July 19, 1999
Eyes' Cruises To Sexy $22.8 Million
By Andrew Hindes
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Nearly three years after it began its tortuous journey to the big screen, director Stanley Kubrick's
final film, ``Eyes Wide Shut,'' opened at No. 1 with a solid $22.8 million.
Thanks to stronger-than-expected openings by ``Lake Placid'' and ``The Wood,'' as well as several muscular holdovers,
Warner Bros.' ``Eyes'' led the weekend to an estimated $123 million in total ticket sales.
While exit survey results were not available Sunday, anecdotal reports suggest that audiences for the Tom Cruise-Nicole
Kidman starrer were predominantly over 25, with women slightly outnumbering men. The film's box office strength was clearly
concentrated in the largest North American cities.
In a summer dominated by youth-oriented broad comedies, the R-rated, two-hour-and-forty-minute drama faced little
competition for its core adult audience. Probably the biggest distraction for older viewers over the weekend was the nonstop
TV coverage of the search for JFK Jr.'s plane.
Kubrick is said to have selected the film's release date himself, after studying reams of box office data provided him by Warner
Bros. distribution executives.
As with any film, it's difficult to gauge ``Eyes' `` long-term grossing potential until second weekend results are counted.
The opening was at the upper end of many people's expectations. But audiences who were drawn to ``Eyes'' by its
high-voltage stars and the picture's sexy ad campaign may have gotten more -- or less -- than they bargained for in Kubrick's
tense portrait of a vulnerable upper middle-class marriage. If so, the film may see a sharp drop in its second frame before it
settles into lengthy runs in urban, upscale markets.
Nonetheless, ``Eyes'' is virtually certain to top Kubrick's personal best, the $46 million tally of the 1987 Vietnam War drama
``Full Metal Jacket.'' The picture also appears to have a reasonable shot at profitability, given its significant international
grossing potential, a relatively thrifty production budget (about $65 million, according to Warner Bros.) and moderate
marketing costs.
The picture's advertising campaign was supplemented by plenty of free publicity. The media took an intense interest in the
picture, sparked by among other things, the secrecy surrounding the lengthy shoot, tabloid stories about the stars' sex life, and
the director's untimely demise just months before the release.
Twentieth Century Fox's crocodile chiller ``Lake Placid'' surprised many prognosticators with a snappy $10.2 million debut. In
a moderate 2,096 lagoons, the David E. Kelley-scripted thriller bit off a healthy $4,866 per screen.
Also debuting to strong numbers was Paramount and MTV Films' ``The Wood.'' The urban coming-of-age story garnered
$8.6 million in just 1,191 locations for a hefty $7,221 per site. The bow was particularly impressive for a film with no marquee
names or obvious marketing hook.
Made for just $6 million and employing a highly targeted marketing campaign, the feature debut of young director Rick
Famuyiwa seems destined to be at least a minor moneymaker for the studio.
Also opening over the weekend was Sony and Jim Henson Pictures' ``Muppets in Space.'' The children's picture blasted off to
a disappointing $5.1 million on 2,265 launching pads, or $2,252 per screen. The total since its Wednesday debut is $7 million.
In second place, Universal's ``American Pie'' flashed great legs, dropping just 29% to $13.3 million. The strong hold was
attributable to word of mouth that helped expand the picture's audience beyond the initial 15- to-25-year-old fans, according to
additional exit polls conducted by Universal over the weekend.
``It's not surprising really,'' Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said. ``The fact is even older guys and older girls are
having a ball with this picture.''
With $45.3 million already in the till, the $11 million-budgeted ``Pie'' is virtually certain to finish its run with at least $80 million.
But that number could go as high as $100 million, depending on the picture's ability to maintain shelf space and audience
attention as a flood of films go into theaters in coming weeks.
In its second weekend, Sony's ``Arlington Road'' dropped 44% to $4.2 million, bringing its total to $14.7 million. The $31
million budgeted pic -- for which Sony's Screen Gems paid Lakeshore Entertainment $6 million for domestic rights -- appears
on track to top out at roughly $22 million.
``Eyes Wide Shut'' may have won the box-office crown for wide releases, but for many industry
observers the weekend's biggest eye-opener was ``The Blair Witch Project.''
Artisan Entertainment's horror mockumentary brewed up a $1.5 million gross in just 27 screens, for a spine-tingling $57,700
per-screen average. Most impressively, the low-budget production packed both commercial venues and arthouses across the
country without the benefit of either movie stars or TV advertising.
Put in perspective, ``Blair's'' opening per-screen average more than doubled that of Steven Spielberg's 1993 Oscar-winner
``Schindler's List,'' which bowed to $657,000 in 25 screens for a $26,265 average.
The auspicious debut was the culmination of a finely hatched marketing strategy that started six months ago in Park City, Utah,
within days of Artisan's purchase of the low-budget Sundance entry for a reported $1 million.
``We met with (producer) Haxan Films in a condo and told them we wanted to create an event,'' said Artisan co-president
Amir Malin. ``They told us about a little Web site they had set up.''
As it turned out, that little Web site has had a key role in making ``Blair'' a must-see for hip, young audiences, and possibly the
first truly Internet-driven theatrical release. Malin says http://www.blairwitch.com is currently averaging about 1.5 million hits a
day.
Of course, there was more to the ``Blair'' campaign than a Web site. The picture sparked interest from traditional media outlets,
which had fun with the film's premise: that it is actual film footage discovered after a documentary crew investigating local legend
has disappeared.
Artisan also conducted an aggressive word-of-mouth screening campaign for the film in both urban and suburban settings.
``Blair's'' sky-high per-screen average was helped by its unusual release pattern. Rather than start with a handful of theaters in
New York and L.A., as is typical for a specialized rollout, ``Blair'' opened in exclusive engagements in 24 cities.
``The idea was to make it such a hot ticket that it would add to the buzz,'' said Malin, who noted that people were turned away
at sold-out shows around the country. ``Now word-of-mouth will take over.''
While specialized films often open to big numbers in the most sophisticated markets and then fail to find an audience in smaller
towns and suburbs, the opening numbers don't indicate that will be a problem for ``Blair.''
The picture performed extremely well in arthouses in New York and L.A., but its biggest run was actually at the AMC Block
30 in suburban Orange, Calif. The commercial megaplex collected an estimated $160,000. The film's second highest gross was
$115,000, at the Arizona Mills super mall in Tempe.
``It's very significant that our biggest grosses were at our most commercial engagements,'' said Malin, who predicted the film
could top $30 million before its domestic run is over.
Even the audience at the NuArt, an L.A. art-film mecca, didn't consist of the usual Merchant-Ivory crowd. Says Malin, when
the NuArt's manager introduced the film over the weekend, he asked how many of those in attendance had never been to the
theater. ``About two-thirds of them raised their hands.''
``Blair'' expands into 700-800 theaters on July 30 -- this time with extensive TV and radio support.
Malin is quick to note that ``Blair's'' intrinsic appeal remains the key to its success. ``We can take credit all we want for the
marketing and distribution. If you don't have the film, you're not going to get the results.''
In fact, Malin sees ``Blair'' as a potential franchise for Artisan, which owns worldwide rights to the film as well as sequel, TV
series and merchandising rights.
``This is as close to a 'Nightmare on Elm Street' as we're going to get,'' he said.
Overall ticket sales for the weekend were expected to total about $123 million, up 3% from a year earlier when the $22.5
million debut of Sony's ``The Mask of Zorro'' led the box office to a $119 million finish.
According to Exhibitor Relations Co. the Top Ten lined up this way:
1.Eyes Wide Shut, $22.8 million
2.American Pie, $13.3 million
3.Big Daddy, $10.5 million
4.Lake Placid, $10.2 million
5.Wild Wild West, $10 million
6.The Wood, $8.6 million
7.Tarzan, $7.4 million
8.The Phantom Menace, $5.3 million
9.The General's Daughter, $5.2 million
10.Muppets From Space, $5.1 million
JOHN L.: Yawwwwwwwn. Hard to keep ones eyes wide open during this somewhat lackluster "weak" at the box office. We had several openings this week, and the most interesting new release seems to be the one that made the least amount of cash. Lets look at the new movies that assaulted the public this time and see if they met expectations.
First off, we have the Tom Kidman/Nicole Cruise/Stanley Kuprick epic, Eyes Wide Shut. They started filming this movie in 1996 and it wasn’t finished until about February of this year. That seems like a lot of work to make a movie that looks this bad. The original preview had a pretty cool Chris Issac tune, "Bad Bad Thing," but looking at Tom and Nikkie fake kiss was nauseating. First we have Nicole carefully placing her arms in front of her non ample bosom so she can prissify herself. Tom waddles up behind her with his whole computer tiled ass out ready to get his mack on. Nicole is like, "oh, alright, you can kiss me, but no tongue." Tom looked like he was kissing Rebecca Demornay, Nicole looked like she wanted to run back to Billy Zane in Dead Calm. Should have called it Dead Eyes Shut. Curiosity can get you to open a movie above the magic $20 million number, but word of mouth is the only thing to stop a 30 to 40% drop in 2nd week box office. It also does not help that 65 seconds have been edited Austin Powers style to block out the naughty bits. That has wait for the DVD director’s cut written all over it. I want to see my full simulated penetration R rated sex like the Europeans get to. It would also be nice if the promoters of EWS would tell us who else is in the movie. Those other actors would like to at least get their name out there some way. This will most likely be SK’s highest grossing movie, but not necessarily profitable since Thomas C. needs $20 million to step on a set. Hard to believe that FMJ only made $46 million. Shining, Clockwork Orange, and 2001 must have really stunk up the joint in their day. If not for cable and vcr’s Kubrick would be a nobody.
The number 4 movie at the BO is Lake Placid, a movie I happened to catch this week. The media says that $10.1 million is pretty good for a movie like this, but to me that is about average for a strongly marketed creature from the deep eats people flick. The cast is a little stronger than the movie deserves. Brigit Fonda usually makes movies that only earn a total of $10 million dollars, but she seemed to be above running from crocodile films. She was definitely hard up, and probably looking for that Single White Female type of thriller, but should maybe learn not to always do the script at the top of the pile, if she even gets a pile of scripts. Didn’t her grandfather play Abe Lincoln once? Oliver Platt pops up from time to time and has only had one starring role and that was in some Jerry Lewis movie where he played his son trying to be a comedian. The comedy came when you realized people thought that Oliver Platt could pass for Jerry Lewis’ son.
Platt has been known to audiences since his Flatliner days, but still has not found that breakout role. Warren Beatty’s Bulworth did nothing for him, and less for Mr. Annette Bennig. I will admit that Platt is good in LP, and his headless body dream is quite funny. However, his role would have been better if he had turned out to be more of a villain stopping at nothing to catch the crocodile alive even at the cost of human life. That was not played up. Fonda and Platt were originally picked to be in LP producer/writer David Kelly’s Ally McBeal and The Practice shows, but they passed because they thought they were above such things as television. Yeahh, right. Bill Pulman has been in dopey movies since Ruthless People (good) to Independence Day (awful). Playing a fish and game warden is not too much of a come down. Betty White is starting to look and act her age, even though in LP she curses like a comedian in their first HBO special. Didn’t she get an Emmy award once? LP is a very funny movie. There are some things like BW'’ mouth and Platt and the Sheriff’s fights that are really good. Fonda’s anxiety over her first on site quest is okay at first but quickly makes you root for the croc to bite her in half. Unfortunately, this is supposed to be a horror movie and should be a little more frightening than it is. There are no good false jump scares, or how I like to call them "bull shit scares." I think a turtle swims past a guy in once scene. The movie is light on fright and body count. Just for once I would like to see a filmaker say "fuck you" to the animal rights people and hurt an animal. That blurb at the end of movies saying no animals were hurt is annoying. I don’t think that cow hanging over the lake was completely CGIed. It will definietly need some Preparation-H or something. I believe even the movie Joe’s Apartment said none of the cockroaches were harmed in the making of the film. WTF? I can’t recommend Lake Placid. It was a disappointment to me. The croc is shown enough, but it doesn’t do much in the last third of the movie. There are a couple obvious surprises at the end and the obligatory just in case the movie is a hit sequel tease. The picture plays like one of those Fox Night at the Movies or When Animals Attack specials. Definitely wait for video, not DVD for this one. 5 ½ out of 10, 2 stars, C-, thumbs down. David Kelly should stick with lawyers and doctors and stay away from the wild. Now, if his girl, Ally McBeal had been eaten by the croc, then the movie would have gotten a perfect score from me. I wish Calista Flockhart a long healthy life in the real world, but to see any character she plays injured would brighten up any downtrodden movie.
MTV Networks has struck again with another magnum opus in The Wood. It looks a little better than their last one, Varsity Blues which was just awful ("I… don’t… want…your…li..fe"). The Wood more than doubled the opening week box office take of Omar Epps’ last picture, The Mod Squad. The quest of the perfect booty seems to be a theme that runs through these socalled "black coming of age" movies like Booty Call. Problem is, this movie looks like it leans more towards the drama end and not the comedy so that will hurt its box office chances. VB was more of a drama and it was successful, but it had football and girls in whipped cream. This one has guys skinny dipping with each other. There also seems to be a part where one of the guys is fooling around with the other friend’s girlfriend/fiancee because there is that classic movie preview sequence of the slow motion fight. Its per screen average was strong, but the plot does not seem interesting enough to get a lot of repeat or curious viewers. Maybe if someone was having sex with a sweet potato pie it could have gotten another $10 million. (Yeah, I meant that just the way it was written, eff political correctness)
Back in the day, about 1984, I used to always look forward to one type of movie. Whenever I heard that this type of movie was coming out, I was psyched to high heaven. I was the first in line and the last out of the theater. Jim and Frank were on the loose and ready to make me laugh and sing. Nowadays, I have become older (30!!), and no longer look forward to this type of film anymore, and it depresses me. Muppets From Space opened in 10th place this week. Back in 1984, Muppets Take Manhattan opened in first place. What’s the difference? Jim Henson was alive in 1984. Frank Oz, Brian Henson, and Steve Whitmire are unable to keep the magic alive for the audience that grew up watching the Muppets on Sesame Street and the Muppet Show. And the kids that the movie is geared to, are still trying to sneak into South Park and American Pie. I will always love and enjoy the muppets, but I will not rush out to see them anymore and that is depressing. On the bright side, this space adventure focuses on one of my all time favorites, Gonzo, so I might just get the energy to check this one out before Inspector Gadget takes its theater screen.
Blair Witch Project opened up in "selected cities" which means, everywhere but Ohio. Oooooo, I am so scared. I hope the Blair hoochie mama doesn’t drag me off to a cabin to be disembowled. I wonder if Spinal Tap will come out of retirement and add music track to this mock documentary. A $57,700 per screen average is huge. I would love to see a movie that opens to a large per screen amount in just a few cities do that in wide release. But most of the time when they say the "arthouse" movie has a large per screen average that means big loser at the BO. I expect TBWP to open very well when it goes wide because it has had a lot of publicity as of late unlike most art pictures. From what I have seen, I think it will be a disappointment. Storyteller horror is not that great when it is not reenacted. I am now daring this movie to scare me, and what I have seen so far is not all that scary. The shaky hand held camera effect just shows me that the filmmakers were too lazy to film it properly and this is their handy excuse. Knowing that it is a mock documentary made up to look like it is actually real makes it even less scary especially with these Saturday Night Live type fake interviews with the townspeople. Remember folks, when the movie is over, we still don’t know what really happened, what the characters saw, or what the thing in the woods looks like. We pretty much just hear people’s accounts of the Blair Witch stories, breaking branches, and children laughing. I must say, that the one thing that always creeps me out in horror movies is when little girls laugh. So, there may be a chance that Blair Witch might be bootiful.
The rest of the box office was somewhat interesting. American Pie fell to second place, but is still doing okay. It deserves to make more money than it will, but the video and DVD should be good. It is one of the few movies I would buy on DVD without needing extrat stuff. The movie is good enough on its own. Big Daddy is a huge hit. Sandler may become the first actor to get $30 million play part with numbers like these. What this means is that you will never see a movie starring Adam Sandler, Jim Carrey, and Tom Hanks. Sixty to seventy million dollars spent before pre-production is not going to fly. Looks like less and less people are willing to play slip-n-slide with Salma Hayek. Wild Wild West is falling fast. Enemy of the State 2 is looking better and better. Tarzan, Phantom, and General’s have made a lot of money. Tarzan should appear again on one of those straight to video Disney thingies they did with Lion King and Alladdin. Here is my scoop for the week. I hear from several reliable sources that George Lucas is working on a sequel to Phantom Menace. Nothing is confirmed as of yet, but I would bet your plastic double edged lightsaber that the movie should be out by 2002 or 2003. If General’s Daughter crosses the $100 million mark, expect the General to have a long lost son to show up somewhere in Australia. Oh crap, where is South Park? Twelfth place. It made $4,300,000 over the weekend and has grossed a total of $43,400,000. The movie never crossed over to non fans. The media did not help with its "this movie is too filthy for kids" rap. South Park is an adult cartoon, but most adults don’t get it. Soon, Trey and Matt will be unemployed. They are just a bit too whacky for mainstream audiences. Austin Powers 2 was in 11th place, but so what. It has made $190 million. Look for Austin Powers 3: To Shag is Not Enough to suck big time. You know, I wonder if Linda Hunt could play Frau Frabissina’s mini-me in the third movie? Hunt played that type of character in the movie If Looks Could Kill. It would be funny. Yes? No? Eff you then. That’s it. See you next week when we see how the Haunting does against Tom Cruise’s ass and Nicole Kidman’s puppies. Bye for now.