FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, February 4, 2000

BIG TERROR: The third and final installment of Wes Craven's humorous slasher flicks, Scream 3, opens today in a record 3,467 theaters--the largest debut in box-office history.

THE SPINOFF IS OUT THERE: Fox has greenlighted a drama pilot for an X-Files spinoff based on the show's recurring Lone Gunmen characters. X-Files creator Chris Carter will produce.

A REPLACEMENT? Sources say actor Charlie Sheen being considered to replace departing Michael J. Fox as the lead in the ABC sitcom Spin City.

BEAM ME UP, BABY SCOTTY: Star Trek's James Doohan, 79, and his wife, Wende, 43, expecting a daughter in April, London's Daily Star reports.

DELAYED: Veronica's Closet star Wallace Langham's battery hearing pushed back to Monday when he'll ask the judge to drop the charges.

AFFAIR TO REMEMBER: Boys Don't Cry star Hilary Swank in final negotiations to play an 18th-century Frenchwoman in The Affair of the Necklace, Daily Variety says. See Dotted Line for more casting news.

CYBER-LEOMANIA: Heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio's Website (Leonardodicaprio.com) covered the Wednesday premiere of The Beach with live, streaming coverage of arrivals and the after-party.

LEO ADD: All other online media were excluded from coverage of the event and snubbed by the Titanic star.

GROUNDED: Warner Bros. moving the opening of Red Planet, the Val Kilmer-led tale of the first manned mission to Mars, back to November 10 from June 16.

REEG IS THE CHAMPION AGAIN: Wednesday's special edition of ABC's hit Who Wants to Be a Millionaire crushed NBC's new Maury Povich-led rip-off Twenty One.

MORE MILLIONAIRE: Tuesday's episode of the smash quiz show scored more viewers (30.5 million) than CBS, NBC and Fox combined.

BIG DADDIO: NBC giving midseason replacement sitcom Daddio the prime 8:30 p.m. (post-Friends) Thursday time slot, starting March 23, for a six-week run.

EXTRA, EXTRA: Donald Trump's sexy gal-pal Melania Knass covering New York's Fashion Week for Extra, show reps announced Thursday.

AUCTION BLOCK: Fifteen independent feature films from five countries including the U.S. put up for bid today on Films4auction.com as part of the world's first film auction.

BROADWAY BOUND: Oscar winner Olympia Dukakis returning to Broadway next month for a limited run in Rose, a new one-woman show about a Jewish immigrant.

GOOD GRIEF: The voice of Peanuts' Lucy, Pamelyn Ferdin, sentenced Tuesday to spend 30 days in jail for carrying a bull hook during an animal-rights protest at a circus.

SIGNING OFF: The NBC radio and TV announcer who was among the first to broadcast news of the Pearl Harbor attack died Wednesday in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from a brain tumor. Richard Allen Dudley was 84.

JUST IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T HEARD IT ENOUGH: "Mambo No. 5" singer Lou Bega to sing a cartoon-character version of his chart-topping song during an appearance on the WB's Saturday morning broadcast.

WHATCHU TALKIN' 'BOUT: Former Diff'rent Strokes star Gary Coleman landing a columnist job with Ugo.com, the Website that launched an Internet auction to save him from bankruptcy.