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

VIDEO

Rentals in Black: The summer blockbuster “Men in Black” earned a record $13.5 million in rental revenue over Thanksgiving week as a whopping 4.9 million customers brought the Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones flick home for viewing. That topped the previous one-week rental record, set by Smith’s “Independence Day,” which took in $12.1 million over the same holiday week last year (its second week in release), according to the Video Software Dealers Assn.’s VidTrac service. “MiB” also landed in the No. 1 spot on the VideoScan chart, which measures sales. But in its first week in stores, “MiB” was tracking about 6% behind “Independence Day’s” first-week sales last year, Video-Scan said. Accurate sales figures are not available because VideoScan does not track sales in some outlets such as grocery and drug stores. Disney’s “Lion King,” released on video in February 1995, remains No. 1 in terms of all-time first-week video sales.

ART

Go, Yanks!: A record-setting Georgia O’Keeffe painting and a clutch of works by John Singer Sargent sparked a bidding frenzy at Sotheby’s Wednesday night, setting a $43.6-million record for a sale of American paintings, the New York auction house said. Santa Fe’s Gerald Peters Gallery paid more than $3.6 million for O’Keeffe’s “From the Plains,” the highest price ever for an O’Keeffe at auction and four times the work’s top pre-sale estimate of $900,000. The previous O’Keeffe record was $1.98 million, set in 1987. Six paintings by Sargent fetched a total of $16.65 million. His best-known work, “In the Garden, Corfu,” brought in nearly $8.4 million--well above its $5-million to $7-million pre-sale estimate.

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Jurassic Perk: Culver City’s tiny, chronically under-funded institute of pseudoscience, the Museum of Jurassic Technology, recently threatened with closure because the Venice Boulevard complex it calls home has been put up for sale, has received a $250,000 matching grant from the Lannan Foundation. The grant goes into the museum’s preservation account--named the Hester Pooks Tradescant Fund in honor of an avid collector of curiosities, who, according to museum director David Wilson, drowned in her own shallow pond in 1698. Wilson hopes to buy the million-dollar, four-building complex that houses the museum, for which he needs a $200,000-$300,000 down payment. “No one has ever given us that kind of money; we don’t know at all how to act,” Wilson said.

TELEVISION

A Laughing Matter: Fox’s “Ally McBeal,” which mainly has been referred to as a legal drama, will compete in the upcoming Golden Globe Awards as a comedy. Fox had originally submitted the hourlong series starring Calista Flockhart as a drama, but executives at the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., which organizes the Globes, said they felt the tone of the series was more comedic than dramatic. Fox said the network had no problem with the switch, adding that it has not been determined whether “Ally McBeal” will enter next year’s Emmy Awards as a contender in comedy or drama. One hourlong show, CBS’ “Northern Exposure,” previously was nominated for a comedy Golden Globe, but it competed in the Emmys as a drama. Golden Globe nominations are scheduled to be announced Dec. 18.

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‘Magnificent’ Premiere: CBS will premiere its new series version of “The Magnificent Seven,” starring Michael Biehn, Eric Close, Rick Worthy, Anthony Starke, Dale Midkiff, Ron Perlman, Andrew Kavovit and Laurie Holden, as a two-hour movie on Jan. 3 from 8-10 p.m. Starting the following week, the drama will air Saturdays from 8 to 9 p.m., temporarily displacing “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman,” which is scheduled to return Feb. 28.

POP/ROCK

Acoustic Christmas Changes: Stone Temple Pilots singer Scott Weiland will perform his new solo material at tonight’s Almost Acoustic Christmas concert at the Universal Amphitheatre. Weiland was added to the show, mounted by radio station KROQ-FM (106.7), after the withdrawal of the band Jamiroquai, whose lead singer, Jason Kay, was said to be suffering from exhaustion and has returned to England. As previously reported, the Verve has also canceled its scheduled appearance at tonight’s concert, due to a death of a band member’s relative.

MEMORIALS

Remembering Jarrico, Hallahan: Former blacklisted screenwriter Paul Jarrico (“Salt of the Earth”) will be remembered at a public tribute Sunday at 10:30 a.m. at the Writers Guild Theater in Beverly Hills. Jarrico, 82, was killed in a car accident last month just one day after being honored at a major industry event commemorating the 50th anniversary of blacklisting in the movies. . . . A memorial service for stage and TV actor Charles Hallahan (“Hunter,” “The Kentucky Cycle”), who died Nov. 25, apparently of a heart attack at age 54, will be held Saturday at noon at the Canon Theatre in Beverly Hills. Memorabilia from his career will be on display in the lobby.

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Denver Tribute: The Alliance for Survival will honor the late singer-songwriter John Denver, who was killed in an Oct. 12 plane crash, on what would have been his 54th birthday: Dec. 31. Several tributes, including performances of his songs, will be given during the Alliance’s New Year’s Eve Earth Party, at 8 p.m. at Santa Monica’s Church in Ocean Park. Tickets are $30.