Bond, Brown again lead box office, 'Spotlight' shines

James Bond and Charlie Brown again dominated domestic box office over the weekend.

"Spectre," the 24th Bond installment and last week's top film, took in $35.4 million in its second weekend, according to studio estimates yesterday. The film has most flexed its muscles abroad, where the majority of its $500 million-plus haul has come from. This weekend it debuted in C..hina to $48 million - the best opening for a 2-D, U.S. release in China.

"The Peanuts Movie" remained in second place with $24.2 million. It has grossed $82.5 million.

Of the new releases, the Christmas comedy "Love the Coopers" was more liked than loved. The family holiday gathering starring an ensemble including Diane Keaton and John Goodman, fared best. It took in $8.4 million.

The Chilean miner drama, "The 33," made a minor dent, earning a middling $5.8 million. "By the Sea," a marital drama starring Angelina Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt, played in only 10 theaters and made only $95,440.

Expanding to 60 theaters, Tom McCarthy's acclaimed "Spotlight," about the Boston Globe investigation into Catholic priest sex abuse, pulled in $1.4 million with a per-screen average of $23,307. Tabbed as an Oscar favorite, the film is stoking interest with a gradual expansion.

Spike Lee told an audience of entertainment luminaries that it's easier for a black person to become President of the United States than head of a Hollywood studio or network.

Lee made the remarks Saturday as he accepted an Oscar statuette at the film academy's seventh annual Governors Awards dinner in Hollywood, where Gena Rowlands and Debbie Reynolds were also honorees.

"We need to have some serious discussions about diversity and get some flavor up in this," Lee said. "This industry is so behind sports it's ridiculous."

The filmmaker praised Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Cheryl Boone Isaacs for "trying to do something that needs to be done." Earlier in the evening, Isaacs called on the industry powers in attendance to take action toward "recognizing and embracing a broad cross-section of talent." She also announced the academy's new five-year plan to improve diversity in its staff and governance.

"Spike Lee has put more African-Americans to work in this business than anyone else in this business," Denzel Washington said in his introduction.

Cate Blanchett and Laura Linney each paid tribute to Rowlands, calling her a trailblazer and inspiration. The 85-year-old actress, whose career spans six decades, received her Oscar from her son (with John Cassavetes), Nick Cassavettes, who directed his mother in 2004's "The Notebook." He noted that the award was "the first Oscar in the family."

Reynolds received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Jane Fonda and Meryl Streep introduced the 83-year-old entertainer, who announced Friday that she would be unable to attend.

Reynolds was recognized for her decades-long commitment to various charities, including the mental-health organization she founded, the Thalians. Her actress-granddaughter Billie Lourd ("Scream Queens") accepted the statuette on her behalf.

- At the start of Saturday night's Philadelphia Orchestra concert, Yannick Nezet-Seguin strode to the podium and launched into the "Marseillaise," the revolutionary French national anthem, created to mobilize citizens in a fight against oppression. This fitting gesture toward the people of Paris brought the audience to its feet.

- U2 postponed its Saturday night concert in Paris in the light of the deadly attacks.

U2 members say they watched in shock and disbelief at the unfolding events and were devastated by the loss of life at the concert held by Eagles of Death Metal, one of several sites in the city that was violently attacked.

HBO had planned to televise U2's performance.

- Four more women joined a federal lawsuit against Bill Cosby Friday, claiming that the comedian sexually abused them and later defamed them by letting his reps call their stories lies.

Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis, Louisa Moritz and Angela Leslie join three women already named in the civil suit -Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, and Linda Traitz.

- In what seems like a cynical money-grab, Anne Frank is getting a co-author on her famous diary.

The New York Times reported that Anne's father, Otto, will get credit, in order to extend the copyright to 2050.

Otto Frank died in 1980 at the age of 91. Anne Frank died in 1945 in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at the age of 15. The Diary of Anne Frank has sold more than 30 million copies.

The copyright move was made by Anne Frank Fonds, the Swiss foundation that owns the copyright to the work, and had denied for decades that Otto played a significant role in the diary.

- Kim Kardashian tells People magazine that pregnancy is "a miserable experience!"

Almost as miserable as having to quote Kim Kardashian.

Tom Di Nardo and Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

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