Hilton, Richie square up for box office battle

Aspiring actresses and feuding friends Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie are set to do battle at the box office in November - they both star in films which will be released on the same day.

Movie-maker Andrew Shaifer, who produced and wrote Richie's debut film Kids In America, has accused the team behind Hilton's Pledge This! Of purposefully synchronising the release date clash to generate publicity.

The Simple Life reality TV co-stars mysteriously fell out in January and have refused to divulge the reason behind their rift, with Hilton saying: "All I will say is that Nicole knows what she did and that's all I am ever going to say about it."

Shaifer, who arranged his film's release date in April, says: "It was just announced that Paris' movie will open the same day. It is obvious something is going on. My feeling is this was done on purpose."

Despite his anger over the date clash, Shaifer tells gossip website PageSix.com he is confident in Richie's big screen abilities after seeing Hilton's acting attempt in horror remake House Of Wax earlier this year.

He boasts: "Either way, I am glad we have Nicole in our movie. After seeing House Of Wax, we obviously got the better actress. I want to put Nicole in another movie. I have specifically written a role with her in mind - she is that talented."

However, Hilton's representative responds: "Andrew must be mistaken. There is no official release date yet."