Movies

The awards, announced Thursday, are given to performers who have made a "lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment," by Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the nation's oldest undergraduate drama troupe.

Berry will lead a parade through the streets of Harvard Square on Feb. 16, with students dressed in drag.

Berry, 39, won an Oscar and a SAG award for her performance in "Monster's Ball." She also earned an Emmy for her performance in the HBO film "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge."

Berry will reprise her role as Storm in "X3," the third installment in the "X-Men" series, due May 26.

Gere, 56, won a Golden Globe for best comedy-musical actor, for "Chicago." His other work includes "An Officer and a Gentleman," "American Gigolo," "Internal Affairs" and "Pretty Woman."

Gere is also the founder of the Gere Foundation, which contributes to health education and human rights projects and is dedicated to promoting awareness of Tibet's endangered culture.

"Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly (Fond of Each Other)" may be the first gay cowboy song by a major recording artist. But it was written long before this year's Oscar-nominated "Brokeback Mountain" made gay cowboys a hot topic.

Available exclusively through iTunes, the song features choppy Tex-Mex style guitar runs and Nelson's deadpan delivery of lines like, "What did you think all them saddles and boots was about?" and "Inside every cowboy there's a lady who'd love to slip out."

The song, which debuted Tuesday on Howard Stern's satellite radio show, was written by Texas-born singer-songwriter Ned Sublette in 1981. Sublette said he wrote it during the "Urban Cowboy" craze and always imagined Nelson singing it.

Someone passed a copy of the song to Nelson back in the late 1980s and, according to Nelson's record label, Lost Highway, he recorded it last year at his Pedernales studio in Texas.

Athletic Brandon -- whose known as 'BJ' to his family and friends -- beat out big names like Ashton Kutcher, Josh Hartnett and Nicolas Cage, to star in the new $100 million blockbuster 'Superman Returns.'

"BJ's thrilled to be picked to play Superman and I know he's up to the task of taking over from Christopher Reeve. My son is very comfortable in his own skin and he's up for the role of a lifetime," his father tells TMZ.

The 6'2" actor was raised in a modest home by his carpenter father Ron and school-teacher mom Katie with his two sisters and brother. Brandon's former drama teacher, Margo Murillo, knew his calling after his first school play. "Brandon is a naturally gifted actor," she says. "During our production of the Neil Simon play, 'Plaza Suite,' he brought the house down with his performance."

"He's not the kind of guy to go out partying every night but he has a good sense of humor," Murillo added. "One time he had the whole school in stitches after he dressed-up as a hunky male stripper to surprise a teacher."

Routh has had bit parts on 'The Gilmore Girls,' 'Will & Grace' and 'Cold Case.' His attention grabbing break came when Christina Aguilera hand-picked him for her video to the smash hit 'What A Girl Wants.'

Warner Brothers' 'Superman Returns' director Bryan Singer wanted an unknown actor for the part and when the Iowa native walked into their casting office they immediately knew they had their man.

Routh will be the second Iowa-born actor to play the Man Of Steel. George Reeves -- who played the superhero on television in the 1950's -- was also from the 'Hawkeye' State. Reeves was found shot dead in a mysterious suicide at his Hollywood home on June 19, 1959. He was 45.

McKellen, 66, was picking up an honorary Golden Bear the festival's top prize at a ceremony Saturday, accompanied by a screening of the 1995 film version of "Richard III."

"I still hope I've got a lot of life left on stage and making films," McKellen said.

After "Richard III," he picked up an Oscar nomination for his part in 1998's "Gods and Monsters" and gained worldwide fame by playing the wizard Gandalf in the "Lord of the Rings" movies and appearing in the "X-Men" films. Upcoming roles include the part of Sir Leagh Teabing in the movie of "The Da Vinci Code."

The actor, a prominent gay rights campaigner, was guarded as to what impact the success of the Oscar front-runner "Brokeback Mountain" might have.

It remains "very, very difficult for an American actor who wants a film career to be open about his sexuality and even more difficult for a woman," he said. "The film industry is very old-fashioned in California."

Wendy Benchley, married to the author for 41 years, said he died Saturday night at their home in Princeton, N.J. The cause of death, she said, was idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive and a fatal scarring of the lungs.

New Line's horror sequel "Final Destination 3" ran a close second with $20.1 million, followed by Universal's animated "Curious George" at No. 3 with $15.3 million and the Warner Bros. thriller "Firewall" starring Harrison Ford in fourth with $13.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The overall box office rose slightly despite the Winter Olympics and a Northeast snowstorm, both of which kept many movie-goers at home. The top 12 movies took in $106.8 million, up 3 percent over the same weekend last year, when "Hitch" opened as the No. 1 movie with $43.2 million.

After a slump in which attendance dropped 7 percent in 2005, Hollywood is off to a better start this year. Revenues are at just over $1 billion, up 8 percent from last year's. Factoring in higher ticket prices, attendance has risen 5 percent, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"I don't think we're going to win any," a deadpan Clooney told reporters Friday, where "Syriana" was screened at Berlin's annual film festival. "There's been a lot of 'Brokeback Mountain' stuff."

His nomination in the screenplay category for "Good Night, and Good Luck" puts him up against Stephen Gaghan, who wrote and also directed "Syriana."

In "Syriana," Clooney plays a veteran CIA agent assigned to assassinate the heir to the throne in an oil-rich Persian Gulf country.

"Oscar nominations are as important as anything," he said. "The hope is that people will see this film I don't know about wins."

Clooney grew a beard and piled on weight for the role.

"It'll be such an important night," says the 61-year-old amateur cowboy and rodeo competitor, who feels that "Brokeback Mountain" tells the story of his own gay life and struggles in a strikingly personal way.

Gay activist groups are anticipating the March 5 Academy Awards, where "Brokeback Mountain" is favored to win as many as eight Oscars, as a rallying point and a crucial moment for their cause.

One group likens it to the April 1997 moment when Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian on her sitcom. Susanne Salkind of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest national gay rights group, said Oscar night will be an opportunity to raise gay issues "to another level in American culture."

Last Friday, the group sent e-mails to 120,000 members, encouraging them to hold house parties on Oscar night -- just as it did the night DeGeneres came out. It's also sending out "Oscar party kits" to help in recruiting, and is offering prizes of T-shirts, bags and watches, depending on how many new members get signed up.

"We want to transform this social occasion into something much more important," Salkind said.

'The Magnificent Seven' (1960)
In his day, Steve McQueen defined virility. But home on the range with few ladies present, Steve's character gets mighty friendly with a fellow cowboy.

'Midnight Cowboy' (1969)
Jon Voight's character - gay cowboy/prostitute Joe Buck - is hardly subtle. Ironically, the movie caused less of a stir than 'Brokeback' has more than 35 years later.

'Tombstone' (1993)
While Jason Priestley was becoming famous for his TV romances on 'Beverly Hills 90210,' he also hit the big screen as Deputy Billy Breckinridge -- and his love interest seemed dramatically different.

The screenplay was written by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana and based on a short story by Annie Proulx. The film stars actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and received a leading eight Oscar nominations.

The writers of the ensemble drama "Crash," which follows the lives of a cast of characters over a chaotic 36-hour period in Los Angeles, won for best original screenplay. The screenplay was written by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco based on a Haggis story.

In other awards, the ABC television show "Grey's Anatomy" won the writing award for a new series.

Larry David, the writer and star of the HBO comedy "Curb Your Enthusiasm," won for best writing in a comedy series.

The crew of writers for the hit ABC show "Lost" were honored in the dramatic series category.

In the television animation category, Michael Price won for "Mommie Beerest" an episode on the long-running Fox show "The Simpsons."

"Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit" from DreamWorks Animation SKG took the prize for best feature production. The film, which used computer animation only for some short scenes, beat the digitally animated films "Chicken Little" from The Walt Disney Co. and "Madagascar," also from DreamWorks.

The Annie Awards are presented by The International Animated Film Society. The awards often predict the winner of the Academy Award's best animated film category.

"Wallace & Gromit" also captured best directing honors for Nick Park and Steve Box, and won for best music and writing.

"Wallace & Gromit" was produced by Aardman Animations, which introduced the characters in three TV shorts from 1989 to 1995 and made the 2000 animated film "Chicken Run."

Distributor Sony, whose Screen Gems banner released "When a Stranger Calls," said it was the best Super Bowl debut ever, beating the $19 million haul the studio's horror flick "Boogeyman" took in over the same weekend last year.

20th Century Fox's "Big Momma's House 2" fell to second place with $13.35 million, lifting its 10-day total to $45.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The weekend's other new wide release, Focus Features' romantic comedy "Something New," opened at No. 7 with $5 million.

With fans staying home Sunday for the big game, theaters were quiet, though key Academy Awards contenders including Focus Features' best-picture front-runner "Brokeback Mountain" benefited from last week's nominations.

Millions of fans across the world are eagerly awaiting the adaptation of Rowling's fifth book - 'Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix' - which sees the return of young actor Daniel Radcliffe in the title role.

Filming will begin Monday in Hertfordshire, a county in southern England. The movie is not slated for release until next year.

The plot centers on the arrival of Dolores Umbridge, an unpopular new professor at wizard academy Hogwarts. She will be played by actress Imelda Staunton, nominated for a 2005 Oscar for her performance in the bleak period drama 'Vera Drake.'

Potter also wrestles with his attraction to new character Luna Lovegood, a role taken by 14-year-old newcomer Evanna Lynch.

Lynch beat out 15,000 young rivals in an open casting for the part in Britain.

The last film in the series, an adaptation of the fourth book, 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,' was directed by Mike Newell and grossed over $285 million at the box office.

The film originally was cleared for distribution on Feb. 9, but the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV reversed itself over the weekend, according to Sony Pictures Entertainment, which had planned to distribute the film in China.

The official reasons weren't immediately clear, and Chinese authorities couldn't be reached because offices were closed for a national holiday.

"We were pleased by their acceptance of the film in November and were disappointed by this decision," said Jim Kennedy, a spokesman for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

"Memoirs," based on the best-selling novel by Arthur Golden, features "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" star Ziyi Zhang, former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh and Gong Li from "Raise the Red Lantern" as geishas -- entertainers skilled in dance, song and conversation.