ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT REPORTS FROM THE TIMES, NEWS SERVICES AND THE NATION’S PRESS.

ENTERTAINMENT

Stolen ‘Menace’ Copy Recovered: Two unidentified men surrendered Wednesday in the theft of a copy of “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace” from a Wisconsin theater last weekend, police said, adding that what was purported to be the remainder of the stolen film was recovered in three garbage bags. The surrender came a day after a 5-foot length of the film was found in a field near the theater. “To the best of our information at this time, it was not copied,” a Menomonie, Wis., police spokesman said. The 40-pound film--estimated to have a black market value of more than $60,000--was taken off the projection system in the State Theater in Menomonie between showings Friday and Saturday, the theater’s owner said.

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Tres Mas Grammys: Amid a surge in popularity for Latin music, the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences has voted to add two new Latin music Grammy Award categories for 2000: best salsa performance and best merengue performance. In addition, the academy is moving forward with plans for an eventual Latin Grammy Awards, with a major announcement regarding that effort expected next month. Meanwhile, the NARAS board also voted to add a non-Latin category to next year’s Grammy Awards: best soundtrack album.

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Kuralt Estate Goes to Trial: A trial must be held on whether the longtime secret companion of Charles Kuralt is entitled to the late television correspondent’s Montana fishing retreat, the Montana Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The court overturned a judge’s decision that, based on Kuralt’s 1994 will, the property belonged to Kuralt’s widow instead of Patricia Shannon, his companion of 29 years. Kuralt gave Shannon a cabin and 20 acres from his Montana retreat in 1997, but did not change his will dealing with the remaining 90 acres. At issue in the trial, the court ruled, will be whether a letter written by Kuralt shortly before he died two years ago was intended to leave the property to Shannon.

THE ARTS

New Autry Museum Head: Businessman John L. Gray has been named executive director of the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Griffith Park, effective Tuesday. Gray--who worked most recently for the Small Business Administration in Washington after a long stint with First Interstate Bank--will replace the retiring Joanne Hale, who will remain on the museum’s board of directors.

QUICK TAKES

Nearly 35 million viewers watched Tuesday night’s final installment of ABC’s “Home Improvement,” making it the fourth-highest-rated series finale of the ‘90s (behind “Seinfeld,” “Cheers” and “The Cosby Show”). . . . The MTV Video Music Awards, which were held in Los Angeles last year after four straight years in New York, are returning to the Big Apple. The 1999 awards will be held at the Metropolitan Opera House on Sept. 9, with a broadcast that night on the cable music channel. It’ll mark the first televised awards show held at the Met, MTV said. . . . Nicolas Cage, Bruce Willis, Will Smith, Kathy Bates, Shania Twain and the Backstreet Boys each took home two trophies at the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards Tuesday. Among the more than three dozen additional winners were actors Cameron Diaz, Adam Sandler, Julia Roberts, Tom Hanks, Drew Barrymore and Joseph Fiennes; and singers Garth Brooks, Ricky Martin, Jewel and Lauryn Hill. . . . Writer-director Don Roos’ “The Opposite of Sex” has been named best screenplay of 1998 by PEN Center USA West, which honors outstanding literary works by writers from the western United States. Nicholas Meyer took the teleplay prize for Showtime’s “The Informant.” . . . Walter Matthau, 78, hospitalized since May 16 with pneumonia, was “doing better” and could be released in a couple of days, his son Charles Matthau said Wednesday.