Arts and entertainment reports from The Times, national and international news services and the nation’s press.

MOVIES

The Quest for No. 1: “The Quest,” starring and directed by Jean-Claude Van Damme, fought its way to the No. 1 spot at the box office as it debuted during a weekend full of new releases. The Universal film about a martial arts match took in $7.2 million, according to early industry estimates. 20th Century Fox’s “The Truth About Cats & Dogs,” a romantic comedy starring Janeane Garofalo and Uma Thurman, was close behind in second place with $7 million for its premiere weekend. TriStar’s newcomer, “Sunset Park,” with Rhea Perlman as a basketball coach, was third with $5.1 million. Paramount’s “Primal Fear” dropped to fourth with $4.7 million after a three-week run in the No. 1 spot. MGM/UA’s “Mulholland Falls” took fifth with $4.4 million its first weekend in release.

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Wonder-ful Music: Stevie Wonder has written two original songs for “The Adventures of Pinocchio,” a live-action film adaptation of the classic story that’s due in theaters July 26. Wonder recorded “Hold On to Your Dream” and “Kiss Lonely Good-Bye” earlier this month, backed by a symphony orchestra. Martin Landau plays Geppetto and Jonathan Taylor Thomas of “Home Improvement” is Pinocchio in the movie.

TELEVISION

KCBS Targeted: A spokesman for several Asian American advocacy groups said Friday that they are putting KCBS-TV Channel 2 “on notice” to improve coverage of Asian American issues and to hire more Asian Americans at the station. The Media Action Network for Asian Americans, the Asian Pacific American Legal Center and other organizations met with KCBS management on Thursday to spell out their concerns. Guy Aoki, president of the Media Action Network, added that further action may be taken against the station if the other groups feel that their concerns are not being addressed. John McKay, acting general manager for KCBS, said Friday in response to the charges: “We aggressively pursue all minorities, and our numbers in all minority categories are excellent.”

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Soap Bubbles: ABC’s “General Hospital” has pulled off a daytime coup by signing former daytime heartthrob Stephen Nichols. Nichols is remembered for his role of Steve “Patch” Johnson on NBC’s “Days of Our Lives” (1985-90). When he joins the “General Hospital” cast, Nichols will have a chance to reunite with former “Days” co-star Mary Beth Evans (she now plays the devious Katherine Bell on “GH”), who played Kayla Brady Johnson. Nichols and Evans were one of daytime’s hottest on-screen duos. An airdate for Nichols’ first appearance and information about his character have not yet been announced.

LEGAL FILE

Beefy Controversy: Iowa lawmakers are having a beef with a recent “Oprah Winfrey Show” about beef. Talk-show host Winfrey devoted the program to the mad cow disease scare that has besieged Britain’s beef industry; guests questioned the safety of beef sold in the United States. After the episode aired, U.S. cattle prices fell and industry analysts blamed Winfrey. So did Iowa legislators, who adopted a resolution asking her to take back what was said on the show. “What I would like her to say is that after a close inspection we find that there has never been any mad cow disease in the United States,” state Sen. Berl Priebe said. Winfrey has defended the program.

THE ARTS

NEA Grants: The National Endowment for the Arts--which underwent massive layoffs and a radical restructuring of its former 17 grant categories into four divisions following a fiscal 1996 budget cut of almost 40%--has announced its last set of grants under the old “discipline based” grant category system. Among the local grantees are the American Film Institute, $725,000; Museum of Contemporary Art $125,000; Los Angeles Philharmonic, $122,900; Center Theatre Group, $70,000, Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, $50,000, and Self-Help Graphics and Arts, $35,000. In upcoming rounds of grants, most individual artists’ grants will be eliminated, and arts organizations will be allowed only one grant application per year in one of four interdisciplinary “theme” categories: creation and presentation; heritage and preservation, education and access, and stabilization.

QUICK TAKES

The Stone Temple Pilots have canceled an in-store appearance at Tower Records in West Hollywood scheduled for Friday afternoon, in addition to calling off their free concert set for the Wiltern Theatre Friday night, due to lead singer Scott Weiland’s drug problems. . . . Open auditions for undiscovered Latino comics will be held today from noon to 2 p.m. at West Hollywood’s Laugh Factory. Selected participants will appear on “The Latino Laugh Festival,” a 13-episode summer variety series to be hosted by Cheech Marin and Paul Rodriguez for cable’s Showtime. . . . Actors Sean Penn, 35, and Robin Wright, 29, were married Saturday at a closely guarded ceremony in Santa Monica. The couple met eight years ago and have a daughter, Dylan Frances, 5, and son Hopper, 2. The location of Saturday’s outdoor wedding, a private home, was a secret even for the 40 invited relatives and friends that included Jack Nicholson, Warren Beatty and Marlon Brando. . . . The French Ministry of Culture decorated Quincy Jones as Officier of Arts and Letters for his lifetime work as composer, producer and musician at a ceremony in Paris on Saturday.