SATURDAY AM: Weekend estimates show that The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian's 3-day opening may fall short despite a No. 1 box office finish Friday. The 2005 first installment of the joint Disney/Walden Media fantasy, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was a surprise success with a $65 million weekend debut. But the sequel looks to make only $60M-$63M for FSS after earning $19.3 million Friday from 3,929 theaters. That's far less than the $80M which box office analysts expected this weekend. Of course, the major moolah will be taken in during Saturday and Sunday kiddie matinees, but Narnia 2 looks like it needs a really big bump to surpass the original. Is it possible? The main problem seems to be the pic's darker content: the friendly woodland creatures have given way to murder and betrayal and political intrigue as the sequel devolves into basically a war movie. That's bad for box office. (Above, Saturday matinee for Narnia 2 at El Capitan. Photo by Jim Stevenson)

Marvel/Paramount's blockbuster Iron Man came in #2 with $8.7M from 4,154 venues Friday for a new cume of $220M and a $30M weekend. Fox's romantic comedy What Happens in Vegas placed 3rd with $4.5M from 3,255 plays Friday (-37%) for a new cume of $40M and a weekend of $14M. Warner Bros' anime actioner Speed Racer continues as a major bomb, ending Friday No. 4 with only $2 million (-68%) to eke out just a $7.2M weekend. The $160M movie's cume is just $29.5M -- which means it won't get beyond $50M in total domestic box office. Sony's Made of Honor came in #5 with $1.5M Friday for a $4.6M weekend and cume of $33.8M. Overall, box office is way down from last year when Shrek 3 ruled the box office by opening to a gargantuan $121 mil.

I will be posting sparsely for the next two days due to a medical problem. I hope to resume regular posting by Monday.  Thank you for understanding.

2ND UPDATE:  Pellicano Juror Reveals Inner Workings...

UPDATE: Here is LA Weekly's account...

The federal trial of infamous Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano ended today with a jury verdict finding him guilty of all but one of the racketeering and conspiracy criminal counts against him. Reports from inside the courtroom say he sat expressionless while the verdicts for himself and his co-defendants were read. Pellicano had been charged with 77 counts of racketeering, wire fraud, computer fraud, identity theft and wiretapping.

I need to take another personal day...

EXCLUSIVE: I'm told that, this time around, it's IATSE who has put the screws to the Capitol Films indie film Nailed because its crew members weren't being paid. The pic's union members had been begging IATSE for weeks to get involved over all the payroll irregularities. Friday was supposed to be the deadline set for the crew to get paid since there was a promise of a loan being made by then. But IATSE apparently lost its patience with all the smoke-and-mirror promises so today the union ordered its crew to walk off the production. (Most have lost three weeks' worth of pay.) This also means director David O. Russell and stars Jake Gyllenhal and Jessica Biel are sidelined yet again since this is the second shutdown since the pic began shooting April 15th and was halfway through principal photography in Columbia, South Carolina. The first time was when the Screen Actors Guild told the actors to walk off the film because cash-crunched Capitol Films had made insufficient deposits with the thesp union. This also doesn't bode well for other Capitol Films currently shooting or about to start shooting. What a mess... Since I have to take a personal day today, I will have much more coverage of Capitol Films tomorrow...

1. IS THIS A MELTDOWN? More Big Actors And Directors Caught In Capitol Crunch
2. 5TH UPDATE: 'Nailed' Tip Of The Iceberg: Capitol's Money Woes On More Films
3. 4TH UPDATE: 'Nailed' Production Resumed; More Capitol Films Suffered
4. 3RD UPDATE: David O. Russell Film Drama
5. 2ND UPDATE: SAG Shuts Down Russell Film; Jessica & Jake Stand By
6. EXCLUSIVE: David O. Russell Film Drama! Jessica Biel & Jake Gyllenhaal Sidelined

I need to take a personal day Thursday so DHD posting will resume at the earliest tonight or the latest Friday AM. Play nice while I'm gone. Oh, and TOLDJA! I broke the news a week ago that Time Warner Cable's spokesperson Patti Rockenwagner was taking over as Paramount boss Brad Grey's exec VP of corporate communications. See my previous, Paramount Finally Hires New Mouthpiece.

Media Rights Capital, and everyone else, passed on Moonlight for mid-season. The show is dead. Moonlight fans will be singing outside Warner Bros today at noon and again on Friday by the big main gate at 4000 Warner Blvd near Pass street. I'm not sure why but they will be singing.

1. 'Moonlight' Is Dead At MRC & Everywhere; UPDATE: Mid-season?
2. 'Moonlight' To CW?
3. 'Moonlight' Cancelled
4. 'Moonlight' Not On CBS Fall Schedule But Not Dead

FOX 2008-2009 PRIMETIME FALL SCHEDULE, For The Record

Monday
8:00 PM: The Sarah Connor Chronicles 
9:00 PM: Prison Break

Tuesday
8:00 PM: House
9:00 PM: FRINGE (new)

Wednesday
8:00 PM: Bones
9:00 PM: Til Death
9:30 PM: DO NOT DISTURB (new)

Thursday
8:00 PM: The Moment Of Truth
9:00 PM: Kitchen Nightmares

Friday
8:00 PM: Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?
9:00 PM: Don't Forget The Lyrics!

Saturday
8:00 PM: Cops
8:30 PM: Cops
9:00 PM: America's Most Wanted

Sunday
7:00 PM: The OT
8:00 PM: The Simpsons
8:30 PM: King Of The Hill
9:00 PM: Family Guy
9:30 PM: American Dad

MID-SEASON, Fox's schedule changes a lot:

Monday: DOLLHOUSE (new) at 8:00 PM followed by 24 at 9:00 PM

Tuesday: American Idol at 8:00 PM followed by FRINGE (new) at 9:00 PM

Wednesday: House at 8:00 PM followed by American Idol at 9:00 PM and TBA Comedy at 9:30 PM

Thursday: Hell's Kitchen at 8:00 PM followed by SECRET MILLIONAIRE (new) at 9:00 PM

Friday: Bones at 8:00 PM followed by Til Death at 9:00 PM and DO NOT DISTURB (new) at 9:30 PM

Saturday: No change

Sunday: Comedy Encores at 7:00 PM and 7:30 PM followed by The Simpsons at 8:00 PM, King Of The Hill (January) / SIT DOWN, SHUT UP (new, in the spring) at 8:30 PM, Family Guy at 9:00 PM, American Dad (January / THE CLEVELAND SHOW (new, in the spring)

This legendary Hollywood flack died today. He was old school: he actually believed that journalists were important. And he never lost his passion for the business.

This morning the Directors Guild notified directors who've worked for The Weinstein Co films and told them they would be notified about the status of their unpaid residuals with that company. This included the prominent Hollywood helmer who alerted me yesterday that he hadn't been paid a six-figure residual by TWC for the fourth quarter 2007 and had been told by the DGA that TWC hasn't paid any residuals for the last quarter on their 20 to 30 films. Shortly after, a DGA spokesperson contacted me today with this formal statement about my posting yesterday: "The DGA has had a long and productive working relationship with The Weinstein Company and its predecessor. It is sometimes the case, with various companies, that residuals payments are late. We are working directly with TWC to resolve this issue and see that our members receive prompt residuals payments." (See my previous, More Red Ink? Now DGA vs Weinstein Co.)

Look, I understand that DGA members are quietly thrilled that I've made this problem public. So here's a thought: what other movie companies and/or studios are paying residuals late or not at all to the various guilds? I would like to shame them into paying up. On a related subject, I understand that the Screen Actors Guild has filed arbitrations for the millions of dollars in force majeure payments that remain unpaid and still due.

UPDATE: I hear MRC now has been asked to consider Moonlight for mid-season. This is such a shot in the dark it's barely worth posting. But I'm posting nonetheless. I've also been told that CBS continues to hold an option on the star of the show, Alex O"Loughlin, and that he's in demand for other projects. 

...I just heard it's a no-go for Media Rights Capital, which is programming Sunday's two-hour block for the CW, to pick up Moonlight. So it's dead, gone, six feet under. The cancelled CBS show was officially offered to MRC yesterday. (It was also offered to others, but the people behind the show thought MRC was their best shot.) And there was enough of a chance of a pick-up that Warner Bros television took the unusual step of agreeing to delay its order yesterday to strike the Moonlightsets until Friday to see what happened. And a lot of lobbying and arm-twisting has gone down since then. However, first thing this morning, MRC officially passed. The reason I'm told is that MRC, rightly or wrongly, is committed to looking for fresh materal, not recycled. (MRC has already semi-announced its four original shows for CW's Sunday time slots...) But in my opinion, it's a dumb move by MRC. Not only would Moonlight's ratings be a huge improvement over anything now appearing on the CW, but the company could take advantage of the awareness already built up thanks to CBS's heavy (in other words, expensive) promotion of the show throughout this past TV season. At a time in the TV biz when it's so hard to market new shows, that's a big plus. A big minus, however, is the tough deal that WBTV would drive, and that's what sunk the show at CBS, too. In the end, like all things Hollywood, it's about business.

1. 'Moonlight' To CW?
2. 'Moonlight' Cancelled
3. 'Moonlight' Not On CBS Fall Schedule But Not Dead

The 2008 "Best of the West" journalism competition, recognized as the West's most prestigious, is designed to reward journalistic excellence and to promote freedom of information. It is administered by the nonprofit First Amendment Funding and draws entries each year from journalists in the 13 states west of the Rockies:

Category: Special Topic Column Writing
First Place: Nikki Finke, "Deadline Hollywood" newspaper columns, LA Weekly
Judge's comment: "Nikki Finke is a badass. Period. She covers Hollywood with a terminally jaundiced eye for the kind of ridiculousness that people in that world take with the utmost seriousness. Her line about Clint Eastwood, that 'the geriatrics who still make up the majority of Oscar balloters love the guy cuz he's still got a prostate and balls,' is classic. I can even forgive the use of the 'cuz.' On 'The Sopranos' cut-to-black-ending, she wrote, 'Maybe we should all register with the Writers Guild for our residuals, since we had to fill in the blank.' Good stuff, written with passion and an utter disregard whether any of the studio heads, or anyone in 'the industry,' will ever buy her lunch."

(This year, my category was judged by Mike Argento, columnist for the Daily Record in York, Pa., and president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.)

CBS 2008-2009 PRIMETIME FALL SCHEDULE, For The Record

Monday
8:00 PM: The Big Bang Theory
8:30 PM: How I Met Your Mother 
9:00 PM: Two and a Half Men
9:30 PM: WORST WEEK (new)
10:00 PM: CSI: Miami

Tuesday
8:00 PM: NCIS
9:00 PM: THE MENTALIST (new)
10:00 PM: Without a Trace

Wednesday
8:00 PM: The New Adventures of Old Christine
8:30 PM: PROJECT GARY (new)
9:00 PM: Criminal Minds
10:00 PM: CSI: NY

Thursday
8:00 PM: Survivor
9:00 PM: CSI
10:00 PM: 11TH HOUR (new)

Friday
8:00 PM: Ghost Whisperer
9:00 PM: THE EX-LIST (new)
10:00 PM: Numb3rs

Saturday
8:00 PM: Crimetime Saturday
9:00 PM: Crimetime Saturday
10:00 PM: 48 Hours: Mystery

Sunday
7:00 PM: 60 Minutes
8:00 PM: The Amazing Race
9:00 PM: Cold Case
10:00 PM: The Unit

HARPER'S ISLAND (new) and Rules of Engagement will go mid-season.

EXCLUSIVE: Is this another wave of bad news? Now a prominent Hollywood film director just emailed me the following allegations about a heretofore unknown battle brewing between the Directors Guild and The Weinstein Co over residual payments for 20 to 30 films that may lead to arbitration or worse. (See below for the emails, which I condensed with his permission.) UPDATE: Tonight I spoke to Harvey Weinstein and his CFO Larry Madden, who both contend they know nothing about this and have not been personally contacted by the DGA. 2ND UPDATE: Harvey called again to say he's "just discovered" that The Weinstein Co uses a third party service to calculate and pay residuals. "Whatever the problem is, we're looking into it immediately." (See his full statement below.)

First, here's a condensed version of the director's emails to me:

"As you know, directors and writers rely on their residuals to survive during hard times. Well, with the past WGA strike and the impending SAG strike, times are a little rocky. I personally have been expecting my Weinstein Co residual check for six figures now since February from when it was due for the 4th quarter 2007. I had the DGA get into it and what I was just told was shocking: For the first time in the history of the company, the Weinsteins haven't paid ANY residuals for last quarter to any of the 20 to 30 films they owe on. The person I spoke to at the DGA thinks the Weinsteins may be having problems. 

"The DGA has been chasing TWC for two months almost. And TWC have been stonewalling and not returning the DGA's calls for over a week now. They have an employee at TWC who is either completely incompetent or more likely is feigning incompetence to stall for time. For example, two weeks ago when the DGA called on behalf of my film and 20 to 30 others, the TWC employees asked the DGA person if they had a phone number for Axium. Like what does this have to do with anything? Axium is a payroll company that very publicly went bankrupt last year. The TWC doesn't know this? THEN when the DGA called again last week, the TWC company asked the DGA residual person if they had a list of the SAG actors in the TWC films that are in question. Why would the DGA be keeping track of SAG? Why would TWC ask this?

"The DGA has threatened to go to arbitration over this and will begin legal proceedings in approximately twenty days if TWC does not comply. This info comes from the DGA residuals department. I am extremely frustrated and I know other independent directors who are financially dying right now. Residuals are an essential ingredient to our survival. Please do NOT cite me or specifically point out my film. I don't need to be blackballed by Harvey. I have another movie in development with him."

And here's what Harvey Weinstein, with Madden in agreement, told me tonight:

"If indeed this is true, we are going to make the payments to this director immediately. Maybe there's one person, or a couple of people, where there may be a screw-up. We don't know. Until you told us, we had no idea. And we never received a phone call from anybody saying we were late. We've been current since we started the company. We are very responsible for our bill. If there was a mistake made, we'll fix it.

"This has never happpened before. Both of us have never been contacted by the DGA. Certainly you would call the CFO and certainly you would call Harvey Weinstein. This is the first I'm hearing about this. In 30 years, I've never had a complaint about residual payments. If anything is wrong and an executive screwed up, that executive won't be working for us. And if anything is owed, that will be corrected, too. I find it ridiculous that anybody would write about it. If it weren't Harvey Weinstein, it wouldn't be written about."

And Weinstein said this in a follow-up call tonight:

"I just found out we use a third party service to calculate and pay residuals. The Weinstein Co doesn't do the residuals directly. Whatever the problem is, we're looking into it immediately."

EXCLUSIVE: I've just been told by an insider that "there is a chance, only a chance" that Media Rights Capital which will be programming Sunday's two hours on the CW "may elect to take Moonlight as one of those two hours". This is developing to be quite a behind-the-scenes drama because the order came from Warner Bros TV this afternoon to start tearing the Moonlight sets down. But now WBTV will wait until Friday. Before it was cancelled, it had more than twice the number of viewers on CBS than Gossip Girl despite all the hype. So Moonlight could wind up the most watched CW show. Stay tuned.

1. Primetime Pilot Panic: CW Sked
2. 'Moonlight' Cancelled
3. 'Moonlight' Not On CBS Fall Schedule But Not Dead

CW 2008-2009 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE, For The Record

UPDATE: 'Moonlight' To CW?

That yawning sound you hear around Hollywood is the CW schedule. There are a lot of tipsters telling me that network boss Dawn Ostroff won't be around to see the CW's early launch on September 1st. She's outsourced Sunday night's scheduling to Media Rights Capital, but maybe she should have had all those smart people in India do Monday-through-Friday. A sexed-up Reaper with relationship problems makes no sense for midseason, and 90210 especially with Tori Spelling anywhere near it just makes anyone with sense ill. That said, there will be so many fashionista female clones on the network in the fall that each show will look amateurishly interchangeable. This is what happens when the worst exec (Ostroff) running the worst weblet (UPN) gets put in charge of the merged network. Remember when the old WB actually programmed quality and pleased underserved audiences? Now its successor, the CW, does nothing but pander and even ignores the sacrosanct 8 PM family hour. And its the affiliates and viewers who suffer. Enough!

MONDAY
8 PM: Gossip Girl
9 PM: One Tree Hill

TUESDAY
8 PM: 90210 (new)
9 PM: SURVIVING THE FILTHY RICH (new)

WEDNESDAY
8 PM: America's Next Top Model
9 PM: STYLISTA (new)

THURSDAY
8 PM: Smallville
9 PM: Supernatural

FRIDAY
8 PM: Everybody Hates Chris
8:30 PM: The Game
9 PM: America's Next Top Model (repeat)

Endeavor talent agency will represent both Barbra Streisand as an actress, director and producer as well as her Barwood Films. The Hollywood legend's longtime manager Marty Erlichman will continue to principally help guide her career. Streisand had been with ICM but it's been quite some time since she's starred in a movie (2004's Meet The Fockers) or directed one (1996's The Mirror Has Two Faces). However, she has been an active executive producer in television. And, of course, she's a busy recording artist. I understand Babs now intends to become more active in all entertainment arenas. Mused a source at a rival agency: "And Endeavor will go out with a vengeance for her because whatever she does now, it will be quite obvious who got it for her."

EXCLUSIVE: As you must know by now, in the past 48 hours, Joel Silver had his $160M movie Speed Racer tank at Warner Bros, and his TV series Moonlight axed by CBS. And, because of his many faults, most of the town is ecstatic over it. And, to make matters worse, everybody and their dry cleaner have heard today's rumor that Warner Bros is supposedly cancelling or at the very least not renewing his deal there. Page Six is even writing about it tomorrow. But a Warner Bros spokesman told me officially today that Silver is and will be staying at the studio. So I phoned up Joel who just gave me this info exclusively: "My deal has a year and a half to go. I won't renew it until the deal is up. And my Dark Castle deal has 16 movies released through Warner Bros which are independently funded, and which we have all the money for. And the first one is the Guy Ritchie movie, RocknRolla, which will be in October."

Look, say what you will, but Silver's Lethal Weapon series and Matrix movies made gazillions for Warner Bros. Of course, he and the studio are down in the dumps about Speed Racer's disastrous opening. "Everyone is disturbed about this. I know there's a long list of Hollywood types right now kinda elated about that. But Warner Bros is my family, I've been there for 22 years, and we're fine. But I can't stop the slings and arrows of the world around me."  

UPDATE: CBS has officially let veteran Moonlight know that it's been cancelled. The network even nixed any remote chance of a mid-season back 13-episode order. See my previous about the renewal saga, 'Moonlight' Not On CBS Fall Schedule But Not Dead; Show Lobbying For Back 13-Episode Order. CBS also axed Shark, a show that deteriorated faster than a CSI corpse left out in the sun...

I'm told CBS today has officially let these veteran shows know they're renewed: Old Christine (WBT), Rules of Engagement (Sony/CBS Paramount), How I Met Your Mother (20th Century Fox TV), The Unit (20th Century Fox TV)

CBS didn't just renew The New Adventures Of Old Christine but just gave the sitcom a full season 22-episode order. This show was on the bubble at CBS, even though ABC was ready to steal it with a full season order. As for me, I watched 1/2 of one episode and that was more than enough...

It sounds like this is the guy who'll know where MGM's money is gonna come from. MGM today announced Bedi A. Singh, most recently the exec VP/CFO of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc, has been named President, Finance and Administration & Chief Financial Officer of MGM, reporting directly to chairman/CEO Harry Sloan. In this newly created position, Singh takes on the overall responsibility for the company's financial activities. This includes oversight of the studio’s relationship with the banking and finance community as well as overseeing MGM’s strategic financial planning, plus other duties.

UPDATE: CBS renews How I Met Your Mother for Monday at 8:30 PM. Given the Britney shtick, there was never any doubt. And Neil Patrick Harris needs to win an Emmy.

I'm told that "bubble shows" won't be notified by CBS until later today or early tomorrow. But in terms of renewals, a network source tells me that the producers of the CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother were "quietly given reassurance a couple weeks ago that their show would be back". But I just received an email from a show insider saying, "The creators have never been given any real reassurance. Everyone has been progressing as if it would happen, but CBS has never said anything REAL. Doesn't matter, just clarifying." Maybe the HIMYM guys didn't recognize the secret CBS handshake? 

ABC 2008-2009 PRIMETIME SCHEDULE, For The Record

As I reported earlier, ABC had strong comedy development this time around. And the fact is that most of ABC's new stuff will need to go midseason because not only have few pilots yet been shot, but most are still only in the casting stage. As a result, this is a much safer and less costly schedule than last fall's, when there were new scripted series galore. This time around, some of those fall and mid-season shows are being given a second chance to find an audience.

MONDAY
8 PM: Dancing With The Stars
Mid-Season -- UNTITLED TYRA BANKS/ASHTON KUTCHER PROJECT (new)
9 PM: Samantha Who?
10 PM: Boston Legal
Mid-Season -- The Bachelor

TUESDAY
8 PM: OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS contest show (new)
9 PM: Dancing with the Stars
Mid-Season -- SCRUBS (moved from NBC)
Mid-Season -- THE GOODE FAMILY (new)
10 PM: Eli Stone

WEDNESDAY
8 PM: Pushing Daisies
9 PM: Private Practice
10 PM: Dirty Sexy Money

THURSDAY
8 PM: Ugly Betty
9 PM: Grey's Anatomy
10 PM: LIFE ON MARS (new)

FRIDAY
8 PM: Wife Swap
9 PM: Supernanny
10 PM: 20/20

SATURDAY
College Football

SUNDAY
7 PM: America’s Funniest Home Videos
8 PM: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
9 PM: Desperate Housewives
10 PM: Brothers & Sisters

MONDAY 11:30 PM: Tonight I've just been informed by a reliable source that "Capitol Films just had another movie shut down" -- identified as An Invisible Sign Of My Own featuring America Ferrera, the star of ABC's hit show Ugly Betty. It looks increasingly like a Capitol-sparked meltdown is happening in the indie film market, just as my sources feared. I'll continue to follow this breaking story... So add her name to the star actors and directors like John Cusack, Helen Mirren, Gina Gershon, Joe Pesci, Jan de Bont, and Taylor Hackford whom I've learned have been, and Jennifer Lopez with writer-helmer Don Roos may be soon, affected by this cash crunch surrounding Capitol Films.  So it wasn't just Jessica Biel and Jake Gyllenhaal and David O. Russell. "This is a big story that involves many projects," one of my sources informs. All the details are here in my post that explains what's really going on...

1. 5TH UPDATE: 'Nailed' Tip Of The Iceberg: Capitol's Money Woes On More Films
2. 4TH UPDATE: 'Nailed' Production Resumed; More Capitol Films Suffered
3. 3RD UPDATE: David O. Russell Film Drama
4. 2ND UPDATE: SAG Shuts Down Russell Film; Jessica & Jake Stand By
5. EXCLUSIVE: David O. Russell Film Drama! Jessica Biel & Jake Gyllenhaal Sidelined

Sanford Panitch has left Regency to run Fox International Productions (FIP), a newly formed international production umbrella unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment that will produce, acquire and distribute local language films around the globe. Fox Filmed Entertainment chairmen/CEOs, Jim Gianopulos and Tom Rothman made the announcement today. Panitch was prez of filmed entertainment for New Regency (a partnership with News Corporation and Twentieth Century Fox) and now becomes prez of the Los Angeles-based FIP, reporting to Rothman and Gianopulos. The press release says FIP will oversee production activities already in progress in Japan, Germany, Russia and India, and will expand Fox’s local productions in these and other markets in the future. FIP will work closely with Fox’s other production divisions and partners and also will tap into its News Corp sister companies, including STAR, SKY and MySpace, among others. The endeavor also will coordinate efforts with Fox International, run by co-presidents Tomas Jegeus and Paul Hanneman.  Fox International will handle all marketing and distribution for FIP. Panitch was at New Regency for the past seven years, moving from Twentieth Century Fox where he last served as executive vice president of production.