Children of Men , a film that was apparently held in higher regard by critics and audiences than it was by Universal, the studio that released it, landed in third place at the box office over the weekend, as it raked in $10.2 million at just 1,209 theaters, fewer than a third of those showing the No. 1 film, Fox's Night at the Museum. Children averaged $8,435 per theater versus $6,355 for Museum. J. Hoberman, writing in the Village Voice, recently remarked that Universal had been treating the movie "like a communicable disease." Sheerly Avni, writing on the liberal blog Truthdig Monday, called it "an orphaned masterpiece," and one fan, disgusted with the official trailers for the movie, created one of his/her own and posted it on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lfs1UIKALQ), where it has drawn considerable comment and praise from fans.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Night At The Museum, 20th Century Fox, $23,743,960, 3 Wks. ($163,840,714); 2. The Pursuit of Happyness, Sony, $12,880,926, 4 Wks. ($124,039,482); 3. Children of Men, Universal, $10,197,775, 3 Wks. ($11,805,273); 4. Freedom Writers, Paramount, $9,405,582, 1 Wk., (New); 5. Dreamgirls, Paramount, $8,663,680, 4 Wks. ($54,322,145); 6. Happily N'ever After, Lionsgate, $6,608,244, 1 Wk., (New); 7. Charlotte's Web, Paramount, $6,598,179, 4 Wks. ($66,963,119); 8. The Good Shepherd, Universal, $6,446,345, 3 Wks. ($48,344,025); 9. Rocky Balboa, MGM, $6,017,649, 3 Wks. ($60,642,611); 10. We Are Marshall, Warner Bros., $4,875,400, 3 Wks. ($35,165,379).

Sacha Baron Cohen has defended himself against claims from people who appeared in his Borat movie that they were duped into making racist comments. "This wasn't Candid Camera," in which people were caught off-guard by hidden cameras and microphones, Cohen told today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times. "There were two large cameras in the room." Moreover, he remarked, "I don't buy the argument that, 'Oh, I wouldn't have acted so racist or anti-Semitic if I'd known this film was being shown in America.' That's no excuse." Meanwhile, it was reported Monday that Borat will debut on DVD on March 6 with no deletions from the theatrical version. The DVD, however, will include scenes that did not make the theatrical cut, as well as scenes from news conferences in which Cohen appeared as Borat to plug the movie.

The Walt Disney Co. has unveiled a completely revamped website that emphasizes video and allows users to customize the look of the site and play video games based on the company's movies, but it conspicuously does not include any social-networking pages. Analysts speculated that Disney may have been wary of attracting the kind of criticism currently directed toward News Corp's MySpace.com, where kids often post sexually explicit messages and videos of themselves. Paul Yanover, executive vice president of Disney Online, said during a news conference on Monday that while the company was considering creating some sort of a "journal system," it would not "jump into a place where users can upload pictures of themselves." However, UBS analyst Aryeh Bourkoff told today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times, "For the teenage segment, they are already so exposed to other sites, it could be limiting."

Sales of DVDs rose to $16.6 billion in 2006, largely as a result of strong holiday sales -- up a tiny 1.8 percent above last year's $16.3 billion but enough to set a record. Rentals, however, were up a sharp 15.4 percent to $7.5 billion from $6.5 billion in 2005, according to figures released by the Digital Entertainment Group at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Monday. In addition, some 33 million DVD players were sold during the year, 11 million of which were purchased during the fourth (holiday) quarter. Offsetting the strong DVD results was the continued nose-dive of VHS sales and rentals, which came to a near halt in 2006. The DEG study revealed that only $1 million was spent on VHS sales and rentals combined during the year versus $1.5 billion in 2005 and $3.3 billion in 2004. DEG's figures also revealed that 12.5 million high-definition TV units were sold in 2006, 40 percent of them during the fourth quarter.

Judging from announcements made Monday at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, a veritable flood of movies will be released this year on Sony's Blu-ray DVD format. Sony's own corporate sibling, Sony Films, said that it plans to release up to 100 movie titles this year. Warner Bros. said it is likely to reduce a similar number of films, while the smaller Lionsgate Studios said that it plans to offer about 40-50 titles.

Iwao Takamoto, an animator who learned his craft at the Walt Disney studios after being released from the Manzanar internment camp after World War II, then went to work for Hanna-Barbera, where he created Scooby-Doo, died of heart failure Monday in Los Angeles at the age of 81. Takamoto also directed the animated classic Charlotte's Web in 1973.

Yet another video about the execution of Saddam Hussein has surfaced on the Internet, raising new questions about how it was conducted. It has not appeared on television, and that fact, too, raises questions about broadcast-television news's ability to get a handle on controversial matters that involve the use of images forbidden under network standards and practices. The Associated Press reported that the video, taken after the execution, shows a gaping, bloody wound on the left side of his neck with blotches of blood on his cheek and blood on the shroud covering him. The video first appeared on an Iraqi website believed to have ties with Saddam's Baath Party.

One year after he was nearly killed by a roadside bomb near Baghdad, Bob Woodruff will return to the air to tell the story of that experience and his difficult recovery. ABC announced Monday that it plans to air "To Iraq and Back: Bob Woodruff Reports" at 10:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 27. In it, Woodruff will interview some of the soldiers who were with him when his convoy came under attack on January 29, 2007 as well as members of his ABC News crew. He also interviews members of the medical team at Bethesda Naval Hospital who saved his life by removing shrapnel from his head and brain, and he will talk to others wounded in Iraq who have been undergoing treatment at the hospital.

The CBS blog Public Eye, which generally seeks to put a transparent face on CBS News, has taken the unusual step of criticizing the CBS News-produced morning program The Early Show for its coverage of an incident in which a Disney World employee dressed as Tigger allegedly hit a teenage boy. During the broadcast, a video of the incident taken by the father of the boy was repeatedly played. Public Eye's Brian Montopoli observed afterwards that he could understand why the father and son were invited to appear on the program: "Video footage like this is hard to resist, and the folks at the Early Show have a couple hours to fill in the morning. But," he added, "we'd like to think that we would have brought somewhat more skepticism to the table than [Early Show anchor Hannah] Storm, who did not challenge the family's characterization of the incident." Public Eye did not post any defense of the interview from anyone connected with the broadcast.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear an appeal of a lower court order that forced EchoStar communications, which operates the DISH home-satellite network, to stop selling distant signals to subscribers. DISH subscribers, however, may still receive stations from outside their immediate area via their existing receivers by signing up with the independent company National Programming Service, Echostar said.

Virtually all the popular channels currently available in standard definition will be beaming in high definition over DirecTV by the end of this year, president and CEO Chase Carey said at the Consumer Electronics Convention in Las Vegas Monday. Carey presented plans to launch over 100 channels in HDTV, including CNN, USA Networks, The Weather Channel, TBS and the Food Network. DirecTV already carries high-definition programming from the major broadcast networks.

Rosie O'Donnell, who has seen ratings for The View, on which she appears, soar during her public feud with Donald Trump while Trump's The Apprentice ratings have tanked, insisted Monday that Trump was "obsessed" with her. O'Donnell responded to Trump's latest tirades against her by remarking on Monday's show, "Boy, did I hit a nerve with that guy." When Barbara Walters, who produces the show and is friendly with Trump, remarked that she hoped "we could rise above it," O'Donnell interjected, "It's not me, it's him. ... He's doing every show in America [talking about me]."