Denzel Washington at no 1 after nomination

Denzel Washington, fresh off his latest Oscar nomination, found a captive audience at theaters as ``John Q'' debuted as the top weekend film.

Starring Washington as a desperate dad who holds an emergency room hostage to secure a heart transplant for his dying son, the movie took in $20.6 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Britney Spears had a solid big-screen premiere in ``Crossroads,'' avoiding the box-office pitfalls encountered by some pop stars - notably Mariah Carey with ``Glitter'' - when they cross over to film. ``Crossroads'' was No. 2 with $14.6 million.

Disney's animated ``Return to Never Land,'' a sequel to its classic ``Peter Pan,'' opened in third place with $11.8 million.

Bruce Willis' ``Hart's War,'' a World War II POW drama, had a so-so opening of $8.3 million, coming in at No. 7. The weekend's other new movie, the police parody ``Super Troopers,'' tied ``Black Hawk Down'' for No. 8 with $6.2 million.

Last week's Oscar nominations gave a box-office bounce to best-picture nominees. ``A Beautiful Mind'' climbed to $8.5 million, up 35 percent from the previous weekend. ``The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring'' grossed $5 million, up 38 percent. ``In the Bedroom'' doubled its take to $2.5 million. ``Gosford Park'' took in $2.45 million, a 30 percent jump.

``Over the course of the next five weeks, in order to feel like a part of Oscar night, people love to go and catch up with all the films nominated in major categories,'' said David Kaminow, senior vice president of marketing for ``In the Bedroom'' distributor Miramax. ``It becomes a participatory sport, watching the Oscars.''

``Moulin Rouge,'' the only best-picture nominee already out on video, also gained from the Oscar nominations. Since the nominations, DVD sales jumped 160 percent and VHS rentals rose 40 percent, said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox, which released ``Moulin Rouge.''

Films with acting nominations benefitted. ``Iris,'' which earned a best-actress nomination for Judi Dench as writer Iris Murdoch, reopened in 31 theaters and grossed $300,000 after a limited run in December to qualify for the Oscars. ``Monster's Ball,'' which brought Halle Berry a best-actress nomination as a death-row widow, expanded to 472 theaters, up 130, and took in $2.8 million, a 21 percent increase.

The Oscars also likely gave a boost to ``John Q,'' with past Oscar winner Washington cited in the best-actor category for ``Training Day.''

Distributor New Line had been hoping Washington would score an Oscar nomination when it put ``John Q'' on the mid-February schedule last fall, said Russell Schwartz, president of domestic marketing.

The film's main appeal was that the ``subject matter resonated with a lot of people, the idea of the Everyman against the system,'' Schwartz said. ``With the little bit of a thriller element and Denzel being nominated, it was a great mix.''

Playing in 2,466 locations, ``John Q'' averaged a healthy $8,364 a theater, compared with $6,134 in 2,380 theaters for ``Crossroads'' and $4,526 in 2,605 cinemas for ``Return to Never Land.'' ``Hart's War'' had a so-so average of $3,361 in 2,459 theaters, and ``Super Troopers'' did $3,487 in 1,778 locations.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Tuesday.

``John Q,'' $20.6 million.
``Crossroads,'' $14.6 million.
``Return to Never Land,'' $11.8 million.
``Collateral Damage,'' $9.1 million.
``Big Fat Liar,'' $8.7 million.
``A Beautiful Mind,'' $8.5 million.
``Hart's War,'' $8.3 million.
(tie). ``Black Hawk Down,'' $6.2 million.
(tie). ``Super Troopers,'' $6.2 million.
``Snow Dogs,'' $5.8 million.

Film Stars to Float Production Company

A host of film stars, including Ewan McGregor, Jude Law and Sadie Frost, will float their film and television production company this week, the Sunday Telegraph has reported.

Newly-created firm Union Media Group, which will own a 50 percent stake in the Moulin Rouge star's Natural Nylon production company, is to join London's Ofex market for unlisted shares, the paper said.

Natural Nylon, also owned by Sean Pertwee and Jonny Lee Miller, has made films such as Nora, directed by Ewan McGregor, and David Cronenberg's Existenz.

Union Media Group will announce a public share offer to raise two million pounds to help fund its business making pilots for television programs and films, the paper said.

'Bloody Sunday,' Japanese Cartoon Share Berlin Bear

A dramatization of the 1972 "Bloody Sunday" massacre in Northern Ireland and the Japanese animated fantasy "Spirited Away" shared the Golden Bear award for best film at the Berlin Film Festival on Sunday. Halle Berry won the Silver Bear for best actress in the bleak American death row love story "Monster's Ball."

British director Paul Greengrass's "Bloody Sunday" portrays in near-documentary style the day British paratroopers shot dead 13 civil rights marchers in Londonderry 30 years ago, an event that inspired Irish rock group U2's "Sunday, Bloody Sunday."

But the judges also loved Hayao Miyazaki's "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi" (Spirited Away), a cartoon feature about a young girl's adventures in a land of goblins and gods, and decided to share the Berlinale's top award between the two films.

The jury's president, Indian director Mira Nair, said the judges split the Golden Bear because "the more the merrier."

Twenty-three movies making world or international debuts had competed for honors during the 12-day Berlinale, considered one of the top European festivals after Cannes and alongside Venice.

Berry secured her Silver Bear with a forceful performance as a black woman finding love with Billy Bob Thornton's white, racist death-row prison guard in the American south.

France's Jacques Gamblin took the Silver Bear for best actor in "Laissez-Passer" (Safe Conduct), exploring the divergent paths of two French film-makers under Nazi German occupation.

Georgian Otar Iosseliani won the Silver Bear for best director with "Lundi Matin" (Monday Morning), a French film about two men fed up with the world and unable to face another week.

A star-studded French production, "8 Femmes" (8 Women), that features Catherine Deneuve in a light-hearted murder mystery was many critics' favorite. The judges awarded it a Silver Bear for "individual artistic contribution" to the "ensemble of actresses." The Silver Bear for music went to Antoine Duhamel for "Laissez-Passer."

AUTHENTICITY

Nair called "Bloody Sunday" an "extraordinarily authentic film" that should contribute to understanding the atrocity.

Made for the most part with shaky hand-held cameras, Greengrass's work attempts to show what happened in Londonderry 30 years ago from the viewpoints of both the British soldiers and the Northern Irish marchers.

Thirteen people were killed on the day, another was fatally wounded and a further 14 were injured in a hail of gunfire lasting about 15 minutes. The army said its troops were defending themselves from guerrillas but no weapons were found.

The mayhem helped turn a simmering feud between Catholics and Protestants into the "Troubles," three decades of urban warfare in the British province that has left 3,600 dead.

The film, also an award winner at the Sundance Film Festival last month, focuses on the stories of two men -- the charismatic Protestant civil rights leader Ivan Cooper, who tries to prevent the march turning to violence, and a 17-year-old Catholic rebel.

Miyazaki's animated adventure broke box office records back home in Japan, where 21 million people saw it, and enthralled audiences on its international debut in the German capital.

The heroine of the tale is 10-year-old Chihiro who suddenly finds herself in a fantastic spirit world when she and her parents wander through a tunnel. The family unknowingly discover a hot spring resort catering to Japan's eight million gods in various human, fish-like and frog forms.

The gods think humans smell foul and the witch in charge of the resort angrily turns the gluttonous parents into pigs. Chihiro must slave as a bath attendant to avoid the same fate but with the help of a mysterious boy she struggles to escape.

It's A Bird! It's A Plane! No, Wait, It's Another Director!

The man who put the halo on the angels at the box office is the latest filmmaker signed on to help Warner Bros. revive another heavenly creature: Superman.

Studios reps confirmed Thursday that Charlie's Angels director McG is on board to re-imagine the Man of Steel for 21st century moviegoers.

Based on his box-office track record (i.e., turning Aaron Spelling's campy '70s series into a vital, high-octane $100 million hit), McG has been given total creative freedom to come up with his own spin on the Superman saga, Variety reports.

Joining McG (full name: Joseph McGinty) on the project will be Alias and Felicity creator J.J. Abrams, who will pen the screenplay.

The hirings means the long-delayed project is finally moving forward, and a new Superman could be flying into movie theaters within two years.

It has been 15 years since the last Superman flick, Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Warner Bros. has been trying for years to resuscitate the lucrative DC Comic-based franchise only to succumb to Hollywood's own version of Kryptonite--otherwise known as "development hell."

The studio's first attempt at a rebirth came in 1996, when it hired Clerks director and comic book devotee Kevin Smith to reinvent Clark Kent and his muscle-bound alter ego under the title Superman Lives (it's not known whether Warners and McG will stick with that title).

Pretty soon, Batman helmer Tim Burton and actor Nicolas Cage joined the party and the film looked like a sure blockbuster. Kevin Spacey was lined up to play arch-enemy Braniac and Chris Rock was tapped to play Clark Kent chum Jimmy Olsen.

Then, faster than a locomotive, things began to unravel. Burton reportedly hated Smith's treatment and dumped him. More writers were hired to tweak the script. The budget went berzerk, soaring past $140 million.

That's when Warners pulled the plug. Burton and Cage, both of whom reportedly had pay-or-play deals (meaning they got paid regardless of whether the movie got made), eventually bolted from the project, leaving the studio with a bunch of different scripts and millions of dollars in development fees, but no new Superman.

Since then, Industry trade Variety has mentioned other directors keen on the project, including Oliver Stone and Ralph Zondag, the helmer of Disney's computer-animated flick Dinosaur, before McG ultimately landed the gig.

Now the studio just has to find an actor to don the cape once worn by Christopher Reeve. The Superman project is part of a larger corporate stragegy at Warner Bros. to develop franchise films. Along with sequels for The Matrix and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the studio is developing two different Batman projects, a Catwoman movie and a Wonder Woman feature.

McG, meanwhile, will be plenty busy until the new Superflick is ready to roll. The onetime video director is currently prepping Columbia's Charlie's Angels 2: Halo, which will reunite Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu. That film is slated for a spring shoot and should hit theaters in June 2003.

Bille August, Without Apparent Motive For Splendid

Splendid Pictures, the new production and sales outfit formed from the merger of Germany’s Splendid Medien and LA-based Cutting Edge Entertainment, is to produce Bille August’s next English language feature the noir thriller Without Apparent Motive.

Set to begin production in Los Angeles this spring, the film is being produced by Bob Yari, Faye Schwab and Mary Apick, the principals of YSA Productions, and Amedeo Ursini of Jazz Pictures. Splendid toppers Andreas Klein and David Glasser will executive produce.

The movie written by Eric Blakeney is the story of a sheriff’s detective on an assignment to find the murderer of three high-profile LA businessmen. His ability to get inside the mind of a serial killer leads him through a series of suspects that extends to the city’s political and social elite.

Danish-born August, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or and an Oscar for Pelle The Conquerer in 1988 and a second Palme d’Or for The Best Intentions in 1992, has a spotty track record with English-language films – The House Of The Spirits, Smilla’s Sense Of Snow – although he won an Emmy nomination for his work on the TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles and his 1998 film of Les Miserables with Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush and Uma Thurman was moderately well-received.

His sporadic films in Swedish – Jerusalem (1996) and A Song For Martin last year – were highly acclaimed and both scored US distribution deals through First Look Pictures.

The deals between Splendid and all other parties were negotiated by Harrison Kordestani, vice president, business affairs, at Splendid Pictures. Bille August was represented by Fred Specktor and Adam Krentzman of CAA.

Without Apparent Motive joins Splendid’s AFM slate which also includes The Courier to be directed by Jan De Bont, Dolan’s Cadillac to be directed by Stacey Title and Bounty Killer to be directed by Jonathan Hensleigh and produced by Gale Anne Hurd. Heading the company’s sales department is newly appointed president of distribution Lisa Wilson

Aaliyah's death may make some queasy over 'Queen'

In the eerily prescient big-screen adaptation of the third book in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, Queen of the Damned, the late pop star Aaliyah plays Queen Akasha, as power-hungry as she is beautiful, brought back from the dead to prey on the living. Her face is prominent on the movie posters, seductively baring her teeth. Her body, clad in a metallic bikini, promotes a film she'll never see.

Some industry watchers doubted the $35 million movie would ever make it to theaters -- that a film starring someone playing a vampire, who had recently died in real life, didn't stand a chance. It would go straight to video, they predicted -- a prediction director Michael Rymer calls ''absurd.''

Aaliyah's brother Rashad Haughton, who redubbed parts of her dialogue after she died Aug. 25 in a plane crash in the Bahamas, says the marketing of the movie was discussed with the family.

''It's a horror film, so the subject matter was touchy,'' says Haughton, 24. ''But everything was handled tastefully. It was her last performance, and she wanted it to be a success, so we were behind it.''

On Friday, one year after she finished shooting Queen, six months after her death and nearly one hour into the 90-minute gore-fest, Aaliyah Dana Haughton, 22, makes her posthumous bow.

Aaliyah is in only the last third of the film, yet she remains the movie's biggest and best-known draw. This places Rymer and Warner Bros., the studio releasing Queen, in something of a no-win situation. If they ignore Aaliyah's death in marketing the movie, they run the risk of angering fans who think the distributor is disrespectful or oblivious to what happened. Or they may overemphasize her presence, guaranteeing that others will level accusations that Aaliyah's death has been milked for box office bucks.

''Everyone is very sensitive about being appropriate,'' Rymer says. ''The studio feels her loss terribly, but they're not in the business of articulating that. And I personally believe that they were going to market the film the same way -- that Aaliyah was always the biggest name in the film.''

Co-star Stuart Townshend, who plays the vampire Lestat, Akasha's lover and sidekick, agrees. ''In a weird way, Warner Bros. is now promoting us because of Aaliyah, and thankfully, the family's right behind it. And now, her death might make more people see this movie. . . . It's a tough thing.''

Warner Bros. appears to be erring on the side of caution, a tactic other studios have adopted in the past, says film historian Leonard Maltin.

''I don't see the studios as callous bad guys in this situation,'' Maltin says. ''On the whole, they're usually very respectful and don't want to seem exploitative.''

Perhaps that's why her official bio in the press notes accompanying the film makes no mention of her death. And, to date, the movie doesn't close with a dedication to Aaliyah, a fact that doesn't bother her brother.

''It was close to her heart,'' Haughton says. ''You can't turn your back on that and not let her art be seen. That was the bottom line.'' Donna Freydkin USA Today

Branford Marsalis Starts Record Label

Saxophonist Branford Marsalis is making beautiful music on his own. After having negotiated out of his recording contract last year with Columbia Records, his label of 20 years, Marsalis launched Marsalis Music.

"I hope to find jazz artists not quite ready for prime time," Marsalis told the Boston Globe last week.

For now, Marsalis is the only artist on the roster. His "Footsteps of Our Fathers," a tribute to John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins and the Modern Jazz Quartet, is due out later this year.

"The record industry is changing, and sooner or later we had to face the reality that there's not a lot of room at major labels for any kind of creative music — not just jazz — that doesn't generate large sales," said Marsalis.

Marsalis has played with Art Blakey, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, and his brother Wynton. He played in Sting's band and joined "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" as musical director for two years.

Boston-based Rounder Records, which released a 1986 album by Marsalis' father, pianist Ellis Marsalis, will market and distribute the new label's music.As to his own role at the label, Marsalis is vague. "Titles don't really interest me. Call me the janitor."