'Bone Collector' Exerts Box Office Muscle
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``The Bone Collector,'' a serial killer thriller starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie,
chased audiences into North American theaters at the weekend, opening at No. 1 with $17.2 million.
The Universal Pictures film, directed by Phillip
Noyce, pits a beat cop (Jolie) and a paralyzed forensics expert (Washington)against a murderer who tortures his victims with methods culled from an old crime anthology.
Last weekend's No. 1, ``House on Haunted Hill,'' slipped to No. 3 in its second round with $7.8 million, a 51 percent tumble
from its opening score as Halloween euphoria faded. In between was the new Chris O'Donnell comedy ``The Bachelor,''
which made $8.0 million despite achieving the rare feat of not receiving a single positive review from a major critic.
On the other hand, Al Pacino's critically acclaimed tobacco industry expose ``The Insider,'' which is being positioned as a
major contender at Golden Globe and Oscar time, opened at No. 4 with $7.0 million. However, its modest per screen
average of $3,875 beat ``Bachelor's'' $3,172. ``Bone Collector's'' average of $6,643 was the highest in the top 10.
Paramount's ``Double Jeopardy'' rounded out the top five with $4.5 million, taking its 45-day total to $104.5 million. The
Ashley Judd thriller passed the century mark Friday. Warner Bros.' ``House on Haunted Hill'' has $28.1 million after 10 days.
According to Exhibitor Relations, which collects the studios' data, the top 12 films this weekend grossed a combined $64.8
million, up 18 percent from a week ago, and down 30 percent from the year-ago period when Adam Sandler's ``The
Waterboy'' set a new November opening record with a $39.4 million haul.
Universal executives are hoping ``Bone Collector'' will emulate the success of ``Double Jeopardy'' since both are thrillers with
strong female heroines. According to Nikki Rocco, the studio's distribution president, polls indicated the top two reasons for
seeing ``Bone Collector'' were Denzel Washington and the suspense. Females slightly outnumbered males, and the audience
skewed older. Reviews were generally mixed.
``The Bachelor,'' a remake of the 1925 Buster Keaton silent classic ``Seven Chances,'' follows O'Donnell as he tries to find a
bride within 24 hours in order to inherit a fortune.
``We worked this picture to death,'' said David Tuckerman, New Line's executive vice-president of distribution, referring to
marketing efforts that involved nationwide bridal contests. He added the picture filled a niche for females and couples looking
for ``a very sweet date movie.''
Over at Walt Disney Co., where the firm's Touchstone Pictures banner released ``The Insider,'' executives were philosophical
about its opening score, but hope to get it established before the onslaught of holiday pictures.
The fact-based film stars Pacino as a producer on CBS' ``60 Minutes'' and Russell Crowe as former tobacco executive
Jeffrey Wigand. In their effort to do a piece on the dangers of smoking, the two must overcome a litigious tobacco industry
and week-kneed news executives.
``We knew that this was going to be about the public being our salesman,'' said Chuck Viane, president of Disney's Buena
Vista Pictures distribution unit.
The audience was 80 percent couples and 85 percent above the age of 25, Viane said.
Rounding out the top 10 were Universal's ``The Best Man,'' down four places to No. 6 with $4.3 million (17-day total $24.0
million); DreamWorks' ``American Beauty,'' down three to No. 7 with $3.3 million (54-day total $58.9 million); Hollywood
Pictures' ``The Sixth Sense,'' steady at No. 8 with $3.2 million (94-day total $264.1 million); Miramax Films' ``Music of the
Heart,'' down four to No. 9 with $3.0 million (10-day total $7.9 million); and Fox's ``Fight Club,'' down three to No. 10 with
$2.5 million (24-day total $32 million).
Universal Pictures is a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd. New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. are units of Time Warner Inc
(NYSE:TWX - news). Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures and Miramax Films are units of Walt Disney Co.
Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc (NYSE:VIA - news). DreamWorks SKG is privately held. Twentieth Century
Fox is a unit of Fox Entertainment Group Inc (NYSE:FOX - news).
before he turns 30 to receive an hundred million dollar inheritance from his
Grandfather. The catch is that he turns 30 in about 24 hours from this
stunning declaration and he has just broken up with his girlfriend of 3
years. I saw this same plot on the new Love Boat last season when a guy
had to get married to get a similar inheritance and he actually fell in love
with a girl before he told her the truth and then when she found out from a
scheming chick who just wanted the money, the true love decided that she had
been used and dumped him. Idiot. By the end though, the evil chick was kicked to
the curb and the good girl regained her senses and the 2 got together and lived
happily everafter. Brewster's Millions also has a similar plot with Richard
Pryor trying to spend a large sum of money in a month's time before he collects
the large pot. So, the Bachelor is not an original story causing one
strike against it. The other problem is the ad campaign that asks the
question "would you marry this man for a $100 million?" They
show a picture of O'Donnell with a goofy look on his face, but the joke is lost
because most women find him somewhat attractive so yeah, sure they would. Hell,
most would do it for free. For that ad to work, the star should have been a less
attractive person like maybe a Gilbert Gotfried or a Ben Affleck.
In reality, any guy with half the pretty boy looks of O'Donnell could get
anybody they wanted even a Mariah Carey. Speaking of the rainbow diva, she
makes her acting debut here as some opera singer being wooed by O'Donnell.
I have seen some of her seen on television and she seems to be stuttering her
way through it like she is receiving her 1st American Music Award. I am the
biggest MC fan there is and years ago (1992) if I heard that she was in a movie,
I would be there for the first show just to check her out. Nowadays, I
will wait for the DVD release. I am not that big a sucker. If the
marketers had the guts, they should have pushed her appearance in the movie a
little harder and it could have brought in some of her fans who are still rabid
over everything she does. Carey starts filming her feature acting debut,
All That Glitters, in January to show off her acting class skills. That
movie I will check out the first week because I am still a fan and I like to
goof on people who quit their day jobs to act. Whitney Houston had to
learn the hard way that selling a 100 million records does not equal selling
$100 million dollars in movie tickets everytime. Rene Zelweger shows up as
the ex girlfriend who for some reason is not able to put aside her differences
with the O'Donnell character to get the $100 million. Rene Z. is one of those
actresses I don't like. Her crooked mouth is the most unattractive in film. Some
people find her attractive, but I can't stand her, and I avoid her work most of
the time. I was did not like her in Jerry Maguire either. I wish her good
health, but I will not rush out to see her lips smack together. Question. Who
has bigger lips, Zellweger or Jolie?
converted
or the ones who still don't care. People who listen to the warnings on
smoking products are not going to smoke, but the ones who do will continue to do
so until they are physically unable. Heck, in the 60s a doctor was
on a talk show saying how smoking is bad for your health while at the same time
he was smoking a cigarette. It is glamourized in books, television, and
movies and society. While at the same time it is vilified by restaurants,
movie theaters, and homes with newborns. The government wants people to
stop smoking, but they continue to make money off the taxes collected from
cigarette sales. So, if they end smoking, then many of those federally funded
programs and new football stadiums will not continue to exist. I say that
the tobacco industry is not the only ones to blame, but it is in fact the U.S.
government that promotes the use of smoking. The other thing that is
ridiculous about smoking regulation is the ruling that the companies have to say
that their product is bad for its customers and must make anti smoking
commercials. And they wonder why people don't vote. Insider did not
do that well this week because it suffers from overexposed true life
syndrome. Everyone knows the story and how it comes out. There is no
suspense. The bigger the news story the less it translates into a popular
movie. A movie like Apollo 13 is a true story that was not well known when
the movie came out even though most going in knew how it was going to end, but
since the original was not an event that stayed in the public conciousness, it
made a lot of money. Another victim of this disease was Son of Sam, a well
publicized true story that no one wanted to see acted out. I have always said if
your true story is a well known one, make it a tv movie. Notice how you
see lots of O.J. Simpson tv specials, but there has been no cinematic film and
it is considered one of the most well known trials of the century. The Insider
should have been a tv movie or miniseries and it would have been a ratings
winner, now it is a $60 million picture jobbing to Mariah Carey.