Embattled R&B singer Chris Brown crashed his car into a wall in upscale Beverly Hills on Saturday (February 09) and later told police officers he was trying to elude aggressive paparazzi, police said.

The crash came on the eve of the Grammy Awards, almost exactly four years after Brown assaulted his girlfriend, singer Rihanna, the night before the awards show in 2009.

The singer was not injured nor was he cited or arrested.

Ben Affleck's "Argo" was crowned best film at the BAFTAs on Sunday (February 10) while Daniel Day-Lewis bagged yet another leading actor award for the title role in "Lincoln" as an increasingly familiar awards season script unfolded in London.

Affleck also won the best director trophy for "Argo", about the rescue of American hostages in Iran during the 1979 revolution, and the movie is now in pole position to win the biggest movie award of all on Oscar night.

Despite a blizzard in the U.S. Northeast, "Identity Thief," a newly released comedy starring Melissa McCarthy, collected 36.6 million dollars in weekend ticket sales in the United States and Canada, making it the top-performing film.

Produced by Jason Bateman, who plays the hapless man whose identity is stolen by McCarthy's character, "Identity Thief" easily swiped the top spot from last weekend's champion, the zombie love story "Warm Bodies," which earned 11.5 million.

Director Steven Soderbergh's crime drama "Side Effects," which stars Jude Law and Rooney Mara, came in with 10 million to round out the top three films for the weekend.