Cloverfield turned out to be not quite the equal of 1998's Godzilla in its opening weekend, but the monster movie nevertheless became the biggest hit of the year as it took in $41 million domestically. By contrast, Godzilla earned an estimated $55.7 million, but that was during the Memorial Day holiday. Moreover, ticket sales for Godzilla quickly trailed off, and the movie wound up with a domestic gross of $136 million. Cloverfield is now expected to exceed that figure. What's more, Godzilla had a budget of $130 million; Cloverfield was made for just $25 million. Debuting in second place was 20th Century Fox's 27 Dresses, which also exceeded prediction with sales of $22.4 million. Two other newcomers did not fare as well. Mad Money took in $7.7 million. Opening in limited release, Woody Allen's Cassandra's Dream performed reasonably well, given generally unfavorable reviews. The movie earned about $501,000 in 107 theaters, for an average of $4,700 per screen. Surprisingly, the film with the highest per-screen average was the French animated film Persepolis which took in $281,000 in 30 theaters, or an average of $9,400 per theater. The overall box office was up 39 percent over the same weekend a year ago with ticket sales of $135.3 million for the top 12 films.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers: 1. Cloverfield, $41 million; 2. 27 Dresses, $22.4 million; 3. The Bucket List, $15.2 million; 4. Juno, $10.3 million; 5. National Treasure: Book of Secrets, $8.1 million; 6. First Sunday, $7.8 million; 7. Mad Money, $7.7 million; 8. Alvin and the Chipmunks, $7 million; 9. I Am Legend, $5.1 million; 10. Atonement, $4.8 million.

Eddie Murphy found himself holding a whole basket of Golden Raspberry nominations for his work in the comedy Norbit. Murphy, an Oscar nominee last year for Dreamgirls, received Razzies for worst actor, worst supporting actor, worst supporting actress and worst screen couple. (In the movie, Murphy plays the nerdy title character as well as a fat woman who pursues him.) Murphy and the film's other writers were also nominated for worst screenplay, and the film itself was nominated for worst film. Other films nominated for worst film included I Know Who Killed Me, Bratz, Daddy Day Camp, and I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry. The Razzies are handed out the day before the Oscar ceremonies.

Informal talks between Patric Verrone and David Young of the Writers Guild of America on the one hand and Disney CEO Robert Iger and News Corp President Peter Chernin on the other are expected to take place in Los Angeles tomorrow to determine whether full-scale negotiations between the writers and the studios can resume. No formal talks between the two sides have taken place since Dec. 7, when the studios broke off discussions, saying publicly that they would not entertain the WGA's demands to have jurisdiction over reality and animated shows and films. It was not clear whether the writers would agree to remove those issues from the negotiations -- or whether the producers would continue to insist that they do so. Many observers expect that the two sides will agree to focus on the recently negotiated contract with the Directors Guild of America as a possible "framework" for a deal with the WGA.

Plans to film a movie about the life of Sammy Davis Jr. have hit a legal roadblock in Dallas, the Dallas Morning News reported today (Monday), citing a lawsuit filed in federal court in Dallas by Davis's widow Altovise against two former business partners. Joining her in the lawsuit are Judy and Burt Boyar, who co-wrote Davis's autobiographies, Yes, I Can and Why Me? They claim that a that the former partners, California couple Barrett LaRoda and Anthony Francis, enticed Mrs. Davis to sign away rights to her husband's estate to a company they created called Sammy Davis Jr. Enterprises and that they have mismanaged the company ever since. Mrs. Davis claims that the pair demanded executive producer credits in connection with the film bio and then scuppered negotiations with the studio when the talks were near completion. In an interview with the Morning News, Dallas attorney Mike Lynn, who represents Mrs. Davis, said that she is "devastated that the defendants have decided to hold this movie hostage for their own selfish interests. Her hope is that the claims in this lawsuit can be quickly resolved, which will clear the way for the movie to go forward."

The Screen Actors Guild sent a warning to members Sunday that studio screeners sent to them in connection with the upcoming SAG Awards "may not be sold, transferred to a third party or used for any other purpose." If it is discovered that any of them have been so used, the guild said, members could be subject to criminal prosecution or civil liability. Moreover, it warned, "SAG will also review any alleged violation of these restrictions for possible charges of conduct unbecoming a member."

The Fox TV network, which already was expected to dominate the ratings this month with the return of American Idol, absolutely crushed the opposition Sunday night with the primetime airing of the NFC championship game between the New York Giants and the Green Bay Packers. According to preliminary Nielsen results the game drew an enormous 26.3 rating and a 39 share, translating to about 49 million viewers -- peaking to a 27.5/39 (50 million viewers) in the 9:00 p.m. hour. Among adults 18-49, the results were even more lopsided, with Fox drawing an 18.6 rating and ABC finishing far behind in second with a 2.8. CBS was in third place with a 2.0 and NBC in fourth with a 1.2.

NBC may have continued to rank dead last among the four major networks last year, but all in all, it was a good year for NBC Universal, which saw a 10-percent rise in earnings in the fourth quarter, marking the fifth straight quarter of solid profits. In particular, the company credited growth at its cable nets, including USA, Sci Fi, MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, and Oxygen and record profits for its Universal Pictures unit. Taking note of the fact that News Corp launched its Fox Business Channel in the fourth quarter, NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker told Daily Variety: "There was so much attention to a new competitor coming in, but the fact is CNBC had its highest ratings ever in the fourth quarter." The company said its earnings for 2007 rose to $3.5 billion on $15.4 billion in gross revenue, up 6 percent from 2006.

Despite renewed optimism about a resolution of the Hollywood writers' strike following last week's agreement with the Directors Guild, signs continued to appear that the TV and film industries would continue to suffer financial hardship for months to come, if not longer. Over the weekend, CBS said that it had dropped about 20 projects that were being readied for pilot production. In a statement, the network said, "Due to the ongoing writers strike, our development needs for the upcoming pilot season have changed, and we have released some comedy and drama scripts." And the London Financial Times reported that NBC Universal CEO is planning to eliminate the pilot season and the "upfront" pre-season presentation of the network's shows to advertisers. "Things like that are all vestiges of an era that's gone by and won't return," Zucker told the newspaper. Plans for the upcoming Grammy and Oscar awards remained up in the air, with few people willing to predict that, even under the best of circumstances, the strike could be settled before those awards shows take place.

Rather than buying ads in each of the 20 states holding primary elections on February 5, the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are considering purchasing time on the major networks, BusinessWeek reported in its online edition. The magazine said that an official at one of the major broadcast networks, who asked not to be identified, has confirmed that media buyers for the candidates had contacted his network about a possible ad buy but had not yet purchased any spots.

After reportedly planning to withdraw its two Super Bowl spots, purchased at a price of nearly $3 million each, Hyundai has apparently had a change of heart. A spokesperson for the Korean auto company told Advertising Age that it now plans to revamp its commercials for the Bowl in order to raise Hyundai's image as it prepares to launch sales of its new Genesis luxury sedan.

Two years after, in effect, renouncing his claim to the title of heir apparent to Rupert Murdoch's News Corp media empire, Lachlan Murdoch may be poised to become head of another media empire formed in Australia by his father's late rival, Kerry Packer. According to published reports the younger Murdoch is teaming up with James Packer to take Packer's Consolidated Media Holdings, Australia's second-largest media company, private in a $2.9-billion deal in which the two will offer to buy the company's outstanding shares at a 25-percent premium. Consolidated controls the Nine Television Network and Foxtel, the nation's leading pay-TV channel, among other media holdings. It is also the country's leading magazine publisher. "I know these businesses really well," Lachlan Murdoch told Bloomberg News. "I have a history of running 35 TV stations in the U.S. and I have a pretty solid print background." He said that his father's News Corp is not involved in the deal. Packer, whose father died two years ago, is seeking to distance himself from operations of the company and concentrate instead on Crown Ltd, a gaming business that he spun off from Consolidated last year.

Suzanne Pleshette, who played Bob Newhart's wife on The Bob Newhart Show from 1972 to 1978, died Saturday in Los Angeles just days short of her 70th birthday on Jan. 31, when she was to have been honored with a star on Hollywood Boulevard's Walk of Fame. Her death was attributed to respiratory failure. She had been treated for lung cancer since 2006.