DAILY CELEB DOSE

Movie-goers continued to keep their eyes on the Peeping Tom thriller "Disturbia," which fended off a weak batch of newcomers to remain No. 1 for the third straight weekend with $9.1 million.

The movie business seemed to be on hold in anticipation of a huge summer that begins this week with Sony's "Spider-Man 3." The top-12 movies took in an anemic $62.9 million, down 30 percent from the same weekend last year, when "RV" was the No. 1 movie with $16.4 million.

DreamWorks and Paramount's "Disturbia," starring Shia LaBeouf as a house-bound teen whose surveillance of neighbors uncovers a killer, raised its total to $52.2 million after three weekends, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Disney's supernatural thriller "The Invisible" turned in the best performance among the weekend's ho-hum debuts, taking in $7.6 million to open at No. 2. The movie centers on a teen trying to solve his own murder while trapped in a nether zone between life and death.

Paramount's "Next," starring Nicolas Cage as a man whose ability to see into the future is exploited by federal agents trying to stop a terrorist nuclear attack, premiered at No. 3 with $7.2 million.

Lionsgate's "The Condemned," with wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin as one of 10 Death Row inmates dropped on an island to fight to the death for an Internet reality show, debuted in ninth-place with $4 million.

Yari Film Group's comedy "Kickin' It Old Skool," starring Jamie Kennedy as a man who wakes from a 20-year coma and tries to revive his break-dancing career, opened at No. 11 with $2.8 million.

Though movie attendance is up 1.2 percent so far this year compared to last, Hollywood has been in a lull in recent weeks as a huge crop of summer films looms, including Friday's premiere of "Spider-Man 3," followed closely by DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" and Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

"I think people are just absolutely ready for a big summer movie," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony. "You can see by the box office over the last few weekends, they're ready, and it's been a long time coming. I do anticipate it's going to be an incredible weekend for us."

"Spider-Man" took in $114.8 million in its first weekend in 2002, a three-day opening that remained an all-time high until "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" set a new record last summer with $132 million.

In 2004, "Spider-Man 2" opened on a Wednesday before a long four-day Fourth of July weekend and took in a record $180.1 million in its first six days.

"This was an incredibly slow weekend. To have a top movie come in under $10 million just shows how the marketplace is in a holding pattern," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "It'll all be made up next weekend with `Spider-Man 3.'"

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Disturbia," $9.1 million.

2. "The Invisible," $7.6 million.

3. "Next," $7.2 million.

4. "Fracture," $7.1 million.

5. "Blades of Glory," $5.2 million.

6. "Meet the Robinsons," $4.84 million.

7. "Hot Fuzz," $4.8 million.

8. "Vacancy," $4.2 million.

9. "The Condemned," $4 million.

10. "Are We Done Yet?", $3.4 million.

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Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi Universal; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.

Labels: Box Office, New this Week

Natalie Portman says that for many of the world's poorest women, a small loan can change their lives.

The actress said in an interview for ABC's "This Week" that aired Sunday that she has met mothers younger than she is who had to work in poor conditions for low pay because that was the only job available to them.

"And then they're able to get a loan and start their own business out of their own house and be with their children," Portman said. "It changes the whole system."

Portman, who starred in the last three "Star Wars" films, has been working with FINCA International, an organization that provides small loans to people in developing countries.

"If a woman can't tell her child, 'I can feed you tomorrow, I can pay for your school,' then where do they go? What do they do? What do they choose? It's really trying to reach the poorest of the poor and offering banking services to them," she said.

Labels: Natalie Portman

Billionaire Donald Trump gave $10,000 to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to help pay off his campaign debts, a little more than a month after the governor guest-starred on Trump's TV show "The Apprentice: Los Angeles," according to a campaign filing.

In an episode that aired March 18, Schwarzenegger hosted five of the show's contestants in his private conference room at the state Capitol.

The governor denies any link between the donation and the television appearance, but some political watchdog groups are skeptical.

"He's clearly using his personal friendships and his celebrity to pay off his campaign debt, and that's just wrong," said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, a group that tracks campaign donations.

Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Julie Soderlund said the April 20 donation was not connected to the governor's appearance on the NBC prime-time show. The taping took place earlier in the year, but she was unsure of the date.

Trump could not be reached for comment Saturday at his company's headquarters in New York.

The donation was Trump's first to Schwarzenegger, whom he described as great friend when he told a group of contenders that they would meet California's governor as a reward for winning a competition. The show features Trump and contestants vying to work for him.

Labels: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Donald Trump

Hogzilla, a near-mythical monster hog that roamed south Georgia, is about to get a little bigger. An independent filmmaker is producing a horror movie about the super swine called "The Legend of Hogzilla," and has even enlisted the beast's killer on the set as an adviser.

"He's our hog expert," producer Rick Trimm said of guide Chris Griffin, who shot the huge porker in 2004 at a hunting preserve.

Photographs of the hog hanging from a backhoe were sent around the world, and the town of Alapaha 180 miles south of Atlanta quickly adopted Hogzilla as its own, even launching a parade in the pig's honor.

A National Geographic team confirmed the pig's existence in 2005 after exhuming the behemoth's remains. While the experts said the hog didn't exactly live up to the hype local hunters said the pig was 12 feet long and weighed 1,000 pounds they still discovered a mighty big hog. They estimated it weighed around 800 pounds and was probably about 8 feet long.

Lithium Productions says the production will need 200 locals for extras and is hosting tryouts next month.

"We don't need professional actors," Trimm said. "We need real people who are interested in the movie."

Labels: Creature Feature