Sandler inherits box office crown with 'Mr. Deeds'
By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Adam Sandler replaced Tom Cruise as the top draw at the North American weekend box office, with the comedian's young fans apparently forgiving him for the 2000 cinematic transgression "Little Nicky."

According to studio estimates issued Sunday, Sandler's new movie, the low-brow comedy "Mr. Deeds," earned $37.6 million in its first three days of release.

Cruise's science-fiction thriller "Minority Report," slipped to No. 3 with $21.6 million in its second weekend. The cartoon "Lilo & Stitch" held steady at No. 2 with $22.2 million, also in its second weekend.

"Deeds," a variation on Frank Capra's "Mr. Deeds Goes To Town," stars Sandler as a small-town simpleton who inherits $40 billion and outsmarts the ruthless businessmen who try to take advantage of him. Winona Ryder co-stars in the movie, which was released in North America by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp.

The film was reportedly budgeted at a relatively modest $55 million, including Sandler's approximately $20 million salary.

"You can never go wrong with a big summer comedy," said Jeff Blake, president of worldwide marketing and distribution at Columbia.

Still, the opening falls short of Sandler's two biggest bows: "Big Daddy" ($41.5 million in June 1999) and "The Waterboy" ($39.4 million in November 1998). Sandler's last comedy vehicle, "Little Nicky," launched with just $16 million in November 2000.

"Mr. Deeds" is a 60/40 co-production between Columbia and New Line Cinema, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc..

"MINORITY REPORT" REACHES $73.5 MILLION

"Minority Report," which cost about $102 million to make, has now raced to a 10-day total of $73.5 million. The film, directed by Steven Spielberg, stars Cruise as a fugitive cop who must prevent himself from committing a murder forecast by sophisticated tracking devices that have reduced the U.S. capital's murder rate to zero.

It was released in North America by 20th Century Fox, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group Inc., which found itself in a bitter duel for bragging rights last Sunday with Walt Disney Co., the studio behind "Lilo & Stitch."

According to official figures released the next day, "Minority Report" was ahead of "Lilo" by $400,000. This weekend, "Lilo" had a $600,000 margin of comfort. The 10-day total for the cartoon about a Hawaiian girl and her blue alien friend, stands at $77.8 million.

Rounding out the top five, "Scooby-Doo" (Warner Bros.) and "The Bourne Identity" (Universal) each fell one spot with $12.2 million and $10.8 million, respectively. Their totals stand at $123.8 million and $72.5 million after three weeks.

Warner Bros. Pictures is also a unit of AOL Time Warner. Universal Pictures is a unit of Vivendi Universal SA .

The top 10 contained one other new entry: "Hey Arnold! The Movie," based on a TV series on kids cable channel Nickelodeon, which opened at No. 6 with a disappointing $6 million in ticket sales.

"Hey Arnold! The Movie" was released by Paramount Pictures, which noted that the film cost under $5 million to produce and had originally been targeted as a direct-to-video release. Paramount and Nickelodeon are units of Viacom Inc. .

According to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, the top 12 films grossed $131 million, down 12 percent from last weekend, but up 12 percent from the year-ago period when Spielberg's "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" opened at No. 1 with $29.4 million.

In the limited release world, the ensemble comedy "Lovely and Amazing" grossed a promising $96,000 from eight screens in New York and Los Angeles. The film expands to 125 screens on July 19. It was released by Lions Gate Films, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Inc.

"Pumpkin," a high school melodrama starring Christina Ricci opened with a disappointing $30,000, also from eight screens in the top two cities. It was released by United Artists, a unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc..

But it did better than Fox's Silicon Valley comedy "The First $20 Million Is Always The Hardest," which earned just $2,354 from one screen each in New York and Los Angeles.

The top movies in North America -- June 28-30
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the June 28-30 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

Title Gross

1. Mr. Deeds .......... $37,162,787

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $37,162,787

2. Minority Report .......... $21,590,412

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $73,424,800

3. Lilo & Stitch .......... $21,515,886

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $77,086,002

4. Scooby-Doo .......... $12,362,423

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $123,950,021

5. The Bourne Identity .......... $11,197,915

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $72,902,425

6. Hey Arnold! The Movie .......... $5,706,332

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $5,706,332

7. The Sum of All Fears .......... $4,858,184

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $105,370,399

8. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood .......... $4,051,483

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $55,388,642

9. Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones .......... $3,668,293

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $286,253,833

10. Windtalkers .......... $3,501,253

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $33,175,859

Reuters/Variety

John L.:  Adam Sandler earned his $20 million paycheck this week with Mr. Deeds making way more than it cost to pay him to limp around aimlessly.  Full review of Mr. Deeds coming up.  Hey Arnold: the Movie attracted about as many people as have ever seen the television show.  Where is G-Force: the Movie?

MR. DEEDS - FULL REVIEW

Adam Sandler can be a funny guy and in Mr. Deeds he is not very funny.  He is just likable in this film and gets very few laughs beyond a couple of moments shown in the previews where he is beating people up.  Sandler's Longfellow Deeds is just an average joe who runs a pizza shop and aspires to be a Hallmark Card writer.  One day Deeds finds out that his Great Uncle has died and he is in line to get $40 billion since he is the only living relative.  Deeds goes to the big city where he finds out that it is not in his best interest to take his trusting attitude with him as it seems that every one is out to get him especially Peter Gallagher's Chuck Cedar the evil lawyer who wants to buy up the stock of the company Deeds has inherited.  The other person out to get Deeds is Babe Bennett aka Pam Dawson aka Winona Ryder who wants to get the Longfellow Deeds life story for her tabloid television show.  The only person Deeds can trust seems to be Emilio the butler played by scene stealer John Turturro.  On paper it would be neat to see what a crazy Adam Sandler character would do if he had access to $40 billion. Unfortunately, nothing extreme is done by Sandler's Deeds in this film.  He spends only a little bit of the money for the most part and the closest thing to extravagance is him buying cars for everyone in his hometown.  It seems that Sandler was trying to give a Gary Cooperesque type of performance and when he tries to sound sincere about being a small town guy with values it looks odd.  Gary Cooper played Longfellow Deeds in "Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" and was good in that movie when he inherited $20 million, but like the new version the Deeds character just stays too nice and is never corrupted by the new found wealth.  This is a fantasy world that writers of scripts like this wish to live in where money is evil and it is what is in a person's heart that matters.  It makes good smarmy sentimental crap, but I expect a little more outrageousness in my Sandler pictures and this one just fell short.  Peter Dante plays Murph, Deeds' friend from Mandrake Falls and he does a better Sandler than Sandler.  There were two actors who were actually funny in Mr. Deeds.  John Turturro is great in every scene with his sneakiness quips.  His Spanish accent is goofy but amusing to listen to and you will find yourself quoting most of his lines when the movie is over.  I would not be surprised if an Emilio movie is made as the sequel without any appearance by Sandler.  Erick Avari is Cecil Anderson, another person trying to get the Deeds fortune and he plays the first straight man to Sandler who is actually funnier than Sandler.  I have been a fan of his since his "no wheezing the juice" days in "Encino Man," and he is quite good in here in a pretty small but significant role.  Ryder looks good in the movie and even has a bit of chemistry with Sandler.  She has yet to find that one role to really make people notice her and that is too bad.  Must be the Beetlejuice curse.  Mr. Deeds is a feel good, very nice film.  There is nothing here to offend people except maybe the Spanish and mountain climbers.  It looks like Sandler is trying to play more serious roles and get away from the hybrid of Pauly Shore and early Jim Carrey he is famous for.  It takes a long time for slapstick actors to overcome their rep and Mr. Deeds is a good start, but it will take a few more good movies before he will be taken seriously.   A little harder edge for this movie and it could have been something special, but as it stands the movie is just okay.  Final Review:  2 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 out of 10; C+; thumbs up.  See it for John Turturro.

REST OF THE TOP 10 IN 10:

1.    I don't think the pre-cogs in Minority Report foretold anyone that the movie would be fighting a vicious battle with Lilo and Stitch.

2.    Minority Report is doing just okay at the box office because its plot is just not executed as well as it could have been and people just don't care.

3.    Wynonna Judd's version of "Hunka Burnin' Love" by Elvis for the Lilo and Stitch movie is not very good.

4.    Hopefully Scooby Dumb will make an appearance in the Scooby Doo sequel.

5.    The sequence on the stairway in Bourne Identity has the craziest action movie sequence of the year until probably XXX is released.

6.    Hey Arnold the Movie did not open well because it is based on a television cartoon that does not have a fan base that goes back to the 1970s like Scooby Doo does.

7.    The fear that I have is that Ben Affleck will appear in more Tom Clancy movies.

8.    Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya is really fun to say over and over again.

9.    By the power of the force, the new hope of George Lucas is that the Empire of Lucasarts and ILM will strike back and return the jedis to the once phantom menace of internet criticism and clone the box office success of Spiderman or even Star Wars and break the $300 million barrier.

10.    Windtalkers has been officially scalped at the box office.

The mid summer review is next week with the return of Big Willie Weekend and Men and Black II.  Originality continues to be lacking in Hollywood.  Bye for now.