'Gladiator' Gets Thumbs-Up at Box Office
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``Gladiator'' came, saw and conquered the weekend box office.
The Roman epic, which stars Australian actor Russell Crowe (''The Insider'') as a general sold into slavery as a sword-wieldingfighter at the Coliseum, earned an estimated $32.7 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period.
Playing at 2,938 theaters, it averaged $11,130 per site, easily the highest score in the top 10. A spokesman for the film's North American distributor, DreamWorks SKG, said the figure is conservative by as much as $1 million because of the possible effect of basketball playoffs on Sunday. Final data will be issued on Monday.
Either way, ``Gladiator'' beheaded its box office competition. Director Ridley Scott's $103 million movie earned more than the
next six films combined. The only other wide new release was Kim Basinger's ``I Dreamed of Africa,'' which opened at No. 8
with a disappointing $2.5 million and an $1,184 average.
Based on initial polling, the audience for the R-rated ''Gladiator'' skewed 25 years and over, DreamWorks said. On Friday,
females made up 35 percent of the audience; Saturday, they comprised 45 percent, indicating strong word-of-mouth among a
demographic less than taken with the film's bloody heroics.
DreamWorks distribution president Jim Tharp said the film had ``a very high emotional level,'' which attracted women. ``It was
a huge challenge (to bring women in), and I think it will continue to be a challenge,'' he said.
Also starring in the movie are Joaquin Phoenix as the evil emperor who tries to have Crowe's character, Maximus, slain; and
Oliver Reed, who died before shooting was finished but was resurrected digitally for his remaining scenes.
Box office analyst Gitesh Pandya at boxofficeguru.com said the opening figure was ``quite strong'' given the film's rating and
150-minute running time. The record for an R-rated opener is Harrison Ford's ``Air Force One,'' which took off with about
$37 million in 1997.
``Gladiator'' is a co-production between privately held DreamWorks SKG, which is distributing it throughout the United States
and Canada, and Seagram Co. Ltd.'s (Toronto:VO.TO - news) Universal Pictures, which is handling all overseas territories.
It marks the official start of the summer box office season, which boasts a lineup including Tom Cruise's ``Mission: Impossible''
sequel, Eddie Murphy's ``Nutty Professor'' sequel, George Clooney's ``The Perfect Storm'' and Mel Gibson's ``The Patriot.''
Despite the impressive opening, ``Gladiator'' ranks about ninth in terms of May openers, according to box office tracking firm
Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. The record of $72.1 million is held by 1997's ``The Lost World: Jurassic Park.''
The top 12 films this weekend earned a combined $75.4 million, up nine percent from last weekend, but down three percent
from the same period last year, when ``The Mummy'' opened at No. 1 with $43.4 million.
The World War II submarine thriller ``U-571,'' which had led the box office fleet for the last two weekends, slipped to No. 2
with $7.6 million, said Universal Pictures. The 17-day total for the Matthew McConaughey vehicle stands at $49.4 million.
Of the three movies that opened last weekend, the time travel thriller ``Frequency'' (New Line) enjoyed the best hold, losing
just 28 percent of its audience as it held steady at No. 3 with $6.5 million. Its 10-day total is $17.8 million.
The Stone Age family comedy ``The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas'' (Universal) and the Natalie Portman melodrama ``Where
the Heart Is'' (Fox) both slid 40 percent in their second weekends, ranking at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively. ``The Flintstones''
pulled in $6.3 million, for a total of $18.3 million; while ``Heart'' pumped $5.0 million, for a $15.7 million haul.
``I Dreamed of Africa,'' a $34 million movie from Columbia Pictures, marked Basinger's first role since winning an Oscar for
``L.A. Confidential,'' the 1997 film noir that also starred Crowe. Critics applauded her role as a real-life conservationist, but
trashed the film.
Next week's wide releases include John Travolta's ''Battlefield Earth,'' the ballet romance ``Center Stage'' and the comedies
``Screwed'' and ``Held Up.''
New Line Cinema is a unit of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news). Twentieth Century Fox is a unit of Fox Entertainment
Group Inc. (NYSE:FOX - news). Columbia is a unit of Sony Corp. (6758.T)
Roman hack and slash pic. This movie is pretty good, but it is epic
light. It rips off lots of Shakespeare and those Ben Hur, Spartacus, and
Quo Vadis type flicks. The acting is about 3 steps below that crazy
Shakespeare rhyming talk. It's mostly British accents real and
faked. It is funny how these movies take place in Italy, but none of them
sound like Tony Soprano. Russell Crowe sells out and plays an action hero
in this one who is wronged by the young Emperor. He won't be getting
any acting awards for this movie like he did for The Insider. Crowe is
channeling Mel Gibson circa 1986 here with his suppressed Australian accent
morphed into a subtle British one. His acting style is very similar to the
Lethal Weapon man. When it is time to unleash Hell on the Germanian
Barbarians, Crowe is like matter of fact and ho hum. He also seems to be
invincible. There is never any time in the film you think Crowe's
character might not survive and overcome his overwhelming odds. Joaquin
Phoenix does the best he can with what is given him. His character is
played pretty one dimensional for most of the film and his motivations for his
doings pretty much come down to wanting to be the all powerful ruler of
Rome. However, the actual set up for his insanity goes a lot deeper with
the relationship with his father, Marcus Aurelius played by Richard
Harris. Aurelius does not want to let his son, Commodus (Phoenix) to rule
as Emperor when he is no longer to. Aurelius wants Maximus (Crowe) to take
over and lead Rome back to a 
Republican
glory. This scene where Harris breaks the bad news to Phoenix is actually
my favorite part of the movie since makes you feel sorry for Commodus and gives
him a real reason to dislike Maximus. However, after the scene is over,
this part of Comodus's character is forgotten and it's just becomes when will he
kill Maximus and when will he bed his sister, Lucilla. If they had played
up his torment a bit more, it could have been a stronger film. The
supporting characters are given short shrift such as Djimon Hounsou (Amistad)
and Derek (Kenneth Branagh rips me off) Jacobi. Hounsou is pretty good as
Maximus' best gladiator buddy. The character basically can kick ass in the
Colloseum ring, but the pay off of him fighting Maximus never happens. It
is sort of cliche of the two friends battling to the death in front of the bad
guy, but it could have been a good scene. Usually the scene plays out as
the best friend kicks the star's ass and won't kill him when he can, and then
the bad guy kills the best friend to completely put the good guy star over the
edge. Sort of like Woody Strode vs Kirk Douglas in Spartacus. Jacobi
is an actor that does a lot of Shakespeare plays and PBS Masterpiece Theater
stuff. His role is pretty much a cameo. Oliver Reed gets the most
screen time as a supporting character, but unfortunately he died of a heart
attack three weeks before filming completed as well as some of his scenes.
So, Ridley Scott, the director, had to go "The Crow" on Reed's part
and put his head digitally
on another actor to complete the film. Reed played the guy who owns
and helps train Crowe as a gladiator. He looks old and near death
throughout the film and now you know why. They say he died in a pub
getting drunk, just like he always wanted to. People in interviews laugh
when they tell that story as a tribute to Reed's alcoholic life, but it is
pretty sad. The movie has a lot of talking to set up the motivations for
the plot after the big opening Braveheart/Saving Private Ryan type battle
sequence. There is a great shot of flaming arrows being launced toward the
enemy barbarians. After that, the audience might get frustrated as they
all came to see Crowe beat up guys to the tune of Kid Rock songs. There
are plenty of Gladiator battles in the movie though. My favorite battles
were the ones outside the Roman Colloseum in the training facility. The
tiger battle that the preview shows quite a bit of is pretty good and
suspenseful. I did not like how that fight ended though, but I am a
sadistic guy when it comes to movies like this. The first big battle in
the Colloseum with the chariots kicks ass and has seveeral crazy spots.
That fight had the only moment that had me react out loud. I may get the
DVD of this flick just so I can play back some of the deaths in slow
motion. The big moment in the film is when Commodus sees Crowe (in a mask)
kick some gladiator booty and wants to see what he looks like. This
was a key scene, but it happened too soon and should have been later in the film
for a bigger impact. The final confrontation between Maximus and Commodus
could have been done better as well and parts of it are confusing.
Overall, the movie was pretty good, but not the blow away film that the
publicity lead us to believe. It opened to a good box office take
considering it is 2 and a half hours long and has trouble attracting
women. Word of mouth is necessary to make this movie be a hit. I see
it making around $150 million when it's all said and done and it's overseas take
should be quite large. Russell Crowe is good, but he is not the type of
actor to do a lot of action movies to keep him mainstream. He is not a
household name yet, but when you say Russell Crowe and you mention Gladiator,
you will know exactly who you are talking about. I guess its better than
being known as the villain in Virtuosity. Final Review: 3 stars out
of 5; 6 1/2 out of 10; B-; thumbs up. With stronger characters and some
more emotional oomph, it could have received a stronger recommendation. 
adapting
to the wild nature of the animals and society. Many parts of Africa are
beautiful environmentally. The animals, the jungles, and even many of the
people. However, all of that stuff plays better on National Geographic and
the Discovery Channel. I Dreamed of Africa is the true story of Kuki
Gallman and her family moving to Kenya to be one with the land. Things
don't go so well for them, but through it all they do their best to
survive. This movie had minimum publicity, so it's poor opening week box
office is expected. It probably should have gone the indie route first and
played in select cities to get some sort of word of mouth. However, if you
look at the critics, they hate the picture. It is one of the worst reviewed
mainstream movies of the year. Only major movies about Africa that make
money are Disney movies like Lion King and Tarzan. There has only been one
really good movie that takes place in Africa and that was The Gods Must Be
Crazy. If you have never seen that one, that one is excellent and it does
something that most of these movies fail to do. It focuses mostly on the
story of the Africans and not the white outsiders. It is always funny to
me how when they do these movies and the ones that know all about the jungle are
the white game hunter types who were not born and raised in Africa. The
black Africans are always the helpers who carry the bags, the weapons, drive the
jeeps, and poach the endangered species. The only movie that had a black
man lead the
white people was Congo in which Ernie "If someone asks if you're a God, you
say yes" Hudson led the group to the crazy apes. Kim Basinger has
done interviews promoting I Dreamed of Africa as a movie she just had to
do. She was talking with her husband Alec "what happened"
Baldwin and he convinced her to film this Out of Africa ripoff. Good
intentions I guess. Movies like this are very boring to the average
public. Only the scenery is interesting since the stories all suck.
However, jungle scenes are all over tv so the movie has to be really special to
get people to plop down their $7 to $9 bucks. It is also funny that I
believe Ice Cube is the only American black man to ever go to Africa in a movie
called Dangerous Ground. That movie never made a blip on the box office
radar though. However, when Africa is shown as a cool place to be with a strong
black cast, it can be successful. Coming to America with Eddie Murphy may
be the most successful movie to focus on characters from the Dark
Continent. All it takes is a good movie that is interesting enough to
attract a large audience to warrant the dangers and costs involved for filming
over there. Maybe they should make a musical next time. 
