It may have seen a 56-percent drop in ticket sales from last weekend, but Warner Bros.' 300 nevertheless remained far ahead of its rivals at the box office in its second weekend with an estimated take of $31.2 million. The biker comedy Wild Hogs remained in second place, dropping only 32 percent, as it raked in about $18.8 million and crossed the $100-million mark in its third weekend. (There have been numerous reports that teens have been buying tickets for the PG-13-rated Hogs, then sneaking in to see the R-rated 300.) Sandra Bullock's Premonition debuted in third place with around $18 million, while the horror film Dead Silence, which was not screened for critics, opened in fourth place with $7.8 million. But the Chris Rock romantic comedy I Think I Love My Wife tanked in its opening weekend, earning only $5.7 million. And Paramount's Zodiac, the highly touted and well-reviewed thriller, sank to eighth place in its third weekend, taking in only $3 million. In limited release, Ken Loach's The Wind That Shakes the Barley, last year's Cannes Film Festival winner about two brothers on opposites sides or the 1920s' civil war in Ireland, opened strongly in nine theaters with $75,311. Overall, despite horrendous weather conditions in some parts of the country and competition from the NCAA basketball tournament on TV, the box office was up a remarkable 10.5 percent over the comparable weekend a year ago, with the top-twelve films taking in an estimated $102.4 million.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers: 1. 300, $31.2 million; 2. Wild Hogs, $18.8 million; 3. Premonition, $18 million; 4. Dead Silence, $7.8 million; 5. I Think I Love My Wife, $5.7 million; 6. Bridge to Terabithia, $5.1 million; 7. Ghost Rider, $4 million; 8. Zodiac, $3.1 million; 9. Norbit, $2.7 million; 10. Music and Lyrics, $2.2 million.

Efforts by overseas film distributors to cut costs by outsourcing subtitle translations to such countries as India and Malaysia have resulted in creating dialog that makes little sense to local audiences, according to today's (Monday) London Times. The newspaper observed that translators with little understanding of the nuances of English are taking the place of British subtitlers, many with long careers in the business. Kenn Nakata Steffenson, who translates English films into Danish and Japanese films into English, cited one film in which the line "Jim is a Vietnam vet" became "Jim is veterinarian from Vietnam" in the farmed-out Danish subtitles. In another film, the words "flying into an asteroid field" became "flying into a steroid field." In yet another, "She died in a freak rugby accident" became "She died in a rugby match for people with deformities." In My Super Ex-Girlfriend, Uma Thurman's line, "We have a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment" was translated into Taiwanese as "We hold the highest standards for sexual harassment." The Times said that Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro was so upset with the English subtitles for his 2001 film The Devil's Backbone that he himself worked on the subtitles for last year's award-winning Pan's Labyrinth.

A top Bollywood actress has touched off controversy in India following word that she will play a lesbian in her forthcoming movie, I Can't Think Straight, which was recently filmed in England. Indian-Canadian Lisa Ray, who starred in Deepa Mehta's Oscar-nominated Water, declined to discuss the film when contacted by IANS, the Indian wire service. But Aseem Bajaj, director of photography on the film, remarked that he does not see the subject matter as controversial -- "not in this day and age." Ray herself is not unfamiliar with controversy generated by her films. Water sparked violent protests by Hindu fundamentalists when it began shooting in Varanasi in 2000, forcing the Uttar Pradesh government to halt additional filming there.

As far as the Walt Disney Co. is concerned, Steve Jobs was not involved "in any intentional or deliberate acts of misconduct" when he was the chairman of Pixar Animation. In a statement issued on Friday, Disney Chairman John Pepper appeared to be addressing reports that Jobs might have approved backdating options for top Pixar executives prior to the sale of the company to Disney. The matter is currently being scrutinized by federal regulators, who are also looking into similar backdated options issued to executives at Apple, Inc., which Jobs continues to head as chairman.

An overrun of CBS's coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament knocked CBS's programs out of their usual half-hour blocks Sunday night, but the network nevertheless dominated ratings for the night, averaging an 8.8 rating and a 14 share, while its nearest competitor, NBC, settled for a 5.1/8. ABC finished close behind with a 5.0/8, while Fox trailed with a 3.4/5. CBS dominated in every half hour, beginning at 7:00 p.m. when basketball and the first part of 60 Minutes scored an 8.3/15. The network's ratings ticked upwards throughout the night, ending at 10;00 p.m. with a 10.0/17 for the ending of Cold Case and the beginning of Without a Trace. In the same hour, by contrast, NBC's The Apprentice drew an abysmal 4.6/8.

By being at the right place at the wrong time, WCBS-TV, CBS's flagship station in New York City, was able to capture an angry melee that erupted Sunday night during a high-school basketball game at Madison Square Garden and spread to the streets. Boasting that it had exclusive coverage of the often bloody brawls involving hundreds of fans, police, and passersby, the station aired some of the footage on its late-night newscast and posted it on its website later. It reported that 21 arrests had been made but that the number could grow higher when a final count came in today (Monday).

For the first time in its 23-year history, Jeopardy! ended in a three-way tie Friday, with three contestants each finishing with $16,000 in winnings. A mathematician contacted by CBS TV Distribution put the odds of such an occurrence at one in 25 million. All three contestants were declared winners and will participate in a rematch set to air today (Monday).

Carol Burnett has filed a $6-million lawsuit against Fox Broadcasting, charging that the network infringed on her copyright and misappropriated her likeness when it included an animated version of her cleaning woman character on its animated sitcom Family Guy. Burnett objected to an 18-second scene in which the character, working in a porn shop to "keep it clean," tugs her earlobe while a bit of music resembling the theme from Burnett's variety show is played. She said in the filing that she had previously rejected a request by the show's producers to use the actual music. Responding to the lawsuit, Fox observed that Family Guy frequently includes pop-culture parodies, adding, "We are surprised that Ms. Burnett, who has made a career of spoofing others on television, would go so far as to sue Family Guy for a simple bit of comedy."

Commuters will now be able to decide what programs they want their TiVo DVRs to record for them while they're away by consulting program listings on their cellphones -- if they're customers of Verizon Wireless. Verizon and TiVo announced Friday that the service is now available for a #1.99 monthly fee. TiVo marketing exec Jim Denney said in a statement Friday, "TiVo Mobile scheduling gives Verizon Wireless customers unprecedented control of their television experience and provides that control wherever they are."

Fifty years to the day after The Gumby Show debuted on March 16, 1957, DMGI, a distributor of digital Internet programming, has announced that it has concluded deals that will provide 200 Gumby episodes to Google, AOL, and YouTube. The company, which licensed the material from Classic Media and Premavision, said in a statement that Gumby's online appearance will mark the first time the series has been seen in its original format in more than 20 years. The first Gumby video debuted on some of the sites on Friday.