Multi-hyphenated filmmaker Sydney Pollack, who won a director's Oscar for 1985's Out of Africa and received nominations for directing 1969's They Shoot Horses Don't They? and 1982's Tootsie, died Monday after a year-long battle with cancer. He would have turned 74 on July 1. Pollack also produced numerous films, including last year's Michael Clayton, in which he also had a prominent acting role, portraying George Clooney's lawyer boss. In a statement, Clooney said, "Sydney made the world a little better, movies a little better and even dinner a little better. ... He'll be missed terribly."

When the final tally of Memorial Day weekend ticket sales is calculated, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is expected to wind up with $311.1 million worldwide, with about $151.1 million of that amount coming from the U.S. and Canada, according to Paramount Pictures, its distributor. The movie reportedly got a boost from 30- and 40-year-old moviegoers, a demographic group that is more selective about the films it takes in than the teens and 20-year-olds who make up the primary movie-going audience. "That [older] audience was excited to see the movie and excited to bring their kids with them," Paramount distribution chief Rob Moore told Reuters. The expected $151.1-million Memorial Day gross in the U.S. was surpassed only by the $153 million that Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End took in over the same holiday weekend last year. The top ten films for the four-day (Friday through Monday) holiday weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers (Thursday results are not included): 1. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Paramount, $126,040,000; 2. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Disney, $28,642,000; 3. Iron Man, Paramount, $25,650,000; 4. What Happens in Vegas, $Fox, $11,150,000; 5. Speed Racer, Warner Bros., $5,205,000; 6. Baby Mama, Universal, $4,208,100; 7. Made of Honor, Sony/Col/Rev, $4,200,000; 8. Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Universal, $2,19,9120; 9. Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantánamo Bay, Warner Bros., $1,200,000; 10. The Visitor, Overture Films, $91,7000.

If the latest Indiana Jones movie is attracting generally older moviegoers, next weekend's top release, Sex and the City, also looks to attract a non-habitual audience -- women in their 40s and early 50s. As reported by the Associated Press, the online ticketing service Fandango has determined from a survey of ticket buyers that 94 percent are women; 67 percent plan to see the film in a group of other women; 16 percent said that they were going with one other woman; and just 6 percent said they were going with a man. Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office trackers Media by Numbers, told the AP that his group has determined that the primary audience will be women from 20 to 55. "A huge female audience can create a blockbuster of a movie if there's enough interest," he said.

The London Star is reporting that producers of the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace have yet to decide whether to use a song written and performed by Amy Winehouse as the title theme of the movie, due to be released in October. Winehouse has said that she has recorded several possible songs for the 007 movie that she describes as "good ones I'm really happy with." She added, "I don't know what is wrong with them or what the problem is." The newspaper suggested that the problem may be Winehouse herself and her frequent brushes with the law over drug use. On Sunday the Express reported that the producers are likely to turn to Beyonce, who has become the "firm favorite after first-choice Amy fell off the rails."

Just nine months from now, at least ten million homes will be unable to receive television programs on any set and 15 million more will have at least one set that will not function. Those estimates are included in a new report, "The February 2009 Digital Television Transition," released today (Tuesday) by Nielsen Media Research on the potential effect of the switchover from analog to digital set for next Feb. 17. The study indicates that network morning programs are likely to be particularly affected by the switch since many of the incompatible sets are secondary units located in kitchens and bedrooms. The study shows that exclusively Spanish-speaking households are the least likely to have purchased settop converters or subscribed to cable services that will allow them to continue to receive television programs. While they represent 2 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 10 percent of completely unready households. African-American homes also show a relatively high percentage of unready sets. The study also shows that some markets are better prepared for the transition than others. In Milwaukee, for example, 18.3 percent of households are completely unready for the switch, while in New York only 3.8 percent are.

Shortly after Daily Variety posted a report on its website Monday saying that the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers had reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract, AFTRA issued a statement saying that the article was inaccurate. "A deal has not yet been reached with the AMPTP," a union spokesman said. Both sides had continued their negotiations over the Memorial Day weekend in the hopes of reaching an accord before the AMPTP's scheduled renewed talks with the Screen Actors Guild on Wednesday. Negotiations are reportedly stalled over the issue of whether producers must seek the consent of actors to reuse their performances on clips posted online. However, today's (Tuesday) Los Angeles Times suggested that a tentative resolution of the issue could be reached as early as today.

With ratings down and major companies cutting their advertising budgets, political advertising has become a boon for local stations and national broadcast and cable networks. According to TVWeek that spending is likely to continue between now and the party conventions, when normally a spending lull occurs. "This campaign was jump-started early and it's running real hot right through to the end," Brian Donahue, senior VP of Jamestown Associates, a GOP consultant, told the trade publication. "There is no time to breathe in the 2008 presidential election." Democratic consultant Steve McMahon is predicting a spending surge on the part of Sen. Barack Obama before the conventions. "I don't think there is going to be a break," he said.

Viacom's $1-billion lawsuit against YouTube threatens the very foundation of online sharing, Google, YouTube's owners, claimed in a court filing on Friday, reported by the Associated Press today (Tuesday). In court documents, Google said that the lawsuit "threatens the way hundreds of millions of people legitimately exchange information, news, entertainment and political and artistic expression" over the Internet. Responding to Viacom's claim that the site has done "little or nothing" to stop copyright infringement, Google said that it actually "goes far beyond its legal obligations in assisting content owners to protect their works" by removing clips at the request of content owners.

With settop cable and satellite receivers, converter boxes, game devices, and DVD players proliferating in homes, Sony has apparently concluded that thin is in. The company has released a new DVD player (DVP-NS708H) in Europe with the capacity to improve the quality of conventional DVDs to "near HD" quality via what it calls "Progressive Cinema Scanning Technology." It is 17 inches long by 8 inches wide by just 1.7 inches thick. One British reviewer described it as "waif-like."

Demonstrating yet again that there is life after losing on American Idol, Nationwide Insurance announced today (Tuesday) that it had hired 2007 contestant Sanjaya Malakar to star in its series of TV ads titled "Life Comes at You Fast." The ads will target the South Asian market, where Malakar received considerable press attention as an Indian-American contestant on the talent show. Although judge Simon Cowell relentlessly battered his performances, once calling them "horrendous," the good-looking teenager seemed to defy the odds, returning week after week with a new hair style. In the Nationwide commercial, Sanjaya visits a Hindu monastery as is advised by a guru that he needs a retirement plan -- and some work on his hair.