The 2007 summer movie season went out with a bang over the Labor Day weekend as the box office posted $119.6 million in ticket sales -- well above the previous record of $106.1 million for the holiday set in 2003, according to box-office trackers Media by Numbers. Halloween, the top film over the four-day period, also set a record for the holiday as it raked in an estimated $31 million, nearly twice the earnings of the No. 2 film, Superbad (which had held the top spot over the previous two weekends. Balls of Fury, the ping-pong/martial arts comedy, debuted in third place with $13.8 million, slightly ahead of The Bourne Ultimatum, which took in $13.2 million, bringing its gross into blockbuster territory with $202.2 billion over five weeks. Rush Hour 3 rounded out the top five with $10.4 million in its fourth week. All other films took in less than $10 million.

The top ten films for the four-day Labor Day weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers: 1. Halloween, $31 million; 2. Superbad, $15.6 million; 3. Balls of Fury, $13.8 million; 4. The Bourne Ultimatum, $13.2 million; 5. Rush Hour 3, $10.4 million; 6. Mr. Bean's Holiday, $8.1 million; 7. The Nanny Diaries, $6.4 million; 8. Death Sentence, $5.2 million; 9. War, $5.1 million; 10. Stardust, $3.9 million.

Although Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille crossed the $200-million mark at the domestic box office over the weekend, some Pixar executives are blaming Disney's marketing staff for failing to create a promotional campaign for the movie that would have pushed it into the top-five for the year, as Toy Story was in 1995 (No. 1); A Bug's Life was in 1998 (No. 4); Toy Story 2 was in 1999 (No. 3); Monsters, Inc. was in 2001 (No. 4); Finding Nemo was in 2003 (No. 2); The Incredibles was in 2004 (No. 5); and Cars was in 2006 (No. 3). According to Disney watcher Jim Hill, Ratatouille currently ranks eighth at the domestic box office and might wind up out of the top ten entirely by the end of the year. As a result, he says, Pixar execs are now overseeing the marketing campaign for the upcoming WALL-E, something that has apparently infuriated the Disney marketing staff. Hill quotes one unnamed studio insider as saying that Ratatouille "was a very difficult picture to sell during an incredibly competitive summer. ... They're now being complete bastards about the WALL-E trailer, insisting that only they know the proper way to promote their next picture. ... But that's okay. Let them call the shots on WALL-E's marketing campaign. Next year, they'll be the ones who'll be taking the fall when that Andrew Stanton film doesn't measure up to expectations."

By 2011 movie downloads will generate $720 million in the U.S. for studios and producers, a figure that amounts to 18 percent of their entire domestic gross over the past season, according to a study by Screen Digest. Moreover, that revenue will flow directly to the content owners -- no movie theaters to share it with, no costs for prints, shipping and local advertising. The study also indicated that an additional $572 million will be generated by downloads in Western Europe. The potential for far greater revenue extends beyond 2011, the study concluded, when consumers are provided with simple devices to watch downloaded movies on large screen TVs and home entertainment systems. Nevertheless, the study noted, the studios will have to perform "a delicate balancing act" in order the maintain their relationships with DVD sellers "whilst meeting growing consumer demand for immediate online downloads." (Separately, today's Wall Street Journal, citing no source, said that the total market for online video is expected to reach $7 billion by 2010.)

Thirty of Finland's most prominent film producers have effectively agreed to shut down production throughout the country in an effort to pressure the country's government to provide additional funding, according to Helsingin Danomat. The Helsinki newspaper said that Stefan Wallin, Finland's minister of culture and sport, responded by saying that funding is not going to be allocated based on pressure. The producers accused the minister of reneging on a promise made last June that an additional $15 million would be appropriated for filmmakers over the next four years. In his statement today (Tuesday), Wallin said that he would "review in a positive spirit" the possibility of raising funding.

CBS is determined to go ahead with plans to broadcast the controversial Kid Nation beginning September 19; however, in an effort to counter an avalanche of negative publicity, the network has been scheduling screenings of the first episode for advertisers, according to the New York Times. One ad exec, Shari Anne Brill of Carat USA, told the newspaper: "I'm chomping at the bit to see it. So many people have asked me if it's O.K. to be in the show. The biggest issue simply is that there are children involved." Moreover, convinced that it has a certain hit on its hands, CBS is planning a second edition of the series and has already held casting calls for new children, the Times said. Plans for the new series, however, have been complicated by difficulties finding a suitable location in a state that has loose child-labor laws. One CBS executive told the Times that the current controversy over Kid Nation may make it too hot for any state to handle.

Former MSNBC host Rita Cosby's appearance on the Today show to promote her book, Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death, has been canceled after the show's producer received "a bristling, threatening letter" from an attorney representing Howard K. Stern, the gossip website TMZ reported today (Tuesday). According to published reports, Cosby claims in her book that Stern and Larry Birkhead, the father of Smith's baby, had a homosexual relationship and that Smith often watched videos of the two engaging in sex acts. TMZ said that in his letter, attorney Lin Wood "made it clear he would sue the Today show for any false facts that spewed out of Rita's mouth." (Cosby is scheduled to appear tonight on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News talk show.) TMZ also claims that Cosby's source is Jackie Hatten, who has claimed that she was "best friends" with Smith for 16 years and that her brother dated her for two years. TMZ describes Jackie Hatten as "a known wacko whose brother served prison time for stalking Anna Nicole."

Like its rival the Today show, ABC's Good Morning America has added another hour, effective today (Tuesday) -- only the additional hour will be able to be seen only by people with high-speed Internet connections, Broadcast & Cable reported on Monday. The third hour of GMA will be hosted by Chris Cuomo and will feature original material. It will also invite viewers to upload comments and questions recorded on video. In an email message to staff, ABC News President David Westin said Monday, "This is an exciting venture for ABC News and a great opportunity to introduce GMA to a new audience and expand our reach in the digital world."

As luck would have it, President Bush decided to pay a surprise visit to Iraq just two days after Katie Couric landed there, thereby allowing Couric to land a brief interview with him for Monday night's CBS Evening News. (ABC's Martha Raddatz was also able to buttonhole the president. NBC's John Yang was the networks' pool reporter.) Meanwhile, in a telephone interview with the Washington Post, Couric brushed aside criticism that her trip to Iraq had no other purpose than to boost ratings for her third-place newscast. She told the newspaper, "There's going to be criticism if I wear a white blouse. It's all about the work for me."

Following its successful series, The Bronx Is Burning, about the Yankees' 1977 season, which concluded last week, ESPN has decided to abandon scripted shows, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Although ratings for Bronx were respectable, those for other scripted ESPN dramas, mostly about sports heroes, were not -- and one critical hit, Playmakers, was dropped following complaints about it by the NFL. John Skipper, who is in charge of content for ESPN, told the trade paper: "I'm a little less interested in the intersection of where entertainment and sports combine."

It may be one of the most-watched videos in the history of YouTube, but the Justin Timberlake-Andy Samberg video "D**k in a Box," originally produced for Saturday Night Live, has hit a stone wall with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. The Academy has notified the writer/performers that it will not show the video at this month's Emmy Awards unless the title is changed. According to E! Online, Timberlake has informed the Academy that he is against changing the title.