MOVIESWhat a ‘Nightmare’: Touchstone’s animated film “Tim...

MOVIES

What a ‘Nightmare’: Touchstone’s animated film “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas” was still spooking the competition at the box office over the weekend. In first place for the second week in a row, the film grossed $7.5 million, according to early estimates. But the weekend’s box-office notable was “The Remains of the Day,” a Columbia film by the James Ivory-Ismail Merchant team. The film starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, which opened to rave reviews Friday, took in $1.5 million on only 94 screens. That translates to close to $16,000 per screen, a harbinger for strong continued play. Back to the Top 5: In second place, the new Paramount thriller “Flesh and Bone” took in $4.6 million. Next, TriStar’s “Look Who’s Talking Now” with $4.2 million. Orion’s “Robocop 3” and Disney’s “Cool Runnings” tied for fourth with $4.1 million each.

River Phoenix Film to Open: “A Thing Called Love,” the last movie made by actor River Phoenix, who died suddenly last week, begins an exclusive run Friday in Seattle. The movie received good reviews but fizzled with test audiences in several cities earlier this year. Director Peter Bogdanovich is unsure how audiences will feel following the death of the 23-year-old star. “Certainly, River’s death will have an effect,” Bogdanovich said. “Obviously, (the movie is) no longer as funny as it was or as hopeful as it was. I really don’t know how it will play.” Bogdanovich chafed at drug rumors concerning Phoenix: “There’s no way River could have been taking anything during the time we worked together.”

Valenti on Violence: The entertainment industry “is ready to assume its responsibility” and has already taken steps to reduce violence on TV and in films, Motion Picture Assn. of America President Jack Valenti said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley.” Valenti said, “There is a great current running through the creative community trying to do something about violence, to make it politically incorrect.” Congress and the Clinton Administration have threatened to take action to regulate TV and movie violence as the nation searches for solutions to the epidemic of violence on the streets.

POP/ROCK

Madonna-Mania Lives On: Despite protests over the sexually explicit content of Madonna’s “Girlie Show,” 120,000 people flocked to her performance in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese in Rio had counseled Catholics not to attend. Courts prohibited her from using the Brazilian flag in her concert there; Madonna used a Brazilian soccer club flag instead. Meanwhile, in Miami, a demonstration near her mansion Saturday protested Madonna’s intimate gestures with the Puerto Rican flag during a show Oct. 26 near San Juan.

Message to Streisand: A national group of women labor leaders wants Barbra Streisand to cancel her two New Year’s concerts scheduled for the opening weeks of Las Vegas’ new MGM Grand Resort, which is non-union. At their national convention in Las Vegas Friday, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, representing 7.5 million women union workers, issued a resolution, saying: “Barbra Streisand has a chance to advance the fight of working women across the country . . . by standing up for working women in Las Vegas who do not have the rights and protection of a union contract.” There was no immediate reply from Streisand. MGM Chief Executive Officer Bob Maxey has pledged to keep the hotel non-union.

TELEVISION

L.A. Riot Figures On ‘Donahue’: Today, “Donahue” tapes a New York meeting of Reginald Denny, the truck driver almost killed during the Los Angeles riots, and Henry Keith Watson, one of his attackers. The two-part show airs in Los Angeles on Tuesday and Wednesday.

EVENTS

Unconventional Celebration: Comedian Bob Newhart and the rock group Los Lobos will headline “Celebrate L.A.,” the opening of the Los Angeles Convention Center on Wednesday. They’ll be joined by other local performers, including acts representing Los Angeles’ cultural diversity. Mayor Richard Riordan and L.A. City Council members will be on hand. Proceeds from the event go to L.A.’s Best, an after-school enrichment program.

QUICK TAKES

Television executive Robert Halmi and CBS Entertainment president Jeff Sagansky will introduce the “new” Scarlett O’Hara at a news conference in Los Angeles today. Halmi found the actress to star in a TV miniseries based on Alexandra Ripley’s sequel to “Gone With the Wind” after conducting a $1-million trans-Atlantic search. . . . Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, the pop and R&B; songwriting and production team, will be honored with the ASCAP Golden Note Award for outstanding musical achievement tonight in Beverly Hills. . . . The tabloid show “Inside Edition” airs a three-part interview with “Son of Sam” killer David Berkowitz starting tonight. . . . Pop star Cyndi Lauper guests on the Nov. 18 episode of NBC’s “Mad About You,” playing the long-estranged wife of series star Paul Reiser’s cousin. . . . Jay Leno will play a “caller” with a weight problem on Dr. Frasier Crane’s radio talk show on the Nov. 18 episode of NBC’s “Frasier.”