In its first ceremony staged in advance of the Oscars, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) named Gladiator best film of 2000 but awarded the best director prize to Ang Lee for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; the best actor award to Jamie Bell, the teenaged star of Billy Elliot; and the best actress award to Julia Roberts for her performance in the title role of Erin Brockovich. Hometown sentiment was clearly evident as Bell received a thunderous ovation when he accepted his trophy and proceeded to charm the crowd. "I was kind of thinking about not bothering coming, " Bell said. "I thought, what's the point?" His competition included Russell Crowe (Gladiator), Tom Hanks (Cast Away), Geoffrey Rush (Quills), and Michael Douglas (Wonder Boys). Other top BAFTA awards: Best supporting actress: Julie Walters (Billy Elliot); Best supporting actor: Benicio Del Toro (Traffic); Best foreign-language film: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Best British film: Billy Elliot; Best original screenplay: Cameron Crowe (Almost Famous); Best adapted screenplay: Stephen Gaghan (Traffic).

Monkeybone and 3000 Miles to Graceland, which were both eaten alive by critics on Friday, suffered the same treatment at the hands of Hannibal over the weekend. While what Reuters called "the cerebral thriller" took in an estimated $15.8 million at the North American box office, Monkeybone earned only $2.6 million and failed to land in the top ten, while Graceland produced only a so-so $7.1 million for a fourth-place finish. Hannibal, which was jointly backed by MGM and Universal, has now accumulated $128.5 million over three weeks. "You've got two very happy studios here," entertainment analyst Art Rockwell told Bloomberg News.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. Hannibal, $15.8 million; 2. Down to Earth, $11.6 million; 3. Recess: School's Out, $7.3 million; 4. 3000 Miles to Graceland, $7.1 million; 5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, $6.3 million; 6. Sweet November, $5.3 million; 7. Traffic, $5.1 million; 8. Chocolat, $4.7 million; 9. The Wedding Planner, $4.0 million; 10. Cast Away, $3.4 million.

Producer Ben Stassen, whose Haunted Castle launched on numerous IMAX 3-D screens over the weekend has hit back at IMAX executives who refused to show the film in the theaters that they owned and asked other IMAX theaters to do the same. In an interview with Sunday's Los Angeles Daily News, Stassen responded to IMAX's assertion that it was acting to protect "customers' expectations from our brand." "Maybe people want to see something else for a change," Stassen remarked. "If they feel that the identity of the brand is wholesome family entertainment, my question to them is why, then, did they send 3-D projectors to multiplexes? It doesn't make sense; multiplexes are not going to turn into education centers. Multiplexes are places for entertainment, period. How can they ask [exhibitors] who pay $2.7 million to put one of their projector systems in a place like Universal CityWalk to only show family entertainment?"

Three screenwriters who were brought aboard Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas to do rewrite work -- but who received no screen credit for their efforts -- have been hired to write the screenplay for another Dr. Seuss tale being made into a movie, The Cat in the Hat. Daily Variety reported today (Monday) that Alec Berg, Jeff Schaffer and Dave Mandel have been hired by Universal and Imagine Entertainment in "a seven-figure deal" to write the screenplay for the Tim Allen starrer.

Russell Crowe has lashed back at Proof of Life director Taylor Hackford, who had commented earlier that Crowe's affair with co-star Meg Ryan during the filming had "an indelible and very destructive effect" on the release of the film. "I think Taylor is being impolite, impolitic and imbecilic by saying that," Crowe told reporters in Melbourne, Australia. "We put as much effort into the process as possible and are pleased with the outcome."

Julianne Moore went from working as the star of the $80-million Hannibal to playing the leading role in a small film in which every cent was carefully squeezed. Moore told Britain's Empire Magazine: "I actually gave my salary back, which wasn't much, believe me. ... It was scale, and I was like, 'You can have it, Bart.'" (The film was directed by Bart Freundlich, Moore's "significant other.") Moore said that there were no trailer-dressing rooms for the actors. "You can't afford to have trailers in a movie like that," she said. "You're usually in the basement of the building you're working in."

Liam Neeson and Bob Hoskins are likely to star in a film about what has been described as Britain's worst miscarriage of justice -- the conviction and 27-year imprisonment of Stephen Downing on a murder charge. The film reportedly will focus on the successful efforts by newspaper editor Don Hale to have the conviction overturned. Titled In Denial of Murder, the film is being produced by U.S.-based Dave Hunt of FourBoys Films. Hale told the newspaper that he has been overwhelmed by the number of film and TV offers he has received for his story. "I've spent six years desperate for this kind of support and attention but have had to fight all the battles on my own. ... Then suddenly, from fighting against the current, I'm suddenly borne along on the crest of this enormous wave. It's the most extraordinary feeling."

Saturday night's XFL contest between the New York/New Jersey Hitmen and the Chicago Enforcers looked more like a mob massacre as it drew a deadly 2.9 rating and a 5 share, according to Nielsen overnights. The figures represented a 24-percent drop from the previous week and a 72-percent drop from the XFL kickoff telecast on Feb. 3. Advertisers have been guaranteed an average 4.5 rating, and Saturday night's game saw some sponsors receiving free "make goods" for the first time. Analysts noted that if the XFL series had been a new sitcom it would have been canceled by now. Saturday night's telecast was the fourth of 12 contests scheduled for the season.

The number of viewers now taping Friends on Thursdays has nearly doubled since the NBC show began competing with CBS's Survivor: The Australian Outback, the New York Daily News reported today (Monday), citing figures from Nielsen Media Research. Steve Sternberg, a partner at ad-buyer TN Media, commenting on figures showing that 10 percent of Friends' viewers now watch it on tape verus 6 percent a month ago, told the newspaper that "it makes more sense for people to be taping Friends while watching Survivor" rather than the other way around -- since Survivor has become a topic for water-cooler conversation. Last Thursday, ratings for Survivor pulled well ahead of those for Friends, with the reality series posting a 17.9 rating and a 25 share in the 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. hour, while a 40-minute version of Friends, followed by the first 20 minutes of a "supersized" Will & Grace, drew a 15.7/22 for the first half-hour and a 14.7/20 in the second.

Everybody Loves Raymond was named best comedy series and The West Wing, best drama series at the TV Guide Awards ceremony on Saturday. Ray Romano of Raymond was picked as favorite comedy actor and Debra Messing of Will and Grace as favorite comedy actress. Martin Sheen was chosen best dramatic actor for The West Wing and Amy Brenneman, best dramatic actress for Judging Amy.The winners were selected by more than one million readers of TV Guide.

Britain's commercial ITV networks have seen advertising revenue fall 9 percent in the first seven weeks of this year, the London Sunday Times reported. As in the U.S., the fall was attributed in large part to the collapse of onetime big-spending dot-com companies and to uncertainty about the global economic outlook. Jonathan Barnard, an analyst with Zenith Media, which originally had predicted low but positive growth this year, told the Sunday Times: "Things have become more pessimistic since we made that forecast. ... We will be revising forecasts down by a fair amount but we are comparing what looks like a lean year with two particularly good ones."

Fox TV may have canceled its affiliates meeting this year, but some affiliates are talking about getting together anyway -- even if network execs stay away, according to the online edition of Broadcasting and Cable magazine, which cited Fox affiliate board member John Tupper. "I think it's a good idea, and I'm encouraging it, " Tupper told the trade publication.

New York Post sports columnist Phil Mushnick has blasted cable shopping channels for exploiting last week's death of race-car driver Dale Earnhardt. "Friday, the good folks at ValueVision, 36 percent owned by NBC, seized upon Earnhardt's death to turn the network into VultureVision. It offered a framed newspaper story that carried news of Earnhardt's death for only $102," Mushnick wrote. On Saturday, "the Shop at Home Network offered an 8x10 framed photo of Earnhardt alongside his autographed auto racing card for the low, low, posthumous price of $999.95. The shill said (sniff, sniff) that there were only dozens left, so (sniff) step on it."

CORRECTION: Friday's edition contained an erroneous description of the DeCSS technology. It is the program used to unlock DVD coding.