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

MOVIES

Amish Hoop Dreams: A cross between “Remember the Titans” and “Witness”? Bruckheimer Films has purchased the rights to a Sports Illustrated article about a black basketball coach who managed an Amish basketball team in the 1980s. “Higher Education” (the working title) would chronicle the career of the late Perry Reese Jr., who led an Ohio high school team through a championship season. Jerry Bruckheimer also produced last year’s hit “Remember the Titans,” which starred Denzel Washington as a black coach who integrates an all-white football team. “Titans” screenwriter Gregory Allen Howard is also working on the new project, the Hollywood Reporter said Thursday.

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Pirate Trap: A Hollywood studio has sent staffers undercover in New Zealand to scoop up pirated video copies of Ang Lee’s Oscar-nominated film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Columbia TriStar employees signed up for memberships at local video stores and rented copies of bootleg versions of “Tiger” brought in from Asia. The staffers never returned the rented videos and, if called by the video merchants, they are told to explain that studios have the right to secure pirated copies.

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Royal Auction Action: Treasures from the King and Queen of the Cowboys and two knights of the Shakespearean stage are headed to the auction block. Furniture, books and mementos belonging to Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Sir John Gielgud and Sir Ralph Richardson will be sold in upcoming weeks. About 3,000 items from the high-desert home of Rogers and Evans--along with the house itself--will be parceled off on March 31 and April 1 at a sale in the late couple’s driveway. Proceeds go to the family trust. Items from Gielgud and Richardson will be sold in London on April 5 and April 27, respectively, to raise funds for charity. “The sales contain many mementos of their long friendship and their gifts to each other over half a century,” Sotheby’s chairman James Miller said. “So they will not only be of interest to antiques collectors but to followers of acting and the theater worldwide.”

POP MUSIC

Free, For Now: Rapper DMX left the Erie County Correctional Facility Friday, but his legal troubles aren’t over. The performer, whose real name is Earl Simmons, hobbled out of the jail on crutches, saying a guard assaulted him during a cell inspection Wednesday. Simmons spent 11 days in the jail for driving without a license. Simmons planned to fly to New York City Friday for the evening premiere of the movie “Exit Wounds,” in which he co-stars with Steven Seagal. He is to return to western New York Wednesday to answer a contempt charge stemming from his failure to show up on time to begin his jail term. He also faces an assault charge for allegedly throwing a food tray at two guards while in the jail. If convicted of assault, he faces up to seven years in prison.

LEGAL FILE

Downeys Settle Suit: Actor Robert Downey Jr. and his father have settled a $1-million breach-of-contract lawsuit, according to the plaintiffs’ attorney. Richard Finney and Terence Michael sued the Downeys in June, claiming they paid Robert Downey Sr. and his son $250,000 in 1996 to write and develop a screenplay for Lloyd Silverman Productions. The complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleged the work was never completed. Settlement terms were not divulged.

QUICK TAKES

Jason Alexander has made a deal with ABC to develop a new comedy, “Bob Patterson,” at the network, featuring the “Seinfeld” alumnus as a motivational speaker. . . . The Christian hip-hop trio Raze has abandoned its 30-city tour after one member, Ja’Marc Davis, was jailed in Tulsa on sex charges. . . . Singer Aaron Carter, the 13-year-old little brother of the Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter, will join the Broadway musical “Seussical” for five weeks beginning May 6. Gymnast Cathy Rigby is also joining the cast. . . . CBS has renewed Monday night comedies “The King of Queens,” “Yes, Dear” and “Becker” for next season and extended its “Everybody Loves Raymond” for two more seasons. ABC has renewed “Spin City” for a sixth season.