Hollywood Digest

BOX-OFFICE 'GOLD'

"Austin Powers in Goldmember" set box-office records over the weekend -- with the biggest opening ever for a comedy and the biggest July opening for a movie of any genre.

With an estimated $71.5 million from Friday to Sunday, the third Mike Myers spy-goof was also the biggest opener ever for Myers and director Jay Roach, who also directed "Meet the Parents" and the other "Powers" movies. The picture finished the weekend with an estimated $75 million in the bank, counting $3.5 million from Thursday sneaks.

The other major new release, Disney's "The Country Bears," took in just $5.2 million and finished in sixth place at the U.S. box office.

The Tom Hanks-Paul Newman Depression-era drama "Road to Perdition" finished second with $11 million, running its three-week total to $65.5 million. "Stuart Little 2" finished at No. 3 with $10.7 million in its second weekend.

Overall, the box office took in $154 million -- a slight increase from the same weekend in 2001. Year-to-date, the box office is running 16 percent ahead of its 2001 pace with an estimated $5.35 billion.

With five more weekends left in the summer movie season, Hollywood still has some strong cards to play -- including the Vin Diesel action picture "XXX," "Spy Kids 2," the sequel to last year's surprise hit "Spy Kids," and the Mel Gibson supernatural thriller "Signs."

STAR TREATMENT?

Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh ("Traffic," "Erin Brockovich") brought some of Hollywood's biggest stars down to earth for the upcoming comedy "Full Frontal" -- requiring them to work without the perks and pampering normally accorded to Hollywood's A-list.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Soderbergh notified Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, David Duchovny and the rest of the cast that they would have to arrange their own transportation to work every day -- with no limousines, under pain of ridicule from the rest of the cast and crew.

On top of that, the stars were told that they would need to take care of their own meals because there would be no catered food on the set, that there would be no star trailers where actors could take refuge between set-ups and that actors would have to do their own hair and makeup and provide their own wardrobe.

It was a throwback to the way Soderbergh worked when he was still establishing his career in the independent film world -- before he broke through with "sex, lies and videotape." The 1989 drama won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and earned Soderbergh Oscar and Independent Spirit Award nominations for best director.

"Full Frontal" -- scheduled to open on about 200 screens in the United States on Friday -- is described as "a movie about movies for people who like movies."

MORE KID STUFF ON THE WAY

New Line Cinema -- which has made piles of money on such PG-13 movies as "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and the "Austin Powers" trilogy -- has launched a new division to make pictures intended exclusively for young audiences.

Early plans call for Haley Joel Osment ("Country Bears," "The Sixth Sense") to star with Michael Caine and Robert Duvall in "Secondhand Lines" -- described as the story of a boy who is sent to live with two uncles. Tim McCanlies ("The Iron Giant") will direct from his own screenplay.

There are also plans for a comedy about a twentysomething slacker who inadvertently gets tangled up with a sixtysomething nanny -- who turns out to be a Mary Poppins-type and helps him turn his life around.

JA RULE GETTING 'FAST AND FURIOUS' AGAIN?

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, rapper Ja Rule was in talks to reprise his role as a street racer in "The Fast and the Furious 2" with director John Singleton.

Paul Walker returns as an undercover police officer who was stripped of his badge in the original but returns to action to infiltrate a street racing scene in Miami.

OSBOURNE OFF THE ROAD

Plans call for Ozzy Osbourne to rejoin his annual Ozzfest when the tour reaches Denver on Aug. 22.

The veteran rocker -- and star of "The Osbournes" on MTV -- left the tour Sunday to be with his wife Sharon as she begins chemotherapy treatment.

"This is one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make in my life," Osbourne told MTV last week, "but I'm sure that everyone out there will understand. I'm putting on a brave face here, guys, but I'm burning up inside. I have to go home."

Sharon Osbourne announced in early July that she would undergo surgery for a treatable form of cancer -- then learned that her colon cancer had spread.

'OSBOURNES' SUIT

A film producer has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles accusing Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne of fraud and breach of contract for allegedly stealing his idea for their hit series on MTV.

Gary Binkow, executive producer of the upcoming Johnny Depp-Kate Winslet movie "Neverland," alleged in the suit that he first contacted the Osbournes in January 1999 with an idea for a "real-life docu-sitcom" about an aging rock star who leaves the road and has to learn to be a father to his children.

Binkow said his discussions with the Osbournes were followed by more talks with Miramax Television -- and that the Osbournes agreed in 2000 that Binkow and a writer, Stephen Banks, would develop a pilot to show to Hollywood executives.

In the suit, Binkow said his treatment -- "Ozzie and Harried" -- was registered with the Writers Guild of America in January 2000.