Sony reigns, but January box office dips
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Fewer American film goers, distracted by blizzards and Super Bowl, resulted in an 8 percent decline at the January box office compared to a year ago.
For the Jan. 5 to Feb. 1 time period, film distributors grossed $562 million, 8 percent less than for the first four weeks of 2003, Daily Variety reported Tuesday.
Sony Pictures placed first among the studios with $108 million in receipts, with Sony films playing in 17 percent of U.S. cinemas, the most of any distributor in January.
New Line, last January's leader, took second with $89 million.
The 10 top-grossing January films were: Universal's "Along Came Polly," $66 million; New Line's "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King," $55 million; Sony's "Big Fish," $47 million; Fox's "Cheaper by the Dozen," $42 million; Miramax's "Cold Mountain," $35 million; New Line's "The Butterfly Effect," $32 million; Sony's "Something's Gotta Give," $31 million; Warner Brothers' "Torque," $20 million; Disney's "Calendar Girls," $18 million; and Warner Brothers "The Last Samurai," $17 million.
Janet Jackson used chef's name for drugs
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Janet Jackson's chef claimed the singer illegally used his name for prescriptions during the late 1990s, the Smoking Gun Web site reported Tuesday.
Ricardo Macchi, Jackson's former chef, initially filed suit in 1999 against Jackson and her boyfriend, Rene Elizondo, accusing the couple of using Macchi's name to obtain a variety of prescriptions from a Malibu, Calif., pharmacy.
According to the court documents published on thesmokinggun.com, Macchi saw a prescription on Jackson's refrigerator with Macchi's name on it. After getting a print out from the local pharmacy of other presciptions using Macchi's name and Jackson's addrees, Macchi filed a lawsuit.
Macchi alleges that Jackson and Elizondo worked with two doctors to illegally obtain the drugs using Macchi's name to avoid embarrassment.
The drugs issued to Jackson and her boyfriend under Macchi's name included Recombivax, Zoloft, Revia, Zovirax, Pondimin and Effexor.
Janet Jackson bared breast on purpose
HOUSTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Janet Jackson has admitted she planned for Justin Timberlake to rip her costume during their Super Bowl performance, leaving her right breast exposed.
"The decision to have a costume reveal at the end of my halftime show was made after final rehearsals. MTV was completely unaware of it. It was not my intention that it go as far as it did," according to a statement issued by Jackson and published Tuesday by the Hollywood Reporter.
The antic has resulted in an uproar prompting an FCC investigation.
"I am outraged at what I saw during the halftime show of the Super Bowl," Michael Powell, FCC chairman, said. "... Our nation's children, parents and citizens deserve better. I have instructed the commission to open an immediate investigation into (the) broadcast. Our investigation will be thorough and swift."
MTV, which produced the halftime show, also has said it would investigate the incident, of which the network said it had no prior knowledge.
Kid Rock's halftime performance also is under scrutiny by MTV to determine if the rapper's lyrics contained words he had been warned not to use.
Kelsey Grammer practicing 'bah hum bugs'
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Kelsey Grammer has signed on to play Scrooge in NBC's musical adaptation of "A Christmas Carol," scheduled for a November air date.
Grammer said he's looking forward to bringing "one of my favorite stories" to the small screen, Daily Variety reported Tuesday.
"It still plays well, and I haven't done something like this in a long time," Grammer said.
Robert Halmi Sr. is executive producer for the TV production, which will be based on the Madison Square Garden stage production of the Dickens classic. Alan Menken, of "Aladdin" and "Beauty and the Beast" fame, will compose music for the project.
The NBC venture marks the first time the Madison Square Garden version will be filmed.
The holidays promise to be Scrooge-like, as CBS recently has announced plans for a three-hour production based on "Scrooge" with composer/screenwriter Leslie Bricusse, who was behind the 1970 version starring Albert Finney.
Surf champ opens film/TV house
LOS ANGELES, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Surfer champion Laird Hamilton has opened a production company with his Sundance-winning "The Ride" planned as the first film out this summer.
After serving as executive producer for "Riding Giants," which opened at the Sundance Film Festival, and "The Ride," which won best film at X-Dance, the extreme sports-themed equivalent of Sundance, Hamilton has opened Bamman Productions, Daily Variety reported Tuesday. The TV and film production house has offices in Malibu, Calif., and on Maui, Hawaii.
"Our focus is action sport production programming," said Jane Kachmer, who is a partner in BamMan with Hamilton and fellow champion surfer Dave Kalama. "The epicenter is big-wave surfing, but we plan to do other sports."
The initial projects on the BamMan list, in addition to releasing "The Ride" on DVD and as a TV movie, include development of a large-format big-wave film for Imax and an action-sports reality program that Hamilton would co-host with his wife, volleyball star Gabrielle Reece.
