News reports Monday observed that the astonishing $39.4-million garnered by Disney's Waterboy, The (1998) over the weekend has lifted the film's star, Adam Sandler, into the same league as Jim Carrey. The film (described by the Associated Press Monday as a "Cajun football comedy") upset box-office records, earning more money than any film ever released in November or December, including those released during holiday periods. Sandler, who rarely grants interviews, had a "really levelheaded" reaction to the news, according to his longtime producer, Robert Simonds. Simonds told today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times that Sandler said to him that "it feels good but doesn't really change anything. We still have a lot of work to do on upcoming projects and it's important not to get ahead of ourselves." (In his next film, Big Daddy, currently filming in New York, Sandler portrays a single man who adopts a child.) Simonds indicated that Sandler has signed a $12-million deal to develop and star in a project for New Line about a man whose mother was an angel and his father, a devil.

The top ten weekend films, according to final figures from Exhibitor Relations: 1. Waterboy, The (1998), Disney, $39.4 million; 2. Siege, The (1998/I), 20th Century Fox, $13.9 million; 3. Pleasantville (1998), New Line, $5.6 million; 4. Antz (1998), DreamWorks, $5.56 million; Wizard of Oz, The (1939) (reissue), Warner Bros., $5.4 million; 6. Living Out Loud (1998), New Line, $4.3 million; 7. Practical Magic (1998), Warner Bros., $4.1 million; 8. John Carpenter's Vampires (1998), Sony, $3.9 million; 9. Belly (1998), Artisan, $3.5 million; 10. Rush Hour (1998), New Line, $3.3 million.

Preparing for an IPO of its Fox Entertainment Group, News Corp., for the first time, released a first-quarter report for the unit, showing a net income surge to $57 million against $28 million during the comparable quarter a year ago. Much of the increase was attributed to the strong performance of There's Something About Mary (1998), the $20-million comedy that has so far earned more than $170 million. (Total movie revenues were up 32 percent to $1.06 billion from $803 million last year.) Bloomberg News quoted Dave Davis, an analyst at Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin as saying, "Mary has been massively profitable for Fox and will probably spawn a sequel. ... They've had a really strong year." And Bishop Cheen, an analyst at First Union Capital Markets, told today's New York Post: "This the quarterly report is an excellent sign for the IPO. ... They've got so many good things happening."

Seagram is planning to undertake the most massive restructuring in the history of the music industry once it completes its acquisition of PolyGram, the Los Angeles Times reported today, citing unnamed sources. The newspaper said that the company intends to slash $300 million in costs annually from the PolyGram and Universal music units, resulting in about 20 percent of the two companies' 15, 500 employees being let go.

Movies, which have long influenced fashion, will be responsible for a new line of Levi's brand jeans following the release next March of MGM's Mod Squad, The (1999). The Wall Street Journal reported today (Tuesday) that, in a promotional deal with the studio, Levi's has agreed to copy the costume designer's jeans, tops and jackets used in the film and issue them under its own label at its established outlets, including the Levi's Web site. Mark Malinowski, a Levi's marketing exec, told the WSJ that the deal is the first movie promotion ever for the company but that it is now looking to make other tie-in deals. "We want to reach younger consumers, and films are an important way to do that, " Malinowski said.

Director Danny Boyle has "gently suggested" to Leonardo DiCaprio that he take off some 20 pounds that he has gained since his appearance in Titanic (1997), the New York Post reported today (Tuesday). According to the newspaper, Boyle is concerned about the flab the young actor put on because he will appear in many scenes of his upcoming movie Beach, The (1999) wearing only a bathing suit or shorts. The magazine claims that DiCaprio put on the weight after being sidelined by a knee operation, which prevented him from working out. Meanwhile, Boyle himself, the newspaper indicated, is eager to convince Hollywood that his success with the movie Trainspotting wasn't just a fluke.

Keith Olbermann, who had made it plain that he was unhappy being ordered to focus on the Monica Lewinsky scandal during his MSNBC talk show, is leaving the cable network to become chief anchor for Fox Sports News. Although, as today's (Tuesday) New York Times pointed out, Olbermann had told TV Guide last year that he regarded doing such a sports show as "the epitome of 'been there, done that, '" he apparently received an offer he couldn't refuse from Fox -- although the figure was not disclosed. The Times said that Fox had also agreed to pay MSNBC $1 million to buy out the remaining two years of Olbermann's current contract. He had been earning $650, 000 a year with MSNBC. The New York Post said that NBC was "overjoyed" that Olbermann, a persistent and caustic critic of his bosses, was leaving.

After a ratings slide during the beginning of the season when it had to compete against the home-run championship contest in baseball and the subsequent post-season games, NFL football games are now exceeding some ratings from a year ago, Nielsen overnights for Sunday's games indicated. Fox, in particular, saw a huge surge of interest for its Sunday regional games, pulling an average 16.5 rating and a 34 share, against a 13.3/27 for the comparable weekend a year ago.

The long lapse between the theatrical release of X-Files, The (1998) and Sunday's season premiere apparently worked against the episode, which had been described as a sequel to the movie, The Fox hit series scored an 11.8 rating and a 17 share in homes and an 11.5/24 in adults 18-49, a 27 percent drop from numbers for the season opener a year ago. The big winner of the night was the first part of CBS's two-part miniseries, Mama Flora's Family (1998) (TV), which pulled a 14.4/22. The network also displayed strength Sunday with a 15.0/24 for 60 Minutes and a 14.8/22 for Touched By an Angel.

Oliver Stone's planned TV drama about the crash of TWA Flight 800, which lends credence to the theory that the plane was brought down by a missile and that the government conspired to cover up the cause, may wind up on Turner's TNT channel, the New York Post reported today (Tuesday). On Friday, ABC said that it had decided not to continue developing the drama with Turner. But the Post reported that Turner has set about trying to find a home for it elsewhere and has been meeting about the film with executives at TNT, where he is exec producer for the upcoming sci-fi series, Witchblade.

The CBS drama JAG has scheduled an episode tonight based on last June's CNN/Tailwind report in which the network accused the U.S. military of using nerve gas during the Vietnam War in an effort to kill American defectors. The network subsequently retracted the story and fired its producers. The JAG drama switches locale to the Gulf War zone

The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to take up two cases that could decide whether police can permit reporters to accompany them during raids or on searches. One of the cases involves a Montana ranch owner who claimed that his fourth-amendment rights were violated when Federal wildlife agents brought a CNN reporter and crew along with them when they raided his home, looking for evidence that he may have been poisoning endangered animals. The other case involves print reporters.

NABET has sent letters to top showbiz publicists and managers asking talent to boycott ABC interview shows, Daily Variety reported today (Tuesday). Noting that last week, Adam Sandler, Whoopi Goldberg and Tony Bennett refused to cross NABET's picket lines at ABC, Gena Stinnett, head of the NABET local in L.A., said, "We hope that other celebrities will follow their lead."

The European Broadcasting Union, representing free, public broadcasting organizations in Europe, plans to launch a drive to keep the World Cup football finals out of the clutches of pay-TV outfits, the London Times reported today. The newspaper noted that the effort appears to conflict directly with plans by Germany's KirchGruppe, which bought European broadcast rights for the 2002 and 2006 World Cup finals for $3.2 billion and plans to air them on its pay channels.