ticket
sales slid in the traditional post-Thanksgiving slump, according toSunday December 5, 1999
'Toy Story 2' Scores Easy Box-Office Victory
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``Toy Story 2'' remained on top of the
North American box office in its second weekend of release as overall
ticket
sales slid in the traditional post-Thanksgiving slump, according to
studio estimates issued on Sunday.
The comedy starring animated dolls, which Walt Disney Pictures produced with Pixar Animation
Studios Inc., earned about $28.3 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, a 50 percent decline
from its three-day haul one weekend earlier.The rankings of the top four films were unchanged from last weekend, and there were no new
entries in the top 10. The 1999 box office champ, ``Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace'' reentered theaters on a limited basis in a one-week charity run. It grossed an estimated$1.2 million from 832 prints, said Twentieth Century Fox. The film's total now stands at $430
million.The latest James Bond movie, ``The World Is Not Enough'' (MGM) held the No. 2 spot with
$10.6 million, followed by Arnold Schwarzenegger's ``End of Days'' (Universal) with $9.7 millionand ``Sleepy Hollow'' (Paramount) with $9.0 million. ``The Bone Collector'' (Universal) moved up
one place to No. 5 with $3.1 million.``Toy Story 2'' has earned $117.3 million after two weekends in wide release. It passed the $100
million mark on Saturday, its 11th day of release, matching the pace set by Disney's 1994 ''TheLion King.'' Disney said its current weekend haul was the fourth highest for any weekend in
December, after ``Scream 2'' and two rounds of ``Titanic.''It also beat the original 1995 ``Toy Story'' to claim the title for the first weekend in December.
While a 50-percent slide in ticket sales sounds precipitous, it is normal for the weekend following a huge holiday period. Ticket sales for the studio's 1998 Thanksgiving champ, ``A Bug's Life,'' fell 48 percent the next weekend.``The World Is Not Enough,'' which fell 54 percent from last weekend, has grossed $90.4 million
after 17 days in release. ''End of Days,'' off 53 percent, has picked up $45.9 million after 10 days; ``Sleepy Hollow,'' down 51 percent, has reached a 17-day tally of $45.9 million; and ``The Bone Collector,'' off 43 percent, has corralled $58.1 million after one month.Several films opened in limited release, led by Columbia Pictures' adaptation of the Graham
Greene novel, ``The End of the Affair.'' Director Neil Jordan's World War II-era romance earned $203,000 from seven screens in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and San Francisco, giving it a sparkling average of $29,000. By contrast, the highest average in the top 10 was $8,740 for ``Toy Story 2.''The film, which stars Ralph Fiennes, Stephen Rea and Julianne Moore, played overwhelmingly (74
percent) to people aged 35 and older, and 60 percent of the audience was female, a Sonyspokesman said. The film adds five markets on Christmas Day and goes wider in January.
Elsewhere, Woody Allen's ``Sweet and Lowdown'' (Sony Pictures Classics) earned $101,884 from three New York screens, for an average of $33,961. Jane Campion's ``Holy Smoke'' (Miramax) charmed a total of $32,000 from one screen each in New York and Los Angeles.USA Films' ``Agnes Browne'' nabbed a weak haul of just $5,857 from two screens.
Walt Disney Pictures and Miramax Films are units of Walt Disney Co. Universal Pictures is a unit
of Seagram Co. Ltd. Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc. Twentieth Century Fox is a unit of Fox Entertainment Group Inc. Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp. USA Films is a unit of USA Networks Inc.Top 10 movies at the box office
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the top 10 movies at the North American box office
for the three-day Dec. 3-5 weekend, according to studio estimates collected Sunday by Reuters.Final data will be released Monday.
1 (1) Toy Story 2 ......................$28.30 million
2 (2) The World Is Not Enough ..........$10.60 million
3 (3) End of Days ...................... $9.70 million
4 (4) Sleepy Hollow .................... $9.00 million
5 (6) The Bone Collector ............... $3.10 million
6 (5) Pokemon: The First Movie ......... $2.21 million
7 (7) Dogma ............................ $2.15 million
8 (9) The Insider ...................... $1.40 million
9(10) Being John Malkovich ............. $1.39 million
10 (8) Anywhere But Here ................ $1.30 million.
NOTE: Twentieth Century Fox reissued ``Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace'' for a
one-week charity run. It grossed $1.2 million from 832 prints.Last weekend's position in parenthesis.
Toy Story 2 is a production between Pixar Animation Studios Inc. and Walt Disney Pictures, a unit
of Walt Disney Co. Disney's Touchstone Pictures unit released The Insider.The World is Not Enough is released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
End of Days and The Bone Collector are released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Seagram Co.
Ltd.Sleepy Hollow is released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.
Pokemon: The First Movie is released by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc.
Dogma is released by Lions Gate Entertainment.
Being John Malkovich is released by Gramercy Pictures, a unit of USA Networks Inc.
Anywhere But Here is released by Twentieth Century Fox
JOHN L.: Very slow week at the box office. Very little has changed since the last report. No new movie has entered the top ten this week which is rare. Toy Story 2 is raking in the dough with no competition. Hanks attacks again next week with the Green Mile and may come close, but probably won’t since GM is over 3 hours long. I guess they tried to do the book(s) verbatim. More on that next week. James Bond is here to stay. The public still gets off on his actions. I expect Brosnan to do about 2 more of these and then it’s off to someone new. I have no idea who the next Bond should be. Hopefully it won’t be Ralph Fiennes. End of Days is not the come back vehicle for Ah-nold (I hate when critics spell it like that) S. that he was hoping for. EOD was a victim of bad critical response. Also, that type of movie is a bit too early 90s sort of Seventh Signish. The computer geeks seemed to have the millennium bug under control so mass hysteria around the end of the world has lessened. Just the way the Devil likes it. Make them think everything is alright and then BAMMMM, you’re hanging upside down in your own feces for all eternity. Sleepy Hollow is doing pretty well. Depp is having his first hit this decade I think. Ricci is still stuck in this goth world of hers. Expect her to do her required lesbian kiss movie in the next year or two. Tim Burton has gained his respect back and may one day get that Supeman the Movie support we have all waited anxiiously for. Bone Collector looks to be finishing up short of the $70 million mark. I think if Denzel wants to get another hit, he needs to team up with Ashley Judd in his next movie. His last 3 movies have had costars that tend to be box office death. Mila Jovavich in He’s Got Game, Annette Beatty in The Siege, and now Angelina Voigt in BC. Judd just might help keep Washington in good favor with the movie producers. We shall see how the Hurricane does. Hollywood better be careful about releasing Pokemon 2 next year. It will not come close to making what this one did. The fad is still hot, but this movie is not getting any legit repeat business. Most young fans did not dig it or it would have made more money and crossed $100 million by now. Every kid who collects the cards and plays the Gameboy games saw it… once. That accounts for the $80 million. To make the $120-150 million a phenomenon like this is, it needed the must see over and over again that Toy Story and Tarzan like Disney movies get. The bright side is that these movies are very cheap to produce and promote so Pokey 2 should still make a huge profit regardless. Kevin Smith is a somewhat talented writer who relies too much on controversy and pop culture to make his name. It’s cute, but does not hold much interest. Plus those pop culture references become very dated very quickly. Here is a tip for KS and for the makers of EOD. Don’t goof on religion. It never goes over well with the public. Completely taboo subjects. Exorcist is the only movie about religion in the last 30 years to make any money and the only ones that did before that had Bing Crosby or Sidney Poitier. The subject is too sensitive for people to get entertained by because of their fear of God or whatever being they pray to. Religious doctrine is hypocritical, but hey when you’re omnipotent, you can do whatever you want whenever you want. Dogma may make about $30 million when its all said and done and come up with a slight profit. Thank goodness Smith was not allowed to butcher the Superman franchise. He would have had Lois Lane give Clark Kent lasagna just before he flew off to stop Brainiac from building a space station with independent contractors who worked for a lesbian Lana Lang who’s boyfriend Jimmy Olsen was working partime at a mall where they sell those crazy colored pictures you stare at until a boat forms out of nowhere. That made no sense. My point exactly. Inside scoop for the day. Smoking is still bad for your health. Any other movie ideas? Driving while drunk can get you killed. Having unprotected sex with someone with puss running down their leg from their crotch is dangerous. Snorting cocaine can screw you up real good. Eating ice cream too fast can give you a headache. Why don’t they make movies about that too. Al Pacino and Robert Deniro can star. Being John Malkovich still sucks. They make a movie about him, has his name in the title, and still no one cares or knows who he is. Call it Being Tom Hanks and you might have something. You look into Hanks’ life and you can see him count all of the money he makes while he shines his military awards he gets for not serving in the military, plus you get to see him reenact his kissing scenes with Meg Ryan. Oh yeah, that’s where the box office is. Jane the Slut and Princess Amidala are still in the top ten. I think the Rob Schneider movie coming out next week should just push it out of the top ten and relieve us all from this road trip tripe.
Phantom Menace was released again this week. For those who did not see it, Darth Maul dies at the end as well as Qui Gon. Oh, also in Star Wars Episode 2: This movie will suck too except for one thing news, Lucas says that Yoda will be shown in light saber combat. Cool. I can’t wait to see the little muppet do the Luke Skywalker flip over Anakin’s bald head.
That’s it for this week. No new movies to talk about that made the top ten. The limited release movies will not get any major play in my column until their respective studios respect them enough to release them wide. Green Mile and that Gigolo movie come out next week. If I find half a day of free time, I might even check out Green Mile. I read the books and enjoyed them. However, I do have a rant prepared for it if I do see the movie. Bye for now.
ABOUT JOHN L.'S KICKIN' BOX OFFICE REPORTS
THIS WEEK'S BOX OFFICE REPORT LAST WEEK'S BOX OFFICE REPORT
SPECIAL SUMMER OF 1999 MOVIE REVIEW
SPECIAL MIDSUMMER 1999 BOX OFFICE REVIEW
THE BEST AND WORST MOVIES OF 1998
EMAIL: