If, as Oscar host Chris Rock had maintained, no straight black man watches the Oscars, the weekend box office provided a clue to what he did instead -- watched Diary of a Mad Black Woman. The Lions Gate film, which played on only 1,483 screens concentrated heavily in inner-city areas, took in $21.9 million and averaged an astonishing $14,771 per screen, well above analysts' predictions. The results contrasted sharply with those for the third week of Sony's Hitch, which analysts had favored to win the weekend. It played on 3,571 screens, taking in $20.4 million, or an average of $5,719 per screen. It dropped only 35 percent from the previous week and became the first film of the year to cross the $100-million level. By contrast, the Keanu Reeves thriller Constantine, from Warner Bros., dropped 60 percent to tally $12 million at 3,006 screens, or $4,007 per screen. Miramax-Dimension's Cursed opened in fourth place with a disappointing $9.6 million on $2,805 screens, while another new film, Sony's Man of the House, rounded out the top five with $8.9 million.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Diary of a Mad Black Woman, Lions Gate, $21,905,089, (New); 2. Hitch, Sony, $20,420,799, 3 Wks. ($121,429,017); 3. Constantine, Warner Bros., $12,046,452, 2 Wks. ($50,977,992); 4. Cursed, Miramax/Dimension, $9,633,085, (New); 5. Man of the House, Sony, $8,917,251, (New); 6. Million Dollar Baby, Warner Bros., $7,344,390, 11 Wks. ($64,851,738); 7. Because of Winn-Dixie,20th Century Fox, $6,823,980, 2 Wks. ($22,275,661); 8. Are We There Yet?, Sony, $4,111,030, 6 Wks. ($76,477,479); 9. Son of the Mask, New Line, $3,822,241, 2 Wks. ($14,018,767); 10. The Aviator, Miramax, $3,739,037, 11 Wks. ($93,643,789).

Despite angry opposition, members of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have overwhelmingly approved a new contract with movie and TV producers that will run through June 30, 2008. The deal was approved by a 76.5 percent to 23.5 percent margin. Opponents had accused union negotiators of not taking a sufficiently tough stand on residuals for DVD sales and rentals.

Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone said Monday that he had received "unsolicited interest" in the company's publishing division, Simon & Schuster. He also reiterated that he's prepared to sell Viacom's theme park unit and a Canadian theater chain. The proceeds from such sales, he indicated during a Bear Stearns conference, would be used to bolster Paramount, the company's faltering film division, and its Infinity Broadcasting radio unit as well as for acquiring additional cable outlets. None of its key divisions, Redstone said, would remain "cash starved." He went on to predict, "This will be the year in which Viacom will once again begin to emerge -- and this is a guarantee -- as the fastest-growing media company in the world."

Russell Sprague, the Chicago man who pleaded guilty to charges of receiving Academy Award screeners from Academy member Carmine Caridi and posting them on the Internet, was found dead in his jail cell Monday, according to the U.S. Marshals Service. Sprague had been awaiting sentencing. A spokesman for the Marshals office said that, while an investigation was being conducted, all indications pointed to "a normal passing."

A Los Angeles television station entertainment reporter was being taken to task today (Tuesday) for airing comments critical of Brad Grey, who takes over as chairman of Paramount Pictures today. Today's Los Angeles Times quoted the remarks by KTLA reporter Zorianna Kit last Jan. 6, when Grey's appointment was announced, then noted that Kit's husband, writer-producer Bo Zenga, had lost a lawsuit that he had filed against Grey over profits from Scary Movie, which he and Grey had co-exec produced. The Times quoted Bob Steele, director of the journalistic ethics program at the Poynter Institute, as saying that "it was inappropriate for her to report on him in any way. ... This is a profound conflict of interest." KTLA executives declined to comment.

An Illinois lawmaker has proposed a law that would require theaters to list two starting times -- one for the trailers and ads; the other for the actual beginning of the feature. Woodstock Rep. Jack Franks, chairman of the House State Government Administration Committee, says that the information would be particularly important to parents who have to arrange for baby sitters.

A long-shot film swept France's César awards, beating out the favorite in every category. L'Esquive (The Dodge) won for best film, best director (Abdellatif Kechiche), best script, and best female newcomer (Sara Forestier). The favorite, A Very Long Engagement, starring Audrey Tautou, which had been nominated in 12 categories, failed to pick up a single top award. The best foreign film award went to Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation, starring Bill Murray.

The 66 ABC affiliates that refused to carry Saving Private Ryan, fearing that they could be fined by the FCC because of its four-letter words and graphic violence, actually had nothing to worry about, the agency indicated Monday. Responding to complaints about the film, the FCC said in a unanimous decision: "In light of the overall context in which this material is presented, the commission determined it was not indecent or profane." Randy Sharp of the American Family Association, which said that it sent 23,339 complaints to the FCC over the Ryan telecast, told today's (Tuesday) Washington Times: "Our reaction is one of extreme disappointment. ... I think it confuses a lot of people." He noted that the FCC had already indicated that context was not a factor when it held that Bono's use of the term "f***ing brilliant" during a 2003 Golden Globes telecast violated the FCC's decency standards. Raymond Cole, president of Citadel Communications, which refused to broadcast the Ryan film, said Monday that if the network scheduled the movie again, his stations would air it. Separately, the FCC dismissed complaints filed by the Parents Television Council against the programs Arrested Development (Fox) and Will & Grace (NBC).

L. Brent Bozell's Parents Television Council filed new complaints Monday against CBS for a Feb. 17 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which the group claims contained offensive and indecent language. In a statement, Bozell said, "The FCC needs to get tough with CBS and its affiliates and send a strong signal that such content will continue to cost them FCC fines, and, hopefully, their broadcast licenses, for their part in pushing television programming into the gutter."

News reports about the ratings for the 77th Annual Academy Awards telecast delivered contrasting spins today (Monday). For example, the Los Angeles Times headlined "Oscars Draw Fewer Viewers" and pointed out that with the exception of the 2003 telecast, which was affected by the outbreak of the war in Iraq, Sunday's Oscar telecast was the least-watched since 1997. On the other hand, the Times's sister publication, the Boston Globe, headlined, "Rock Gives Oscars a Bounce," and pointed out that although overall the telecast attracted 2 million fewer viewers than last year, the total numbers of adults 18-49 -- the ones most prized by advertisers -- who tuned in actually increased (by about 400,000). "That's great news for the television business," the Globe observed. Even trade reports offered different slants on the ratings. On Monday, Daily Variety said on its web site that the awards "packed some [ratings] punch" for ABC and claimed that the ratings, judging by preliminary figures from metered markets, were the highest since 2000, but in its print edition today (Tuesday), it acknowledged that "overall ratings were down a bit versus last year" but were nevertheless the highest for an entertainment telecast this season. The Associated Press remarked that while the addition of Chris Rock to the awards show drew a younger audience, it did so "perhaps at the expense of the country as a whole." But Washington Post TV writer Lisa De Moraes observed that Chris Rock's presence had little to do with the ratings: "This was not because, as Oscar hosts go, Rock was lousy, though there is a compelling argument to be made (and quite a number of critics have made it) that Rock was pretty lousy. This was because the number of viewers who tune in to the Academy Awards is largely dependent on what movies are in the race," she wrote. Total viewers for Academy Awards telecasts since 1999, according to Nielsen Research: 2005: 41.5 million; 2004: 43.5 million; 2003: 33.0 million; 2002: 41.8 million; 2001: 42.9 million; 2000: 46.3 million; 1999: 45.6 million.

ABC required some advertisers to make changes in their commercials for the 77th Academy Awards telecast because of "inappropriate content," Advertising Age reported on its website Monday. The trade publication indicated that the network had declined to identify the advertisers. Several critics complained that the Oscar producers, in their effort not to offend, removed the edginess from host Chris Rock's distinctive humor. "[Rock] had to be so circumscribed and restrained that it had a negative impact on what he could bring to the table," Shari Ann Brill, vice president at New York advertising firm Carat, told today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times.

NBC attempted to give some past contestants of reality shows a second 15 minutes of fame (actually two hours) Monday night by featuring them on Fear Factor, but they were no match for the performers on American Idol. The Fox talent show posted a 13.4 rating and 20 share at 8:00, more than twice the 5.9/9 registered by NBC's Fear Factor. CBS took the lead at 9:00 p.m. with a repeat episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, which recorded a 9.9/14, and Two and a Half Men, which finished with a 9.6/14. NBC then took the lead at 10:00 p.m., as it scored a 10..0/16 for Medium.

The Australian Broadcasting Authority ruled today that some reporting by the Australian Broadcasting Corp. about the Iraq war may have led people to believe that it had taken a stance against the war. The regulator concluded that the ABC had breached its code of practice. The complaint against the ABC had been filed by former government communications minister Richard Alston, who cited 43 cases of alleged bias by the broadcaster. "While [the program] presented a range of views and perspectives during the period in question and was therefore balanced, the language and presentation styles used in some programs would have caused an ordinary reasonable listener to think that the programs were predisposed to particular views on some issues," ABA acting chairwoman Lyn Maddock said in the ruling.