FIRST LOOK: The News in Brief, June 1, 2004
PRETTY PREGNANT? Julia Roberts and hubby Danny Moder expecting twins early next year, People reports. The Oscar-winning actress' rep told the magazine that twins run in Roberts' family.
COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU: Michael Moore's latest lightning rod of a film, Fahrenheit 9/11, will be released June 25 by Lions Gate Films, IFC Films and the Fellowship Adventure Group, which was formed by Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
SHE DOES! Former SNL star Molly Shannon swapping vows with artist Fritz Chestnut Saturday in Santa Barbara.
HE DOESN'T! A judge in the Dominican Republic has granted a quickie divorce to Marc Anthony and former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres. The divorce still needs final approval from the U.S. Embassy.
SPINNING: Sony and Marvel have resolved dueling lawsuits over the marketing of Spider-Man. As part of the settlement, the two sides have formed a joint company to oversee all things Spidey. Spider-Man 2 opens June 30.
FAIRY-TALE FIGURES: In what was the biggest Memorial Day weekend ever at the box office, Shrek 2 continued its happily-ever-after run, earning $72.2 million between Friday and Sunday and $95.6 million over the four-day holiday to bring its overall two-week gross to $260 million. The Day After Tomorrow stormed in at number two with $68.7 million for three days and $85.8 million for the entire holiday period.
FIRED AGAIN: Apprentice runner-up Kwame Jackson being disqualified as a judge for Donald Trump's Miss Universe pageant in Ecuador after flirting with some beauty queens he bumped into in the lobby of their hotel.
LEAVE THE SKIMPY OUTFITS AT HOME: Britney Spears receiving formal approval from China's Culture Ministry to perform five concerts in Shanghai and Beijing next year as long as she doesn't wear revealing outfits onstage.
SLIMMING DOWN: Producers of the Miss America pageant are going to trim the televised portion of this year's contest from three hours to two in hopes of garnering better ratings.
PEEVED: Upset listeners in Durham, North Carolina petitioning to oust a local radio disc jockey after he described American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino as "ghetto" and "low-class."
STEPPING DOWN: Viacom's number two executive, President and COO Mel Karmazin, exiting the company after several years of tense relations with Viacom chairman and chief executive Sumner Redstone. He will be replaced by CBS boss Les Moonves and MTV honcho Tom Freston.
POINT AND SHOOT: Reese Witherspoon set to produce and star in The Reckoning, a supernatural thriller about a female New York Times photojournalist who follows a mixed military-civilian team to Cambodia to recover the bones of lost soldiers.
TEAMING UP: Oscar winner Charlize Theron partnering with Boys Don't Cry helmer Kimberly Pierce on The Ice at the Bottom of the World, an indie flick set in the southern United States, which focuses on a cross-section of redneck characters.
STUDY WITH MARTHA: Newsweek reporting that Martha Stewart's attorneys have proposed--in an attempt to reduce her jail sentence--that the domestic diva teach low-income women entrepreneurial skills for 10 to 20 hours each week for the next one to two years.
TEMPERATURE RISING: Bob and Harvey Weinstein buying Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 back from Disney to distribute themselves. The documentary is expected to hit theaters in July. Any profits Miramax or Disney receive through distribution will be donated to charity, according to a statement.
FOOT IN MOUTH: KISS' Gene Simmons claiming his remarks about Muslims were taken out of context during a radio interview in Australia earlier this month because he was talking about extremists when he said, "This is a vile culture, and if you think for a second that it's willing to just live in the sands of God's armpit you've got another thing coming."
HE CAN FLY: A Chicago judge has allowed R. Kelly to travel in order to promote his upcoming Happy People album, MTV News reports.
ROAD TRIP: Courtney Love will kick off a 25-city tour next month in an attempt to boost sluggish record sales, Rolling Stone reports. Her solo debut, America's Sweetheart, has disappeared from the charts since it was released in February.
MEL'S NEXT PASSION: Mel Gibson's Icon Productions developing Warrior, a drama about the famed warrior queen Boudicca, who led a rebellion in Britain against the Romans in 60 AD.
MUGGLES BEWARE: Movie-theater ushers in Britain being issued night-vision goggles to thwart cinema pirates at screenings of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
THROWING HIS ARMS AROUND THE WORLD: U2 frontman Bono set to address European Union development ministers at a special meeting in Dublin on Tuesday to try and convince them to extend debt-relief programs for the world's poorest countries.
GETTING INTO THE GROOVE: The Jewish Museum of Berlin devoting an exhibition to Madonna titled 10+5=God: The Power of Symbols, which will explore the popster's interest in Kabbalah.
PARTY OF TWO: Former Party of Fiver Scott Wolf marrying Kelly Limp, of The Real World: New Orleans, Saturday in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The couple plan to honeymoon in Africa.
INSPIRATIONAL: Another former Party of Five star, Lacey Chabert, coming aboard The Brooke Ellison Story, an A&E TV movie about a quadriplegic who goes to Harvard. The film will be directed by Christopher Reeve.
CODA: Julian Aberbach, the music publisher who owned the rights to Elvis Presley's compositions, died May 17 in New York. He was 95.




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