‘Resident Evil: Apocalypse’ revives popularity at box office

Los Angeles — The undead came alive once more over the weekend as “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” debuted at No. 1 at the box office, bringing in $23.7 million.

The film is a sequel to 2002’s “Resident Evil,” based on a video game series about shooting apart shuffling, bio-poisoned zombie attackers.

The suspense drama “Cellular,” with Kim Basinger as a kidnapping victim who makes a random phone call to a cell phone and pleads with a stranger to find her, opened at No. 2 with $10.6 million.

P. Diddy plans girl band

New York City — P. Diddy is back to “Making the Band” — this time, with women only.

For three seasons, P. Diddy — aka Sean Combs — developed the now disbanded hip-hop ensemble Da Band in the show’s second incarnation.

“We watched P. Diddy work magic with his last group Da Band, who despite their issues working together, still managed to take their very first album gold,” said MTV Series Entertainment Executive Vice President Lois Curren. “We can’t wait to see what he has in store for us as he forms a girl group in a whole new music genre.”

Auditions for singers and musicians for the as-yet-unnamed group are scheduled for the first two weeks in October in Los Angeles, Miami and New York City.

The third installment of “Making the Band” will premiere next year.

Geraldo’s housing woes

Hackensack, N.J. — Geraldo Rivera is suing the co-op board of the housing development he lives in, alleging members wrongly kept a $10,000 deposit on one of his properties and prevented him from buying another.

The Fox News senior correspondent owns two homes in the 26-acre Edgewater Colony, where residents own their homes but share ownership of the land.

Rivera said the board refused to return the security deposit for construction of the first home he bought about five years ago, among other allegations.

“They are arbitrarily and capriciously interfering with my house, down to minimalist details like whether or not I should have a fish tank, or whether I should plant a certain kind of flower or tree,” he told The Record of Bergen County.

Pope movie in works

Warsaw, Poland — Italian producers began shooting a television film about the life of Pope John Paul II in southern Poland, where the pontiff grew up and began his church career.

The film crew began shooting scenes Saturday of a young and athletic Karol Wojtyla kayaking in Lake Dobczyce near Krakow, where he served as bishop from the 1950s, said Marcin Marcinkiewicz, a spokesman for the producers.

“Karol, the story of a man who became pope” is to be broadcast in two 90-minute segments on Italian television. Production is expected to finish next spring, but no date has been set for the broadcast.

The film is adapted from a historical account by Italian writer Gian Franco Svidercoschi.