Thursday, May 17, 2001

''Mummy'' sequel remains tops at box office

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``The Mummy Returns'' ruled the North American box office for a second consecutive weekend, earning almost twice as much as ``A Knight's Tale,'' which enjoyed a sturdy debut at No. 2, according to studio estimates issued Sunday.

The ``Mummy'' sequel earned about $32.2 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, taking its 10-day total to $116.5 million. The special effects extravaganza passed the century mark Saturday night.

Although the film lost 53 percent of its audience from last weekend, it is holding up better than recent hits like ''Mission: Impossible 2'' and ``Toy Story 2,'' and is on track to surpass $200 million, said Nikki Rocco, president of distribution at Universal Pictures, a unit of Vivendi Universal

``The Mummy Returns'' stars Brendan Fraser as a dashing tomb raider who renews his battle with disinterred mummy Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo). In a quest for big-screen stardom, wrestling hero The Rock makes a cameo as the Scorpion King, a villain who will be spun off into his own movie.

``A Knight's Tale,'' starring 22-year-old budding Australian heartthrob Heath Ledger as a medieval action hero, bowed with $17.0 million, playing strongest with young audiences. With a rock 'n' roll soundtrack blaring in the background, Ledger plays a 14th century English commoner who enters a jousting contest and competes for the heart of a winsome beauty.

``KNIGHT'S TALE'' TO PASS $80 MILLION

The film, which cost $41 million to produce, should end up grossing more than $80 million, said Jeff Blake, president of worldwide distribution and marketing at Sony Pictures Entertainment. The Sony Corp. label released the film through its Columbia Pictures unit.

``I think this is the type of picture that audiences would certainly like if they get a chance to find it,'' said Blake, alluding to the imminent avalanche of big summer popcorn flicks.

Overall ticket sales fell, according to data collected by tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The top 12 films grossed $69.7 million, off 30 percent from last weekend, and down almost 2 percent from the year-ago period, when ``Gladiator'' was tops for a second weekend.

Far off in the distance this weekend, ``Bridget Jones's Diary'' held steady at No. 3 with $4.5 million, taking its 31-day total to $51.0 million. The British romantic comedy, starring Renee Zellweger and Hugh Grant, was released by Miramax Films, a unit of Walt Disney Co.

The Sylvester Stallone race car caper ``Driven'' (Warner Bros.) and the Morgan Freeman cop thriller ``Along Came A Spider'' (Paramount) tied at No. 4 with about $3 million each. Their respective totals are $26.1 million after 17 days and $64.1 million after 38 days. Warner Bros. Pictures is a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc.; Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc.

The children's thriller ``Spy Kids'' also passed the century mark Saturday night. The film ranked No. 6 this weekend with $2.5 million, and has pulled in $101.5 million after 45 days. It was released by Miramax's Dimension Films banner.

Two holdovers in limited release entered the top 10 for the first time, since their sales declines were less severe than the other films at the rear of the pack.

The cerebral mystery film ``Memento'' rose three places to No. 9 with $1.2 million, while the wry espionage tale ``The Tailor of Panama'' jumped five places to No. 10 with $800,000.

``Memento,'' starring Guy Pearce and Carrie-Anne Moss, has grossed $10.2 million after nine weekends in release through privately held boutique financier Newmarket Capital Group.

``Tailor of Panama'' (Columbia), which stars Geoffrey Rush and Pierce Brosnan in a thriller based on a John le Carre novel, has taken in $10.5 million after seven weekends.

New releases next weekend include the animated cartoon ''Shrek,'' about an ugly green ogre's quest for love, and the Jennifer Lopez drama ``Angel Eyes.''

REUTERS

The top movies in North America -- May 11-13

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the May 11-13 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. The Mummy Returns .......... $33,741,755

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $118,035,540

2. A Knight's Tale .......... $16,511,391

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $16,511,391

3. Bridget Jones's Diary .......... $4,458,144

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $50,984,229

4. Along Came a Spider .......... $3,073,656

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $64,192,254

5. Driven .......... $3,047,384

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $26,131,638

6. Spy Kids .......... $2,664,462

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $101,688,272

7. Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles .......... $2,157,568

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $20,705,597

8. Blow .......... $1,858,462

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $47,146,148

9. Memento .......... $1,216,643

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $10,192,320

10. The Tailor of Panama .......... $817,311

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $10,518,714

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

John L.:  The Summer movie pre season took a step back as Knight's Tale was unable to send The Mummy Returns back to the netherworld.  The number 10 movie this week made less than a million dollars.  Hollywood is going to get a big wake up call when the May crop of films does not make as much money as they had hoped.  Pearl Harbor has a lot of potential, but it is full of actors who don't have the best box office track record. Lots and lots of stuff to cover this week plus a video nose pick review of Spike Lee's "Bamboozled." 

I knew A Knight's Tale was going to have trouble when the major hype for the movie was about how big a star Heath Ledger will become after this movie will come out since he is so good looking. A popular way to advertise Medieval or Ancient Roman epics now is to play rock music in the background. Last year's "Gladiator" preview was famous for using the Kid Rock song, "Bawitdaba" when Russell Crowe would hack at some loser in the Colloseum. Knight's Tale uses Queen's "We Will Rock You" anthem to bring excitement to the crowd. However, in Knight's Tale, for some reason the crowds watching the jousts know the beat even though the song would not be written for another 500 years. Poetic license, I guess. The movie also uses modern slang to make it seem more hip and attract that oh so important young audience. Heath Ledger plays a guy who wants to live above his means. He believes he can joust with the best of the Black Knights, so he finds Geoffrey Chaucer, played by Paul Bettany who will forge documents that turn Ledger into a nobleman worthy of getting long sharp poles stuck through his chest. So, the rest of the film you wait for Ledger to be exposed as the fake he is and what will be the consequences. The person to give out those consequences is Rufus Sewell as Count Adhemar. He is the Joaquin Phoenix of this piece. Sewell is the guy who sits there and runs the joust tournaments, and hates it when the chosen one turns out to be some punk kid who tries to show off without having the proper birthright. This movie was supposed to be one of the more eagerly awaited flicks of the season, but everyone I had talked to about it had no interest in rushing out to view the picture. Ledger was okay in last year's Patriot, but to stick him in something that is somewhat similar looking so soon only hurt this movie's chances of breaking the $25 million barrier in its first weekend of release. Another problem is the marketing looked too much like Gladiators, showing the imitation is the quickest way to stalling at the box office. The other main reason this movie sort of failed to make it is that jousting is just too quick and slightly boring to base a film around. The preview seems to show the same knight getting knocked off his horse when a jousting pole smacks him in his chest. Two hours of that is not that exciting. Joust, the video game was cool because you got to fly around and stuff. Real jousting has always been considered a dumb activity. If these guys can hum 1970s rock tunes, they should have had somebody flying around on a horse. Just end all resemblance to reality and be done with it. The quickest way to have a movie fail is to say that the star of the movie will become a big star after it comes out. I call that Helen Slater disease. In the making of Supergirl special on ABC back when that awful movie was released, one of the makers of the film said that when the movie about the Girl of Steel is released, Slater will become huge and not be able to step outside of her house there will be so many people wanting to talk to her. Except for a few moments in "Ruthless People," Miss Slater has stayed completely under the radar of Hollywood and the people who go see movies. People become big stars only when the paying public decides to make them stars. When "Splash" came out, no one said that Tom Hanks would be the biggest star to come around in 30 years, it just sort of happened over time, and took several failed movies like "Bonfire of the Vanities" and "Joe Vs the Volcano" to get the Hanks magic back. Tom Cruise became a star with "Risky Business" on his own, not because Entertainment Tonight said this would be the role that would make him famous. The media has said for years that Russell Crowe should/would be huge after the Insider came out, and then they said Gladiator would do it. Gladiator did make him more of a household name, but then "Proof of Life" was released and it showed that Crowe is still about 2 and half steps back from being a Hanks or a Cruise. You get 3 hits in a row, then you can say you have made it. Here is what I would like to see. Russell Crowe, Heath Ledger, Hugh Jackman, and Nicole Kidman in a movie where they use their real Australian/New Zealand accents for once. For some reason, Hollywood hates Australian accents ever since they dubbe Mel Gibson in "Mad Max." When the Ledgers, Crowes, Jackmans, and Kidmans play more of themselves instead of against type, maybe they will be able to open a movie. Gladiator and X-Men were freak successes. When the Proof of Life's and Someone Like You's make a $100 million, then we can talk. Knight's Tale is in for a tough time at the box office this Summer.

With the leftovers from mid Spring barely hanging on, some an art house picture that has been floating around for a couple of months has finally cracked the top ten. Memento is one of those gimmick movies where the story is told backwards. This was done in the Ben Kingsley movie, "Betrayal" and a recent episode of X-Files with Joe Morton from "Terminator 2" as a guy traveling backwards in time starting at the point of his own murder to the the beginning of his problems when his wife was murdered before his eyes. In Memento, Guy "L.A. Story" Pearce plays a man who is cannot remember more than the last 15 minutes of his immediate past. He knows who he is and his past up to the incident that changed his life. That incident involved the murder of his wife and an injury that gave him this strange form of amnesia very similar to the affliction Dana Carvey suffered through in the movie "Clean Slate" where he woke up every day with total amnesia of what happened the day before. Memento has been getting a lot of attention on the indie film circuit as some revolutionary film that will amaze the viewer. It may be an okay movie, but it is not that original of a plot. That is okay though, since these type of reverse linear stories can be fascinating when done right. Pearce's character writes himself notes and tattoos important facts on his body to help him to remember or be reminded of who he has met and what he has learned. Carrie Anne Moss from "The Matrix" shows up as a woman who may be able to help him. I am not a fan of the backward story, or the flashback story, or the Sunset Boulevard I'm dead and here is how I got to this point plot, or a plot that never takes place in order of appearance like Tarentino's Pulp Fiction who ended with the middle of the story. I do like a movie that is played out in linear form, and then they flashback at the end to alternate takes on events or missed moments that now make sense sort of like how Sixth Sense summed up its shenanigans at the end. Memento looks like it might be an interesting thriller, and I will probably make an effort to check it out. I am not enthused of this annoying story technique, but I am willing to give it a chance.

Tailor of Panama has been floating around New York and Los Angeles for a few weeks and just barely broke into the top ten this week even though it made under a million dollars. TOP is based on the John Le Carre novel of the same name and stars Geoffrey Rush as a bragging tailor who bosts too much about his fictionalized exploits. He runs into British spy, (not Bond), Pierce Brosnan who is trying to figure out of Rush is for real and a threat. This all takes place in Panama and the problems of its canal dealings with the United States. Brosnan likes to play these adventurer roles in between James Bond movies, like when he did "Thomas Crown Affair." He is getting a bit typecast in this part much like Sean Connery is still playing an action hero at the age of 70. In fact, Connery starred in the Russia House with Michelle Pfeiffer and their "adult love" and that was a John Le Carre story like Tailor. This movie has a pretty well known cast that also includes Jamie Lee Curtis as Rush's wife, but it has received practically no publicity. How it made as much money as it did is a surprise since most people on the street do not know the movie even exists. What is also funny is how a movie that takes place in Panama has no one who is Panamanian or could pass for a Panamanian as a star. Any time a movie takes place in a foreign country, only the English speaking characters get to become fully realized characters. The natives of the land must have some interesting stories to tell, but we never get to hear them. The foreigners come into these parts and instantly end up in trouble and cannot figure out why everything is going wrong. Stay home next time. Some critics say this movie is very good, but the studio for some reason has refused to support it with a wide release and marketing campaign. There may be something exciting about this movie, but as it stands now it will remain being mostly ignored.

1. The Mummy Returns is on track to be one of the biggest hits of the year.

2. However, this movie is making its money on its supposed rep more than the actual quality of the movie being worthy of a $200 million gross.

3. Even though this movie is doing very well, I don't expect the Scorpion King prequel to do much past the first curiosity factor weekend.

4. Dear Diary: Since I am a man, I have decided to continue to pass on going to see Bridget Jones' Diary.

5. It's funny how Morgan Freeman used to battle Spider-man on "Electric Company" as the Stomper, and now he is in a movie called Along Came a Spider where he has to stomp out the antics of a crazy person.

6. The makers of Driven are lucky that the competition is still pretty weak, or this movie would have been long gone from the top 10.

7. There is supposedly some extra footage taking place in a shark tank that has been added for either a future re-release or DVD extra of Spy Kids.

8. Soon, Robert Rodriguez will be adding fake bloopers of the kids crashing in their jet packs into the ocean just to get more people to see the movie a second time like Pixar does with it's animated movies.

9. I can see it now in an Antonio Banderas scene where the mutant machine goes horribly wrong and his head turns into the shape of Melanie Griffth's lips.

10. Blow is now Penelope Cruz's most successful American film which says a lot about how her career is going.

Spike Lee's movie about the portrayal of blacks in entertainment is quite thought provoking and disturbing if you don't watch the movie itself. The movie brings up the issue of how the minstrel shows of the past compare to the outrageous comedies of the present that feature African American actors. Lee has good intentions, but does not hit his mark as well as he had hoped. Let's look at what is presented, and then analyze what went right and wrong with the movie. The movie stars Damon Wayans as Pierre Delacroix, the only black writer for a fictional television network, CNS. He is constantly trying to get shows on the air that present African-Americans in a more balanced light similar to how the Cosby Show of the 1980s had upscale characters going through everyday comedic mishaps like where to hang up the $500 painting or performing a funeral for a dead goldfish. However, Wayans' boss, Mr. Dunwitty, played by Michael Rapaport is tired of the white bread black shows, and wants something with more of an edge. The thing about Dunwitty is that he is a overt racist who covers it up by worshipping black athletes and marrying a black woman. He even tells him that he is blacker than Delacroix. This frustrates Dela, as he is known, so he decides he wants to quit, but he can't do that because he is under contract. So, he decides to get himself fired by creating the most racist show he can think of, that being a modern black face minstrel show with characters on an Alabama plantation, watermelon patch, and chicken coop to be raided by the silly negroes. The hook is that instead of white people in black face, it will be black people wearing black makeup. This is so outrageous, because when black face was used in the past it was done as as racial joke to put down the African Americans. At least that is how it was perceived. The performers that did do it seemed to no realize the full impact of their offense. After the pitch of the new show, it is surprisingly picked up by the network and produced. And to Dela's surprise, it becomes a national sensation as the top rated program as well as a big award winner. What then occurs is how does Dela's conscious deal with him seemingly betraying his own race by promoting a show that is so hurtful to so many people even though he is becoming rich. Everything else that happens in the movie becomes very over dramatic and eventually falls apart with an ending that greatly disappoints. If you watch this movie, it actually plays pretty well for the first hour and 55 minutes. It is funny and moving at the same time and everyone gives a decent performance. Wayans has been criticized for putting on this strange black comedian's white man's voice, but it was done to over exaggerate the character who changed his name to a more upscale bougee one. It also shows how he could come up with a show like "Mantan the New Millennium Minstrel Show" to begin with since he has obvious problems with his own race identity. Dela's assistant is played by Jada Pinkett Smith and she too is very good as the person who tries to make Dela rethink his plan when it seems to go too far. She plays video of old minstrel shows where black actors shucked and jived, bugged out their eyes, dressed in chicken suits, and were just degraded on film. She is the most interesting character in the film. The stars of the new show are played by Tommy Davidson who plays Womack, or as he is known in the show, "Sleep 'N Eat." He is a very talented comedian, but his best scenes in the movie are the struggle he goes through when he puts on the black face makeup. The star of the piece is Manray, re-named, Mantan after the black comedian of the 1940s who ran around Curly Joe fromt he Three Stooges. Manray/Mantan is played by that "Bring Da Noise, Bring Da Funk" prodigy, Savion Glover. Glover is a very talented tap dancer in real life and he gets to show off his skills here to a certain degree. His acting is adequate, but not spectacular. However, he is the only one out there now who had the physical capability to pull off the dancing and acting at the same time. The two best characters are Dunwitty and Honeycut played by Thomas Jefferson Byrd. Michael Rappaport as Dunwitty is very funny in his delusions and rants. Rapaport's natural speaking voice is very street slang and urbany, what one might call black sounding. Rapaport exaggerates the character much like Wayans does and is funny, but disturbing at the same time. His reactions to Wayans during the initial pitch meetin of the Mantan show is one of the funniest scenes I have seen in a long time. I am recommending the film on that 10 minute sequence alone. Byrd plays the MC of the Mantan show who warms up the crowd before the show tapes. He is in black face and is quite convincing as someone who would really do that. Also, even though he is in black face, he tends to keep most of his dignity by not being as stereotypical. He is more like a ringmaster than a Stepin Fetchit. However, his scene at the end when the studio audience has embraced the idea of the Mantan show to the degree where everyone is wearing black face is the most powerful segment of the film if you judge things in that matter. It really shows the weird effects race has on society. I have mentioned much of what happens in the movie, but intentionally left out other things that would give too much away. Even though, I liked Bamboozled for the most part, there are certain problems that hurt the film and caused it to not to attract any type of audience when it was released. First of all, one has to know the impact of the old school movies that used black face on white and black actors. These movies have been around since the silent era and ended when Amos and Andy hit the airwaves with black actors instead of white actors in black face. Al Jolson is the most well known of the whites in black and is criticized in Bamboozled for it. These images made it appear that blacks were sub-human and not worthy of being treated as regular members of society. Back when they occurred, they were all the rage and the white majority found them quite amusing not reallizing or caring how it affected the people being goofed on. Nowadays, when someone dresses in black face, it becomes a politically incorrect onslaught of protest. Whites and blacks do not put up with it. For example, Ted Danson dressed in black face at a Whoopi Goldberg roast and was chastised for it. The joke is no longer funny. So, in Bamboozled when the Mantan show is embraced so quickly with just minimal protest, the reality it tries to project fails. The show looks like a stage play and not a sitcom. It was so over the top that unless it was played as a historical piece, it would never of had a chance to air. In real life, the Delacroix character would have been fired on the spot at the pitch meeting. To buy this, you have to either accept what the movie gives you or not. I stuck with it because it is a movie, but since it is so distracting, it was always going through my mind that this is ridiculous. The other problem is that the movie tends to say that every portrayl of blacks in entertainment is offensive in some way. There is never a time where the movie takes a moment to tell us how black should be portrayed. The movie shows all of these black comedians and dancers from the past as being made foolish, when in reality it was a coup for them to even get parts in film, let alone the leads with other whites. Characters like the original Mantan, Stepin Fetchit, Ferina from the Little Rascals, to J. J. from Good Times are shown as being degrading, but are they really? Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, the Three Stooges, Lucille Ball, and even a Jim Carrey made and make millions acting like complete morons, but they were never accused of demeaning their race. How is what those guys do any less offensive than the black comedians of the past? There is more to this issue than is presented in Bamboozled and it is not as simple as "this is offensive, and should not be tolerated." Hattie McDaniel was a great actress who won an Oscar for her role in "Gone With the Wind." She played the same "Mammy" maid character in every single role she had, but still kept her dignity as they say. But, her image is continually shown as an example of the ugly African American that Hollywood likes to portray. That puts her down, when they should be praising the in roads she made for other actors. By criticizing those actors for what they had to do to make a living you are doing a disservice. It is not fair. Admittedly, the black face on white actors was disturbing. I still don't get that whole thing and it should be put down. However, there are times when black face is appropriate such as when Saturday Night Live has Darryl Hammond do his Jesse Jackson impersonation, or Billy Crystal pretends to be Muhammad Ali. The old black face routines however were done to be offensive and should not really be defended. The other problem is how Spike Lee shows the old toys and gadgets that portrayed African-American images. Some had little dancing black men, black people as bank heads eating money, and blacks eating watermelon. Lee makes the point in the movie that these things are just awful and were more examples of racism. Well, yeah some of them were racist in nature especially when they are called "Dancing Coon." But, for some reason if something has the features of a black person, it is automatically called racist. This is just as racist since you are saying that the black image is so worthless that it should never be used on a product. Betty Crocker is okay, but Aunt Jemima's picture is wrong to show. You can have a animatronic bear sell fabric softener, but a black man can't be the spokesperson for Uncle Ben's rice. It would be nice if people were not afraid to look at black images. Groups complain that there is not enough black people doing certain things, but every time blacks are portrayed in any way, it is considered racist and inappropriate. Spike Lee exposes a history of racism, but he never gives any answers, and the conclusions you get from what is presented leads you to think that the black image should be shunned not praised. I don't blame Spike for this since it has been inbred in society for years by the misguided actions of the PC police. When those beliefs of the black image being wrong to see are eliminated then progress can be made. The last criticism of the film is how it ends. The movie sets up pretty nicely to make a big statement about society much like the ending of Network, but then takes it too far. I felt bad when it was over and not in a good way. Lee tries to make a powerful statement, but it looked more like he took the easy way out. Bamboozled is pretty good, and one of the better Spike Lee movies. It has problems, but the problems it has will make you think about your own beliefs and how you react to questionable racial images in entertainment. The movie will make you think whether you like it or not. Final Review: 3 stars out of 5; 7 out of 10; B; thumbs up.

Coming soon: John L.'s Special Report on Race and the Movies- What the Hell is Going on Here?

The email for this site has changed to a yahoo.com address.  The old Xoommail one should not be used.  I can't even find those emails anymore.  The old email link may still be found in the older archived reports, but it should not be used.  Here is the new email address that is posted all over the main sections of the site:

jldmywoo@yahoo.com

That is it for this week. Shrek and Angel's Eyes come out next week. I look for Shrek to do well, and J Lo's new movie to falter a bit. I should have a review of Shrek at least next week. Bye for now.