters reaching cult-like status, Gervais was methodical when it came time to selecting his first leading role.

“I’ve been in this business for seven years and I still pinch myself,” he told a roomful of journalists at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this week.

But when he read the script for “Ghost Town,” he fell in love.

“It has a nice underlying message,” director and co-writer David Koepp said, “which is: ‘Don’t be a dick.’”

In the film, which opens September 19, Gervais plays misanthropic dentist Bertram Pincus who, after a minor mishap on the operating table, can see dead people.

The problem is, they annoy him.

When they see him on the street, ghosts with unfinished human business beg him to help them tie up loose ends.

One particularly pushy spirit, Frank (played by Greg Kinnear), agrees to keep them away from Pincus if he’ll help break up the impending nuptials between his former wife (played by Tea Leoni) and her straight-arrow fiancée.

Pincus takes him up on his offer, but gets more than he bargained for when he starts to feel the pangs of love.

“What are you saying?” Gervais said to a reporter who questioned the funnyman’s authenticity as a romantic lead. “I’ve got the bone structure,” he added with a slight tug of his jowls. “It’s just well hidden.”

Before taking the role, Gervais had some rules.

“I don’t kiss anybody; I won’t talk to myself alone and I will probably ruin at least 30 percent of the scene takes I do,” he said.

Why no kissing?

"No one wants to see that,” he shot back. “And no one would believe it.”

Even though the film deals with death, Gervais, an avowed atheist, said the story didn’t shake his view of the afterlife.

"I don't believe in ghosts or fairies or ESP or any of those things." Gervais knows his big-screen body of work is just getting started. Still, he’s looking forward to playing the villain.

"I'd like to play a bad guy, like the worst person ever," he deadpanned. "Hannibal Lecter, but with less moral conscience.”

The Riddler?

“Is that one open?” he replied. “What are the hours?”

"Ghost Town" opens in theaters on September 19th.

De Niro and Pacino eye killing at box office

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A week after the box office sank to its lowest level in five years, sales should rebound significantly this weekend with five wide openers, including a thriller starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

"Righteous Kill," a rare pairing of the longtime A-listers, is a consensus favorite -- though no sure shot -- to top the weekend with an opening in the mid- to high-teen millions. The cop thriller, directed by Jon Avnet, comes from Overture Films, the indie studio behind the arthouse hit "The Visitor."

"We targeted the older male audience, and it looks like they're going to come," Overture marketing chief Peter Adee said. "From the tracking, it looks like the younger males are going to come as well."

Women could be another matter, given the presence of more female-friendly openers among the competition. Overture executives hope the usual appeal of Pacino and De Niro with older women will prompt a late surge in date-night support for "Kill."

The most obvious first choice for women -- Picturehouse's remake of the comedy "The Women" -- looks unlikely to vie for an upper rung in the weekend rankings. "Women" is a swan-song release for Picturehouse, which Warner Bros. is shuttering as the studio largely abandons the specialty-film business.

The likeliest competitor "Kill" will have to fend off for the session's crown appears to be the Coen brothers' comedy "Burn After Reading" from Focus Features and Working Title. Prerelease tracking indicates an opening in the mid-teen millions or higher, which would give Focus its biggest opening.

The first-weekend tally for "Burn" will depend on critical praise more than any of the other new releases. Early reviews have been mostly positive but hardly raves for the filmmakers' first release since their best picture Oscar winner "No Country for Old Men."

Tyler Perry's "The Family That Preys" from Lionsgate is a notable wild card in this weekend's mix of wide openers. Tracking indicates that a robust moviegoing weekend could see "Family" opening near the $21.4 million bow by Perry's "Why Did I Get Married?" in October.

Yet on the low end of prerelease projections, "Family" would ring up just $15 million or so. So far the casting of Kathy Bates -- the first major-role white actor in a Perry pic -- doesn't seem to be broadening interest in the release beyond the filmmaker's usual base of support with urban demos.

Elsewhere this weekend, Slowhand Releasing unspools the patriotic documentary "Proud American" in a barely wide bow of about 750 playdates.

Just added to the release calendar two weeks ago, prospects appear limited to the low-single-digit millions for the maiden theatrical voyage of writer-director Fred Ashman.

Nicolas Cage movie "Bangkok" bombs at box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Less than a year after starring in the biggest movie of his volatile career, Nicolas Cage returned to the top of the North American box office on Sunday with one of his weakest.

"Bangkok Dangerous," a thriller in which the 44-year-old actor plays a jaded assassin, led the lackluster field with weekend earnings of just $7.8 million, distributor Lionsgate said. Industry observers had expected an opening of more than $10 million.

Cage has actually done a lot worse: his terrorism thriller "Next" opened to $7.1 million in April 2007 and the family drama "The Weather Man" to $4.2 million in 2005. But he was last in theaters with the adventure sequel "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," which opened to $45 million last December on its way to $220 million.

The last No. 1 movie to open lower at the North American box office was the David Spade comedy "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star," which kicked off with $6.7 million in 2003, according to tracking firm Box Office Mojo.

Overall ticket sales usually tumble in September now that the summer blockbuster season is out of the way and school is back in session. The studios spend the early fall quietly dumping their underperforming movies on the market. "Bangkok Dangerous" was the only new wide release this weekend.

After three weeks at No. 1, DreamWorks/Paramount's Hollywood satire "Tropic Thunder" slipped to No. 2 with $7.5 million, while Columbia Pictures' comedy "The House Bunny" rose one to No. 3 with $5.9 million in its third week. Their respective tallies stand at $97 million and $37 million.

Spider-Man 4: Tobey Not a Lock???Yet?

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Call it the battle of the contractual web weavers. Tobey Maguire's very interested in doing the next Spider-Man sequel, sure, and now there's word today that the deal is done. Not true at all, blab several top sources on the project, who say the news about Spidey 4—and maybe 5—is jumping the gun.

These film insiders insist that the Tobey sealed-up talk is "premature," though it does look like Maguire is headed toward putting on that sexy suit again. Tobe-doll made roughly $17 mil on the last flick alone, minimum, right? What idiot wouldn't for that kind of loot?

Here's how it's going down:

Maguire's very much into the gig and has done three flicks so far in the franchise that's made, what, 2 or 3 billion bucks worldwide? Yep. But as happened before, negotiations for Maguire's participation in the Sam Raimi series have been, uh, challenging. "He is not the pleasant person to deal with," insisted a knowledgeable contractual-type most familiar with Maguire's past Spidey goings-down.

Word, whether accurate or not, is being put out that Sony just might not be interested in retaining Mr. M's involvement, should he take too long in deciding if his poker-playing butt wants to stay with the Spidey family or not.

Then, wham! This silken-spun spittle today that Maguire's all scared and a "lock" on the pic. Not so, gab my blabbers. Also, sources at Sony confirmed Maguire is by no means a lock yet. Additionally, a rep for Sony screamed bloody spidey bites that the studio has never looked at another actor besides Maguire for the lead.

Too bad. Always wanted to see how Tobey bud Jake Gyllenhaal's ass would look in that getup, but then, that's another item, isn't it?

Michael Moore to offer free film download aimed at 'slacker' voters

U.S. documentary maker Michael Moore plans to make his next film available online for free later this month.

Slacker Uprising, a 97-minute documentary about the 2004 U.S. elections, is an unabashed attempt to rally young voters for the coming presidential vote.

Moore said he plans to offer it as a free download for three weeks beginning Sept. 23.

He also is considering a theatrical release, positioning Slacker Uprising as an election year movie, just as his Fahrenheit 9/11 was an anti-Bush force during the 2004 campaign.

"I've been thinking about what I want to do to help with the election this year," Moore said on Thursday.

Slacker Uprising follows Moore on a 62-city tour to rally young voters during the 2004 campaign, and like most of Moore's work, it is pro-Democrat.

"This film really isn't for anybody other than the choir," Moore said. "But that's because I believe the choir needs a song to sing every now and then."

The 2004 rallying of the youth vote resulted in more than 20 million 18-to-29-year-olds casting ballots, an 11 per cent increase from 2000.

Moore wants these "slackers," whose voter turnout is traditionally disproportionately low, back in the ballot booth in 2008. He released a paperback book, Mike's Election Guide 2008, last week and is aiming squarely at the internet generation with his free download.

Moore said he took notice when the band Radiohead last year released an album, In Rainbows, online with pay-what-you-like pricing. He also took note of Neil Young's experiment with streaming his anti-war album Living with War online before its standard release.

Moore promises a high-resolution download through Blip.tv. His 2007 film Sicko was leaked online through YouTube in a low-quality version before its release.

People can sign up for the download at SlackerUprising.com.

Moore is also encouraging neighbourhood screenings of the film on what his website calls "a night of a thousand house parties," planned for Oct. 4.

Aaron Eckhart Spills Dark Secret of Two-Face's Fate

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Aaron Eckhart has had a good summer. He can take credit for some of The Dark Knight's awesomeness, with his Harvey Dent/Two-Face baddie getting almost as freaky as Heath Ledger's Joker. But $500 million later, we have to ask him: Two-Face could survive that deadly fall at the construction site, right?

"No," Eckhart told E! News at the junket for Towelhead yesterday. "He is dead as a doornail. He ain't comin' back, baby. No."

The fans want him back, and the actor wants to come back, but ultimately director Christopher Nolan is the bad parent.

"I asked Chris that question. He goes, 'You're dead.' Before I could even get the question out of my mouth, 'Hey Chris, am I...' 'You're dead.' "

But death has never been a problem for comic book characters! "I'm not coming back," he said. "Unfortunately, Heath was supposed to go along."

Eckhart knows, too, that there are plenty of Batvillains waiting for spots in the sequels. He's even jealous about one rumor. "I heard Angelina Jolie was going to be Catwoman," he said. "I thought that was a great idea. I'd like to be in that one."

Oh, but sorry. Didn't you hear? You're dead.

Columbia Scaring Up Ghostbusters Revival

Los Angeles (E! Online) - No need to believe in UFOs, astral projections, mental telepathy, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full trance mediums, the Loch Ness monster and the theory of Atlantis.

Just believe that the allure of nostalgia and a monster paycheck is strong enough to get Bill Murray to strap on that positron collider again.

Variety reports that Columbia Pictures is gearing up to bring another Ghostbusters film to the big screen, ideally featuring all four main characters from the 1984 blockbuster and its 1989 sequel—Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson.

Both '80s-era films were cowritten by Aykroyd and Ramis and directed by Ivan Reitman.

Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, both executive producers on The Office, have been tapped to pen the new installment—after which, Columbia will approach its would-be leading men.

Eisenberg and Stupnitsky recently collaborated on the Ramis-directed comedy Year One. Despite a handful of small parts over the years in comedies such as Knocked Up and As Good as It Gets, Ramis—who also helmed three episodes of The Office last year—has had more of a career behind the camera since his Egon Spengler days.

While the project remains officially unconfirmed, the general consensus is that getting Murray to suit up after all these years will be the hard part—although the Oscar-nominated thesp deigned to contribute his Dr. Peter Venkman voice for the new Ghostbusters: The Video Game.

After helping to keep the dream alive for the past two decades, Aykroyd told a radio station last year that the idea of another Ghostbusters sequel was still alive and kicking. But...

"It will not happen as a live-action [movie], 'cause Billy [Murray] will not come on, in the live-action stage anymore for it," the veteran character actor said. "But he will voice his part, and we are looking to do it as a CGI animated project."

But who knows what will happen if the script stacks up?

Ghostbusters II didn't exactly recapture the magic of the original, which grossed $229.2 million (at '80s prices) at the box office, but it still brought in $112.5 million and millions more from home video sales.

Besides, even the lamest sequels are usually good for lines like, "Only a Carpathian would come back to life now and choose New York!"

Big Knight, Downsized Summer

Los Angeles (E! Online) - The second-biggest movie in Hollywood history. Sky-high ticket prices. Put them together, and what do you get? Surprisingly, not a record.

From the first weekend in May through Labor Day, the Dark Knight-led summer movie season raked in $4.13 billion, Exhibitor Relations said today, down a tick from last year's all-time figure of $4.16 billion.

The problem, if that's the word, since 2008 goes down as the second-biggest summer on record, was twofold: dwindling attendance; and, lack of a late-summer blockbuster.

Per Exhibitor Relations, Hollywood movies combined to sell about 580 million tickets, the least since 2000, and 25 million fewer admissions than last summer, when gas was cheaper, and, oh, yes, so were tickets, which, on nationwide average, topped $7 for the first time ever.

Despite economic realities, the summer might have been able to pull off another record take if only it had another Jason Bourne.

"After The Dark Knight, it was pretty limp," said Exhibitor Relations' Jeff Bock.

Where 2007 had a bona-fide August blockbuster in The Bourne Ultimatum, which grossed $228 million, this summer's August could do no better than the solid, but unspectacular The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, which has wrapped up about $99 million so far.

The Batman evidently casts a long shadow.

Here are more box-office highlights—and lowlights—of the summer, per Box Office Mojo stats:

• Twelve summer-launched films made at least $100 million. Another five have a good shot at passing the milestone.

• Six films made at least $200 million. The group included: Kung Fu Panda ($214 million); WALL-E ($218 million); and, Hancock ($227 million).

• Three films made more than $300 million. That group included: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($316 million); and, Iron Man ($318 million).

• One film—The Dark Knight—made more than $500 million, and took second place behind Titanic among the all-time domestic box-office champs.

• As it turned out, what Hollywood needed more than one $500 million hit was one more $300 million hit. Last summer's top four movies (Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End) actually outgrossed this summer's top four movies, despite no 2007 summer movie making more than $336 million.

• As it turned out, woman-fronted movies can make money. Both Sex and the City ($153 million) and Angelina Jolie's Wanted ($134 million) made the summer Top 10. Another movie, the Meryl Streep-led Mamma Mia! ($133 million), just missed the cut, and should pass Wanted shortly.

• When does a Top 10 finish mean diddley? When you're The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ($142 million), and you made half as much worldwide as your predecessor, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

• The Incredible Hulk won the battle of the Hulk movies…or did it? The new movie made $135 million from a reputed $150 million budget. The 2003 movie made $132 million from a reputed $137 million budget. Also, old Hulk grossed slightly more worldwide ($245 million) than new Hulk ($244 million).

• Last summer as this summer, Steve Carell starred in a $100 million-plus-grossing comedy. The difference is last summer's vehicle was the upside-down Evan Almighty ($101 million gross; $175 budget); this summer's was Get Smart ($128 million gross; $80 million budget).

• Assuming You Don't Mess with the Zohan ($99.9 million) can eke out another $110,000 or so, Adam Sandler will be spared his first sub-$100 million-performing mainstream comedy since Little Nicky.

• In the department of small victories and possible turning points, M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening ($64 million) wasn't Lady in the Water.

• Mike Myers dropped a digit, going from $323 million for last summer's Shrek the Third to $32 million for The Love Guru.

• Nominees for the bust of the summer include: Speed Racer ($44 million gross; $120 million budget); and, well…

• No film ran a bigger deficit—$76 million, reported budget versus domestic gross—than Speed Racer. Prince Caspian—$58 million in the hole on the domestic ledger—rates an honorable mention.

• Rainn Wilson's The Rocker was something of the Speed Racer of low-budget comedies. No film opening very wide on more than 2,700 screens made less money in its opening weekend ($2.6 million).

• In the age of the record ticket price, how do you not make money (at least not yet) on a movie that only cost $35 million to produce? You gross $21 million, a la The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

• Based on the performance of Fly Me to the Moon ($7 million gross; $25 million budget), the future of Belgian-produced CGI movies about insects doesn't look bright.

• Tween girls giveth, and tween girls taketh away, which is one way to explain why The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 ($42 million) clicked, and Kit Kittredge: An All American Girl ($17 million) didn't.

• If you didn't release a movie this summer, then the dumped Clive Barker horror film, Midnight Meat Train, only made $83,361 more than you.

Here's a rundown of the summer's Top 10 movies, per grosses through Labour Day Monday:

• The Dark Knight, $505 million
• Iron Man, $318 million
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $316 million
• Hancock, $227 million
• WALL-E, $218 million
• Kung Fu Panda, $214 million
• Sex and the City, $153 million
• The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, $142 million
• The Incredible Hulk, $135 million
• Wanted, $134 million

Toronto film festival set to kick off Oscar season

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto film festival will provide the unofficial kick start to Oscar season this week, with distributors keen to give an early look at possible awards contenders and perhaps uncover this year's sleeper hit.

The 33rd version of the festival opens on Thursday with the gala presentation of "Passchendaele," Canadian director Paul Gross's take on the catastrophic World War I battle.

While many of the 249 features to be screened were also shown earlier this year at festivals such as Cannes and Venice, Toronto is seen as the key launching point for North American premieres and for films vying for Oscars.

"This is the one film festival that's a grab-bag of movies that the studios consider award-season contenders," said film critic Pete Hammond.

"The mind-set of the industry is that if it plays well in Toronto, that can launch it pretty favorably into the awards season."

This year, the festival will screen 312 features and short films from 64 countries over 10 days, a slightly smaller schedule than last year, but with a more international flavor, particularly from South America.

Often called the "people's festival" because of the relative ease for the public to get tickets, Toronto has no formal competition but awards the "People's Choice" prize, voted on by the film-going public.

Among the 116 world premieres will be Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna" about a group of African-American U.S. soldiers in Italy in World War II, and "The Lucky Ones," about returning Iraq War veterans on a road trip home starring Tim Robbins.

But distributors will also be looking to sign deals with unknown movies that have the potential to be sleeper hits, such as last year's "Juno," a TIFF film that came out of nowhere to win an Oscar for best original screenplay and gain three other nominations.

FEWER OSCAR CONTENDERS?

While it's too early to get a strong sense of the overall quality of this year's slate, Hammond said there are some notable potential Oscar contenders due for late-season release that won't be at this year's festival.

"Overall, I don't think Toronto, in terms of this year's awards season, is going to be as big a player when we look at what finally winds up with nominations," he said.

"I think this is the early part of the (Oscar) season, and I think it's a little weaker than normal and a little smaller than normal."

Other notable premieres include the documentary "Religulous," a tongue-in-cheek look at organized religion by humorist Ball Maher and "Seinfeld" producer Larry Charles, and "The Secret Life of Bees," which stars Dakota Fanning and Queen Latifah in an adaptation of the Sue Monk Kidd best seller.

Eagerly-anticipated films that have already been screened at other festivals include Steven Soderbergh's "Che," a 4-1/2 hour biopic on revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and the Coen brothers' "Burn after Reading," a spy satire starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney.

Pitt headlines the list of hundreds of film stars and celebrities descending on Canada's largest city before the festival wraps up on September 13.

Hollywood endures summertime blues

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The lucrative summer moviegoing season in North America ended on a lackluster note on Monday as ticket sales limped to a new record while attendance slumped to a three-year low.

The Labour Day holiday weekend, which marks the traditional end of summer, was led for a third round by "Tropic Thunder." Ben Stiller's Hollywood satire earned an estimated $14.3 million during the four-day period. It marks the lowest tally for a Labor Day holiday chart-topper since 2004, when the martial-arts film "Hero" opened to $11.5 million.

The DreamWorks/Paramount comedy, which Stiller directed and stars in alongside Robert Downey, Jr., has earned about $86.6 million to date. Four new entries were largely ignored, with 20th Century Fox's Vin Diesel sci-fi picture "Babylon A.D." coming in at No. 2 with just $12 million.

The overall picture for summer was not particularly shiny, with a 4 percent rise in the average U.S. ticket price to $7.16 saving the day for the movie industry.

Estimated sales inched up 0.43 percent from last year's record to $4.2 billion, while the number of tickets sold slid 3.5 percent to 586.9 million, according to tracking firm Media By Numbers. The previous low for attendance was in 2005, when 563 million tickets were sold.

BATMAN TO THE RESCUE

All this despite the massive success of "The Dark Knight," which has grossed almost $505 million to date across the United States and Canada. Warner Bros. Pictures' Batman sequel ranks as the second-biggest movie in history behind "Titanic" (before adjusting for inflation).

The 18-week summer span generally accounts for about 40 percent of annual ticket sales, and studios take advantage of school holidays to churn out big-budget sequels and superhero sagas aimed at Hollywood's sweet spot of male youngsters.

While the summer got off to a good start with the Paramount Pictures-distributed pair of "Iron Man" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," which both earned more than $300 million, overall sales have now fallen for six weekends in a row.

The Olympics and recessionary fears, not to mention such distractions as Hurricane Gustav and the political conventions, have hurt business, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers.

"People are becoming a bit more selective," he said. No one would dare miss the big-buzz movies, but they may be inclined to wait for lesser releases to come out on DVD, he added.

Year-to-date data present a bleaker picture. Ticket sales are off almost 1 percent to $6.6 billion, and attendance is down 4.7 percent, said Media By Numbers.

Among the summer duds were Warner Bros.' $120 million family adventure "Speed Racer" and virtually everything released by Fox, including "Space Chimps," "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" and the Eddie Murphy comedy "Meet Dave."

An official at the News Corp unit said its summer was "very disappointing," but added that all studios go through rough patches.

The Labor Day holiday also presages a relatively quiet few months during which the studios dump unpromising product so that they can then shift their focus to prestige pictures they hope will generate awards-season buzz.

They got an early start on the first part of the strategy with "Babylon A.D.," Overture Films' Don Cheadle thriller "Traitor" (No. 5, $10 million), and a pair of comedies: Lionsgate's "Disaster Movie" (No. 7, $6.9 million) and MGM/Weinstein Co's "College" (No. 15, $2.6 million).

Additionally, Focus Features' costly Sundance Film Festival acquisition "Hamlet 2" opened nationally, a weekend after debuting in two theaters. The Steve Coogan comedy earned $2.1 million, taking its total to $3.1 million. The General Electric Co unit reportedly paid $10 million for rights to the film, just shy of the Sundance record of $10.5 million paid in 2006 for "Little Miss Sunshine" by News Corp's Fox Searchlight.

"Thunder" still No. 1 at North American box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Action film parody "Tropic Thunder" clung to the top spot at the North American box office for a third straight week as the summer moviegoing season sputtered to a lackluster close, Hollywood studios reported on Sunday.

Paramount Pictures' farcical combat movie within a comedy, starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black, sold an estimated $11.5 million in U.S. and Canadian tickets Friday through Sunday to bring its three-week tally to $83.8 million.

While the final weekend heading into the U.S. Labor Day holiday is typically one of the slowest of the summer, the box office was especially lethargic despite five new films competing for attention in domestic theaters. None of those even managed to even crack the $10 million mark.

"It was an underwhelming end to a phenomenal summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, head of box office tracking service Media By Numbers.

Business also was likely dampened by the approach of Hurricane Gustav along the U.S. Gulf Coast, where many families were too busy boarding up their homes and fleeing to higher ground to go to the movies.

"Tropic Thunder," about a group of self-absorbed actors who get caught up in a real-life battle with narco-terrorists while filming a war movie in Southeast Asia, was the only film to post ticket sales in the double-digit millions.

Its biggest competition came from a real action flick, the sci-fi thriller "Babylon A.D." from 20th Century Fox starring Vin Diesel, which grossed an estimated $9.7 million in its first weekend to land at No. 2.

Blockbuster Batman sequel "The Dark Knight" climbed up a notch on the box office chart to No. 3 with weekend receipts of nearly $8.8 million, pushing its cumulative domestic haul to an estimated $502 million after 45 days in release.

"Dark Knight," a Warner Bros picture, becomes only the second film to cross the $500 million threshold. Two weeks ago, it surpassed "Star Wars" as the second highest grossing movie ever, behind only "Titanic" at $601 million.

Weekend ticket sales as a whole were sluggish, however, down 14 percent from the same period a year ago, as several new films failed to gain traction at the megaplex.

Two comedies opening on Friday, "Disaster Movie" and "College," plus Don Cheadle's thriller "Traitor," which debuted on Wednesday, and "Hamlet 2," a comedy that expanded nationally on Wednesday, grossed just $17.9 combined this weekend.

Together with "Babylon A.D." those films together accounted for $27.6 million in ticket sales, only about $1 million more than the top-grossing movie from last year's same weekend, "Halloween," managed all by itself.

The Labor Day holiday on Monday marks the official conclusion to the 18-week summer film season, which can account for as much as 40 percent of the movie industry's total business for the year.

When final studio figures come in later this week, Hollywood is expected to eke out roughly $4 billion in North American box office receipts, perhaps even slightly exceeding last summer's record $4.18 total.

But with the actual number of admissions down more than 3 percent from a year ago, the gain in revenues is fueled mostly by higher ticket prices.

'Dark Knight' swings past $500 million mark

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Batman's rich alter-ego Bruce Wayne has added half a billion dollars to his riches. "The Dark Knight" on Sunday became the second movie in Hollywood history to top $500 million at the domestic box office, raising its total to $502.4 million, according to estimates from distributor Warner Bros.

The film hit that mark in just over six weeks, half the time it took "Titanic," which reached $500 million in a little more than three months. "Titanic," the biggest modern blockbuster, remains No. 1 on the domestic charts with $600.8 million.

Despite its brisk pace, "The Dark Knight" is not expected to approach the total for "Titanic," which put up smaller numbers week after week but lingered at the top of the box office for months.

Dan Fellman, head of distribution at Warner Bros., said he expects "The Dark Knight" to finish at about $530 million, though it could reach $550 million if business persists as strongly as it has.

"I keep raising the number because it just keeps holding better than expected," Fellman said.

"The Dark Knight" will climb to about $505 million by Labor Day, the conclusion of Hollywood's busy summer season. That amounts to nearly one-eighth of Hollywood's overall summer revenue of $4.2 billion, which edges the previous summer record of $4.18 billion set last year, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Factoring in today's higher admission prices, "The Dark Knight" would need to take in about $900 million to match the number of tickets sold by "Titanic."

Labor Day weekend was generally sleepy at theaters, with a rush of new movies failing to find much favor with audiences. Through Sunday, Paramount's comedy "Tropic Thunder" remained No. 1 for the third straight weekend with $11.5 million.

The 20th Century Fox sci-fi thriller "Babylon A.D." with Vin Diesel debuted in second place with $9.7 million, while Overture Films' espionage drama "Traitor," starring Don Cheadle, opened at No. 5 with $7.9 million.

Premiering at No. 7 was Lionsgate's spoof flick "Disaster Movie" with $6.2 million. MGM's campus comedy "College" opened well outside the top 10 with $2.1 million.

The top 12 movies took in $75.2 million, down 23 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Halloween" opened with $26.4 million.

"This is kind of an inauspicious end to a really incredible summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "We limped past the finish line."

Peter Jackson in "Tintin" director's chair

BRUSSELS, Belgium (Hollywood Reporter) - The first of DreamWorks' Tintin movies will be directed by Peter Jackson, not Steven Spielberg, according to Herge Studios, which holds the rights to the vintage comic strip character.

Spielberg, who had been tabbed to direct the first installment of the would-be franchise, will now be only indirectly involved in the filming, the Brussels-based studio said.

The first film will be based on two of the books, "The Secret of the Unicorn" and "Red Rackham's Treasure," written by Tintin creator Herge -- the pen name of Belgian artist Georges Remi -- between 1942 and 1944.

The film, scripted by Stephen Moffat, a writer on the British sci-fi series "Doctor Who," will be animated with motion-capture technology. It stars 18-year-old Thomas Sangster as the title character and Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" triology, as Tintin's friend Captain Haddock.

Kevin Smith makes a porno with `Zack and Miri'

LOS ANGELES - Kevin Smith likes to watch porn online, not to get his jollies but to marvel at how extreme the art of exhibitionist sex can be.

"I'm a morning porn peruser, and not for the titillation factor. I just find it interesting," said Smith, whose latest comedy is "Zack and Miri Make a Porno," the tale of best friends shooting their own skin flick to dig themselves out of debt. "I'll go read Google news, I'll go read Guardian UK, go read our Web site, and then if I've got nothing else, I will just peruse the porn sites, because it's an ever-expanding world."

"Just when you see the most outlandish clip you could ever see, somebody introduces something new. I just check in periodically just to see how far porn has gone in my absence," Smith said after screening "Zack and Miri" for The Associated Press at his Los Angeles home last week.

Debuting Oct. 31, "Zack and Miri" stars Seth Rogen and Elizabeth Banks as lifelong buddies who have shared an apartment for years but never considered each other as potential mates.

Writer-director Smith — whose films include "Clerks," "Dogma" and "Chasing Amy" — has taken two people who have yet to realize they're a couple and cast them into a sweet little romance — with a whole lot of sex and swearing.

Profanity is almost a given for Smith, whose characters barrage one another with four-letter words.

"It turns some people off but that's how mostly everybody I know speaks," Smith said. "It's kind of strange. Whenever somebody goes, `That offends me,' I'm like, wow, what kind of weird, opposite bizarro frame of mind do you live in? Cursing is just so second nature, you don't even think of it as cursing any more. It's just your lexicon."

At the outset of the new film, Rogen's Zack and Banks' Miri have known each other so long and so well that they're almost like siblings. The twenty-something slackers blissfully share a dumpy apartment on which they're far behind on the rent and utility bills. When the electricity is turned off in the middle of winter, they burn their unpaid bills in a garbage can for heat.

A chance encounter with a gay porn actor (Justin Long) gives Zack the notion that they could make their own sex flick to pay off their debts. When he and Miri add up how much money they could clear from one dirty movie, they wonder why everyone isn't busy making porn.

"Because other people have options and dignity," Zack concludes.

They recruit an amateur cast and crew to make their porno, among them "Clerks" co-star Jeff Anderson as "cinematographer" and Jason Mewes — Jay to Smith's Silent Bob, the pair of stoners in most of his movies — as a well-endowed "actor."

The cast also includes Craig Robinson as Zack's co-worker and producer, "Superman Returns" star Brandon Routh as Long's lover, and former adult-film star Traci Lords and current porn queen Katie Morgan.

The porn shoot becomes something of a loving, though lewd, re-creation of how Smith made his debut film, "Clerks," at the New Jersey convenience store at which he worked.

"Basically, it's a dressed-up version of making your first film. It just happens to be a porn film," Smith said.

Just like "Clerks," "Zack and Miri" initially was hit with an NC-17 tag by the ratings board of the Motion Picture Association of America. That rating prohibits anyone younger than 17 from seeing a movie.

Smith nipped and tucked the key objectionable segment, a comically over-the-top sex scene between Mewes and Morgan. But the ratings board held to the NC-17 designation, which Smith later got knocked down to an R rating after stating his case to the MPAA appeals board.

With the exception of one tender, tame sex scene, the porn action in "Zack and Miri" was meant to be outrageous, a commentary on the impossibly silly deeds in real skin flicks, Smith said.

"It's not titillating in the least. It's comedic," Smith said. "If you're turned on by this, then we didn't do our job very well."

THE AUTUMN OSCAR RACE IS NOW ON!! HERE IS A SNEAK PEEK AT THE SEASON'S BEST.

OSCAR BAIT

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Who's in it: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton

Why you'll see it: Director David Fincher's last film, "Zodiac," was one of the most criminally overlooked masterpieces in recent years. The presence of Brad Pitt should guarantee more eyeballs for his latest project. Based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Benjamin Button" is about a man who ages backwards. And through the magic of motion-capture (the same technology used in "Beowulf"), Pitt will play Button at every age, from a stooped senior citizen to a fresh-faced boy. We're curious already. (Dec. 19)

Revolutionary Road

Director Sam Mendes is joined by his wife, Kate Winslet, as well as "Titanic" boatmate Leonardo DiCaprio for the story of a suburban Connecticut couple in the 1950s whose marriage is dissolving. (Dec. 26)

The Road

If you've read Cormac McCarthy's brilliant but dispiriting novel about a father and son trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world, you don't need much cajoling to see this one. Viggo Mortensen plays the dad, Kodi Smit-McPhee the son. (Nov. 26)

The Changeling

This period drama from director Clint Eastwood picked up major buzz after screening at Cannes earlier this year. A mother (Angelina Jolie) has her kidnapped son returned to her and begins to suspect that the boy is not hers. (Oct. 24)

Milk

Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch and James Franco headline this drama from director Gus Van Sant about the life of Harvey Milk, California's first openly gay elected official who ultimately got assassinated. (Nov. 26)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

Australia

Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star is this outback epic from director Baz Luhrmann. (Nov. 14)

The Duchess
Another year, another costume drama for Keira Knightley. She plays the fashionable Duchess of Devonshire. (Sept. 19)

ACTION

Quantum of Solace

Who's in it: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Ukrainian model-actress Olga Kurylenko

Why you'll see it: Sorry, Sean Connery. 2006's "Casino Royale" was the best James Bond yet. And this 22nd installment in the franchise promises to continue with the gritty, realistic tone the last one established. Picking up one hour after "Casino Royale" left off, the film sends the British secret agent around the globe to stop a shadowy organization from taking control of South America's water supply. What's not to like? Well, except that title, which comes from an unrelated Bond story by creator Ian Fleming. Craig has said the title has grown on him and that it's a reference to Bond's search for a bit of peace - and closure - after his girlfriend Vesper was murdered in "Casino Royale." (Nov. 7)

Eagle Eye

From an idea by Steven Spielberg. Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan discover a mysterious woman has framed them as terrorists. D.J. Caruso, of "Disturbia," directs. (Sept. 26)

RocknRolla

Marital troubles or not, Guy Ritchie proves he can still craft a stylish British crime drama. Gerard Butler and Tom Wilkinson star. (Oct. 31)

Body of Lies

The film's pedigree alone - it was written by "The Departed" scribe William Monahan and directed by Ridley Scott - has us salivating. Leonardo DiCaprio is a covert Middle East operative and Russell Crowe is his handler. (Oct. 10)

Righteous Kill

The anticipation of seeing Robert De Niro and Al Pacino onscreen together for the first time since "Heat" is tempered somewhat by the knowledge that the director of this serial-killer thriller is the same who did Pacino's disastrous "88 Minutes." (Sept. 12)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Valkyrie

Tom Cruise's oft-delayed turn as a Nazi colonel who attempts to assassinate Hitler. (Dec. 26)

COMEDY

Burn After Reading

Who's in it: Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, George Clooney, John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton, J.K. Simmons, Richard Jenkins

Why you'll see it: Following multiple Oscar wins for the bleak "No Country for Old Men," the Coen brothers regain their twisted sense of humor (see "Raising Arizona," "Fargo," "O Brother Where Art Thou" and, kind of, "Intolerable Cruelty") with this smaller-scale movie about a couple of dim-bulb gym employees (Pitt, McDormand) trying to make money off the found memoirs of a CIA agent (Malkovich). There are enough auspicious pairings here to make several quality films, actually: Clooney and Pitt ("Ocean's Eleven"); Clooney and the Coens ("O Brother"); McDormand and the Coens ("Raising Arizona," "Fargo"); Clooney and Swinton ("Michael Clayton"). Plus: Malkovich plays a scary bad guy! (Sept. 12)

The Women

A group of gossipy gals (Annette Bening, Jada Pinkett Smith and Debra Messing) bond when they discover the husband of their friend (Meg Ryan) is having an affair. "Sex and the City" lite. (Sept. 12)

Zack and Miri Make a Porno

Kevin Smith has unfortunately confirmed you will once again see Seth Rogen's bare backside in this raunchy tale of two friends (Rogen and Elizabeth Banks) who decide to earn some cash by making an amateur porno. (Oct. 31)

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Michael Cera brings some of his patented awkward goodness to the story of a loser who ends up spending the night with a girl (Kat Dennings) who poses as his girlfriend. (Oct. 3)

Role Models

Of all the Judd Apatow regulars, Paul Rudd could be the most underrated. The gifted comedian gets top billing (along with Seann William Scott) as an energy drink rep who's forced to mentor a kid in a charity program. (Nov. 14)

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Four Christmases

Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon struggle to visit all four of their divorced parents over the holidays. (Nov. 26)

Marley & Me

Based on the book, a family learns lessons from their dog. With Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. (Dec. 25)

Fall movie preview

Summer's movie superheroes give way to more intimate, prestige-minded films

After four months of spandex-and-iron-clad do-gooders, the capes are being mothballed, the batarangs holstered and the gamma-irradiated creatures caged. The summer of the superhero has come to a close, true believer, although one suspects Hollywood is sorry to see its costumed crime-fighters go, considering The Dark Knight, Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Hancock, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Wanted grossed more than $1 billion at the North American box office alone.

No one expects this fall's crop of more intimate, prestige-minded dramas, comedies and thrillers to perform as staggeringly -- how could they? -- but for the movie industry, old habits are hard to break and autumn has always been about stories for grown-ups that might lead to Oscar gold.

Still, after 2007's disastrous fall season -- in which audiences snubbed a horde of war-themed dramas -- executives are being nothing if not practical. So from now until mid-November, there is an abundance of escapist fare to distract from messy, unmarketable reality. And if something brilliant or provocative slips through the cracks, so be it. Here are 10 to watch:

Burn After Reading (Sept. 12)

After last year's savage No Country for Old Men, Oscar-winning siblings Ethan and Joel Coen veer into slapstick with this screwball farce about stolen CIA documents swiped by a dim personal trainer (Brad Pitt). George Clooney, John Malkovich and Frances McDormand co-star. That No Country for Old Men echoed such early Coen-made fare as Blood Simple makes us hopeful Burn After Reading is a lot more Raising Arizona or even O Brother Where Art Thou than Intolerable Cruelty, The Hudsucker Proxy or, gawd help us all, The Ladykillers.

Righteous Kill (Sept. 12)

Al Pacino and Robert De Niro partner up for the first time since Michael Mann's Heat -- and for only their third film together -- as gruff detectives investigating vigilante-style slayings. The pairing of the acting titans aside, there's reasonable cause for concern. First clue: The involvement of journeyman Jon Avnet, who last helmed Pacino's barely-releasable 88 Minutes and is far from the rareified leagues of a Mann or Francis Ford Coppola (who directed De Niro and Pacino separately in the second Godfather instalment).

Eagle Eye (Sept. 26)

Shia LaBeouf re-teams with his Disturbia director D.J. Caruso as a fugitive who finds himself manipulated by mysterious phone calls and on the run with a single mother (Michelle Monaghan). Apparently the hush-hush plot -- part-War Games, part-Alfred Hitchcock -- was conceived by Steven Spielberg, who undoubtedly approved of the casting of LaBeouf, his scruffy Transformers and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull star.

Body of Lies (Oct. 10)

Problem: You're releasing a war-on-terror thriller following a movie-going year in which audiences balked at nearly a dozen similarly-themed explorations of the malfeasance of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East (In the Valley of Elah, Rendition, Lions for Lambs, etc., etc.). Solution: Emphasize your movie's not-insignificant star wattage (Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe sparring as a CIA operative stationed in Jordan and his bloated, shifty agency boss) and Ridley Scott-directed action (think Syriana with shootouts). Will it work? The trailer is gangsters and the DiCaprio-Crowe pairing should prove irresistible. Just no one say "al-Qaeda" in the television ads.

W. (Oct. 17)

Josh Brolin stars as George W. Bush in this biographical tale -- the tagline "A Life Misunderestimated" is enough to make me smile -- that follows the U.S. president from his days as a perpetual underachieving drinker to the fella with his finger on the nuclear button. As terrifying a thought as that might be, director Oliver Stone promises 1) it's not a horror movie 2) it's not a hatchet job and 3) it's not terribly concerned with politics. Rather, he considers his film an honest character study. Surrounding Brolin is a fascinating cast: Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush, James Cromwell as George H.W. Bush, Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney, Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice and Ellen Burstyn as Barbara Bush. Still, as irresistible as this sounds, will anyone pay to see it? Fact is, even those who would enjoy it most may simply be -- after eight long years -- nauseated at the thought of two more hours with W.

Changeling (Oct 24)

In Clint Eastwood's latest directorial outing, Angelina Jolie stars as a mother whose kidnapped child is returned home -- except she's convinced this boy isn't her son. Worse, everyone just thinks she's crazy, including the police. As preposterous as it sounds, the film is based on a true story that occurred in 1920s Los Angeles. Although last year's A Mighty Head met with mixed response and zero interest from the Academy, this film may give Jolie something small and bald to hoist that's not a baby, adopted or otherwise.

Quantum of Solace (Nov. 7)

Having resuscitated the 007 franchise so potently that some critics even blasphemously wondered aloud if he was superior to Sean Connery, Daniel Craig returns as Ian Fleming's super-spy. And to those who fretted that this sequel would mark a spiral into the Austin Powers-ready cheekiness and eye-rolling gadgetry that Casino Royale jettisoned, fear not. Oscar-winner Paul Haggis again performed surgery on the screenplay, behind the camera is the gifted director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster's Ball) and Craig once more appears more severe than suave. But then that's to be expected given the plot hinges on a revenge-obsessed Bond out to destroy the organization that murdered the love of his life (Eva Green). One shouldn't brace for The Dark Knight-sized grosses, but we'd be stunned if Quantum didn't surpass Casino Royale (which, like Batman Begins, had to live down its jokey predecessor) to become one of the top-grossing Bonds, James Bonds, ever.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Nov. 7)

Considering 1) the original grossed $193 million and 2) filmgoers can't get enough of computer-rendered creatures (this summer's Wall-E and Kung Fu Panda both topped $210 million mark), a sequel to the 2005 toon was a given. Moreover the abrupt departure of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from its November slot to next July assures this animated follow-up will have even more of the family crowd to itself. This time out, Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer), Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith), King Julien (Sacha Baron Cohen), Maurice (Cedric the Entertainer) and the penguins crash-land in the vast plains of Africa where they meet species of their own kind for the first time. Whatever happens, we're pretty sure no one gets eaten: The studio has already announced plans for Madagascar 3.

Australia (Nov. 14)

Reuniting with her Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrmann, Nicole Kidman stars as an English aristocrat forced to align herself with a rough-hewn local (Hugh Jackman, replacing Russell Crowe) as she faces cattle barons and the Japanese forces that bombed the city of Darwin following Pearl Harbor. Big, vivid, romantic, epic, Australia hearkens back to a species of cinema that's all but extinct. Why? Because to recoup your costs (Australia came with an estimated pricetag of $150 million), you need to woo multiplex mall rats who wouldn't know David Lean from Antoine Fuqua.

The Road (Nov. 14)

In this adaptation of the best-seller by Cormac McCarthy -- who also penned No Country for Old Men -- Viggo Mortensen stars as a man leading his young son through a post-apocalyptic America ravaged by war and populated by cannibals, thieves and gangs. John Hillcoat, who last helmed the sullen, superb western The Proposition, seems perfectly suited to McCarthy's dour but poetic material. Look for Charlize Theron in flashbacks as Mortensen's hope-starved wife.

'Thunder' reigns again with $16.1 million weekend

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The action comedy "Tropic Thunder" weathered a rush of new movies to remain No. 1 for a second-straight weekend with $16.1 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The Paramount-DreamWorks release — starring Ben Stiller, Robert Downey Jr. and Jack Black as actors caught up in real battle while shooting a war movie — raised its 12-day total to $65.7 million.

"Tropic Thunder" came in just ahead of Sony's campus comedy "The House Bunny," which debuted in second place with $15.1 million. "The House Bunny" stars Anna Faris as an ostracized Playboy bunny who becomes den mother to a sorority of campus misfits.

Universal's "Death Race" — an update of 1975's "Death Race 2000," with Jason Statham starring as a driver in a kill-or-be-killed auto race of the future — opened at No. 3 with $12.3 million.

The weekend's other new wide releases, Ice Cube's sports drama "The Longshots" and Rainn Wilson's music comedy "The Rocker," opened weakly.

"The Longshots" — an MGM-Weinstein Co. release starring Ice Cube as a former high school star coaching his niece, the first girl to play Pop Warner football — came in at No. 8 with $4.3 million.

20th Century Fox's "The Rocker," starring Wilson as an over-the-hill heavy-metal drummer who gets a chance at stardom with a high school band, took in $2.8 million to finish at No. 12.

After a run of blockbuster weekends, late summer was proving the usual dumping ground for modest movies as business slowed and audiences eased into back-to-school mode.

That opened the door for "Tropic Thunder" to repeat as the weekend's box-office leader.

"There isn't that divide where there's a couple of huge movies coming every week," said DreamWorks spokesman Chip Sullivan.

Summer's biggest hit, "The Dark Knight," continued its climb up the box-office charts, placing fourth with $10.3 million. The Warner Bros. Batman sequel has taken in $489.2 million on its way to becoming the second film ever to top $500 million, after "Titanic" ($600.8 million).

Overall movie revenues of $3.9 billion are slightly ahead of last summer's record pace. But higher admission prices mean the actual number of tickets sold is down about 3 percent compared to summer 2007, according to box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Still, Hollywood should finish with a box-office record and a second-straight summer topping the $4 billion mark.

"Thank you, `Dark Knight.' That's added close to half a billion dollars," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media By Numbers. "One film like `The Dark Knight' can make a huge difference."

In limited release, Focus Features' comedy "Hamlet 2" pulled in $435,000. Starring Steve Coogan as a high school drama teacher staging a campy, irreverent musical sequel to Shakespeare's play, "Hamlet 2" expands into nationwide release Wednesday.

Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Tropic Thunder," $16.1 million.
2. "The House Bunny," $15.1 million.
3. "Death Race," $12.3 million.
4. "The Dark Knight," $10.3 million.
5. "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," $5.7 million.
6. "Pineapple Express," $5.6 million.
7. "Mirrors," $4.9 million.
8. "The Longshots," $4.304 million.
9. "Mamma Mia!", $4.303 million.
10. "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," $4.1 million.

Weekend offers a "Race" to the summer finish line

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Box-office grosses will start to fade this weekend as inevitably as a summer tan.

The comparable period from 2007 rung up less than $109 million, the second-smallest tally of the box-office season. A similarly underwhelming industry performance is likely this weekend, even with four new titles hitting the marketplace in wide release.

Still, one of the market entrants is well positioned to capture the flag of the summer's penultimate box-office session, thanks to relatively weak competition from new releases and holdovers alike. "Death Race," Universal's remake of the 1975 thriller "Death Race 2000," will try to go for the gold -- supported primarily by young male moviegoers -- with a bow in the mid- to high-teen millions.

DreamWorks/Paramount's R-rated comedy "Tropic Thunder" could drop as much as 50 percent or so from its chart-topping opening session. That could find it fetching less than $13 million this weekend while still potentially competing for second place.

But Sony's PG-13 comedy "The House Bunny," starring Anna Faris ("Scary Movie"), also looks likely for the low-teen millions and could outpace "Tropic" if its grosses climb into the midteens, mostly on interest from young females.

Warner Bros.' box-office behemoth "The Dark Knight" likely will finish third or fourth during its sixth frame, with $10 million or so. But two additional wide openers look unlikely to make it out of the single-digit millions.

Rated PG, the Ice Cube/Keke Palmer-starring "The Longshots" -- a family football tale from MGM and Dimension directed by rocker-turned-helmer Fred Durst -- hasn't shown much strength in prerelease tracking. But the topliner usually can deliver at least middle-single-digit millions from his core fan base alone, so a late surge of interest in the film could see it climb just a bit higher during its opening frame.

Fox's PG-13 comedy "The Rocker" might need five days to reach a similar range. Having earned some positive early buzz, the Rainn Wilson-starring comedy unspooled Wednesday to stimulate additional word-of-mouth, but its first-day tally was just $600,000.

The R-rated "Death Race" stars Jason Statham, who tends to be popular with female filmgoers, and tracking also shows appeal among prospective urban moviegoers. Depending on how many females and older men join the film's young-male target group, "Death Race" could represent the weekend's best hope for a breakout performance.

Notable limited releases this weekend include exclusive engagements for Focus Features' comedy "Hamlet 2." The gambit aims to stimulate positive word-of-mouth before wide expansion of the Steve Coogan/Catherine Keener film over the long Labor Day frame.

Weekend offers a "Race" to the summer finish line

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Box-office grosses will start to fade this weekend as inevitably as a summer tan.

The comparable period from 2007 rung up less than $109 million, the second-smallest tally of the box-office season. A similarly underwhelming industry performance is likely this weekend, even with four new titles hitting the marketplace in wide release.

Still, one of the market entrants is well positioned to capture the flag of the summer's penultimate box-office session, thanks to relatively weak competition from new releases and holdovers alike. "Death Race," Universal's remake of the 1975 thriller "Death Race 2000," will try to go for the gold -- supported primarily by young male moviegoers -- with a bow in the mid- to high-teen millions.

DreamWorks/Paramount's R-rated comedy "Tropic Thunder" could drop as much as 50 percent or so from its chart-topping opening session. That could find it fetching less than $13 million this weekend while still potentially competing for second place.

But Sony's PG-13 comedy "The House Bunny," starring Anna Faris ("Scary Movie"), also looks likely for the low-teen millions and could outpace "Tropic" if its grosses climb into the midteens, mostly on interest from young females.

Warner Bros.' box-office behemoth "The Dark Knight" likely will finish third or fourth during its sixth frame, with $10 million or so. But two additional wide openers look unlikely to make it out of the single-digit millions.

Rated PG, the Ice Cube/Keke Palmer-starring "The Longshots" -- a family football tale from MGM and Dimension directed by rocker-turned-helmer Fred Durst -- hasn't shown much strength in prerelease tracking. But the topliner usually can deliver at least middle-single-digit millions from his core fan base alone, so a late surge of interest in the film could see it climb just a bit higher during its opening frame.

Fox's PG-13 comedy "The Rocker" might need five days to reach a similar range. Having earned some positive early buzz, the Rainn Wilson-starring comedy unspooled Wednesday to stimulate additional word-of-mouth, but its first-day tally was just $600,000.

The R-rated "Death Race" stars Jason Statham, who tends to be popular with female filmgoers, and tracking also shows appeal among prospective urban moviegoers. Depending on how many females and older men join the film's young-male target group, "Death Race" could represent the weekend's best hope for a breakout performance.

Notable limited releases this weekend include exclusive engagements for Focus Features' comedy "Hamlet 2." The gambit aims to stimulate positive word-of-mouth before wide expansion of the Steve Coogan/Catherine Keener film over the long Labor Day frame.

Jackson, Del Toro Get Hobbit House in Order

Los Angeles (E! Online) - Peter Jackson just can't kick his Hobbit habit.

After a fruitless eight-month search for the perfect scribe, the Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings overlord and his handpicked Hobbit helmer, Guillermo del Toro, have decided they're the best men for the job of adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth prequel into two films.

The duo will get a big assist from Jackson's fellow LOTR Best Screenplay winners, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

Jackson and del Toro took over the writing chores after both of their schedules opened up. Because of their shared love and familiarity with the material, both agreed to pen the project rather than having a hired gun take a stab at it.

After settling a bigger lawsuit over LOTR profits, Jackson came aboard as an executive producer overseeing production on two features based on The Hobbit and other Tolken writings.

In April, he tapped del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, the Hell Boy films) to take over the directing chair. Del Toro is moving to New Zealand for five years to shoot both Hobbit movies back-to-back.

The first installment will follow a young Bilbo Baggins on a quest to find a treasure guarded by the evil dragon Smaug with the assistance of an itinerant wizard Gandalf and a party of 13 dwarves. The second installment will use storylines Tolkien suggested in The Hobbit that set up events in The Lord of the Rings and will take place during the 60 years between the two books.

Del Toro has also been in touch with LOTR principals Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen and Andy Serkis about reprising their roles as Gandalf, Aragorn and Gollum, respectively. The filmmakers have also talked to Ian Holm, who played the older Bilbo in LOTR, but the 76-year-old actor's participation depends largely on his health. Should he not be able to play the titular character, del Toro has reportedly been mulling the possibility of having him narrate the tale.

Production on the two-parter is slated to begin in late 2009, with the first Hobbit movie hitting theaters in 2011 and the sequel in 2012.

"The Dark Knight" leads box office for third weekend

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Batman narrowly fended off the new "Mummy" sequel to lead the weekend box office in North America for a third weekend, while moviegoers rejected Kevin Costner's new political comedy "Swing Vote."

"The Dark Knight" earned $43.8 million for the three days beginning Friday, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said on Sunday. Universal's "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" followed with $42.5 million.

Walt Disney Co's "Swing Vote" came in at No. 6 with just $6.3 million, the latest disappointment for Costner, who has not had a $100 million movie since 1992's "The Bodyguard."

The total for "The Dark Knight" rose to $394.9 million. Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc, said it expects the film to add at least $100 million, likely becoming the No. 2 movie of all time in North America. "Titanic" holds the record with $601 million, ahead of 1977's "Star Wars" and its two reissues with $461 million.

"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" came in below pundits' forecasts of an opening in the $50 million range, bruised by the Batman juggernaut. The Brendan Fraser film actually beat "The Dark Knight" on Friday but the reigning champ bounced back on the next two days. (The Sunday component of the data is an estimate; final data will be issued on Monday.)

Universal, a unit of General Electric Co, said "The Mummy" was big internationally. The film, set in China and co-starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, opened to $59.5 million from 28 territories.

Fraser has had a low profile since appearing as part of the ensemble in the Oscar-winning 2004 movie "Crash." But he now has two movies in the top 5, with "Journey to the Center of the Earth" at No. 5 with a four-week total of $73.1 million.

Batman may bow down to "Mummy"

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - This is the weekend Batman should get whooped by somebody's mummy.

Universal on Friday opens "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," which could earn upwards of $50 million for the weekend in United States and Canada, enough to end the two-week reign of "The Dark Knight."

Warner Bros.' massive Batman sequel appears likely to gross $40 million or so during its third session.

"The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor" marks the third film in the Brendan Fraser adventure franchise, following 1999's "The Mummy," which opened to $43.4 million, and 2001's "The Mummy Returns," which unwrapped a $68 million bow. They ended up with $155.4 million and $202 million, respectively.

The addition of Jet Li as a villain in the threequel seems to have restoked interest among the franchise's fan base. Michelle Yeoh also joins the cast, while Maria Bello replaces Rachel Weisz.

Also Friday, Disney debuts the Kevin Costner political comedy "Swing Vote," but low turnout among an older-skewing crowd should limit returns to the single-digit millions.

"Dark Knight" overshadows box office rivals again

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Batman buried his rivals at the North American box office for a second weekend on Sunday, racing past $300 million in a record 10 days.

The Caped Crusader's blockbuster outing, "The Dark Knight," sold an estimated $75.6 million worth of tickets during the three days beginning Friday, taking its haul to $314.2 million, distributor Warner Bros. Pictures said.

The previous speed record for a $300 million film was 16 days set by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" in 2006. "The Dark Knight" now ranks as the biggest movie of the year, surpassing the $315 million haul of "Iron Man."

The next target is $400 million, which took "Shrek 2" 43 days to reach in 2004. Warner Bros. distribution president Dan Fellman predicted "The Dark Knight" would take just 18 days to reach that milestone.

As was the case with last weekend, when "The Dark Knight" enjoyed a record-breaking $158 million opening, the other films were a bit of an afterthought.

The Columbia Pictures comedy "Step Brothers," starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly as perpetual adolescents, opened surprisingly strongly at No. 2 with $30 million. The 20th Century Fox sci-fi sequel "The X-Files: I Want to Believe" came in at No. 4 with $10.2 million, a figure at the lower end of expectations.

In between, the ABBA-inspired musical romance "Mamma Mia!" slipped one place to No. 3 with $17.8 million while its 10-day total rose to $62.7 million.

Aronofsky rebooting 'Robocop'

Darren Aronofsky has accepted MGM's challenge to relaunch the "Robocop" franchise.

The company announced on Thursday (July 24) that the new "Robocop" feature is being fast tracked for a 2010 release with the "Requiem for a Dream" helmer directing from a script by David Self.

"Darren is undeniably one of the most talented, original and visceral film makers, and David is one of the greatest writers in Hollywood," says Mary Parent, chairman of MGM's Worldwide Motion Picture Group. "All of us at MGM couldn't be more excited."

The project will be produced by Phoenix Pictures' Mike Medavoy, Arnold Messer, Brad Fischer and David Thwaites.

In a statement, Medavoy says, "After making the first 'Robocop' at Orion more than 20 years ago, I'm thrilled to be helping to return this character to the screen with our partners at MGM and through the eyes of Darren Aronofsky and David Self."

Paul Verhoven directed the 1987 original, which focused on a Detroit cop played by Peter Weller. After being terminally wounded, the character is brought back as a law-enforcement cyborg bent on cleaning up urban blight.

The relatively low-budget film was a box office success and even picked up a pair of Oscar nominations.

"With a filmmaker of Darren Aronofsky's vision and imagination and a writer of David Self's caliber, we are poised to bring to the screen an entertaining and provocative film, which will now be under the creative guidance of two of the best storytellers working in our industry today," say Fischer and Thwaites in yet another statement.

Other credits for Aronofsky include "Pi," "The Fountain" and the upcoming "The Wrestler."

Self wrote the dramas "Thirteen Days" and "Road to Perdition."

Comic-Con: Hugh Jackman's Wolverine Surprise

Los Angeles (E! Online) - In the first twist of this year's San Diego Comic-Con, an unscheduled Hugh Jackman bonded with fans and showcased footage from next summer's prequel, X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

"Without you guys, I wouldn't have a career," Jackman told an energized crowd, who had gathered to see Keanu Reeves promote The Day the Earth Stood Still and Mark Wahlberg talk about Max Payne.

The party-crashing Jackman, muttonchops-free and just off a plane from Australia, offered a shout-out to Wolverine creator Len Wein and waded into the audience to shake hands with the comics vet.

Sneak-peek footage from the flick, due May 2009, had a few surprises as well:

Most notable were the glimpses at Wolverine's mutant costars, including Gambit (Friday Night Lights' Taylor Kitsch), Kestrel (will.i.am) and Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds). "You're going to see a lot of beserker rage," Jackman promised the jacked-up crowd, obviously hungry to see more of Wolverine's hard-to-cage anger.

The clip's money shot, according to fan reaction: Wolverine facing off against archrival Sabretooth (Liev Schreiber), and declaring, "I'm going to cut your goddamned head off. See if that works."

Yes, Hugh, in fact it does.

Mulder, Scully believe in `X-Files' audience

LOS ANGELES - Some Mulder and Scully fans were dubious when the title for the new movie based on their favorite TV show was announced: "The X-Files: I Want to Believe."

How, the skeptics wondered, could the two former FBI agents be anything but true believers after years of encountering aliens, monsters, ghosts and everything else that might go bump in the night?

But so-called X-Philes want to believe in this franchise that started way out on the fringes and eventually brought the creepy and paranormal into the mainstream. The feeling among its creators is mutual.

"We want to believe in the audience," said David Duchovny, who reprises his role as Fox Mulder, the guy with boogeymen on the brain, co-starring with Gillian Anderson as his soul mate and doubting Thomas, science-minded Dana Scully.

Devoted as fans might be, it's a leap of faith for "The X-Files" to return after such a long absence in an era when so many franchises compete for audiences' attention and sequels tend to come every two or three years.

It's been a decade since the first "X-Files" movie and six years since the series went off the air after nine seasons.

The keepers of "The X-Files" figure the long wait has only fired up fans even more for a new adventure. In an interview with The Associated Press alongside Duchovny, Anderson and producer Frank Spotnitz, series creator Chris Carter described the reception he got at a fan gathering in Chile, where he had no idea the show had such a following.

"It was wild and warm and enthusiastic. They had an expo where they re-created Mulder's desk," said Carter, who also directed the new movie and co-wrote it with Spotnitz. "It was just amazing to be sitting there eating sunflower seeds (Mulder's favorite snack) at Mulder's desk in Chile."

Anderson recalled a similar reaction when they appeared earlier this year at New York Comic Con, a fan convention.

"The response that we got from the audience was almost, it was crazy. That was kind of the beginning of my realizing, people do still care," Anderson said. "I also think it's gotten passed down through the generations to kids of people who first watched it on TV."

"The X-Files" debuted in 1993 and quickly won a loyal cult audience. Strong word of mouth gradually drew more and more fans to the weird show with its ongoing story arc about alien visitations to Earth and clever stand-alone stories that one week might deal with life-sucking bugs unleashed from old-growth timber, and another week might touch on monstrous humans resulting from generations of inbreeding.

At the heart was Mulder, a brilliant FBI agent convinced his sister was abducted by aliens. Nicknamed "Spooky" by derisive colleagues, Mulder handled the X-Files, cases involving unexplained phenomena the bureau would prefer to sweep under the rug.

Scully, a medical doctor, was assigned as Mulder's partner, mainly to debunk his work, but she eventually became his comrade in arms, the two complementing each other's talents and maintaining a deep but chaste romantic longing.

Spotnitz said when he joined the show in the second season, "none of my friends knew what it was at that point. But by the end of season two, people were writing fan fiction. I remember distinctly somebody saying to me, `Oh, you've got them. Once they're actually making it their own, you've actually captured their imagination.' And it's true. They're still writing fan fiction 15 years later."

The 1998 big-screen film was immersed in the show's dense alien mythology. "I Want to Believe" is patterned after the stand-alone episodes, requiring little prior knowledge of Mulder and Scully.

Drummed out of the FBI as the series wound down, Mulder has been living in exile, collecting news clips of strange happenings and hurling pencils at the ceiling out of boredom.

Scully, now a practicing doctor at a hospital, is approached by FBI agents (Amanda Peet and Xzibit) as an intermediary to bring Mulder in to consult on a case in which a defrocked-priest-turned-psychic (Billy Connolly) claims to have visions about a missing bureau agent.

And they're off and running on a trail that leads them to a stash of severed arms buried in the snow, more missing persons and some ghoulish medical experiments worthy of Frankenstein.

"Chris had a Border collie when we started and I had a half-Border collie, and I always thought of Mulder like a Border collie. He needed a job, so when you see him at first, he's like a Border collie who's a lapdog," Duchovny said. "It's not right. And the movie's a little bit about him getting his job back. That's where his heart is."

His heart also clearly remains with Scully. They spar just like old times, but they share the most explicit moments of affection in their 15 years together, though still restrained by Hollywood romantic standards.

Many fans always wanted to see Mulder and Scully in an all-out love affair, but Anderson said it was wise for Carter and Spotnitz to steer the show clear of that.

"They ended up playing the parents of the fans who thought they knew what they wanted, but if they had gotten what they wanted, I think they would have been sorely disappointed," Anderson said. "It would have had a negative effect on the series. But what was given to them was so electric and so long