Hollywood Digest

U.S. BOX OFFICE STILL ON TORRID PACE

With "Men in Black II" hanging onto the No. 1 spot and "Road to Perdition" leading a field of four new releases, the U.S. box office continued to run well ahead of last year's pace, taking in an estimated $141 million this weekend -- up nearly 17 percent from the same weekend last year.

Year-to-date, the box office is running about 19 percent ahead of last year's pace, with an estimated $4.94 billion in the bank.

"MIB 2" took in an estimated $25 million in its second weekend, running its 12-day total to $133.3 million. "Road to Perdition," a Depression-era drama starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman, surprised analysts by taking in $22.1 million in half as many theaters as "MIB 2" played in.

"Reign of Fire" -- a new sci-fi thriller starring Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale, based on the video game of the same name -- was No. 3 with an estimated $16 million. "Halloween: Resurrection," the newest installment in the 24-year-old "Halloween" series, opened at No. 4 with $12.3 million.

The other new release, "The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course," finished sixth with $10 million, just behind "Mr. Deeds," which took in $11 million to raise its three-week total to $94.1 million.

Box-office analysts expect more hot and heavy action this weekend when "Stuart Little 2" opens, along with the new Harrison Ford nuclear submarine drama "K-19: The Widowmaker" and the sci-fi comedy "Eight-Legged Freaks."

'SOPRANOS' NEAR THE END?

Two months to go until "The Sopranos" begins its fourth season on HBO, and key players in the hit drama are talking about leaving the show once they finish work on season number five.

Creator-producer David Chase told TV writers at the Television Critics Association meeting in Pasadena, Calif., Friday he's gone after the fifth season, but that doesn't necessarily mean the end of the series.

"HBO owns the show," said Chase "If they decide to go on, they could do it."

James Gandolfini -- who stars as mobster Tony Soprano -- said if Chase leaves the show, he's leaving, too.

"I'm just speaking for myself," said Gandolfini, who has been nominated three times and won twice for the Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a drama series. "But I started it with him, and I'd like to finish it with him."

"Aye, aye. I second that," said Lorraine Bracco, who has been nominated three times for outstanding lead actress in a drama for her performance as Soprano's psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi.

In three seasons on HBO, "The Sopranos" has collected 56 Emmy nominations and nine Emmys -- including Gandolfini's best actor trophies in 2000-01, and best actress awards for Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano in 1999 and 2001. The show won for drama series writing in 2001 and 1999, earning four of the five nominations in both of those years.

The fourth season premiere, set for Sept. 16, is too late to qualify the show for the 54th annual Emmy Awards. Nominations will be announced in Los Angeles on Thursday, and the awards are scheduled to be presented on Sept. 22.

HARRY WHO?

While Harry Potter fans wait patiently for author J.K. Rowling to finish her fifth novel about the young wizard, Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein is moving aggressively to bring more supernatural-fantasy material to the marketplace.

Weinstein paid almost $3 million for movie and U.S. publishing rights to British writer Jonathan Stroud's "Bartimaeus Trilogy," a series of novels about a djinni and a young magician.

According to Muslim legend, a djinni can assume human or animal form and wield supernatural influence over people. In the first book, "The Amulet of Samarkand," the djinni Bartimaeus is commanded by a mischievous young wizard to steal a magical amulet from a powerful magician.

Miramax is already planning to make a screen version of "Artemis Foul" -- Eoin Colfer's best-selling juvenile novel about a 12-year-old criminal mastermind who tries to steal a pot of gold from a community of fairies.

With Harry Potter already dominating the market for supernatural kids' entertainment, Weinstein told Daily Variety he doesn't worry that the kids' supernatural-fantasy boom might have run its course before Bartimaeus makes it to theaters. He said "The Amulet of Samarkand," is altogether different from what's out there now.

"It's the hippest djinni you've ever read," he said. "Like 'Harry Potter' and 'Artemis Fowl,' it takes you into another world. But each of these stories is different."

Stroud acknowledged there is a risk attached to launching a trilogy of novels involving a young wizard at the same time as the Potter craze may be at its peak.

"You have to be very wary about getting into that territory," said Stroud. "So much of it has been done by other writers. But it's been done for ages. There've always been children's stories like this."

BAFTA MULLS DATE CHANGE

If the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decides to move the Oscars from March to February in 2004, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts will likely move its awards up as well.

The British Academy used to present the BAFTAs after the Oscars, but moved the awards up two years ago to one month before the Academy Awards -- so the BAFTAs would not be anticlimactic. The 2004 BAFTAs are scheduled for Feb. 22 -- one week before the date currently being considered for the 76th Academy Awards.

SPIELBERG PLANS 'CAMELOT' PROJECT

According to The Hollywood Reporter, HBO is close to a deal with DreamWorks Television for Steven Spielberg to executive produce an eight-episode miniseries about King Arthur.

The project would blend the Arthurian legend with historically documented accounts of real people believed to be the models for the legend of Camelot.

ANOTHER 'SHAGGY DOG' STORY

The Walt Disney Co. is planning to bring back "The Shaggy Dog" movie series for a technologically up-to-date movie starring a yet-to-be-cast big-name actor.

The franchise was launched in 1959 when Mouseketeer Tommy Kirk starred with Fred MacMurray and Jean Hagen, as a boy who falls under an ancient spell and starts turning into a sheepdog and back into a boy over and over again -- always at the worst possible times. He can break the spell only by performing an act of bravery.

The newest take will cast the spell on a family man -- and use the kind of technology that was employed in the recent box-office hits "Cats & Dogs" (2001) and "Snow Dogs" (2002).