For the first time in recent memory a film co-starring two 70-year-olds has topped the box office. The Bucket List, with Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, scooped up $19.4 million in its first week of wide release by attracting a mostly older audience. The film's success was especially surprising given a chorus of negative reviews for it when it was originally released. Overall the box office was up 4.1 percent over the comparable weekend a year ago, tallying $108.8 million for the top 12 films, according to box-office trackers Media By Numbers.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. The Bucket List, Warner Bros., $19,392,416, 4 Wks, $20,816,129; 2. First Sunday, Sony Screen Gems, $17,714,821, (New); 3. Juno, Fox Searchlight, $13,612,682, 6 Wks., $70,862,478; 4. National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Disney, $11,302,002, 4 Wks, $187,114,947; 5. Alvin and the Chipmunks, Fox, $9,302,895, 5 Wks., $187,943,374; 6. I Am Legend, Warner Bros., $8,179,610, 5 Wks., $240,283,451; 7. One Missed Call, Warner Bros., $5,981,373, 2 Wks., $20,493,337; 8. P.S. I Love You, Warner Bros., $4,827,212, 4 Wks., $46,830,324; 9. The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie, Universal, $4,251,320, (New); 10. Atonement, Focus, $4,221,866, 6 Wks., $25,130,656.

Overseas, I Am Legend continued to burn up the box office, with the Will Smith starrer earning $39.8 million to bring its overseas total to $221.4 million. It has taken in $240 million domestically. Coming in second was National Treasure: Book of Secrets with $15 million. Its total now stands at $126.8 million. Close behind was Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, which pulled in $13.6 million, bringing its overseas haul to $53.2 million.

The Producers Guild of America, whose choice of best film often is mirrored at the Oscars, announced its nominees Monday. They include: No Country for Old Men, Juno, There Will Be Blood, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, and Michael Clayton. Conspicuously absent from the list is Atonement which was named best film at Sunday's Golden Globe announcements. Three films were nominated in the animation category: Bee Movie, Ratatouille, and The Simpsons Movie. The winners will be announced on February 2.

Wrangling between union activists and union moderates took a new turn Monday when the Screen Actors Guild board agreed to have its members vote on whether to negotiate a separate agreement with the studios and networks rather than do so jointly with the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The current SAG leadership has recently engaged in jurisdictional disputes with AFTRA over productions for cable TV, and on Monday SAG President Alan Rosenberg accused AFTRA of being unwilling to demand that producers correct "shortcomings" in the current labor contract. AFTRA responded with a statement of its own denouncing "SAG's repeated attempts to undermine AFTRA and create a schism between our unions." It said that SAG was becoming dominated by a "radical Hollywood faction" that seeks to overturn "a joint bargaining agreement that has been working to our members' mutual benefit for 27 years." Meanwhile talks between the Directors Guild of America and the AMPTP were set to continue into a fourth day today (Tuesday), with expectations high that the two sides would quickly agree on a new contract.

Apple chief Steve Jobs is expected to announce today (Tuesday) that thousands of films from some of Hollywood's top studios will become available for "rent" via Apple's iTunes store on the same day that their DVDs hit the shelves. Most analysts expect that the movies will be priced at $3.99. Apple will reportedly employ technology that will enable renters to view the movies in high definition via their video iPods or iPhones, their computers, or their TV sets via a set-top box. However, on Monday, Netflix appeared to have stolen some of Apple's thunder when it announced that it would allow its customers to watch as many hours as they wish of streamed content from a catalogue of 6,000 titles -- at no extra charge.

In an apparent response to analysts who have written off HD DVD as the loser in the format war with Blu-ray, Toshiba on Monday cut in half the suggested retail prices of its HD DVD players. The company also said that it plans to join partners Paramount/DreamWorks and Universal in a new marketing campaign that will emphasize that the players also enhance the picture quality of "legacy" DVDs.

The Grammys may become the next awards show to bite the dust as the result of the strike by the Writers Guild of America. Advertising Age reported Monday that the WGA has contacted many SAG performers scheduled to appear on the show, asking them not to do so. A WGA spokesman told the trade publication, "The [National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences] has not asked the WGA for a waiver or interim agreement for the Grammys. While no Guild decision has yet been made regarding the Grammys, if a waiver is requested for the Grammys, it is unlikely to be granted." The awards ceremony is scheduled to take place in Los Angeles on February 10.

Add concert specials to the mix of talent contests, reality and game shows, and animated fare that will continue to be produced during the writers' strike. CBS said Monday that it had signed deals to air one-hour specials featuring Celine Dion and Garth Brooks. Presumably the two singers will use patter written for their stage shows long before the strike began. Dion's special was reportedly taped last Saturday in Los Angeles and is due to air on February 15; Brooks's show will be culled from an upcoming performance at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

After commanding a whopping $750,000 per spot during the upfront buying period last fall, Fox's American Idol has been recently commanding prices of $900,000 per spot, largely helped by the dearth of commercial availabilities on other new programs since the writers' strike began on November 2, Reuters observed Monday. The talent contest, which generated $810 million in revenue for Fox last year, is due to return to the air tonight ((Tuesday). Meanwhile it was reported that Sunday night's debut of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles produced the best ratings in three years for a new scripted series among 18-49-year-old viewers.

The second week of ABC's Dance Wars produced solid results Monday as it averaged a 7.3 rating and an 11 share between 8:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., outperforming NBC's American Gladiators, which finished with a 5.8/9 in the 8:00 p.m. hour. NBC moved into first place in the 9:00 p.m. hour with its Deal or No Deal game show. A repeat of CBS's CSI: Miami at 10:00 p.m. turned out to be the highest-rated program of the night, as it scored a 10.0/16.

NBC News said that it will seek to have an appeals court overturn a decision issued Monday ordering it to include Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich in a Democratic presidential candidates debate in Las Vegas, NV tonight (Tuesday). In his order, Judge Charles Thompson had ruled that if MSNBC went ahead with a debate that included only Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards, he would issue an injunction stopping it. "Had it been established at the beginning that they'll only take the top three for the debates, I wouldn't have any problem enforcing it," the judge said. "I'm somewhat offended that a legitimate candidate was invited to a debate and then uninvited under circumstances that appear to be that they just decided to exclude him."

It's now official: people can compete in televised sports events without getting out of their chairs. ESPN announced Monday that it will add coverage of Major League Gaming's 2008 Pro Circuit competitions to that of its more active fare, like professional football, baseball, basketball and hockey. The sports cable network said that initially, most of its coverage of professional gaming will be carried online at espnvideogames.com, but that it plans to add short segments about competitions on its cable programs, too. In an interview with Advertising Age, Raphael Poplock, who has been placed in charge of video games for ESPN Enterprises, said: "I'm bullish on professional gaming. This is a nice first step to establish a presence in this space and find out through reader interaction where to take this moving forward."

The actress known as Vampira, who hosted horror movies on TV in the 1950s and '60s, has died at the age of 85. Maila Nurmi found little work after her TV stint, the Associated Press indicated, noting that she sold handmade jewelry to support herself in her later years.