MIGHTY STRONG: The shape of things to come? Disney's latest animated feature, Hercules, pulled in an impressive $800,000 over the weekend playing on only two screens--one in New York, one in Chicago. Hercules opens in Los Angeles on Wednesday, going nationwide on Friday.
"FRAMED" AGAIN: Disney is finally moving ahead with its long-planned follow-up to the influential 1988 animated/live-action hit, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Daily Variety reports. More a prequel than a sequel, it would tell the story of how Roger Rabbit got to Hollywood.
DADDY LUKE: Onetime Beverly Hills 90210 teen heartthrob Luke Perry, 30, is a daddy. Wife Minnie gave birth to a 8-pound, 8-ounce boy on June 15, Perry's publicist said today. All are said to be doing well.
DIVORCE COURT: Oscar-winning actor Rod Steiger (In the Heat of the Night) and his wife of 11 years have split. The couple has a 4-year-old son. Steiger, 72, filed divorce papers Friday.
BAT FACTS: Critically panned Batman & Robin was tops at the weekend box office, but was the news all good for batstudio Warner Bros.? The sequel took in $43.6 million--the third smallest opening for a Batman movie. Meanwhile, its top competition at the gate, Julia Roberts' My Best Friend's Wedding hauled in $21.5 million--the best-ever first weekend for a romantic comedy.
DONE DEAL: Rupert Murdoch is officially in ESPN's rear-view mirror. The mogul today pulled off an $850 million deal that sees Murdoch's Fox and Liberty Media Corp. team to buy a 40 percent stake in Rainbow Media Holdings Inc.'s sports interests. This move gives Murdoch the cable access needed to mount his dream ESPN competitor--Fox Sports Net. Meanwhile, soon-to-be ex-ESPNer Keith Olbermann has signed with MSNBC to do a sports talk show.
DEAD CELEBS OK: A federal appeals court has ruled that clips of dead celebrities can be used to promote, and appear in, films and videos--no family permission required. The widow of Fred Astaire had sued to stop the makers of a how-to-dance video from using footage from old Astaire movies.
ROSEANNE TALKS: Roseanne's new daytime talk show won't debut until September 1998, but it's already scoring impressive numbers. NBC-owned stations in Los Angeles, New York and three other top markets have signed up to carry the show.
MEA CULPA: Princess Diana says she's sorry for taking her two sons to a screening of The Devil's Own over the weekend. That Brad Pitt-Harrison Ford drama has been criticized in the British press for being pro-Irish Republican Army.
A CASE FOR 007: An ejector seat and bulletproof windows, but, alas, no Club. The silver Aston Martin used in the James Bond flick Goldfinger has been reported as stolen from an airport hangar where its current owner, a Florida developer, stored the classic movie car.
DE-LIGHTFUL: Robert De Niro and Danny DeVito may finally be pairing up. Talks are underway for De Niro to star, and DeVito to direct the detective story The Little Things. For all the casting news, check out The Dotted Line.
DOG DAYS: Father of the Bride duo Steve Martin and Diane Keaton will do the husband-and-wife thing again for a planned movie version of the hit off-Broadway play Sylvia. Martin will adapt the comedy (about a man and the dog he gets along with better than with his wife) for the screen.
FIENNES FIND?: Ralph Fiennes is said to be considering signing up for an epic drama that follows one century in the life of a Hungarian family. Oscar-winning Hungarian writer-director Istzvan Szabo would direct.
RAGING BULL: Actor Mickey Rourke says he pursued a boxing career overseas for four years because he "felt so emasculated in the movie business." Things change, apparently. Rourke is currently stateside, making a low-budget action movie called Recoil.
GETTING STAMPED: International action star Jackie Chan will be honored in his native Hong Kong this September with a film retrospective. And, of even more import in the stamp-mad colony, Chan will be commemorated in a limited-edition postage- stamp set.
BESTSELLER: ABC-TV has designs on a novel that landed on the New York Times bestseller list just two weeks after its publication this spring. A Thin Dark Line, about a policewoman and a bungled murder investigation, will be made into a two-hour TV-movie for the network.
SON RISES: Christopher Cuomo, the 26-year-old activist son of ex-New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, makes his debut tonight as TV host. Cuomo's sitting in for one week on CNBC's politically minded talk show, Equal Time.