FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, January 30, 2005

IN PLAIN SIGHT: The Robert De Niro-Dakota Fanning thriller Hide and Seek opened as the number one movie, with an estimated $22 million over a weekend when top Oscar nominees Million Dollar Baby, The Aviator and Sideways registered substantial gains.

DO I FEEL LUCKY? Clint Eastwood took home top honors Saturday in the Directors Guild of America's 57th Annual DGA Awards for Million Dollar Baby, besting Martin Scorsese?s work on The Aviator. Scorsese has now been nominated six times, but has not won.

SUNDANCE FEVER: Forty Shades of Blue, a family drama about a modern Oedipal triangle involving a music producer, a Russian wife half his age and his son, took top dramatic honors at the Sundance Film Festival. Why We Fight, examining the chronically militant stance of the United States over the last half century, took Sundance's Grand Jury Prize for documentaries.

GOOD INSTINCT: Sharon Stone raising $1 million in five minutes to pay for mosquito nets to combat malaria in Tanzania. The impromptu fundraiser occurred after the actress called on bigwigs attending a World Economic Forum panel in Davos, Switzerland, to follow her lead and pony up.

FASHIONLICIOUS: Beyonce has signed a licensing agreement with the Tarrant Apparel Group to produce a line of clothing for young women. She?s named the line House of Dereon, after her grandmother, who was a seamstress. The first fashions will be in stores this fall.

JACKSON UPDATE: The judge in Michael Jackson's child-molestation case ruling that dozens of adult-oriented books, magazines and DVDs can be used as evidence in his upcoming trial. Additionally, he also decided that the popster's accuser should testify in open court and is allowing jurors to see the British documentary on Jackson done by journalist Martin Bashir.

CALLING IT QUITS? The New York Post reporting that Oprah Winfrey has told TV executives at a Las Vegas party that she plans to retire when her contract is up in 2011. However, the daytime talk-show queen has twice before hinted she would quit only to reverse course.

LOST REVENUE? Producers of the ABC hit Lost, threatening to leave Hawaii and shoot the drama elsewhere unless state officials pony up tax breaks. According to the New York Post, the high costs of production has led to $11 million in losses for the show's production company.

THE NOSE INSIDE: Javier Bardem, the Spanish star of the The Sea Inside, sued by a woman who accused him of hitting her in the nose while drunk and dancing at a New York nightclub.

REMEMBERING RAY: The Grammy Awards organizing a special posthumous tribute to Ray Charles that will be performed by Bonnie Raitt and Bill Preston during next month's ceremony.

SIN CITY-BOUND: A new production of the Tony-winning Broadway musical Hairspray slated to open at Las Vegas' pyramid-shaped Luxor hotel-casino in late November.

CHILLING OUT: Michael Moore sitting out this year's Writers Guild of America Awards after electing not to submit Fahrenheit 9/11 for the documentary writing prize. As a result, the controversial filmmaker was left off the list of six pictures nominated Thursday, which include Super Size Me and Control Room.

YO, HO, HO! Variety reporting that Stellan Skarsgard and Naomie Harris have climbed aboard Walt Disney Pictures' back-to-back sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Skarsgard plays Orlando Bloom's long-lost father, while Harris plays a gypsy queen. Pirates 2 hits the big screen in summer 2006.

BADA-BING! Also in Variety, HBO expected to seal a deal with either TNT or A&E Friday that will see one of the networks pay upward of $2.1 million per episode to air reruns of its hit mobster drama, The Sopranos.

SPY GAMES: Angelina Jolie set to costar with Matt Damon in the Robert De Niro-helmed The Good Shepherd, a drama about the history of the CIA. Shooting begins in March.

SPAWNING: Spawn creator Todd McFarlane teaming up with Angryfilms to create Twisted Tales, a half-hour anthology series for Fox, Variety reports.

HE'S SQUARE, HE LIVES IN A PINEAPPLE, GET USED TO IT: Stephen Hillenburg, the 43-year-old creator of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants, defending his wacky 'toon from Christian conservative groups who say he promotes homosexuality and argue that SpongeBob's asexual. "It doesn't have anything to do with what we're trying to do," Hillenburg told Reuters Friday. "We're just trying to be funny."

MASTERS OF THEIR DOMAIN: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen officially assuming management of their billion-dollar Dualstar Entertainment company. The 18-year-old twins, currently freshman at NYU, have acquired former CEO Robert Thorne's interest in the company, it was announced Thursday.

DEFEAT FOR BIG MEDIA: The Bush administration opting on Thursday not to appeal a lower court ruling that rejected regulations making it easier for media conglomerates to grow bigger. As a result, it's doubtful the Supreme Court will take up the case.