MOVIES’Seven’s’ Up: “Seven,” the thriller starring Brad...

MOVIES

‘Seven’s’ Up: “Seven,” the thriller starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, was in the No. 1 spot at the box office for the second weekend in a row. The New Line release held strong with $12.4 million. Dimension Films’ “Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers,” the latest installment in the horror flick series, debuted in second place with $7.5 million. TriStar’s “Devil in a Blue Dress,” starring Denzel Washington, took in $5.6 million for third its opening weekend. Disney’s new soccer movie, “The Big Green,” collected $4.7 million for fourth place. MGM/UA’s “Showgirls,” which was in second last weekend, dropped to fifth with just $3.7 million. Columbia’s “To Die For,” starring Nicole Kidman, did swift business during the weekend on only 11 screens. The movie grossed $375,000 for a very high per-screen average of $34,000.

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New Deal: Academy-Award winning producer Arnold Kopelson, who has been producing films for Warner Bros. under a first-look agreement, has entered into an exclusive first-look deal with 20th Century Fox. The five-year agreement will take effect in January, 1997. At that time, all of Kopelson’s new films will be done at Fox, but he will continue to make films that he previously developed at Warner Bros. for that studio. Kopelson has produced such movies as “Falling Down,” “The Fugitive,” “Outbreak” and 1986 best-picture Oscar winner “Platoon”; he’s now working on “The Eraser” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Kopelson also produced the current hit film “Seven” for New Line. The producer said that he and his wife, Anne Kopelson, his producing partner, are looking forward to a change. “I will have the opportunity to not only make big crowd-pleasing films, but to make any kind of film that I want,” he said of the new agreement.

MUSIC

Opening Night Changes: Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter has canceled her appearances at the opening concerts of the L.A. Philharmonic’s 1995-96 season due to the recent death of her husband. Russian violinist Vadim Repin will replace Mutter as soloist for the concerts conducted by music director Esa-Pekka Salonen on Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Repin will play the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto; Mutter was scheduled to perform Beethoven’s Violin Concerto.

TELEVISION

For Movie Buffs: The American Movie Classics cable channel kicks off its third annual Film Preservation Festival today with a marathon of Laurel & Hardy movies. Highlights of the weeklong festival include the TV premieres of a batch of Hal Roach shorts on Saturday; the 1924 Buster Keaton film “Sherlock Jr.,” featuring a new score by Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, also on Saturday, and a screening Sunday of “Soup to Nuts,” the 1930 film that introduced the Three Stooges.

AWARDS

Young Stars: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst and Brad Renfro were winners at the first annual YoungStar Awards, which honored show biz’s youth on Saturday. Thomas was named best actor in a TV comedy for “Home Improvement.” Danes won for best performance in a drama series for the now-defunct “My So-Called Life.” Dunst was named best actress in a feature film for “Interview With the Vampire,” and Renfro was named best actor for “The Client.” The awards were sponsored by the Hollywood Reporter and Dick Clark’s production company.

ART

Mellon’s Gift: Philanthropist Paul Mellon has donated 85 major artworks, including paintings by Degas, Cezanne and Picasso, to the National Gallery of Art in Washington. The gift includes 14 paintings from the French Impressionist period by such artists as Gauguin, Toulouse-Lautrec and Manet as well as 50 French drawings and watercolors and 20th-Century masterpieces by Matisse, Magritte and Giacometti. Mellon, 88, is the son of the National Gallery’s founder, Andrew W. Mellon.

LEGAL FILE

Monitored: Rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg can remain free on $1-million bail while he awaits his murder trial but must be monitored electronically, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Paul Flynn ruled Friday. Prosecutors wanted the entertainer jailed for allegedly pointing a gun at a police detective on a freeway July 5. Snoop’s lawyer denied the allegation. The murder trial is scheduled for Oct. 23. Snoop, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and two other men pleaded innocent to murder in a 1993 drive-by shooting.