In an otherwise lackluster weekend, Paramount/DreamWorks' Disturbia proved to be a standout, earning $22.2 million, nearly twice what analysts had forecast it would take in, according to final figures released by Media by Numbers on Monday. Blades of Glory, also from Paramount/DreamWorks, slipped to second place with $13.8 million after spending the previous two weeks at the top of the list. Meanwhile Warner Bros.' 300 added another $4.5 million to its gross, putting it past the $200-million level.

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. Disturbia, Paramount, $22,224,982, (New); 2. Blades of Glory, Paramount, $13,826,386, 3 Wks. ($89,956,404); 3. Meet the Robinsons, Disney, $12,467,155, 3 Wks, 72,367,907); 4. Perfect Stranger, Sony, $11,206,163, (New); 5. Are We Done Yet?, Sony, $8,952,686, 2 Wks. ($32,756,340); 6. Pathfinder, 20th Century Fox, $5,001,214, (New); 7. Wild Hogs, Disney, $4,676,734, 7 Wks. ($152,280,821); 8. The Reaping, Warner Bros., $4,567,478, 2 Wks. ($19,765,297); 9. 300, Warner Bros., $4,454,355, 6 Wks. ($200,965,135); 10. Grindhouse, Weinstein Co. $4,331,372, 2 Wks. ($19,792,200).

Sony today (Tuesday) is releasing Spider-Man 2.1: Extended Cut, with eight minutes of scenes added by director Sam Raimi to the original version, improved video and audio, and a preview of Spider-Man 3, due to be released theatrically on May 4. The DVD carries a suggested retail price of $20. In an interview with USA Today, Rafe Telsch, assistant editor of Cinemablend.com, said that one of the added scenes in which the character J. Jonah Jameson is seen wearing the Spider-Man suit after Peter Parker throws it in the trash "might be the funniest addition of the movie and makes [the new DVD] completely worth it."

Producers of an $80-million Chinese historical epic film claim that Chow Yun-Fat, who was to have starred in it, made excessive demands that were rejected by the movie's Hollywood insurer. Chow later announced that he was withdrawing from the film because he had received the script too late for him to prepare adequately for his role. The film, Red Cliff, is to be directed by John Woo. Woo's business partner, Terrence Chang, told Sina.com, a Chinese news website, that Chow had demanded the addition of 73 clauses. "Many exceed industry standards," Chang added. Chow later told the Associated Press that the contractual provisions were based on a "Hollywood-style contract," and remarked, "Maybe everyone hasn't gotten used to Hollywood contracts."

Angry protests by Hindu fundamentalists erupted all over India Monday after actor Richard Gere jokingly embraced Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty during a televised HIV/AIDS event in New Delhi on Sunday and kissed her several times. In Mumbai, members of the group Shiv Sena, which has succeeded in shutting down production of several Bollywood films that they objected to, burned effigies of Gere and set fire to posters of Shetty. In the northern town of Meerut, crowds chanted "Down with Shilpa Shetty." In January, Shetty was the center of another controversy after she was subjected to racist comments by a fellow contestant on the U.K. television show Celebrity Big Brother. In an interview with the Indian website Our Bollywood, Shetty said that the incident had been "blown out of proportion on TV. I am not allowed to work. My entire shooting [schedule] has been disrupted." She defended Gere, saying that he was unfamiliar with Hindu traditions. (Gere converted to Tibetan Buddhism in 1984.) "Richard Gere called me three times since the morning to apologize and said that he didn't want to hurt the sentiments of Indian people. And if he did, he is sorry," Shetty said.

China today (Tuesday) responded to a U.S. complaint to the World Trade Organization that it has failed to crack down on copyright piracy. Yi Xintian, a spokesman for the State Intellectual Property Office, said that his country "has made tremendous efforts and taken a lot of steps to protect intellectual property rights." Yi argued that piracy is an international issue that affects many countries. He pointed to studies indicating that Canada is responsible for the production of the greatest number of bootleg DVDs. China, he maintained, destroyed 73 million illegally copied DVDs, CDs, software, and books in 2006

Television networks interrupted regular programming and dispatched anchors to Blacksburg, VA Monday following what was repeatedly described as the deadliest shooting on a college campus in American history. But it was the cellphone video taken by grad student Jamal Albarghouti outside Virginia Tech's Norris Hall at the time of the shootings that provided the most memorable images and sounds of the tragedy. Just moments after he had captured the sounds of 27 shots fired by the gunman, Albarghouti sent his video to CNN's I-Reports website, and it went on the air. The video later was distributed to other cable and broadcast news outlets -- and the Internet. "It was the worst shooting ever, but it was also yet another tragedy in which television turned first to amateur reporters on the scene," TV writer Alessandra Stanley wrote in today's (Tuesday) New York Times. Added the Chicago Tribune's TV writer, Phil Rosenthal: "We live in a new news world in which the media deputize the public: Call if you see news happening; but better still, send video, send audio, send still pictures."

New software that will allow TV producers to post programs online but force viewers to watch commercials attached to them was unveiled by Adobe Systems Monday. The software will also allow video to be downloaded and played offline on PCs or portable devices. "Adobe has created the first way for media companies to release video content, secure in the knowledge that advertising goes with it," James McQuivey, an analyst at Forrester Research, told the BBC Monday.

NBC selected the opening day of the National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas to announce that it had decided to rejoin the organization after a seven-year absence. The network -- along with ABC, CBS, and Fox -- left the NAB after the group went on record in opposition to new deregulation proposals lifting the caps on the number of stations owners may acquire. ABC returned to the fold in 2005, but CBS and Fox have not.

In another demonstration of the influence of related entertainment media on Broadway, the appearance of former American Idol contestant Fantasia Barrino in the musical stage version of The Color Purple has sent ticket sales through the roof. Sales totaled $1,183,722 during her first week, up 45 percent from $817,124 the previous week. Her scheduled Broadway appearance had been promoted on Idol and on Oprah Winfrey's talk show. (Winfrey is a producer of the Broadway show.) Meanwhile, Playbill said on its website Monday that a "29-hour rehearsed reading" for a musical version of Spider-Man has been scheduled for July 2, to be followed by a reading of the production on July 12 and 13. A casting notice, the Broadway publication said, has indicated that the musical will be directed by Julie Taymor (The Lion King) with songs by U2's Bono and The Edge.

Fans of Don Imus have begun campaigning for his reinstatement. An online petition in which the signers acknowledge "the full extent of the offense caused by Don Imus's recent comments" goes on to say that removing him from the airways is "excessive, unfair and wrong" and creates "a First Amendment-crushing precedent." In a comment, one fan remarked that Imus had been a victim of people who had never listened to him and "didn't understand the show or his style ... while we, the actual audience who was already supporting the advertisers on the show were somehow left out of the discussion."

Keith Olbermann, who segued from CNN and ESPN sportscaster to MSNBC political commentator, has been added to NBC's Sunday-night football coverage. The network said Monday that Olberman will join Bob Costas, Cris Collinsworth, Jerome Bettis and Tiki Barber during the weekly highlights show, Football Night in America. "I'm delighted to welcome him back into the NBC Sports family," NBC Sports chief Dick Ebersol said in a statement.