A funny thing happened on Grindhouse's way to becoming the top film of the weekend. Well, actually three funny things -- the holdover comedies Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons and the newcomer Are We Done Yet? Grindhouse came in a disappointing fourth, earning just $11.6 million -- half the gross that analysts had predicted. By contrast, Glory dropped only 30 percent in its second weekend, raking in an estimated $23 million and bringing its total to 68.4 million. In second place, the animated Robinsons dropped just 32 percent to earn $17 million and bring its total to $52.2 million. Are We Done Yet?, a remake of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House with Ice Cube in the Cary Grant role, debuted with $10.1 million. And then there was the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez "double bill" Grindhouse. Analysts had mixed explanations for the film's disappointing performance. Family films traditionally dominate the Easter weekend, they observed. Some noted that Grindhouse was up against another horror flick, The Reaping, starring Hilary Swank (which came in fifth with $10.1 million). Others noted that the effort to release Grindhouse, packaged as an old-fashioned double feature complete with fake previews, likely went over the heads of the younger crowd which dominates the movie market. Still others noted that the complete package lasts more than three hours, limiting the number of times it can be shown in theaters. In an interview with the Associated Press, Harvey Weinstein, whose The Weinstein Co./Dimension Films released the movie, said: "If you go see it with any audience, walk into any theater, you'll see people screaming and applauding like a rock concert. ... Maybe we didn't educate the audience that it's such an experience." In a separate interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Weinstein said, "It got such great reviews and such great [audience] scores, that it's baffling." Meanwhile, in limited release, Miramax's The Hoax, starring Richard Gere, opened in 235 theaters to an estimated $1.5 million. Overall, the top 12 films took in an estimated $113 million, up 9.7 percent from the comparable week a year ago.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers: 1. Blades of Glory, $23 million; 2. Meet the Robinsons, $17 million; 3. Are We Done Yet?, $15 million; 4. Grindhouse, $11.6 million; 5. The Reaping, $10.1 million; 6. 300, $8.8 million; 7. Wild Hogs, $6.8 million; 8. Shooter, $5.8 million; 9. TMNT, $4.9 million; 10. Firehouse Dog, $4 million.

Expanding into 6,500 theaters in 61 countries, the fantasy/history epic 300 was the No. 1 film overseas over the Easter weekend, taking in $32 million and beating last week's winner, Mr. Bean's Holiday, which placed second with $30.1 million in 4,300 theaters. However, on a per-theater basis, the Roland Atkinson comedy led with $6,976 to 300's $4,923. Both films are also expected to perform solidly today (Monday), a holiday in many countries.

The MPAA wants to be exempted from a proposed California law that would bar anyone from making false statements in order to get personal information about Internet users. Saturday's Los Angeles Times reported that the MPAA, joined by the recording industry's RIAA, said that it is sometimes necessary for its investigators to use subterfuge in order to gain information about online pirates -- for example, by pretending to be potential accomplices. Without such an exemption, the MPAA argued, the law would "prevent MPAA's anti-piracy department and contract investigators, who gather evidence to bring legal actions against criminals who counterfeit and steal motion pictures and other works, from employing certain long-employed techniques to obtain information."

The Walt Disney Co. is planning to build a second theme park in China to augment the one it already has in Hong Kong -- but where it will be and whether it will duplicate the Disneyland model has still not been determined, a Disney official said in Beijing Sunday. Wing T. Chao, vice-chairman of Asia Pacific Development at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, told the Xinhua News Agency: "We are sure to build a second park in China in the long run, but we are now reviewing the market and yet to work out the location and specific construction plans." It had previously been reported that Disney was considering a site in Shanghai.

As if they were obeying an eleventh commandment -- Thou Shalt Watch The Ten Commandments Every Year -- television viewers made the 1956 Cecil B. DeMille classic the most-watched television program Saturday night. The ABC telecast attracted an audience of 7.87 million -- more than those who tuned in to any other program that night. Nevertheless, the numbers were down from previous years when the movie aired on Easter Sunday. Presumably, ABC was reluctant to bump Desperate Housewives from its Sunday-night slot, where it regularly produces some of the network's highest ratings. Sunday night's episode, for example, drew 15.66 million viewers, about twice the number who watched Commandments the night before. While Housewives remained the top-rated show Sunday night, its ratings continue to erode. It is now attracting about half the number of viewers that it did a year ago.

Television crews from all over the world are expected to converge on the Bahamas Tuesday when Ohio DNA expert Dr. Michael Baird is expected to announce results of tests to determine the paternity of Anna Nicole Smith's baby. Attorney Howard K. Stern and photographer Larry Birkhead, the two men who claim to be the father of the infant, are also expected to be on hand. A recent study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism concluded that between February 8, 2007, the day of Smith's death, to March 2, 2007, the day of her burial, the three major cable news networks devoted 22 percent of their newscasts to the story compared with 17 percent for the Iraq War.

The decision by Comedy Central to make available the first episode of the new season of South Park in high definition via Microsoft's Xbox360 network may mark a turning point in TV history, MediaPost writer Josh Lovison observed Friday. Noting that Comedy Central does not air in HDTV, Lovison wrote, "This makes South Park the first network TV show to bypass its traditional distributors to offer a superior product via digital distribution -- in this case, a major video game platform." Referring to the fact that because of bandwidth considerations cable systems can carry only a handful of HDTV networks, Lovison commented that if program producers "are able to deliver their content in HD via nontraditional, digital, 'on-demand' alternatives -- then traditional TV may become obsolete."

Even seven months after taking over the helm of the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric is still counseling patience. In an interview with More magazine, Couric says that she's "still getting my sea legs." Her aim, she says, is to establish the newscast "as smart and trustworthy and me as a relatively intelligent person." That change in her own image, she suggested, has been jarring to her longtime fans. "The people who used to watch me on the Today show are saying: 'What happened to her? She's not laughing and carrying on the way she used to." Ironically, Meredith Vieira, who replaced Couric on Today, has also asked viewers to be patient during the transition. "I'm still in the process of getting comfortable," Vieira told today's (Monday) Washington Post. "This is an ensemble, and it's a performance every day. It's a dance. The more you do it, the better you get at it."

The military regime in Thailand continued to block YouTube as new images mocking the king were posted in a backlash to the government's censorship of the video-sharing website. Meanwhile, YouTube offered to meet with Thai officials to discuss the issue. "While we will not take down videos that do not violate our policies, and do not assist governments, we have offered to educate the Thai ministry about YouTube and how it works," a company spokesperson told Bloomberg News. "It's up to the Thai government to decide whether to block specific videos, but we would rather that than have them block the whole site." Meanwhile, a Pattaya newspaper noted that ousted prime minister Thaksin is "au fait" (well-versed) with technology and could use such sites as YouTube "to remain in the public eye with his supporters." The government has previously ordered broadcasters in the country to avoid any mention of Thaksin or his partisan allies. And in yet another action, government censors shut down an internet forum, Ratchadamnoen Room, hosted by the popular Thai website www.pantip.com, after concluding that some of the opinions posted on the site, presumably by critics of the military regime, represented "a threat to national security."