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

MOVIES

‘Pokemon’ Report: “Pokemon: The First Movie” took in an estimated $9.6 million at the box office Thursday, slightly less than its record-breaking $10.1-million take on Wednesday’s opening day--the biggest ever Wednesday opening in November ever, according to Warner Bros., which is releasing the Japanese animated film. In response to the shortage of Pokemon trading game cards at movie theaters--part of the studio’s promotion for the film--Warners is asking ticket buyers who see the movie before Monday but do not receive their game card packet at the theater to call (800) 824-9588 or mail in their ticket stubs with a self-addressed stamped envelope to Pokemon Trading Card Game Offer, c/o Technicolor, 202 Rochester Ave., Ontario, CA 91761. Requests must be postmarked by Dec. 14 and delivery will take at least six weeks. One trading card game will be sent per stub.

ART

Dutch Masters Found: Three Dutch Old Master paintings stolen 21 years ago in a daring Christmas Eve heist from a San Francisco museum were returned anonymously to a New York auction house, officials confirmed this week. The 17th century paintings, including a painting attributed to Rembrandt, were left in a box at the William Doyle Galleries on Nov. 2 and were quickly recognized as works taken from San Francisco’s M.H. de Young Memorial Museum in 1978. “We have no idea who did it,” Carolyn Macmillan, a spokeswoman for the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, said. The most famous of the paintings is “Portrait of a Rabbi,” which art specialists originally believed to be a Rembrandt but which some experts now think may have been painted by one of his students or a skilled copyist. The other recovered works include Aert van der Neer’s “River Scene at Night” and “Interior of the Church of Saint Lawrence, Rotterdam” by Anthonie de Lorme.

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Auction News: Amedeo Modigliani’s “Nude Sitting on a Divan” sold for $16.8 million at Sotheby’s Thursday night, setting a new record for the artist at auction, while an Edgar Degas sculpture also broke the mark in the medium for the artist best known for his paintings of ballerinas. The Modigliani work sold for $16,777,500 including commission at an auction of Impressionist works, eclipsing the record set a year ago of $15,127,500 for “Portrait of Jeanne Hebuterne.” The price was just above the high pre-sale estimate of $16 million. Degas’ bronze sculpture, “Young Dancer at Fourteen,” fetched $12,377,500 after a pre-sale estimate of $9 million to $12 million, breaking the record for a Degas sculpture at auction held by the same piece, at $11,882,500. The total for the sale of Impressionist and modern art was $144,256,000, the highest for an evening sale in nearly a decade, Sotheby’s said.

PEOPLE

Brandy Ill: Brandy Norwood, the Grammy-winning singer and star of the sitcom “Moesha,” has been hospitalized for dehydration, a publicist said Friday. The 20-year-old actress entered an unidentified local hospital for treatment Thursday and was expected to be released over the weekend, said Marcy DeVeaux, a spokeswoman for Big Ticket Television, which produces the UPN sitcom. DeVeaux said she didn’t know what caused Brandy’s condition. A release from the production company said the show would take a hiatus to allow the actress to recover. Production is expected to resume after Thanksgiving. In “Moesha,” Brandy plays a college student learning to cope with life. The UPN series, which debuted in 1996, is set to film its 100th episode next month.

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Streisand Sale: Barbra Streisand is selling about $5 million worth of furniture, cars, Tiffany lamps and movie memorabilia, Christie’s auction house in New York said this week. Much of the stash comes from Streisand’s Holmby Hills residence, where she had lived for 18 years but sold earlier this year. Included in the auction is a customized motor home--complete with Streisand’s initials on the door--which she used as a mobile office. “It’s one that she took to the Academy Awards,” said Nancy McClelland, who is overseeing the sale for the auction house. “I’m sure that she took it on film locations and used it as a home away from home.” Streisand now lives mainly in Malibu. “She really needed to sell the collection,” McClelland said. “There was no way she could absorb it into any of the other houses.” Christie’s is planning Nov. 29 and Dec. 2 for the sale.

MUSIC

Tenors 2000: Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti will give their first concert of the new millennium in Las Vegas at the Mandalay Bay resort. The April 22 show will be the trio’s only concert near the West Coast for the year and the tickets, priced from $95 to $900, go on sale today at the Mandalay Bay box office and through Ticketmaster (outlets and phone).

QUICK TAKES

Celine Dion, Whitney Houston and Goldie Hawn are in Berlin today to receive German publisher Hubert Burda Media’s 1999 Bambi Award as “enormous talents . . . who have contributed to entertainment on a worldwide basis.” . . . Actress Salma Hayek will be celebrating Thanksgiving week in Kosovo, Macedonia and Bosnia visiting thousands of peacekeeping troops stationed there. It’s part of the USO’s “Operation Starlift,” hosted by Hollywood’s “ceremonial mayor,” Johnny Grant. . . . The ABC “Wonderful World of Disney” ratings’ hit “Annie” will be available on Buena Vista Home Video for $19.99 on Dec. 14.