News in Film...

Knowing tops box office, Richardson is honoured on Broadway, Betsy Blair succumbs to cancer, Beatty is sued over Dick Tracy

Alex Proyas' sci-fi thriller Knowing (starring Nicolas Cage) reigned supreme at the domestic box office, pulling in an estimated $24.8 million in its opening weekend (Friday-Sunday), while the R-rated comedy I Love You, Man (starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segal) premiered as runner-up, with $18 million. Julia Roberts and Clive Owens' Duplicity debuted at #3 with $14.4 million, pushing last week's #1, Disney's Race to Witch Mountain, to the fourth spot, adding $13 million to its 10-day total of $44.7 million. Rounding out the Top 5 was Watchmen, which made just $6.7 million in week three for a total take of $98.1 million, far less than what Warner Bros. was hoping for. In just its second weekend The Last House on the Left slipped to #6 at the box office, with a 58% drop to $5.9 million, bringing its sum to $24 million. Box office numbers were down 5% from this same time frame last year.

The theaters of Broadway, in New York, dimmed their lights to pay homage to the late film and stage actress Natasha Richardson, who died last week following an accident on a Quebec ski hill. Richardson's husband, mother, and sister (actors Liam Neeson, Vanessa Redgrave, and Joely Richardson, respectively) were amongst the crowd at the rare Broadway tribute, which lasted for exactly one minute at 8:00 last Thursday evening. "Her theatrical lineage is legendary, but her own singular talent shined memorably on any stage she appeared," remembered Charlotte S. Martin, the Broadway League's executive director. The Tony-winning actress was just 45-years-old at the time of her death, which was caused by bleeding in the skull, as the result of a fall on a training hill.

New Jersey-born, London-based film and stage actress Betsy Blair died March 13th at the age of 85, following a battle with cancer. Blair (b. Elizabeth Winifred Boger) was still in her teens when she worked as a dancer at a New York nightclub, where she met choreographer (and later actor) Gene Kelly, 12 years her senior. The couple married in 1941, moved to Hollywood, and then divorced in 1957, but not before Blair earned an Oscar nod for her supporting work in 1955's Marty. Her strong left-wing beliefs eventually led to Blair being blacklisted in Hollywood, which stunted her acting opportunites almost altogether. In 1963 she wed Czech filmmaker Karel Reisz, and made her final appearance in the 1994 mini-series Scarlett.

Tribune Media Services has filed a lawsuit against Oscar-winning actor-director Warren Beatty, over the TV and film rights to the legendary Chester Gould-penned comic strip Dick Tracy. According to Delaware court documents Tribune--which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last December--claims that the rights should revert back to them, because Beatty, 71, has failed to make any "productive use" of them within a 10-year period. Beatty, who purchased the exclusive rights back in 1985, directed and starred in the 1990 motion picture Dick Tracy, which won three Academy Awards (Original Song, Makeup, Art/Set Direction) and co-starred Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, and Madonna. Beatty initially sued Tribune last November, claiming that he was working on a Dick Tracy television special, which would render Tribune's suit uncredited.