Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe 'SPIDER-MANIA' Columbia Pictures has staked out the first weekend of May 2004 to open the first of two anticipated "Spider-Man" sequels. Advertisement The corresponding weekend this year was a profitable choice for the studio, as the movie posted the biggest opening weekend in box-office history -- $114.8 million from Friday to Sunday. The records continued to fall as the week wore on. "Spidey" took in another $11 million on Monday, for the biggest non-holiday Monday ever. It added $10 million on Tuesday and an estimated $8 million on Wednesday -- apparently headed for a seven-day take in the neighborhood of $155 million. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" took eight days to get past $150 million and "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" needed 10 days to get there. "Harry Potter" grossed $129.5 million in its first week in U.S. theaters and went on to gross $317 million. At the rate "Spider-Man" is going, it may pass the $200 million dollar mark by Sunday night. Advertisement "Spider-Man 2" is scheduled to begin production next year, with stars Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst and director Sam Raimi along for the sequel. NETWORKS READY ANNE RICE MINISERIES NBC is developing a 12-hour miniseries based on best-selling writer Anne Rice's gothic trilogy "The Witching Hour" -- made up of "The Witching Hour," "Lasher" and "Taltos." The network is also working on a three-hour miniseries based on best-selling author James Patterson's "1st to Die." As for "The Witching Hour," John Wilder ("Feast of All Saints," "Return to Lonesome Dove") has been signed to adapt Rice's three early-1990s novels. Mark Wolper, Rice and Wilder will serve as exec producers. At the same time, there is word that ABC will develop a 15-hour Stephen King limited series, "The Hospital." DUM-DAH-DUM-DUM ABC is bring "Dragnet" back to TV. The network has picked up the project being developed by "Law & Order" producer Dick Wolf, with plans for a January premiere on Monday night -- after the football season. ABC's midseason line-up will also feature the Stephen King limited series, "The Hospital," and a weekly series version of the "Dinotopia" miniseries. Advertisement 'WAR OF THE WORLDS' REDUX Tom Cruise's production company, partnering with Paramount Pictures, is working up a new movie version of the H.G. Wells sci-fi classic "The War of the Worlds" --- the story of a Martian invasion of Earth that has been made into a classic radio broadcast, a Hollywood movie and a TV series. Cruise and his producing partner Paula Wagner will produce the project -- scheduled to start shooting some time next year. Wells' book -- published in 1898 -- thrilled readers with the story of a Martian attack that Earth seemed incapable of repelling, until an unlikely development stopped the alien invaders dead in their tracks. Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre presentation caused a panic among U.S. radio audiences when it was broadcast on Oct. 30, 1938 -- when many listeners failed to understand that they were listening to a drama, not a real Martian invasion. Gene Barry ("Bat Masterson," "Burke's Law") starred in a 1953 movie adaptation of the story. BEN STILLER'S NEXT DreamWorks will produce the comedy "Envy," starring Ben Stiller ("Meet the Parents," "There's Something About Mary") and Jack Black ("Shallow Hal," "High Fidelity") in the story of two friends whose relationship goes south when one becomes wealthy beyond his dreams by selling an invention. Advertisement Barry Levinson will direct. Larry David ("Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Seinfeld") will produce.
