Hollywood Digest

, March 18 (UPI) -- COLD CASH FOR 'ICE AGE'

The animated comedy "Ice Age" set a new record for March, opening with $49.7 million at the U.S. box office this weekend.

"Resident Evil," based on the video game, opened in second place with $18.2 million. "Showtime," starring Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy in a send-up of action-comedy-buddy pictures, was third with $15.4 million.

The new releases led the U.S. box office to numbers reminiscent of summer holiday season. The top 12 pictures hauled in $124.2 million, up 71 percent from the same weekend a year ago, and up almost 50 percent from last week.

"Ice Age's" debut was the third best ever for an animated picture, behind "Monsters, Inc." ($62.6 million) and "Toy Story 2" ($57.4 million).

IT WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN THE SAME MOVIE

According to a report in TV Guide Online, James Earl Jones was the first choice to play the woolly mammoth Manny, played instead by Ray Romano in "Ice Age."

Director Chris Wedge said Romano got the gig because he's funny.

"We needed more comedy," said Wedge.

Actors don't normally like to advertise it when they're anything but first choice for a role, but Romano is getting comedy mileage out of the deal.

"Me and James Earl Jones are constantly up for the same things," he said. "I always have to beat him and Jack Nicholson out."

LAYOFFS AT MIRAMAX

Miramax laid off about 15 percent of its workforce on Friday.

The studio, which is a unit of The Walt Disney Co., cut 75 jobs in all departments, including publicity, production and marketing.

Most of the cuts involved middle management at Miramax headquarters in New York. The company had increased staff by about 17 percent since October, but decided to reverse course after hiring a new chief financial officer.

No word on whether some of those jobs will be restored if Miramax has a big night at the Academy Awards next Sunday. The studio has 15 Oscar nominations, including five each for "In the Bedroom" and "Amélie" as well as three for "Iris."

HONORING THE LATE STEVE ALLEN

The Center for Inquiry, a Hollywood-based non-profit group that bills itself as "dedicated to promoting critical inquiry and human enrichment," has announced plans to develop a National Media Center that will include a 99-seat theater named after one of the group's most prominent members, the late Steve Allen.

"Steve Allen was for many years a popularizer of rational thought," said Paul Kurtz, former head of the center's Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal. Kurtz also published several of Allen's books with Prometheus Books.

Before his death in October 2000, Allen had been actively involved in the organization. For many years, he was co-chairman of the group's Council for Media Integrity, which worked to "provide balance in the media's treatment of scientific issues and to encourage the public's appreciation of scientific methods and critical thinking."

At the time of his death, Allen was a leader in a national campaign to improve the quality of television by urging programmers to cut down on smut and focus more on uplifting material.

The Steve Allen Theater will be used to stage lectures and performances "in support of science, reason, and free inquiry," according to center officials.

'ELLIE' WATCH

The new NBC comedy "Watching Ellie" has only been on the air for a few weeks, but something of a deathbed watch is already being organized.

According to a report in the New York Daily News, if ratings fall too far below where they are now, the Julia Louis-Dreyfus show could get canceled. On the other hand, NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker told the News the show could have a decent run if it can maintain its current ratings.

"If it settles in where it is now, it's a home run," said Zucker. "We feel very positive. It's been a solid performer. Obviously, it's too early to make any announcements."

Tom DeCabia, executive vice president of the ad-buying firm Advanswers PHD, doesn't share Zucker's optimism.

"This is a show that probably won't be back on the schedule next year," DeCabia told the paper.

DeCabia said "Watching Ellie" is not performing well enough to provide a strong lead-in to any show coming on after it.

"If this were a stock, you'd sell it," he said.

The show features Louis-Dreyfus as a lounge singer trying to make a career in Los Angeles. It has lost 33 percent of its audience since its premiere. But analysts point out that the premiere, which was heavily promoted during NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics, drew unusually high ratings, so despite the steep decline, the show is still attracting a sizeable crowd.

"There are people out there who would like to see this fail, and make a big deal about the drop-off," said Zucker. "This is exactly what we expected."

The speculation only adds to the notion that there is such a thing as a "curse" involving former cast members of "Seinfeld." Michael Richards and Jason Alexander both starred in new half-hour comedies, and both failed after just a few weeks.

DOUGLAS, CLOSE HEADED FOR SMALL SCREEN

Two-time Oscar winner Michael Douglas, who hasn't done much TV since his "Streets of San Francisco Days," will appear on an upcoming episode of the NBC comedy "Will & Grace," playing a gay detective who develops a crush on Will while investigating of the theft of his laptop computer.

Douglas, who won the best actor Oscar for "Wall Street" in 1987, and the producing Oscar for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" in 1975, will appear on the April 25 episode.

His "Fatal Attraction" co-star, Glenn Close, will appear in the show's May 2 episode as a famous but difficult celebrity photographer. Close won an Emmy in 1995 for her performance as a lesbian officer in the U.S. Army National Guard, in "Serving in Silence: The Margarethe Cammermeyer Story."