Perplexing analysts who had predicted that the writers' strike would have little impact on movie making in its early stages and that TV alone would take the initial brunt, two more studios announced Monday that they have postponed production of features they were about to shoot. The films were Warner Bros.' Shantaram, starring Johnny Depp, and The Weinstein Co.'s Nine, starring Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Sophia Loren and Marion Cotillard. Both studios said that the screenplays required additional work. Earlier, Sony's Columbia announced that it was delaying The Da Vinci Code prequel, Angels and Demons and United Artists said it was postponing Oliver Stone's Pinkville for the same reason. Meanwhile, both the film and TV businesses were bracing for the possibility that the writers' strike could shut down the Oscar awards in February. Syndicated gossip columnist Liz Smith asked today (Tuesday): "How can they hold the Oscars if there are no writers? No self-respecting, or self-protective, actor would cross the inevitable picket line -- not even to pick up an Oscar."

It might have been a dismal weekend at the box office had it not been for 3-D. Although 3-D theaters accounted for just 20 percent of the nearly 3200 theaters that screened the No. 1 film, Beowulf, they accounted for more than 40 percent of the film's gross of $27.5 million. "It just shows the potential of what 3D can be in the future," Paramount distribution chief Don Harris told The Hollywood Reporter. Other films made only so-so showings. The No. 2 film was the Jerry Seinfeld animated cartoon Bee Movie, which earned $14 million in its third week. Another family film, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, opened with a less-than-wondrous $9.6 million. The only other newcomer, Love in the Time of Cholera was DOA with just $1.9 million. There were a couple of bright spots on the list, however. The critically praised No Country for Old Men from the Coen Bros. earned $3.1 million despite widening its release to only 148 theaters. It placed seventh on the box-office list. And Universal's American Gangster became the first film of the fall to cross the $100-million mark in gross ticket sales.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Beowulf, Paramount, $27,515,871, (New); 2. Bee Movie, Paramount, $14,008,444, 3 Wks. ($93,570,695); 3. American Gangster, Universal, $12,875,250, 3 Wks. ($100,650,615); 4. Fred Claus, Warner Bros., $11,914,323, 2 Wks. ($35,712,980); 5. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, 20th Century Fox, $9,630,085, (New); 6. Dan in Real Life, Disney, $4,343,185, 4 Wks. ($36,931,806); 7. No Country for Old Men, Miramax, $3,075,722, (New); 8. Lions for Lambs, MGM, $2,896,594, 2 Wks. ($11,584,339); 9. Saw IV, Lions Gate, $2,248,805, 4 Wks. ($61,766,718); 10. Love in the Time of Cholera, New Line, $1,924,860, (New).

Jackie Chan disclosed Monday that he and his Rush Hour director Brett Ratner are setting up a Chinese-based film company that will make films for release to the American market. Writing in his blog, Chan said that the company has been named the Chan Ratner Company. "The whole idea of this company is for China and America to cooperate so I can make American films in China and Brett can act as my consultant," he said. The three Rush Hour movies have earned $507 million thus far.

The Kodak Theater in Hollywood, which hosts the annual Oscar awards telecast, will become the permanent home for a movies-related Cirque du Soleil production costing $100 million, Cirque founder Guy Laliberté announced Monday. At a press conference Laliberté said that the show, currently untitled, will focus on Hollywood history. Three hundred sixty-eight performances are scheduled each year, to run from March through January. The production will take a hiatus in February for the Oscars.

The Writers Guild of America may open a second front against CBS, following strike authorization by news writers at the network and its local radio and TV stations in New York, Chicago, Washington, and Los Angeles. The WGA said 81 percent of its members had voted in favor of the authorization. The primary issue is a proposal by the company to pay writers at its local all-news radio stations less than what they pay their national counterparts. The WGA also objects to a plan whereby members of their on-air staffs at KNX and KFWB in Los Angeles would share writing duties with WGA members. Following the vote, CBS announced that while it hoped that the news writers would not strike, it was prepared to continue production of its news programs if a strike did materialize.

The question of what to pay writers when their work appears on the Internet may be at the crux of the current writers' strike. But now a reverse issue has been raised: What do you pay writers of an Internet show when it appears on television? NBC is likely to face that issue imminently following the announcement on Monday that it plans to air the Edward Zwick-Marshall Herskovitz "dramedy" Quarterlife on the network. The series of 36 eight-minute episodes is current running on the Web, and NBC said Monday that it plans to combine several of them into six hour-long episodes that it will air later this season. However, according to published reports, there are currently no published pay scales devised for paying the writing and acting talent for reuse of Internet programs on any network.

Donny Osmond apologized to Larry King on Monday, days after he had threatened to block the broadcast of a CNN interview in which King asked his sister Marie Osmond about placing her son in rehab for substance abuse. Appearing on NBC's Today show, Donny acknowledged that he was upset about the question but said that he later learned that the news had already been leaked to the tabloids and that King's question had allowed Marie to address the matter before it appeared in print. "I have to apologize to Larry King because I said some things against him," he told Meredith Vieira during the interview. "In hindsight, I'm grateful that he gave Marie that platform."

Polish groups are up in arms over a character in the Fox sitcom Back to You and how he is treated by other characters.The Polish American Congress has demanded a meeting with Fox owner Rupert Murdoch to discuss the matter and has asked that the character, Gary Crezyzewski, no longer be identified as Polish. "What we found so troubling is the attribution of a Polish identity to a character portrayed as someone less than competent," PAC Chairman Frank Milewski said in a letter to Murdoch. "We believe any ethnic group would be offended by having Fox portray it in such a derogatory manner." In reply, Fox defended its treatment of the character but added, "We apologize to any viewers who may have been offended."

FCC Chairman Kevin Martin is running into opposition from some fellow Republicans over his attempt to increase the commission's authority over cable TV. The Wall Street Journal reported today (Tuesday) that 24 Republican congressmen have written a letter to Martin calling his proposal "inappropriate at best and contradicts the [FCC] statute at worst." Among other changes, Martin is seeking to require cable providers to allow subscribers to choose the networks they wish to receive on an a la carte basis.

An award-winning Iraqi photographer working for the Associated Press who was taken into custody by U.S. troops in Ramadi 19 months ago will be turned over to an Iraqi court for criminal prosecution, a Pentagon press officer said Monday. Although the A.P. has long contended that no evidence exists to support the military's claim that the photographer, Bilal Hussein, was connected with Iraqi terrorist groups, the press officer, Geoff Morrell, maintained Monday that a "range of evidence" now exists that "Hussein is a terrorist media operative who infiltrated the A.P." Hussein was a member of an AP team of photographers that won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography in Iraq in 2005 and his photos have widely appeared in print and television. The military has not informed A.P. lawyers of the charges to be brought against Hussein, and A.P lawyer Paul Gardephe, a former federal prosecutor, complained in an interview with Editor & Publisher: "This makes it impossible to put together a defense. ... At the moment, it looks like we can do little more than show up ... and try to put together a defense during the proceedings."