Hollywood Digest

SONY'S 'BLACK' INK

"Men in Black II" set some records in its opening weekend and helped Sony further along to what is shaping up as the company's best year ever at the U.S. box office.

The sequel to the 1997 blockbuster "Men in Black," starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, grossed an estimated $90 million on 6,000 screens over the five-day Fourth of July weekend -- and scored the best Friday-to-Sunday gross ever for an Independence Day weekend release, $54.1 million.

It is expected to do well enough next weekend to push Sony's year-to-date overall box-office grosses past $1 billion -- two months earlier than the company got there in its best year, 1997.

Columbia Pictures Chairwoman Amy Pascal has already promised a third "MIB" picture, and suggested that the studio will not wait five years to bring this one to the marketplace, as it did with "MIB2."

Sony's big year -- largely the result of a $400 million U.S. box office for "Spider-Man" -- was also helped along by a $26.3 million gross in its second weekend for "Mr. Deeds." The Adam Sandler comedy has taken in $74.1 million after 10 days in release. The new Bow Wow basketball fantasy "Like Mike" opened with $20.1 million in third place.

"The Powerpuff Girls" -- the latest movie version of a TV cartoon hit -- opened in eighth place with just $6.1 million, while the animated feature "Hey, Arnold! The Movie" fell out of the Top 10 in its second weekend, grossing just $3.1 million.

Overall, the box office is still streaking -- with Fourth of July holiday weekend numbers up 18 percent from one year ago. Year-to-date, the U.S. box office is running better than 19 percent ahead of last year with $4.71 billion.

PARENTS TELEVISION COUNCIL ADMITS MISTAKE

The Parents Television Council has reportedly agreed to pay $3.5 million to World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. as part of a settlement of a lawsuit brought by the WWE, after the media watchdog group accused wrestling of causing the deaths of four young children, including Tiffany Eunick.

The PTC widely promoted a theory that Lionel Tate, who was 12 years old when he killed Eunick, had been inspired by watching wrestling on TV.

Brent Bozell III, PTC president and founder, posted a letter on his group's Web site offering his personal apology to WWE owners Vince and Linda McMahon and admitting that several accusations he and the PTC made were wrong -- including a claim about advertisers withdrawing support of WWE's "SmackDown!" TV series.

In addition to statements he and PTC made, Bozell retracted and apologized for statements made by Media Research Center, PTC Advisory Board member Dr. Delores Tucker and PTC Executive Director Mark Honig.

"We made such statements to members of MRC and PTC, the media, advertisers on World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Smackdown! program, retailers that sell WWE-related toys and merchandise, public officials and the public," said Bozell. "MRC and PTC also produced a videotape as part of a fundraising campaign in connection with its 'National Campaign to Clean Up TV Now!' which advanced the notion that the murder of Tiffany Eunick was caused by the influence of professional wrestling on Lionel Tate."

Bozell said that, after claiming Tate had been inspired by TV wrestling, the PTC conducted an "extensive investigation" and concluded that "it was wrong for MRC, PTC, their spokespersons and myself to have said anything that could be construed as blaming WWE or any of its programs" for the deaths.

"I now believe that professional wrestling played no role in the murder of Tiffany Eunick ... and am equally convinced that it was incorrect and wrong to have blamed WWE or any of its programs for the deaths of the other children," said Bozell.

SHARPTON QUESTIONS JACKSON RACE CHARGE

Pop star Michael Jackson leveled a serious charge of racism over the weekend at the head of his record label, Sony's Tommy Mottola, but the Rev. Al Sharpton said the charge was way off base.

According to the New York Post, Sharpton said Mottola was a great supporter of black artists.

"I have known Tommy for 15 or 20 years, and never once have I known him to say or do anything that would be considered racist," Sharpton said.

Jackson attacked Mottola Saturday at the New York headquarters of Sharpton's National Action Network -- calling the music executive "devilish" and accusing him of lining his own pockets at the expense of black artists.

The 43-year-old entertainer has formed a coalition with Sharpton and attorney Johnnie Cochran intended to protect artists' rights.

"If you fight for me, you're fighting for all black people, dead and alive," Jackson said in a statement.

He also took the protest -- via double-decker bus -- to Sony corporate headquarters in New York. Jackson staged a similar protest in London last month, accusing Sony of intentionally scuttling marketing plans for his latest album, "Invincible."

The Post reported that Sharpton was surprised by Jackson's characterization of Mottola.

"In fact, (Mottola has) always been supportive of the black music industry," said Sharpton. "He was the first record executive to step up and offer to help us with respect to corporate accountability, when it comes to black music issues."

Sharpton said he was "inundated" with calls from black artists and producers who were angry over Jackson's attack on Mottola.

"I didn't know that Michael planned to personally attack Tommy," he said, "but nobody tells Michael Jackson what to do."

Sharpton said, however, that he "stands firmly behind" Jackson's charge that the music industry overall unfairly exploits black artists. Sony Music called Jackson's attack "ludicrous, spiteful and hurtful."

HOWARD FORGETTING 'ALAMO'

According to a report in Daily Variety, Ron Howard has decided against directing "The Alamo" after all, but may still produce the epic for Disney with his producing partner Brian Grazer ("A Beautiful Mind," "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

The studio is said to be looking for a new director, and still hopes to begin shooting late this year. Russell Crowe and Ethan Hawke have been mentioned as possible co-stars for the project.

BIG RAISE FOR 'MALCOLM' MOM

According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Malcolm in the Middle" star Jane Kaczmarek snagged a hefty raise for the upcoming third and fourth seasons of the Fox comedy -- to about $100,000 for the 2002-03 season and $150,000 for 2003-04.

The deal reportedly also provides Kaczmarek with a retroactive bump to $85,000 per episode for 2001-02 -- paving the way for series stars Bryan Cranston and Frankie Munoz to renegotiate their deals.

Renegotiation is commonplace for stars of TV series that make it into their third or fourth season.

Kaczmarek's negotiations might have been helped along by her absence from the set late last season, when she called in sick with migraine headaches. The illness was confirmed by doctors, but some observers speculated at the time that Kaczmarek was using the occasion to make a point about her value to the show.