Movie Audiences Flock to 'Mars'
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In Hollywood, the formula for box office success is simple. Imperiled humans in outer space
equals big audiences.The latest beneficiary of this math is ``Mission to Mars,'' which blasted off in the top spot at the North American weekend box office with ticket sales of $23.1 million, according to studio estimates issued Sunday.
With an ensemble featuring Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle, Tim Robbins and a kindly Martian, director Brian De Palma's sci-fi extravaganza about a rescue attempt on the Red Planet pulled in audiences just as recent films such as ``Armageddon,'' ``Deep Impact,'' ``Independence Day'' and ``Apollo 13'' have done.
``The reviews were not favorable, but the public saw something in this movie and voted with their pocketbooks,'' said Chuck Viane, president of distribution at Buena Vista Pictures, the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - news) arm that released the movie.
Among the negative reviews, Entertainment Weekly described the film as ``profoundly shallow.'' An audience at a preview screening last week hooted during scenes that were supposed to be serious.
Still, ``Mission to Mars'' earned more than the next four films combined, and accounted for about 38 percent of the total top 10 gross. It also marks the third highest March opener ever, after 1997's ``Liar Liar'' ($31 million) and 1990's ``Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' ($25 million). Its screen average of $7,564 was the highest in the top 10.
The only other new entry in the top 10 was director Roman Polanski's ``The Ninth Gate'' which opened at No. 2 with $6.7 million. The supernatural thriller stars Johnny Depp as an antiquarian book seller who has to track down two tomes with satanic powers.
Again, the reviews were caustic, which may have deterred Polanski's core audience in the 30-plus age bracket, said Steve Rothenberg, president of distribution at Artisan Entertainment. He predicted the movie would end up with about $20 million domestically, and would be a strong home video item.
The reigning champ for the last three weeks, ``The Whole Nine Yards'' slipped to No. 4 with $5.4 million, taking its 24-day total to $45.8 million. The profitable Bruce Willis mob comedy should end up near $60 million, said a spokesman for the film's distributor, Warner Bros.
According to Exhibitor Relations Co., which collects the studios' data, the top 12 films this weekend grossed a combined $67 million, down two percent from last weekend, but up 12 percent from the year-ago period when ``Analyze This'' was No. 1 for a second weekend.
``My Dog Skip'' (Warner Bros.), held steady at No. 3 with $6.0 million in its second weekend of wide release, up two percent. The total for the canine-themed kids' movie stands at $14.1 million, about double what it cost to make.
The two leading contenders for the best picture Oscar, ''American Beauty'' and ``The Cider House Rules'' each jumped four places.
``Beauty'' was No. 5 with $3.7 million, taking its 180-day total to $98 million. The DreamWorks SKG film is expected to pass the $100 million mark at the foreign box office this weekend.
``Cider House,'' released by Disney's Miramax Films unit, followed at No. 6 with $3.6 million and a 94-day total of $42 million.
The Danny DeVito black comedy ``Drowning Mona'' (Destination Films) fell three places to No. 7 with $3.5 million in its second weekend, and a 10-day total of $10.8 million.
Madonna's ``The Next Best Thing'' (Paramount Pictures) suffered the steepest decline in the top 10, dropping 42 percent and six places to No. 8 with $3.4 million. The romantic comedy's 10-day total is $10.6 million.
The sci-fi drama ``Pitch Black'' (USA Films) and the kids' comedy ``Snow Day'' (Paramount) tied for No. 9 with $3.1 million each. Their respective totals are $34.2 million after 24 days and $52.9 million after one month.
Artisan, DreamWorks and Destination are privately held. Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news). Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA - news). USA Films is a unit of USA Networks Inc. (NasdaqNM:USAI - news)
seems to be a new trend in movie monster attacks now. Back in the early
90s it was the Abyss and Terminator 2 liquid alien effect. Now it's the
Twister or The Mummy sandstorm big mouth effect. The main focus of the
preview was to show this twirling maw eating people. Don't be fooled. That
Martian tornado is in one scene about 25 minutes into the film and it is never
to be seen again. It also is your only big action sequence in the whole
picture. There are other event moments, but they are more suspensful than
thrilling. In space, you move real real slow, so it can get a little
boring when people are anxious but can't show the proper body language to get
that point across. The movie also tries to be more intellectual than it
actually is. There is a lot of talk about DNA and trajectories, and
mathematics to show that these characters seem to know what they are
doing. They don't really. That's why they screw up more times than
they are successful. There is also some dumb dialogue that is used to set
up a joke or to emphasize a tense situation. At one point they are looking
for survivors on Mars and they see 3 graves and the one character says that
since there were not 4, then that character must be alive. The person next
to him makes the obvious observation that if there are only 4 people and 3
graves, if the 4th one is dead then there would be no one left to bury
them. No reason for that bit to be in the movie. I don't want to
give away much of the movie, but I will tell you the things that annoy me that
don't give away too much of the plot. The movie takes place in the years
2020 to about 2022. However, everything in this future looks like things
do today or even 10 years ago. It saddens me that writers of movies like
this think that 2020 will look the same as things now. Back in the day
2020 was flying cars and colonization of the moons Saturn. It is also the
year in Star Trek history in which 
television
was discontinued. Data mentioned it once in the first season of Next
Generation and it's bugged me ever since. This Mars mission is made up of
the same crappy technology we use now to send up probes that get lost all of the
time. Another thing that bugs me about the movie is the points of
reference the characters make. One person is a fan of Flash Gordon, another
listens to Van Halen, and the other reads Treasure Island to his kid at night.
Huh? It's the year 2020 for gosh sakes. A person the age of these
characters about 30 to 50 would not really use Flash Gordon or Van Halen as
influences. They would have been inspired maybe by the Star Trek stuff,
Star Wars, and science fiction novels. The likes of Flash Gordon are not
as popular as they were for the astronauts that were part of the Right Stuff in
the 1960s who could relate to Flash Gordon and Captain Video. Also, I wish
writers would make stuff up more. It's 2020, think up a new music sound, a
new popular author, different kinds of science fiction that inspired these
people to become astronauts that could land on other planets. Nothing
drives me crazier than a sci fi story that takes place 2 hundred years in the
future and they constantly talk about the 20th century or how they love to
listen to Bach. It's an elitist attitude that is not realistic. I
just wish these movies would be more imaginative and not base everything on
someone else's ideas. Those writers they quote and rip off became famous
because they made up those new ideas. The ones that copy them are mostly
forgotten. Originality sells. And that is the other problem with MTM.
It rips off every sci fi movie made in the last 30 years. There is even a
"what are you doing Dave?" sounding computer. Heck, there is
even a scene that is very derivative of the video game Final Fantasy 8 for
Playstation. Shades of Contact, E.T., and that O.J. Simpson classic,
Capricorn One. Doing that makes the movie quite predictable. There
are no surprises and as the movie heads for its lackluster climax, you know
exactly what will happen. Martians and Earthlings are more alike than you
might think. A Martian does show up in the film and about 10 seconds after
if makes it's appearance it is already annoying to look at. It is also
very computer generated looking. It does not look like it is there with
the actors at all. The layman would call it a good special effect and a
cool alien. I call it CGI crap. I am being pretty hard on Mission to
Mars, but in all complete honesty, I did not despise it. I am a fan of
space travel movies set in the real world and the slow moving suspense scenes
were decent enough. My main criticism is that it did not have any new
ideas to share. If you want to see a good Mars movie rent Invaders from
Mars (1953). Mars Attacks was okay but a bit too silly. War of the
Worlds the movie and the radio show are cool as well. Not many good
benevolent Mars movies though. E.T. and Close Encounters are good for the
"they come in peace" fans. If you want to see a good realistic
space movie, Apollo 13 is decent but predictable if you know the history.
However, if you have to see a Gary Sinise movie this week, I think this one is
better than Reindeer Games even though I have not seen RG. Final
Review: 2 stars; 5 1/2 out of 10; C-; thumbs down. Pitch Black
was better.
understand how he is still allowed to make movies and if Johnny Depp and Frank
Langella can reach him, how come the FBI can't? This movie got the
audience it did this week because of its dragging Depp to the ninth level of
Hell trailer and its spooky voice overs. What is the the thing that people
have been killed over? I must know. Maybe not. It seems that
all the action is squeezed into its 2 minute trailer. Polanski is not
known for his fast moviing stories. He is known for making weird horror movies
like his lovable Rosemary's Baby opus. The mass audience loves to go see
scary movies, but if they sense that they might suck, they will eventually
completely abandon the effort. Also, Satanistic stuff can be cool to look
at, but it also means poor box office. The planet Earth is quite
religious, and even though Satan has his followers, the general public tends to
avoid any prolonged contact with his legion. Devil's Advocate, Stigmata,
and End of Days all had their devilish moments, but they were not major money
winners. The core horror fans showed up, but the majority of the average
public avoids these type of films and goes to pray in Sunday mass. Too
much Catholic guilt I guess. That's Satan's secret. He entices
you with riches and eternal ecstasy, but then screws you in the end by taking it
all away. You end up standing on your head in a pile of dog poo no matter
what. People don't like to sit in poo, at least for too long, so they
eventually just avoid it altogether. That is why good seems to win out
more than evil, because poo stinks. Exorcist 1 was a cool movie. You
were only standing in poo about mid thigh on that one. But after the
sequels came out, it was time to go back to standing on your head again.
Satan is never good for you in the long run. Praise God.
