Thursday, March 22, 2001

Steven Seagal Makes Grand 'Exit' at Box Office

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Just when everyone thought his career was over, action star Steven Seagal launched a box office comeback this weekend when cop thriller ``Exit Wounds'' debuted at No. 1 with a record haul for the actor.

The Warner Bros. feature -- Seagal's first movie in four years -- grossed $19 million from North American theaters for the Friday-to-Sunday period, enjoying a comfortable lead over the World War II drama ``Enemy at the Gates'' (Paramount), which opened at No. 2 with $13.6 million, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

``The Mexican'' (DreamWorks), starring Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, slipped to No. 3 with $8.1 million after two weekends at No. 1.

With one week until the Academy Awards on March 25, two best picture Oscar nominees passed the century mark this weekend: ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' (Sony Pictures Classics) and ``Traffic'' (USA Films).

The top 12 films grossed about $73.6 million, up almost 18 percent over last weekend, but down about 1 percent from the year-ago period, when Roberts' ``Erin Brockovich'' opened at No. 1 with $28 million, on the way to five Oscar nominations.

It was clearly Seagal's weekend to shine. The 49-year-old former martial arts instructor lost some weight, ditched his ponytail and cannily reached out to a younger generation by teaming up with rap star DMX for ``Exit Wounds,'' a thriller about crooked cops and evil crooks.

The last time Seagal was in theaters was with ``Fire Down Below,'' which opened to $6.1 million in September 1997 and ended up with about $16 million. He did star in a low-budget thriller ``The Patriot'' in 1998, but it went straight to video. Until this weekend, his best opening was for ``Under Siege,'' which opened with $14 million in 1992.

``Steven's thrilled ... very excited,'' said Dan Fellman, president of distribution at Warner Bros., a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. .

The film cost under $40 million to make, and also marks the sixth consecutive No. 1 for producer Joel Silver, the man behind such hits as ``Romeo Must Die,'' ``The Matrix'' and ``Lethal Weapon 4.'' Both ``Exit Wounds'' and ``Romeo Must Die'' were directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak.

Fellman said ``Exit Wounds'' received a very strong response in the black community, and pulled in a surprisingly high proportion of female moviegoers. Exit polling indicated that both genders liked it equally.

``Enemy at the Gates,'' which revolves around a duel between a Russian and German sniper (played by Jude Law and Ed Harris, respectively) during the Battle of Stalingrad, predictably pulled in more males and rated more strongly with older audiences, a Paramount spokeswoman said.

The film also stars Joseph Fiennes, who competes with Law's character for the affections of a Russian recruit played by Rachel Weisz. Frenchman Jean-Jacques Annaud (''Seven Years in Tibet'') produced and directed.

``Enemy'' cost about $70 million to make, but Paramount picked up North American rights for less than $10 million from studio-based producer Mandalay Pictures, the spokeswoman said.

The film opened in just 1,509 theaters, the lowest count in the top 10, and accordingly posted the highest average, $9,013. By contrast, ``Exit Wounds'' averaged $6,723 from 2,830 theaters. ''Enemy'' will expand to nearly 2,000 theaters next weekend, said Paramount vice-chairman Rob Friedman. Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc. .

``The Mexican,'' playing at the most theaters in the top 10 -- 3,162, up 203 from last weekend -- has grossed $50.9 million after 17 days.

The canine caper ``See Spot Run'' (Warner Bros.) slipped one place to No. 4 with $5.2 million, taking its 17-day total to $25 million. Fellman expected the low-budget comedy would surpass $40 million.

But things were not quite rosy for corporate sibling New Line Cinema's ``15 Minutes,'' which fell three places to No. 5 with $4.4 million in its second weekend. The Robert De Niro/ Edward Burns thriller lost 59 percent of its audience from last weekend, the steepest drop in the top 10, and has earned just $18 million after 10 days.

The martial arts romance ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' held steady at No. 6 with $4.1 million after 101 days, and was expected to end Sunday with $100.4 million in the till. The film is up for 10 Academy Awards, including best picture, foreign-language picture and director (Ang Lee).

The drug saga ``Traffic'' passed the century mark on Saturday, its 81st day, and now has $102.5 million in the bank. This weekend, the five-time Oscar contender grossed $3.4 million, sharing the No. 9 spot with fellow best picture nominee ``Chocolat'' (Miramax).

Sony Pictures Classics is a unit of Sony Corp., USA Films is a unit of USA Networks Inc., Miramax Films is a unit of Walt Disney Co . DreamWorks SKG is privately held.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the March 16-18 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. Exit Wounds .......... $18,485,586

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $18,485,586

2. Enemy at the Gates ..........$13,810,266

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $13,810,266

3. The Mexican ..........$8,011,263

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $50,771,264

4. See Spot Run ..........$5,005,784

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $24,813,934

5. 15 Minutes ..........$4,300,356

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $17,898,141

6. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon .......... $4,044,988

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $100,277,062

7. Down to Earth ..........$4,006,506

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $56,808,135

8. Hannibal .......... $3,566,601

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $157,077,220

9. Chocolat ..........$3,428,184

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $55,914,814

10. Traffic .......... $3,414,195

BOX OFFICE  SO FAR:  $102,474,338

Reuters/Variety REUTERS  

Movies, movies movies. What's at the movies? More of the same old crap. Karate, guns, Nazis, guns, rap, guns, English and Americans playing other nationalities since Germans and Russians are too busy trying to feed their families to take the time to make movies about how World War II was necessarily the planet's proudest moment, and more guns. Lots of stuff to cover this week including a review of that critical darling from last year, "Whipped," and that box office whipping boy of a film, "The Wonder Boys" with the supposedly overlooked Michael Douglas. A lot of the movies out right now are likely to be future Video Nose Picks of the Week.

Exit Wounds is another Joel Silver action opus. He has produced the Lethal Weapon quartrology (is that a word?), The Matrix (soon to be trilogy), and Romeo Must Die (DMX was in that for 2 minutes). He has had about 6 movies in a row open at number one. There was some doubt how well Exit Wounds would do this weekend since Steven Seagal has not had a hit movie since Under Siege many moons ago. Since then, he has fallen out of grace with the action movie fans with his eco challenge movies about saving the environment. That did not go over well. Since Sly and Arnold are also slumping, Seagal figured now would be the time to come back with a hard edged street action picture, but he also needed to attract an audience that may not be familiar with his more popular work from 8 to 10 years ago. If you want to attract the 15 to 25 crowd then you need an actor with street cred. Ice Cube and Ice T are the standard bearers of this stereotype, with Cube being the most successful. This movie has DMX as the guy to bring in the hip hop films. So, the combination of Silver's producing expertise, Seagals old school action movie rep, and DMX's new school rap rep. This movie was marketed well and put the action scenes in slow motion and like a lot of movies with rappers, it looks like DMX may actually turn out to be some form of a cop, or as the bruthas like to say Five-Oh (circa Hawaii). I have liked many Seagal movies even Under Siege 2. He is overrated as a fighter, but I love it when he fights in pool halls and puts the balls in a sock and whacks the bad guys in the face with them. Seagall also looks good breaking bones. His problem is his one note acting style that is more monotone than Jean Claude Van Damme, and as of late that little paunch he was sporting there around the US2 and Roseanne cameo days. He became too environmentally concious and it definitely hurt his career. No one wants to see him sing about saving the trees. Exit Wounds looks to be like his Above the Law and Hard to Kill days when he was cool. I actually have a DMX album and it is just okay. I listen to too much Howard Stern and he used to play DMX's "My Niggas" a whole lot and it caused me to buy the album. DMX sings about being hardcore and always packing heat but at the same time being humble to God and all the things the almighty has brought him in terms of a musical career. This guy has an okay look and his gravely voice is somewhat hard to listen too, but like most rappers he comes across pretty well on screen. He still has a ways to go before George Clooney starts calling him though. Exit Wounds will do okay, but I don't expect it to make more than $45 million or so. The reviews and word of mouth are not that strong, but if Seagal keeps making more straight action movies, he just might make an official comeback.

Where would Hollywood be if it was not for World War II? I am really sick of World War II movies and I am really tired of Nazis as villains. It is just too easy. After they melted at the end of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" I thought that would be it, but no, they still pop up to cause trouble. Unfortunately, since schools rarely teach about World War II, movies are the main access to history people have about the subject. Everything I know about that time I learned from movies and television mini series. It is hard to know what is true and what is fictionalized and composited. Enemy at the Gates is the true story about a Russian WWII sniper played by Jude Law battling with a Nazi marksman played by Pollock nominated Ed Harris. In the middle of this is a pretty girl, thank goodness, or this movie would not have been made, played by Rachel Weisz who is taking time off fighting mummies to be the love interest of Law. This story takes place during the Battle of Stalingrad where the Russians eventually held the Germans back which eventually led to the Third Reich ending in defeat. These stories I guess are important to tell, even though America did not have much to do with this battle. Jude Law plays the Russian hero, Vassili Zaitsev, who was a major factor in the Russian victory over the Germans. Ed Harris is Major Konig who is out to take him out. What amazes me about what I have seen of this movie is how there does not seem to be any Russian or German actors in the movie. Everyone is British or American. It has always amused me for some reason to see Nazi characters speak with a British accent. I guess there are no natural born actors to play those parts. It is almost racist in scope. Just once, I would like to see someone besides Werner Klemperer play a German, and Dolph Lundgren play a Russian. The Nazis may have lost the war, but Hollywood is still only using the "master race" in its movies regardless of the story. EATG may last a while since it is a serious drama, and WWII movies can do well, and Ed Harris is getting some hype for being nominated for an Oscar for his disgruntled painter movie. It should make more than Exit Wounds at least.

1. The Mexican is now Brad Pitt's biggest hit since Seven.

2. The Mexican is shaping up to be Julia Roberts' biggest bomb since Mary Reilly.

3. David Arquette is a bigger box office draw than his wife Courtney.

4. The fame of the movie "15 minutes" is still within the 10 to 12 minute range.

5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a huge hit in the North America, but the Asian lands are not that enthralled with the high wire act and the poor delivery of Michelle Yeoh's Mandarin accent.

6. Even though, Hong Kong might say CTHD sucks, no one can say that my girl Zhang Ziyi is not all that:

7. The box office glory of Chris Rock's movie is starting to come down to Earth.

8. Hannibal is the movie to beat this year in terms of top grossing movies at the box office.

9. Chocolat will probably make more money than Johnny Depp's next movie "Blow."

10. If Traffic wins a few Oscars, expect it to rise up out of 10th place in the box office.

One of the most loved movies last year was Curtis Hanson's adaption of the Michael Chabon book, "The Wonder Boys." However, no one went to see it because the marketers could not figure out how to sell the movie to a wide audience. The plot could not be summed up in a 30 second tv trailer or even a 2 minute and 45 second theatrical trailer. From what I gathered, it was about this college professor, Grady Tripp played by Michael Douglas who seems to be having all sorts of personal problems with his students, wife, mistress, and co workers, let alone the great American novel that will never die. Douglas is the centerpiece in which the whole film revolves around and he does a pretty good job of holding the movie together. First off, his wife has just left him. Second, his married mistress has a shocking revelation that will affect their relationship greatly. Third, his best student is somewhat of an emotional crackpot who may be brilliant, but a little too weird to fully exploit his natural gifts. Fourth, he has a gay publisher, played by the spokesman for tar heroin himself, Robert Downey Jr, who wants to know when the followup to Douglas's award winning previous work will be finished. The answer is unknown since Douglas has already written over 2000 pages worth of story and is no where near finishing it. He seems to have the anti-writers block. The fun of the movie is seeing how all of these stories somehow fit together. The only real plot comes about when a shooting occurs and a coverup gets underway. I was not impressed by this dark comedic turn in the film, but it gets a laugh that can be brought up at various times when the movie gets a little too full of itself. Douglas was touted by the mainstream critics as giving an Oscar worthy performance. I disagree with that. He is fine, but there is not one moment that shouts out acceptance speech to me. His character suffers from sudden blackouts, but since they are not really shown until after the fact, his acting is not given a chance to shine. If they threw in some seizures, he might of had a chance. Tobey Maguire is the star student who causes the most trouble. I found him annoying since Maguire plays the character too straight laced and never really changes his delivery of lines. It is like the dialogue is written too carefully to make him sound more important. Robert Downey Jr. tries to steal the movie with his wink wink, smile, jokey, best friend who happens to be gay, look I can act and do crack at the same time attitude. He is funny in a "is he adlibbing his scenes" type of way, but he is just there to annoy Douglas and his character is never developed. Maybe if they had put in more scenes with Downey's 6 foot 6 transvestite boyfriend, things could have been more interesting. Frances McDormand plays the mistress and is short shrifted much like she was in "Almost Famous." She is a very good actress who should be getting more leading roles. Her character goes through some changes, but nothing that was not obvious from the start. The only person in the movie I did not care for at all was the one played by Katie Holmes. She has no real purpose in the film as a student of Douglas's who has a crush on him. This is never really followed through and the scene that may have had some romantic drama is dropped as soon as it starts. Holmes must have had a friend on the production staff to get this role. The character could have been eliminated entirely and not changed a thing that happened in the film. The Wonder Boys is not a great movie. It is somewhat slow and pointless. A little too slice of lifey. It's lack of real story is the reason it failed at the box office. It is an okay film, and many people who see will like it as a nice little harmless movie that might stick with you for a while. In reality, it is sort of bland. I don't know why the critics were so enthralled with the movie. All the actors have done better work and been in better movies. See it if you want to, but don't expect it to be the next "American Beauty." Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 out of 10; C+; thumbs down. A more dramatic story with real consequences could have made this movie a whole lot better.

I have seen the face of evil and it is called "Whipped." For the love of all that is holy, it just may be the second worst movie ever made. The worst movie ever made will always be "Eraserhead" and it was so bad I refuse to call another movie worse than it. Whipped was released late last summer and bombed right out of the gate. It debuted in 14th place and never made an impact. The only reason it received any attention at all was because of this actress Amanda Peet who was so good in "The Whole Nine Yards" with Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry. For months, I have been looking forward to seeing this movie because I thought  Peet was very attractive and a very good actress. Peet is attractive, and has a nice acting style, but none of that is showcased in this dreck. Why is this movie so bad? Well, let's look at what the movie is about. It is about 4 guys and how they deal with getting laid in their every day lives. One of the 4 is a frustrated married guy who needs kitchen utensils to spice up his love life. The other 3 are scar artists who try to trick women into sleeping with them. One of them is a Wall Street type who pretends to be the mack daddy that women cannot resist. Another tries to be the intellectual type who seems to always get scammed by girl couples who rob him after they have sex. The third guy is the most sympathetic because he has 5 friends that help satisfy his urges known as thumb, index, middle, fore, and pinky. After a failed group scam, they individually run into Amanda Peet who seems to be the perfect woman. All three are in love with the same woman and refuse to give her up, so Peet decides to date all of them at the same time. Hilarity of course does not ensue. There is potential for an interesting sex comedy with all sorts of gross out and sexy pratfalls for the movie masses, but the movie never takes advantage of it. For one thing the group dialogue of the 4 guys is ridiculous and sounds like the writer trhing to reenact his own post college days at the local diner. Very amateurish and poorly written. The Peet character is supposed to be this empowered superwoman who is the real person in control, but she comes off as a slut-whore-bitch who deserves no sympathy. When you make a movie like this, you have to have at least 2 over the top crazy moments and some steady nudity to keep the kids interested. None of that happens. If you are looking for Peet to flash the audience again like in TWNY, then you are looking in the wrong place. Nothing sexy ever happens with her on screen. We even get the L-shaped sheet gag that soap operas are famous for. The L-shape sheets are the ones that go up to the guy's waist on one side and all the way up to the girls neck on the other since female nudity is taboo. Okay, so she did not want to get naked. Not necessary for the role as they say. Then what was the point of the dream sequence with the hot chick in the bra and panties about to take off her top. Nothing. Pointless. Frustrating. I don't need sex and nudity in my movies or comedies to enjoy them, but I grew up in the 1980s with movies that did that and it drives me nuts that these R-rated movies are being made and the only reason they get an R is because they say "fuck" more than twice. If you have seen the preview, they you have seen the whole film. The payoff is that Peet was scamming the guys all along to punish them for taking advantage of other women. So, Peet really turns out to be worse than the guys she tricks. Yay. The problem is that the movie looks too much like an independent film that was rejected at Sundance. The movie wants to be outrageous and the big scene is the five finger shuffler fishing in a urine filled toilet for Peet's vibrator. The Farrelly brothers this movie is not. There is nothing to recommend here. Avoid at all costs. There are better movies that are just as bad but easier to watch. Whatever that means.  Final Review: 1 star out of 5; 2 out of 10; F+; thumbs down. It gets the plus because I now have a new catchphrase of imitating whipping sounds that I can't seem to stop doing. Wichich! Wichich! Wichich!

Whipped is so bad that it takes two reviews to tell the tale.  This week is the debut of a new contributor to John L's Kickin' Box Office Report, EJO SCEIP.  Check out his review of Whipped with more insight into why this movie should be avoided.  

More fun next week when the Oscars will have been given away to the deserved and undeserved. I will have a full analysis of the show and the winners and losers as well as who won the Razzie Awards. Big report next week fans. Bye for now.