Blond Bombshell Beats Brando at B.O.

In their first week at the boxoffice, MGM's Legally Blond beat out Paramount's The Score by a narrow margin. The MGM teen flic took in $20.4 million over the weekend, topping Paramount's $19 million, after their third day of release. The Score's high-powered cast of Robert DeNiro, Edward Norton, and Marlon Brando was expected to be a chart-topper. Last week's number one hit Cats and Dogs made over $12 million during the weekend, moving to the number three slot with an accumulative $58.9 million.

Ster Century Plans to Re-finance Instead of Selling

The Ster Century Europe exhibition circuit is now officially off the market, recently receiving an $80 million re-financing package after having failed to find a buyer. The package's contributors include Primedia and Kersaf Investments - joint majority shareholders in the circuit - as well as Kersaf subsidiary Royale Resorts, ING Barings, and an undisclosed bank. Primedia will continue to exercise joint control over the circuit, although its stake in the company will fall from 50% to 40.6%.

Film Council Funds Individual Projects

The UK's Film Council announced plans Wednesday to fund nine different film projects, at various stages of development, for a total of £265,100 ($371,140). The government-backed Council's largest single award of £75,000 ($105,000) will go toward Julia, the first English-language project from French director Erick Zoncka (The Dreamlife of Angels). Julia will be produced by the French company Noe Prods.

Media Salles Announces New Executive Committee

Media Salles has reorganized its executive committee, in charge of helping to find theatrical distribution of European films outside of Europe. Media Salles' new president is Jens Rykaer, previous treasurer of the organization and director of the European Film College located in Denmark. The vice presidency will be shared by J. Wolf, in charge of contacts with the European Commission's Media Program and Walter Vacchino, in charge of contacts with Italian Ministry of Cultural Affairs. The three other members are Mike Vickers, who will replace Rykaer as treasurer, Metter Schramm, and Romano Fattorossi. The new committee will be present at the upcoming Venice 2001.

Tycoon Helms $790m Malaysian Studios Project

Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary is to head the Entertainment Village project, a $790 million development of Malaysia's new Hollywood-style film studios. Although the project was launched last September amidst fanfare with Asian film stars Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh present at the animation studio opening, little has been produced so far, calling into question whether the country's bureaucracy will prevent the studio from competing with established film industries of Hong Kong or India's Bollywood. The studios, modelled after Hollywood's Universal Studios, are expected to be complete in 2007 and will be located in the Malaysian high-tech area Multimedia Super Corridor.

Actors to Gain Additional $123m Over 3-year Term

Several key advances have been made in negotiations for the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television & Radio Artists (AFTRA), whose 135,000 members will receive ratification ballots Friday. Head negotiators commented, "Every SAG and AFTRA member and staff person associated with these negotiations believes we have achieved improvements that will make it increasingly possible for working members to maintain a middle-class standard of living." The new pact is estimated to bring in an additional $123 million over its three-year term, which is three times the gain that Writers Guild members received in their new contract.

Putin Praises ITN Russian Channel

Russian President Vladimir Putin offered praise Wednesday at a Kremlin news conference to the British Independent Television News plans for a 24-hour Russian-language channel. The new channel will launch in September and be available within Moscow and other Russian regions. The news channel is a joint venture with Russian pubcaster RTR, who will take a 1% share in ITN's 24-hour multilanguage Euronews. The encouragement from Putin was unexpected as he has been heavily criticized for censoring anti-governmental expression in Russia. He is quoted as saying the channel is "an important step toward integrating Russia with the European and international information space."