Tuesday,  July 25, 2000

Ford, Pfeiffer top North American box office

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Any concerns that Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer have lost their box office clout appear to have been erased by the No. 1 debut of their new film, ``What Lies Beneath.''

According to studio estimates issued Sunday, the supernatural thriller pulled in $30.1 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, replacing ``X-Men'' as the most popular movie in the United States and Canada. The top 10 contained two other new releases, ``Pokemon The Movie 2000'' at No. 3 and teen romance ``Loser,'' which tied at No. 6.

Directed by Oscar-winnning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis (''Forrest Gump''), ``What Lies Beneath'' stars Ford and Pfeiffer as a couple whose picture-perfect existence in Vermont is shattered by ghostly events. The PG-13 movie pays homage to such Alfred Hitchcock classics as ``Rear Window'' and ''Psycho.''

The $80 million film is a co-production between privately held DreamWorks, which is distributing in North America, and Twentieth Century Fox, which is distributing internationally. Fox is a unit of Fox Entertainment Group Inc.

Ford last appeared in ``Random Hearts'' and Pfeiffer in ''The Story Of Us,'' both box office duds. Ford recently restructured his management team as part of an effort to get scripts from younger, edgier filmmakers.

DreamWorks distribution president Jim Tharp said the Ford, Pfeiffer, Zemeckis names combined with a powerful trailer to bring in the audiences. Exit polling revealed that 61 percent of the audience was female and 64 percent was aged 25 and older. About 79 percent of respondents rated the movie as ``definitely recommend'' or ``very good.''

Overall ticket sales climbed for the fourth consecutive weekend. According to box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co., the top 12 films this weekend grossed $130 million, up 14 percent from a year ago, when ``The Haunting'' opened at No. 1 with $33 million.

Meanwhile ``X-Men'' pulled in $23.7 million this weekend, losing 56 percent of its opening audience. The slide was ``a little bit more than we would have liked,'' said Tom Sherak, chairman of Fox's domestic film group.

He added that next weekend would be a better indicator of the film's overall strength. If the erosion continues at a similar pace, he predicted the film would end up with $150 million; if the slide abated, he targeted $175 million. After 10 days in release, the superhero film has earned $99.5 million and is on track to become the eighth film this year to pass the century mark.

``Pokemon The Movie 2000'' opened at No. 3 with $21.5 million, indicating that the children's cartoon fad still has some life in it.

``It's a terrific number,'' said Dan Fellman, president of distribution at Warner Bros., which released the low-budget film. ``The Pokemon craze is not what it was a couple of years ago, but there's enough fans out there to make it work.'' The first movie opened to $31 million last November, and ended up with $86 million.

Rounding out the top five were ``Scary Movie'' (Dimension/ Miramax) at No. 4 with $14.9 million, followed by ``The Perfect Storm'' (Warner Bros.) with $9.5 million. After 17 days in release, ``Scary Movie'' has pulled in $116.3 million, having passed the century mark on Thursday, its 14th day of release. ''Storm'' has $145.2 million in the bag after 24 days, and should end up with $180 million, said WB's Fellman.

Dimension/Miramax is a unit of Walt Disney Co. Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc.

``Loser,'' a teen romance starring Jason Biggs (''American Pie'') and Mena Suvari (''American Beauty''), debuted with a modest $6.1 million, tying with ``The Patriot.'' Both are released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp.

Directed by Amy Heckerling (''Clueless''), ``Loser'' follows amiable country boy Biggs as he tries to fit into college life in New York City. He falls for fellow freshman Suvari, who happens to be dating a professor (Greg Kinnear). Reviews were mostly negative, but the $20 million film still succeeded in attracting its target audience of young women, said a Columbia spokesman.

After 26 days in release, the studio's ``Patriot'' has grossed $93.2 million, and should end up in the $110 million to $120 million range, the spokesman said.

One other new release this weekend failed to make the top 10. Warner Bros. teen thriller ``The In Crowd'' earned $1.5 million for the weekend and $2.7 million since opening Wednesday, the studio said.

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 21-23 weekend, according to studio estimates collected Sunday by Reuters. Final data will be issued Monday.

1 (+) What Lies Beneath ....... $30.1 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $30,100,000

2 (1) X-Men ................... $23.7 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $99,500,000

3 (+) Pokemon The Movie 2000 .. $21.5 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $21,500,000

4 (2) Scary Movie ............. $14.9 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $116,300,000

5 (3) The Perfect Storm ....... $9.5 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $145,200,000

6 (5) Disney's The Kid ........ $7.0 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $42,600,000

7-(4) The Patriot ............. $6.1 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $93,300,000

8-(+) Loser ................... $6.1 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $6,100,000

9 (6) Chicken Run ............. $4.8 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $86,200,000

10 (7) Me, Myself & Irene ...... $3.1 million

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $83,100,000

NOTE: Last weekend's position in parenthesis. + - new release. ``The In Crowd'' opened out of the top 10 with $1.5 million for the weekend.

``What Lies Beneath'' and ``Chicken Run'' are released by DreamWorks SKG, which is privately held.

``X-Men'' and ``Me, Myself & Irene'' are released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group Inc.

``Pokemon The Movie 2000,'' ``The Perfect Storm'' and ``The In Crowd'' are released by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc.

``Scary Movie'' is released by Dimension Films, and ''Disney's The Kid'' by Walt Disney Pictures, both units of Walt Disney Co.

``The Patriot'' and ``Loser'' are released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp.

JOHN L.:  Well, I'll be.  Harrison Ford still has box office clout.  I was sure that "What Lies Beneath" would bomb in its opening week, but it is doing very well.  The Pocket Monsters have returned to wreak havoc on the card game buying public.  It is also the attack of the "American Pie" cast with Mena and Jason continuing their post teen angst on film.  The In Crowd was trying to go for that "Wild Things" look by even having an actress that looks like WT's Denise Richards, but nothing helped as it faiiled to make the top ten.  I had nothing to do this weekend, so I caught "The Whole Nine Yards" on DVD.  I will have my video nose pick of the week review later on in the report.  A fairly busy week at the B.O. with 3 movies making more than $20 million which is very rare.   I did not see any of the new movies that were released this weekend, but that has never stopped me from commenting on them.

Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer are supposed to be 2 of the most popular movie stars in the modern era. Ford is lucky enough to be part of 3 very successful franchises, (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Jack Ryan's Tom Clancy adventures). All of his movies combined have grossed more than any other actor ever. However, Ford has not been too successful lately at bringing people to the theater. His last 2 movies, "Six Days, Seven Nights" and "Random Hearts" did not light the world on fire, especially RH. His last huge hit was in 1997 with "Air Force One" which played perfectly to his strengths and rep as a mainstream Hollywood actor. Leaving his safe harbor of heroic and near infallible characters has nearly hurt his career. Michelle Pfeiffer has had considerably less success at the box office. In fact, she has had maybe made 2 movies that can be considered commercial successes, "Batman Returns" and "Dangerous Minds." Much like Robert Deniro and Al Pacino, everyone knows who she is, but it never means she is a sure thing to attract an audience. This lady was on the tv show "Delta House" based on the classic comedy, "Animal House," and "Grease 2" for gosh sakes. But she still gets heat for her roles in "Fabulous Baker Boys," and "Witches of Eastwick." She is probably the second best known actress next to Julia Roberts, but is no where near her level in terms of box office gross. After all of this, putting Indiana Jones and Cat Woman together in a ghost story directed by Robert (Forrest Gump) Zemeckis seemed like a sure thing, and looking at this week's box office, the producers were right. What Lies Beneath looks to be a hit. I am very surprised by this since the preview left much to be desired. It sets up the plot and has all sorts of weird moments like Ford and Pfeiffer trying to out do a couple's lovemaking chatter and Pfeiffer morphing into Ford's late mistress. Okay, it looks a little intriguing, but you feel like you have seen the whole movie after the 3 and a half minute trailer has ended. But, it's a ghost story and a drama, so it does not have to worry about giving away the best jokes like a "Scary Movie" preview did. The movie probably is not action packed and to make it exciting, the preview did quick edits between the jumps, scares, and dives into the lake to bring people out the first weekend of release. Women seemed to have bought it, and left the guys in theater 7 to watch X-Men for the third time. I may actually break down and try to see this movie in the coming weeks just because I do like the part where Pfeiffer becomes the mistress and says "your wife" is my second favorite 2 word line next to Jason Isaccs saying "why wait" to Mel Gibson in "The Patriot." The long term success of this film is in doubt. People are complaining that they knew too much about the movie going in and it ruined it a bit, and there is supposed to be some big twist at the end. I don't think it is as big as some other movie shockers like some Haley Joel Osment movies I know, but it is enough to start some grumblings about how good it is. Pfeiffer is usually box office death and this is her biggest opening since Batman Returns. In fact this movie will probably make more money in two weeks than any of her last 5 movies if you don't count her voice work in "Prince of Egypt." I also believe that this may be Ford's 3^rd or 4^th highest grossing opening week ever not counting the reissue of Star Wars in 1997. We shall all see how this movie holds up over time.

The Japanese have struck again with Pokemon the Movie 2000. I missed the whole Pocket Monster craze. Only one I really know is Pikachu. I have never played a Gameboy game of Pokemon, but I did do a couple of rounds of battle in Pokemon Stadium for the Nintendo 64. The Pokemon card game has never graced my fingers. But I do know that you "gotta catch 'em all" and "I choose you (insert pocket monster name here)" catch phrases. However, just because I am not a big fan, does not mean I do not respect the enjoyment these characters give children all over the world. If I was younger, I would be totally into collecting the cards and watching the videos, and computer games. This weekend, the second Pokemon movie in less than a year was released. It did not open as well as the first one and some of the experts think that this craze is dying out. Not really. The first movie was hyped to all hell. There was not a kid between the ages of 3 and 10 that did not know that Pokemon The Movie (1999) was coming out. It debuted on a holiday when kids were out of school and the theaters were packed. This new movie did not have that much hype. I saw a mention here and there, but many kids did not know the movie was even coming out. I guess they were too busy trying to catch Bulbasaur. Another problem is that the parents get really annoyed by the animation style and somewhat inane plots of the Pokemon movies. They are completely geared towards children and the parents don't get it. It's no Harry Potter. So, after seeing the glazed look the first movie gave their kids, many parents probably kept them out of the cineplex to avoid more mind control or just the large crowds. Whenever there is a big kid craze like this, I try to sample the stuff to see what the big deal is about. I liked the Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so how bad could Pokemon be? The main thing that has kept me away is the animation. I like Japanese anime. I love it in fact. However, I like the realistic style that you see in "Akira" or "Wicked City." Pokemon harkens back to the "Speed Racer" type of stilted animation. The mouths move without any other body movement and the backgrounds have that weird streaking action motion that gives some kids epileptic fits. I love those old Speed Racer shows though, but these Pokemon cartoons are just a bit too primitive for my tastes. The Pocket Monsters are still a major force to be reckoned with and still have a few good years left in them. The card and video games are the top sellers on their respective lists. I think though the movies should offer something different than the basic Saturday or weekday morning adventure. Maybe a more realistic anime/manga style or even computer generated animation, or Mewtoo forbid, live action movie would entice more people. The possibilities boggle the mind.

My favorite movie of 1999 was "American Pie." It was the funniest and most heartwarming movie I saw that year. I thought everyone in it did an excellent job in their roles. Jason Biggs, Mena Suvari, Chris Klein, Sean William Scott, and even Natasha Lyonne were all great in their respective roles. However, over the last year, I cannot escape this friggin cast when it comes to movies being released. Lyonne is fighting off lesbian tendencies in "But I'm a Cheerleader." Chris Klein stunk up the junk with Leelee Sobieski in "Here on Earth." Sean William Scott was my favorite character in AP, and he has been in 2 good movies since then, "Final Destination" and this summer's "Road Trip." He will always be known as Stifler though. And then we come to Miss Suvari and Mr. Biggs. These are the two the media have latched onto from American Pie as the next big thing. Suvari came into her own with her American Beauty role and is now know more for that than her less prominent American Pie one. Already the word "American" is getting irritating in her movie titles. Biggs has just been seen recently acting with Freddie Prinze Jr. in "Boys and Girls" seemingly playing the same character he plays in Loser and American Pie. My problem is the media keeps saying that these people are from the movie "American Pie" like that is supposed to make me see the movie. It has become annoying and it makes me hate the actors and the movie American Pie. Now, with "Loser" Biggs and Suvari are together again, even though they had practically no scenes together in AP. Suvari looks all punk girled out similar to Christina Ricci on crack. Biggs is still playing the guy who can't get laid. He is completely typecast. The reason this movie did not open well is because it looks just like every other movie of this type out there. If you show the trailer for "Loser" and "Boys and Girls" I defy you to tell the difference between the two. They look exactly the same. In fact, I thought they were the same movie for months. At least "Loser" did better than "The In Crowd" which bombed because the preview looked like it was going to be a real sexy murder thriller like "Wild Things" but it was rated PG-13. People decided to stick with Dawson's Creek reruns. It seems that the kids going off to college movie is not what it once was. The mass public is bored with it an prefer the post college real world antics of adults. Also, the kiss of death is always to name your movie with a title that can be used against it if it fails. Loser is just too perfect.

1. It looks like every comic book fan came out to see X-Men the first weekend.                                                                                     
2. It also looks like only comic book fans care about the X-Men and word of mouth is not attracting the average movie goer.
3. However, making nearly a $100 million in less than 2 weeks assures that a sequel will be made.
4. Scary Movie has become the highest grossing film ever directed by an African American director beating Sidney Poitier's box office total for his classic, "Stir Crazy."
5. Scary Movie is also one of the most profitable movies of the year.
6. Perfect Storm is now the most successful movie ever to star George Clooney beating out Batman and Robin and "The Return of the Killer Tomatoes."
7. The box office of "Disneys the Kid" means that we are ever so much closer to "The Seventh Sense Dies Hard."
8. The Patriot is going to fight to the bitter end to make $100 million at the North American box office.
9. It is funny how Chicken Run will make a larger profit than Mel Gibson's Patriot.
10. So long, Jim, see you at Thanksgiving with the Grinch where you will get your final chance to prove that you are worth the $20 million a movie they pay you.

Bruce Willis is stinking up the joint with his "Kid" movie, so I figured I'd check out the other flick he came out with this year, "The Whole Nine Yards." Willis played a hitman who has gone into hiding in Montreal, Canada and ends up next door to a dentist played by Matthew "everybody's favorite male Friend" Perry and his crazy wife played by Rossanna Arquette. Perry realizes his new neighbor has killed 17 people for the mob and for the rest of the movie he tries to deal with this fact. This movie was not very good. In fact, most of it is just awful. The comedy is forced and obvious and the plot makes no sense when Perry goes to Chicago to rat out Willis to the mob guy he betrayed and then falls in love with Willis' wife played by Natasha (Species) Henstridge. The first 40 mintues and the last half hour of the film are pretty awful. The acting is fine, but the situations are all pretty weak. I also hate movies that glorify hitmen. It is a ridiculous profession that involves criminal activity on the highest level, but they always portrayed as misguided heroes. I don't dig that. There is one bright spot and that is Amanda Peet who plays Perry's dental assistant. She becomes more significant in the middle part of the film when she reveals her hidden secret and from that point on, every scene she is in is good. She has not stood out in anything that I have seen, but she is very good here. Peet is also very pretty with an attractive smile which helps one get through an annoying movie like this. Plus, she does what so few actresses are willing to do nowadays and that is go topless. It seems as of late that the only nude scenes you get in R-rated movies now is when the cops go to the strip club to catch the henchmen of the main bad guy. Her scene is funny and to some extent necessary to the story and not that exploitive. I'm a guy, so I look for things like that, sorry if that offends you. Michael "I'm afraid of the dark" Clarke Duncan also plays a hitman who may or may not be trying to take out Bruce Willis. He is good in the film in a Ving Rhames in Mission Impossible or Entrapment kind of way. Overall, TWNY is okay, but not worth the extra effort to check out. Amanda Peet almost saves the picture with her performance, so I recommend it only for her. I will definitely look for her in the future. Final Review: 2 stars out of 5; 5 out of 10; C; thumbs down. Mildly entertaining.

I don't usually mention other web sites, but I have to make mention of this.  Currently, George Lucas is working on Star Wars Episode II, the sequel to The Phantom Menace.  Fans cannot wait for the first glimpses of the new movie.  Lucas has shown 2 horrible looking shots of the new film on his website that are blurry and mean absolutely nothing to what will come out May 2002.  However on www.theforce.net, there is a fan made trailer for Star Wars Episode 2 that looks just as good as if Lucas produced it himself.  It has Ewan McGregor as Obi Wan, but it also has clips of Christopher Lee, Christopher Walken, Jimmy  Smits, Hayden (new Anakin Skywalker) Christensen, Natalie Portman, and Samuel L. Jackson who are all in the upcoming film.  It mixes their old movie and tv clips and mix it with Star Wars type special effects like having them holding light sabers and the like.  There is also a clip of about a 100 guys running in a field with light sabers a blazing.  This scene actually comes from "Braveheart" but looks perfect for a Star Wars movie.  If you are interested at all in the next part of the Anakin and Kenobi and Amidala story, then download the clip here.  It is fake, but looks real.  It made me excited for the movie, but I am afraid that this preview will be better than the real one that should be out around November 2001.  We shall see. Go here to go directly to the clip:

STAR WARS EPISODE 2 FAN TRAILER

That is all for this week. Next week, Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy, Eddie Murphy, and Eddie Murphy returns in "Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps." I think I may have missed an Eddie, in there, but you get the point. I plan to see that and have my full take on this sequel to "The Nutty Professor (1996)." I am not overly excited about this, but hopefully it will be somewhat funny. Bye for now.