July 25, 1999
'Haunting' Scares Up Big Box Office Victory
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``The Haunting'' and ``Inspector Gadget,'' two movies that received poor reviews, opened
strongly in the top two spots at the North American box office, while ''Eyes Wide Shut'' crumbled in its second weekend,
according to studio estimates issued Sunday.
``The Haunting,'' a horror movie starring Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones, grossed about $33.0 million for the
Friday-to-Sunday period, followed by the children's movie ''Inspector Gadget'' with $22.0 million. Executives for the films'
respective studios, DreamWorks and Walt Disney Pictures, said the openings far exceeded their expectations.
The teen sex comedy ``American Pie'' (Universal) slipped a notch to No. 3 with $10.3 million in its third weekend, just ahead
of ``Eyes Wide Shut'' (Warner Bros.) with $9.9 million. Adam Sandler's ``Big Daddy'' (Columbia) rounded out the top five
with $6.1 million.
The top 12 films grossed a total of $114 million, about even with the same weekend last year and up 6.4 percent from last
weekend, according to Exhibitor Relations, which collects the studios' estimates.
Once again, most box office observers were transfixed by the performance of ``The Blair Witch Project,'' a low-budget mock
documentary horror movie playing in limited release to sellout crowds. The movie earned $2.0 million from 31 theaters, giving it
an average of $64,500, said a spokesman for Artisan Entertainment. By contrast the highest average in the top 10 was
$11,752 for ``The Haunting,'' which is playing on about 2,800 screens. Blair Witch will expand to 1,000 theaters Friday.
DreamWorks said ``The Haunting'' is its best opening since ''Saving Private Ryan'' debuted last July with $30.6 million. The
studio's distribution president, Jim Tharp, noted that most box office observers had predicted an opening in the low-$20 million
range, while he was targeting the high-$20 millions.
``It's an old-fashioned, fun, PG-13-rated movie with a well-known director and a strong cast,'' Tharp said in an interview.
``That's a good formula for a summer movie.''
Dutch filmmaker Jan De Bont, best known for his work on ''Twister'' and the two ``Speed'' movies, directed ``The Haunting,''
which had a reported production budget of $80 million.
Based on Shirley Jackson's 1959 novel ``The Haunting of Hill House,'' the film also stars independent film stalwarts Owen
Wilson and Lili Taylor. The foursome gather at a haunted house as part of an experiment by Neeson's character who does not
realize it is possessed by the souls of dead children.
A Variety poll of key critics in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington DC found that only three reviewers (all in
Chicago) liked it, 27 did not and 10 were mixed. As has been the case with many movies this summer, such as ``Wild Wild
West'' and ``The General's Daughter,'' audiences ignored them anyway.
``Inspector Gadget,'' a special effects comedy based on a cartoon series, marks Walt Disney Pictures' highest summer opening
for a live-action film, surpassing ``George of the Jungle's'' $16.5 million launch two years ago. The movie stars Matthew
Broderick as a robotic crime fighter whose body sprouts more gismos than a Swiss Army knife.
Again, critics were appalled: Variety showed three in favor, 18 against and eight mixed.
One other critically maligned film debuted in wide release this weekend, the beauty pageant satire ``Drop Dead Gorgeous''
(New Line), but its $4.0 million sum was not enough to break into the top 10.
The three-day sum for director Stanley Kubrick's ``Eyes Wide Shut,'' an erotic thriller starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman,
slid 54 percent from last weekend as bad word of mouth and the inevitable drop-off from a big opening weekend hurt
attendances, box office observers said.
Dan Fellman, president of distribution at WB, said moviegoers were probably ``overwhelmed'' by the film's subject matter and
sophistication. However, he expected it to end up with more than $70 million domestically. After 10 days, the film has $40.1
million.
``Last weekend we opened a Tom Cruise/Nicole Kidman movie. This weekend we settled into a Stanley Kubrick movie,''
Fellman said.
Other totals include $64.7 million for ``American Pie'' and $148.1 million for ``Big Daddy,'' which is now in its fifth weekend.
Meantime in tenth place in its tenth week The Phantom Menace earned another $4.2 million which took its total gross past the $400 million mark to $402.9 million.
The top 10 movies at the box office
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the top 10 movies at the North American box office for the July 23-25 weekend,
according to studio estimates collected by Reuters. Final data will be released Monday.
1 (+) The Haunting ............ $33.0 million
2 (+) Inspector Gadget ........ $22.0 million
3 (2) American Pie ............ $10.3 million
4 (1) Eyes Wide Shut .......... $9.9 million
5 (4) Big Daddy ............... $6.1 million
6 (3) Lake Placid ............. $5.5 million
7 (5) Wild Wild West .......... $5.4 million
8 (6) The Wood ................ $4.9 million
9 (7) Tarzan .................. $4.8 million
10 (8) The Phantom Menace ...... $4.3 million
NOTE: Last weekend's position in parenthesis.
+ - new release. ``Drop Dead Gorgeous'' opened out of the top 10 with $4.0 million.
The Haunting is released by privately held DreamWorks SKG.
Inspector Gadget and Tarzan are released by Walt Disney Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co.
American Pie is released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd.
Eyes Wide Shut and Wild Wild West are released by Warner Bros., and Drop Dead Gorgeous by New Line Cinema, both
units of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news)
Big Daddy is released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE - news)
Lake Placid and Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace are released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.
The Wood is released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA - news)
North American box office returns include the United States and Canada.
Reuters/Variety
JOHN L.: A very interesting box office this weekend, so let’s get to it. As I predicted, The Haunting opened at #1 with over $30 million. This surprised the "industry insiders" but as usual, they are after the fact analysts. Haunting is an example of an ad campaign that piques the interest of the public, much like the Mummy did. It seems that giant ghostly faces means big box office. Liam Neeson is having an excellent year at the box offie. His last 2 movies have outgrossed all of his other movies box office combined. Heck, I bet if you doubled Neeson’s pre Phantom Menace box office take it still would not match even the first 3 weeks of Star Wars Ep 1’s take. Good to see a guy over the age of 45 finally become a box office success. My girl Catherine Zeta-Jones still has not had that star making role yet. She does good mag cover and Cecil B. Demille closeup, but can she draw asses to the theater seats? I am her biggest fan, but I have yet to see her in a movie. I never saw Zorro or Entrapment, but I do plan on seeing Haunting. As long as she does not marry Michael Douglas, I will still be on her side. Lilly Taylor finally is in a mainstream movie and not chasing Andy Warhol or River ‘I never ever do dru…sniiff… plop…911…I think He’s dead… E! true Hollywood Story" Phoenix. I am trying to hype up Lilly’s looks, but I can’t get any love for that. She can be hot when she wants to. Check out the tape of the Haunting movie premiere. A good fight would be between Lilly Taylor and Lori "no crying in baseball" Petty. Expect Haunting’s b.o to drop about 40% next week though. Blair Witch and Deep Blue Sea are going to make it their bitch.
The big surprise to me is the performance of Inspector Gadget. Matthew Broderick is one of my least favorite actors in Hollywood, Ferris Bueller not withstanding. He usually will suck the life out of any movie he is in (see Godzilla, or better yet, don’t). Also, the cartoon has not been seen on television in about 10 years. I must say, I watched about every episode of the Don Adams classic back in the 80’s and enjoyed it immensely. My favorite part of the show was at the very end when the little girl would say "DIC." It just sounded so naughty. The reviews for this movie were horrendous, but it did not matter because it is mostly a family movie and the cool effects will entice kids to go see it. Mcdonalds happy meals don’t hurt either. If Broderick could change his expressions or put some emotion into his part, maybe I could buy it. Also, Rupert Everett as Dr. Claw is sacrilegious. Claw was just that in the cartoon, a claw. You never saw his whole body and he had that kick ass demon devil voice they always like to use, sort of like the one of the Malebogia in Spawn. Cheri "perfect cheer" Oteri and Joley "my sister was Princess Leia and my Dad is a dick" Fisher are 2 actresses I actually like. Oteri is still funny on SNL and I always enjoyed it when Ellen would try to rape Joley every week on the Ellen’s Search for Canine Companionship show. IG will drop a bit next week, but don’t be surprised if it is still in the top 7 of movies.
Drop Dead Gorgeous shows that Denise Richards, hot as she is, cannot garner enough interest in a picture. This is this week’s Columbine victim. It actually has 2 Colorado strikes against it. It has young people trying to kill each other and it takes place in the world of beauty pageants. Damn Dylan, Klebold, and Ramsey. Kirsten Dunst needs to look for a Interview with a Vampire sequel, because she still sucks. Ellen Barkin is in this movie, and she too means box office bomb when her name is in the credits. Kirstie Alley is doing a Minnesotan accent poorly. No wonder the people of Minnesota are pissed off about the movie. First Fargo goofs on them and now Savik. You realize there are only 3 actors in Hollywood that use their real accents. Matthew McConnaghey, Holly Hunter, and Andie McDowell. In fact, McDowell’s accent was so bad, Glen Close had to redub all of her lines in the Greystoke movie. Expect DDG to fall to hell next week.
Eyes Wide Shut will be soon shutting its doors. As I have said before, Tom Cruise plus any other whore equals $100 million+. Tom Cruise plus Nicole Kidman equals box office bomb. They have no chemistry on film, sorry guys. Kidman also means box office nuke. The critics love her, but except for Dead Calm, no one gives a damn. Better luck next time guys.
Blair Witch is on a rampage. It may be getting the highest per screen averages of all time. In fact, it increased from last week’s $57,000 per screen take. Expect that to drop considerably next week, but it could open at #1. I hope to have a full review of BWP next week. I will have the final say on whether this is the scariest movie in years. Also as a bonus, I will list the 10 scariest movies of all time. Entertainment Weekly can kiss my ass (Dead Ringers?).
Phantom Menace crossed the $400 million mark. Congratulations. However, Episode 4 should still be safe in second place.
The other movies in the top 10 are self explanatory. I have said enough about them over the last few weeks. They do not have long for the top 10 anyway. What happened Will, what happened?
That’s it for this week. Next week should be fun, and I might have 3 reviews for you. I plan to see The Haunting, Deep Blue Sea, and The Blair Witch Project. Full reviews for all. Should be a huge BOR next week, almost like a Halloween version with all of the horror movies coming out. Bye for now. John L. (KOABORW)