Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe AALIYAH'S LAST MOVIE Producers of singer/actress Aaliyah's last movie "The Queen of the Damned" have called on her brother, Rashad, to help out in post-production -- to re-record parts of her dialogue. Advertisement Time magazine reports Rashad "speaks in the same smooth, serene tones as his late sister," who was killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas in August. Aaliyah played a 6,000-year-old Egyptian vampire with a thick accent. Rashad's voice did not replace his sister's entirely. Producers mixed it in with Aaliyah's original track, to reinforce her sound. "The Queen of the Damned" is set for release in February 2001. Time reported earlier that the last scene Aaliyah shot for the movie was a death scene. (Thanks to UPI Feature Reporter Dennis Daily) KEVIN NEALON "Saturday Night Live" alum Kevin Nealon has a new TV show premiering Jan. 6 on TNN. "TNN's Conspiracy Zone With Kevin Nealon" will examine controversies and other issues that for many remain unexplained --- such as the deaths of Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana; psychics; government conspiracies; and alien abductions. Nealon will serve as an impartial yet always funny moderator to the sometimes heated discussions. Featuring expert panelists representing both proponents and skeptics of conspiracy theories, each episode of "Conspiracy Zone" will explore a single topic. The premiere episode, "Big Brother," will debate whether the U.S. government and big business use new technology to invade our lives and steal our privacy. The panelists are author/journalist Jim Redden (Snitch Culture: How Citizens Are Turned Into The Eyes And Ears Of The State), journalist Judith Lewis (LA Weekly), talk show host Adam Corolla, and actor Adam West ("Batman"). Advertisement (Web site: tnnonline.com) BOX OFFICE "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" easily won the nation's pre-Christmas weekend box office with $45.3 million at 3,359 theaters during the Friday-Sunday period. The performance of New Line's much anticipated epic -- based on the complex J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy and directed by Peter Jackson -- was about in line with expectations after "Rings" grossed $27.8 million in its first two days on Wednesday and Thursday. The strong opening -- marking the best December debut of all time -- indicates that second and third installments of "Rings" are also like to become major successes when they open in late 2002 and 2003. New Line spent an estimated $270 million on the trilogy, filmed in New Zealand. Finishing a distant but impressive second was Warner Bros.' third weekend of "Ocean's Eleven." "Eleven" had set the record for best December opening with $38.1 million two weekends ago. Paramount's opening of "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" came in a close third as the big-screen version of the Nickelodeon cartoon gave children and family audiences an alternative to long-running hits "Monsters Inc." and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Advertisement Paramount's second weekend of "Vanilla Sky" placed fourth, followed by Universal's opening of hip-hop comedy "How High" -- a goofy tale of rap stars going to Harvard. Rounding out the top-10 were "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "Not Another Teen Movie," "The Majestic," "Joe Somebody," and "Monsters Inc."
