MOVIESAn Extended Roar: Hollywood’s El Capitan Theater,...

MOVIES

An Extended Roar: Hollywood’s El Capitan Theater, which has already sold more than 80,000 advance tickets for Disney’s new animated picture, “The Lion King,” will extend its live stage show accompanying the movie two weeks through July 28. The eight-minute stage show features costumed Disney characters singing favorite Disney songs.

Cheers to the Bradys: Shelley Long (“Cheers,” “Good Advice”) and Gary Cole (“Midnight Caller”) have been cast to play parents Mike and Carol Brady in Paramount Pictures’ “The Brady Bunch,” a film version of the 1970s TV show. Original “Brady Bunch” cast members, as well as stars from other TV series of the period, are expected to make cameo appearances in the film, which begins shooting in Los Angeles July 6. The film takes the same wholesome Bradys of the ‘70s and places them into a ‘90s environment.

THE ARTS

NEA’s New Partner: In the first major realization of the type of cultural partnerships among government agencies that Jane Alexander has been advocating since taking over the helm of the National Endowment for the Arts, the NEA received a $400,000-grant this week from the Clinton Administration’s National Service Corp. to help finance a three-city initiative on literacy. The grant will aid a new NEA program called the Writers Corps, which will connect 60 young adult writers in Washington, the Bronx and San Francisco with troubled children and teens to teach them to read and write about their experiences. Since becoming NEA chairman last October, Alexander has been meeting with Cabinet-level officials about the need for financial and creative collaborations, both as a way for the arts agency to have an impact on social issues and to attract new sources of funding.

New Art Showcase: A building at the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Camden Drive in Beverly Hills, formerly occupied by Gump’s, is likely to be the home of PaceWildenstein, a new branch of the world’s largest art dealership. The powerhouse gallery was created in 1993 when Wildenstein & Co., a Paris-based dealer of Impressionist and Old Master paintings, acquired a 49% interest in Pace Gallery of New York, a major contemporary art dealership. Plans for a Beverly Hills gallery were announced after the merger, but no details were confirmed. “It’s an incredible space,” Mark Glimcher, PaceWildenstein’s director of operations, said of the Wilshire Boulevard location. “It certainly fills my bill. We want our galleries to be really accessible and part of everyone’s everyday lives, like our New York gallery on 57th Street.” But negotiations for the building are not complete and no decision will be made until a director of the West Coast operation is named, probably in mid-July, Glimcher said.

Sarajevo Culture Drive: Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz and author Susan Sontag have created a limited edition poster that will be sold to benefit the people of war-torn Sarajevo. The poster features a photo Leibovitz took at a Sarajevo diving pool, plus commentary by Sontag, in her own script, about the role of culture as a form of “moral resistance” to war. The poster sells for $35 through New York’s Montblanc de la Culture Foundation.

POP/ROCK

No West Coast Stops: The only Southern California date for the WOMAD world music festival, July 10 at Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, has been canceled. Primus, Arrested Development, Midnight Oil and Live were among the acts scheduled for the festival, which was also canceled for San Francisco, its only other West Coast venue. The festival is still scheduled on the East Coast, however, with founder Peter Gabriel to headline.

TELEVISION

Expanded News Block: Pat Harvey and David Jackson will anchor a new KCAL Channel 9 newscast from 7 to 8 p.m. beginning July 11. The new newscast will expand the station’s nightly news block to four hours, from 7 to 11 p.m. The network will do away, however, with its 6:30 p.m. newscast, instead leading into the news block with the syndicated programs “Inside Edition” and “American Journal” from 6 to 7 p.m. Harvey and Jackson will also continue to anchor the station’s 9 p.m. newscast.

COMEDY

A Funny Thing Happened to Me . . .: John Wayne Bobbitt, who became a favorite subject for comedy fodder last year after his wife cut off his penis, is now looking for his own comedy writer. Bobbitt took out a classified ad in Tuesday’s Daily Variety seeking a “great writer with stand-up experience” to help him embark on a “national comedy tour.” Manager Aaron Gordon said Bobbitt planned to work up five to seven minutes of “100% autobiographical” material to become an emcee at comedy clubs around the country. Gordon said Bobbitt’s debut would be within 30 to 60 days at a “big name” L.A. club.