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LOS ANGELES - U.S. gay activists are worried that comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s new film, “Bruno,” could reinforce negative stereotypes about homosexuals just as they are making gains in the fight for rights such as same-sex marriage.

Cohen, who scored a surprise hit in 2006 with “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” portrays a flamboyant gay Austrian fashion reporter in the new film that premieres on Wednesday in London and opens in the United States on July 10.

The studio releasing “Bruno” says the film’s intent is to satirize homophobia, but some gay advocates are wary.

“We do feel the intentions of the filmmakers are in the right place — satire of this form can unmask homophobia — but at the same time it can heighten people’s discomfort with our community,” said Rashad Robinson, senior director of media programs for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

With that in mind, GLAAD asked in vain for Universal Pictures, the studio behind “Bruno,” to add a message from Cohen addressing the importance of gay rights and tolerance.

Universal says in a statement it believes most moviegoers will understand the film’s “positive intentions.”

“‘Bruno’ uses provocative comedy to powerfully shed light on the absurdity of many kinds of intolerance and ignorance, including homophobia,” the studio said.

The movie comes out as U.S. same-sex couples have won the right to wed in six states amid a fierce debate on gay marriage that has seen California voters approve a ban on such marriages.

HIT? OR MISS

“Bruno” is expected to be a hit, although there remains a big question about whether the young men who make up a core Hollywood audience will turn out for a movie about a gay man.

“It’s going to be interesting to see if a bunch of teenage boys actually care to go”, said gay activist Cathy Renna.

But one thing is certain — Cohen has a huge fan base. Men and women flocked to “Borat,” a fake documentary about a Kazakh journalist traveling across the United States that used comedy to expose bigotry. It earned $128 million at U.S. and Canadian box offices and $133 million in other countries.

Like its predecessor, “Bruno” is a mock documentary that covers the fashion reporter after he loses his job in Austria and goes to America looking to become a celebrity. Bruno wears mesh shirts, talks with a lisp and has a penchant for dropping his pants.

His unscripted encounters with everyday Americans and prominent figures, who think he is real, often devolve into people’s disgusted reaction to Bruno’s in-your-face sexuality.

In one scene, for instance, a martial arts teacher shows Bruno how to guard against gays. GLAAD’s Robinson said another scene worried him that shows Bruno appearing to have sex with a man in a tub, while his adopted baby sits nearby.

“That wasn’t really unmasking homophobia, and especially in a country where same-sex couples can still be denied the ability to adopt children that they’ve raised since birth. Trivializing gay families isn’t a joke,” Robinson said.

But gay groups also see potential from the film. “Bigotry and homophobia still today get cloaked in many different nuanced ways, so a movie like this has the potential to let everyone in on the joke and to really change the way homophobia is viewed,” said Brad Luna, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign.

LOS ANGELES - The party kept rocking for “The Hangover,” the first big surprise hit at the North American box office this summer, while Eddie Murphy suffered a headache with his second consecutive flop.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, “The Hangover” led the field for a second weekend with ticket sales of $33.4 million across the United States and Canada. The raunchy comedy with a little-known cast becomes the first movie to retain its crown since “Madea Goes to Jail” in February.

The film also took just 10 days to hit the century mark — $105.4 million, to be exact — setting a new record for an R-rated comedy. The old mark of 11 days was set last year by “Sex and the City.”

Industry pundits expect “The Hangover” to hit $200 million — not bad for a movie that cost a reported $31 million to make. The action revolves around three guys struggling to remember what happened at a wild bachelor party in Las Vegas the night before. It stars Justin Bartha, Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms, and was directed by Todd Phillips of “Old School” fame.

The film, from Time Warner Inc’s Warner Bros. Pictures, easily fended off a pair of new entries boasting some major star power.

Columbia Pictures’ remake of the 1974 subway-hijacking thriller “The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3,” starring Denzel Washington and John Travolta, opened at No. 3 with $25 million, in line with expectations.

“It’s a solid opening for us,” said Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution at the Sony Corp unit.

Washington’s last major release was “American Gangster,” which opened to $44 million in late 2007. The last time Travolta headlined a drama was in 2004 when “Ladder 49″ opened to $26 million. Comparative data are not adjusted for ticket-price inflation.

Murphy, on the other hand, came in at No. 6 this weekend with the Paramount Pictures family comedy “Imagine That,” which tallied just $5.7 million.

“We’re really disappointed,” said Don Harris, executive vice-president of distribution at the Viacom Inc unit.

Murphy previously starred in “Meet Dave,” which opened to $5 million last July and finished with $12 million.

Walt Disney Pictures’ Pixar cartoon “Up” held at No. 2 with $30.5 million, taking its total to $187.2 million after three weekends. The previous Pixar release, “Wall-E,” had earned $163 million in the same span last summer.

Rounding out the top five were the Ben Stiller comedy hit sequel “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian” , which fell two places to No. 5 with $5.6 million in its second weekend. Their respective totals stand at $143.4 million and $35 million.

Walt Disney Pictures is a unit of Walt Disney Co. 20th Century Fox is a unit of News Corp. Universal Pictures is a unit of General Electric Co’s NBC Universal.

In limited release, the feature debut of David Bowie’s 38-year-son Duncan Jones, opened strongly. “Moon,” starring Sam Rockwell as an astronaut who confronts a clone of himself while mining lunar helium, earned $145,000 from just eight theaters in New York and Los Angeles. The Sony Pictures Classics release expands across the United States throughout June and July.

At the foreign box office, “Terminator Salvation” was the top pick for a second weekend, earning $46.1 million; the overseas total for the Columbia-distributed apocalypse sequel rose to $165.5 million.

NEW YORK - “My Name Is Earl” is not getting a second chance after all.

Cable network TBS had expressed interest in continuing the canceled NBC series with new episodes. But producing studio 20th Century Fox TV and creator/executive producer Greg Garcia have opted not to move forward after examining all the cuts they would have to make in order to produce the series on a smaller budget.

“Greg Garcia’s brilliant ‘My Name Is Earl’ kept America laughing for the past four seasons and certainly deserved to continue for many more,” 20th TV said in a statement Thursday.

“While we had hoped to find a way to produce additional episodes for TBS, in the final analysis we simply could not make the economics work without seriously undermining the artistic integrity of the series. As none of us, Greg included, want the show to go out on anything but a high note, we regret that we must put to rest any speculation that ‘Earl’ will continue.

“We are grateful to everyone at TBS for their enthusiasm for the series and wish to offer our heartfelt thanks to the cast and crew of ‘My Name Is Earl’ for their incredible work.”

“Earl” will still run on TBS, in the form of repeats. Beginning in the fall, the cable network will air the four seasons of the offbeat comedy as part of a syndication deal with Twentieth TV inked in 2007.

LOS ANGELES - O.J. Simpson, the former football star acquitted of killing his ex-wife after a sensational trial, asked the Nevada Supreme Court on Tuesday to throw out his armed robbery conviction for a bungled bid to recover his own memorabilia.

Simpson, who was sentenced to up to 33 years in prison in December, said in his appeal that he was denied a fair trial through a series of errors judicial misconduct, insufficient evidence and a lack of racial diversity on the jury.

Simpson, 61, was found guilty of robbery and kidnapping in Las Vegas in October.

The Las Vegas trial stemmed from a bungled attempt by Simpson to recover memorabilia of his storied sports career and murder trial from a pair of dealers in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The star athlete-turned-actor was tried in the 1994 murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman. Simpson was acquitted after a yearlong televised trial that transfixed much of the world.

CANNES, France (AFP) - - Spanish film-maker Alejandro Amenabar took Cannes back to Egypt 400 AD on Sunday with a toga-clad parable on religious extremism starring Rachel Weisz as a martyred philosopher.

Set in Alexandria during the dying days of the Roman Empire, the big-budget movie “Agora” charts the bloody struggles that pitted pagans and Jews against the early Christians seizing power across the Mediterranean region.

The 37-year-old director focuses on the little-known story of Hypatia, a philosopher and astronomer from Alexandria whose work on the solar system pitted her against the Church, a thousand years before Galileo.

Played by Oscar-winning British actress Weisz, Hypatia is persecuted in the film for her science that challenges the Christians’ faith, as much as for her status as an influential woman.

From bloody clashes to public stonings and massacres, the city descends into inter-religious strife, and the victorious Christians turn their back on the rich scientific legacy of antiquity, defended by Hypatia.

Amenabar said in an interview that he wanted the 50-million-euro Spanish production, shot in a recreated Alexandria on the island of Malta, to carry a message against intolerance and extremism.

“Every time someone defends his ideas by using violence, that is what the movie is denouncing,” he told AFP.

“I would hate it for the whole world to think exactly like me. There have to be people who are progressive, other more conservative, people with religious ideas, atheists, agnostics.

“We all need to live to gather in this ‘Agora’,” as the city’s public gathering place was known in antiquity.

Amenabar’s Alexandria is stalked by thuggish gangs of hooded religious militia called the “Parabalani”, who veer into fanaticism as the film progresses, stoning unbelievers and terrorising the population.

“At first the Parabalani represented something appealing in the Church: compassion or help to really needing people in their city. And then they became an army for the Church. They shifted to the dark side of the force.”

“Agora” opens with the destruction of the second library of Alexandria by the Christians and Jews — after the first, famous library which was destroyed by Julius Caesar.

The director also said he saw the film worked as a parable on the crisis of Western civilisation.

“Let’s say the Roman Empire is the United States nowadays, and Alexandria is what Europe means now — the old civilisation, the old cultural background.

“And the empire is in crisis, which affects all the provinces. We are talking about social crisis, economic of course, this year, and cultural.

“Something is not quite fitting in our society. We know that something is going to change — we don’t know exactly what or how, but we know that something is coming to an end.”

Screening out of competition in the Riviera festival’s official selection, the film marks a radical break from Amenabar’s last work, the Oscar-winning right-to-die movie “Mar Adentro” released in 2004.

Amenabar said he usually preferred to be in competition, but told AFP the film didn’t fit the “box” for the Palme d’Or race.

CANNES, France, May 13, 2009 (AFP) - - Cannes lifted off Wednesday with 3D cartoon comedy “Up” as Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino and a bevy of auteur directors and megastars lined up for the French Riviera film festival frenzy.

The notoriously extravagant event has toned down the glitz in this time of economic crisis, but there was little gloom here as the crowds gathered to cheer celebrities sashaying up the red carpet for the gala opening.

“Film-makers … tell us who we are and perhaps who we will become,” said Isabelle Huppert, the French actress leading the jury that on May 24 will pick the winner from among 20 films vying for the Palme d’Or top prize.

She and her eight-strong team will choose from the work of directors such as Spain’s Pedro Almodovar, Palestinian Elia Suleiman, Park Chan-Wook of South Korea and Denmark’s Lars Von Trier.

Tarantino’s long-awaited “Inglourious Basterds” — a blood-and-guts World War II tale of Jewish-American soldiers on a mission to murder Nazis — is arguably the most high-profile of the 20 films vying for the prestigious award.

But before the serious stuff, the festival struck a light note by kicking off — for the first time in its 62-year history — with an animated 3D movie, Pixar’s “Up,” directed by Pete Docter and screening out of competition.

The select audience at the festival palace donned 3D glasses to watch the lofty tale of an elderly balloon-seller and a chubby eight-year-old boy scout embarking on a barmy Latin American adventure.

The 150-million-dollar cartoon caper — which took four years to make before its world premiere here — was picked as the festival opener in a nod to what many in the industry hope will be the digital and 3D future of cinema.

The 20 films in competition for the Palme — by both big-name directors and lesser-known auteurs from Taiwan, New Zealand the Philippines and many other points across the globe — start screening on Thursday.

From “Brokeback Mountain” Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, to veteran New Wave icon Alain Resnais, at a ripe 86 back behind a camera, the world’s grandest film-makers are competing to take home the coveted gong.

They include four previous Palme winners — Tarantino, Von Trier, Jane Campion, and Ken Loach.

Lee takes a humorous look at the 1969 Woodstock music festival, Suleiman offers a Palestinian family saga, while in an out-of-competition movie, Anne Aghion’s “My Neighbor My Killer” recounts the chilling aftermath of the Rwanda genocide.

The late Heath Ledger’s unfinished stint in Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus,” being screened out of competition, is also guaranteed to create a buzz.

The film was almost abandoned when the Australian died from an accidental prescription drug overdose, but was saved when actors Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell were brought in to play his character in the unfinished scenes.

Star power and prestige have helped Cannes — which organisers say is the biggest global media event after the Olympic Games — limit the damage from the global economic slowdown compared to some other big industry events.

But belt-tightening is in the air, with industry players trimming back on the champagne-fuelled parties and the expensive extras, advertisers and local professionals said.

The most high-profile sign of cost-cutting came when Vanity Fair magazine called off its exclusive party. And at the Cannes Market, the movie world’s biggest deal-making forum, executives are sounding a note of caution.

But the mega-yachts are still anchored in the bay and the palatial hotels along La Croisette — the palm-fringed seafront — are booked out for A-listers such as Penelope Cruz, Pitt, Depp and Law.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - - Blinkx said it is putting its online video search skills to work for Britain-based Miniweb Interactive, a firm specializing in merging television with the Internet.

Blinkx founder and chief executive Suranga Chandratillake billed the alliance as a strategic step for the California firm and significant proof that Internet television is going mainstream.

“The highest level trend is basically the mass market adoption of online video,” Chandratillake said.

“We’ve seen our audience swing in the last couple of months from tech-savvy young males to people of every socio-economic background; the thing that links them is they have broadband connections.”

Blinkx will enhance Internet video search capabilities of a Miniweb software platform used to route online and traditional television content through set-top boxes, according to Chandratillake.

Miniweb is reportedly used in more than 9 million homes in Britain and supports more than 600 interactive television sites.

“Combining two best of breed technologies into a single TV services platform is definitely a case of the total consumer benefit being more than just the sum of the parts,” said Miniweb founder Ian Valentine.

“We are very excited about being able to offer broadcasters, for example, the ability to recommend specific catch-up TV content based directly on the viewing context of their audience.”

Miniweb’s current offering is “incredibly simplistic” and comparable to trivia, bios, or other “extras” one might get access to while watching films in DVD format, according to Chandratillake.

“Plug in blinkx and the universe of information you can access becomes essentially unlimited,” Chandratillake said. “The volume of stuff suddenly explodes.”

Blinkx’s main business continues to be its ad-supported website, which indexes video available online for aspiring online viewers. Blinkx offers content from varied sources including YouTube and Paris-based DailyMotion.

The San Francisco-based firm has deals with hundreds of media companies to distribute copyrighted content and boasts an index of more than 35 million hours of video and audio.

The deal with Miniweb could make it possible for blinkx to begin selling television viewers subscriptions to premium programming in manners similar to those of cable companies.

“Almost nobody will pay for content online,” Chandratillake said. “But, people are used to paying for content they watch on their TVs.”

Blinkx plans to infuse Miniweb with profiling technology that lets viewers customize personal channels to their tastes or preferences.

“Combining broadcast and broadband TV will provide audiences with access to an incredibly rich and diverse universe of video content,” Chandratillake said.

“As the leader in video search, blinkx is ideally suited to help viewers navigate this universe, both through search and through recommendations.”

NEW YORK (AFP) - - New York’s famed Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts kicked off 50th anniversary celebrations Monday with Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.”

The piece, played by the New York Philharmonic and conducted by new director Alan Gilbert, was the same conducted by Leonard Bernstein in 1959 when then president Dwight D. Eisenhower attended the ground breaking at the theater complex.

The center was built as the first major cultural complex in the United States and has become the world’s largest performance center.

Major redevelopment is underway and celebrations began in the recently reopened Alice Tully Hall, which is winning plaudits for its acoustic qualities.

Others participating in ceremonies included New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor David Paterson, and performers such as violin great Itzhak Perlman, jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

To celebrate, the Empire State Building was due to light up its spire in the Lincoln Center’s colors of magenta and orange.

“This is truly a transformative time for Lincoln Center — both artistically and institutionally,” said Reynold Levy, Lincoln Center president, in a statement.

“Transformative, not just because we are renovating our halls and upgrading our public spaces, but also because we are completely re-imagining what a performing arts center can be for today’s world, just as the founders did 50 years ago.”

The Cannes party-scene may be a leaner meaner affair in this year of economic crisis, but all-out warfare looms on the movie front as the globe’s hottest directors, from Ang Lee to Quentin Tarantino, battle for the festival trophy.

“All the great names of world cinema are here,” said festival director Thierry Fremaux as a galaxy of stars geared up for the movie industry’s biggest annual binge to kick off Wednesday on the palm-fringed Cannes beachfront.

From “Brokeback Mountain” Oscar-winner Lee, to veteran “New Wave” icon Alain Resnais, at a ripe 86 back behind a camera, 20 of the world’s grandest film-makers are competing to take home the coveted Palme d’Or on May 24.

Cannes 2009, said movie magazine Variety, will see the festival’s “biggest heavyweight auteur smackdown in recent years”.

As the countdown began to the 12-day frenzy of screenings, partying and wheeling and dealing, festival organisers said despite the crisis, scheduled attendance seemed on par with previous years — 4,000 press, 10,000 movie types.

But behind the scenes, everyday services from caterers to hairdressers see belt-tightening in the air as players cut back on champagne and extras.

“Companies are sending fewer people, for shorter periods,” said Michel Chevillon, head of the city’s hotel association. “We’re experiencing an unprecedented world crisis, it’s also affecting the Riviera and Cannes.”

Among top-notch directors jetting in are four previous Palme winners — Tarantino, Jane Campion, Lars Von Trier and Ken Loach — who will line up with Pedro Almodovar, Johnnie To, Marco Bellochio, Elia Suleiman, Lou Ye and Park Chan-wook.

Every one of the score of contenders has screened in Cannes before, with the “newest” kid on the block 48-year-old Briton Andrea Arnold, one of just three women up for the prestigious trophy.

The global economy may be in meltdown mode, but the world’s premier movie showcase has rarely looked so vibrant.

The mega-yachts are at hand and palaces along the seafront are booked out for A-listers like Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Brad Pitt and Jude Law.

In Paris fashion houses, Dior’s John Galliano and Chanel’s Karl Lagerfeld are scrambling to drape Charlize Theron, Eva Green, Asia Argento or Robin Wright Penn.

The last two are part of the glammed-up 2009 jury headed by French star Isabelle Huppert that will award the prized Palme at the gala close of the world’s biggest media event after the Olympic Games.

Adding a new chapter to its history, the festival on Wednesday kicks off for the first time with a 3D animation — Disney-Pixar’s “Up” — foisting goofy glasses on the glitzy VIPs rolling up for the red-carpet opener.

“We are happy to have 3D open Cannes, as it is one of cinema’s upcoming adventures,” said Fremaux.

The past too will be in focus at the festival, with a slew of movies taking a reflective look back into time.

Italy’s Bellochio spotlights Mussolini’s secret son, Austria’s Michael Haneke zeros in on Nazism in the classroom, and Tarantino’s “The Inglourious Basterds” (sic) also is set during World War II.

Closer to contemporary times, Lee takes a humorous look at the 1960s Woodstock festival, Suleiman offers a Palestinian family saga, while in an out-of-competition movie, Anne Aghion’s “My Neighbour, My Killer” recounts the chilling aftermath of the Rwanda genocide.

The yearly filmfest rarely goes by without an outcry of sorts. This year’s might spring from a torrid tale of love by banned Chinese film-maker Lou Ye or an Iranian movie on the underground rap scene in Tehran.

The late Heath Ledger’s unfinished stint in Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”, being screened out of competition, is also guaranteed to create a festival buzz.

And movie buffs and critics keenly await a new indie film by veteran Francis Ford Coppola, being screened on the sidelines after failing to be selected for the Palme.

“We made a formal offer to Francis Coppola to present his film out-of-competition,” said Fremaux. “He declined because he wanted to be in the competition.”