Wednesday, October 4, 2000

Moviegoers cheer Washington's ``Titans''

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The anemic North American box office showed signs of life over the weekend as Denzel Washington's fact-based football drama ``Remember the Titans'' scored a $21.2 million touchdown, the biggest opening in the actor's career.

According to studio estimates for the Friday-to-Sunday period, the Walt Disney Co. movie easily grabbed the No. 1 slot, while ``The Exorcist'' reissue (Warner Bros.) and ''Almost Famous'' (DreamWorks) held steady in the runner-up positions with $7.4 million and $5.6 million, respectively.

The top five was rounded out by last weekend's box office champ, ``Urban Legends: Final Cut'' (Columbia) at No. 4 with $4.7 million, and the cheerleader comedy ``Bring It On'' (Universal), down one rank, with $2.9 million.

Despite ``Titans,'' receipts were lower this year than last for the tenth weekend in a row. A host of factors, such as weak product, the end of school holidays and competition from the Olympics, have hit the industry hard.

Observers expect business to improve next weekend with the debuts of Sylvester Stallone's ``Get Carter'' action remake, the Robert De Niro comedy ``Meet the Parents'' and the animated ''Digimon: The Movie.''

``Titans'' marks the biggest opening since August 4-6, when the invisible man thriller ``Hollow Man'' appeared with a $26 million debut. It also marks the 3rd best opening for a September release, after 1998's ``Rush Hour'' ($33 million) and 1999's ``Double Jeopardy'' ($23.2 million). Washington's previous best was the $18.6 million launch of the 1995 submarine thriller ``Crimson Tide.''

In ``Titans,'' Washington plays an embattled football coach at a newly integrated Virginia high school in 1971. Reviews for director Boaz Yakin's film were generally average.

``It's the American spirit kind of thing,'' said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of theatrical distribution.

He added the $21.2 million estimate could prove to be conservative when final data are released Monday, since the film attracted an unusually high percentage of families on Saturday night, and families tend to dominate moviegoing on Sundays. The movie averaged $11,367 from 1,865 runs.

The top 10 contained one other new release, the beauty pageant drama ``Beautiful,'' starring Minnie Driver and marking the feature directing debut of Sally Field. The box office judges gave the film just $1.4 million, good enough to share 10th spot with Warner Bros. ``Space Cowboys.'' ``Beautiful'' was released by privately held Destination Films.

After 10 days in release, ``The Exorcist'' reissue has scared up $17.9 million. This weekend, it expanded to 1,150 theaters from 664. It will hold steady next weekend, and then take advantage of the following Friday the 13th weekend to add 500 runs, said WB distribution president Dan Fellman. WB is a unit of Time Warner Inc..

Writer/director Cameron Crowe's rock 'n' roll saga ``Almost Famous'' has grossed $17.8 million after 19 days, 10 of those in wide release. DreamWorks is privately held.

The teen thriller ``Urban Legends'' has $15 million after 10 days. A spokesman at Columbia, a unit of Sony Corp., said the low-budget film was on target to end up with $25 million domestically and a profit. Universal, a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd., reported that ``Bring It On'' has $59.6 million after 38 days.

In the limited release world, moviegoers were rabid for ''Best In Show,'' a dog show satire from British writer/director Christopher Guest of ``Spinal Tap'' fame. It grossed $403,000 from 13 theaters in four cities, giving it a $31,000 average. WB's Fellman said he would expand the film ``as quickly as possible'' with a target of 300 theaters by Oct. 13.

Sony's mid-budget Screen Gems unit weighed in with ''Girlfight,'' the tale of a feisty Puerto Rican schoolgirl (played by newcomer Michelle Rodriguez) who becomes a boxing champ. Director Karyn Kusama's $3 million film grossed $210,000 from 28 theaters in 24 markets across the United States and Canada, giving it a punchy average of $7,500. It will add 200 theaters next weekend.

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

The top 10 movies at the box office

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) - Following are the top 10 movies at the North American box office for the Sept. 29-Oct. 1 weekend, according to studio estimates collected Sunday by Reuters. Final data will be issued Monday.

1 (+) Remember the Titans .......$20,905,831

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $20,905,831

2 (2) The Exorcist ..............$7,205,523

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $17,671,975

3 (3) Almost Famous ............. $5,570,441

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $17,833,970

4 (1) Urban Legends: Final Cut .. $4,406,105

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $14,678,251

5 (4) Bring It On ............... $3,008,525

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $59,696,570

6 (5) The Watcher ............... $2,280,260

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $26,009,895

7 (7) Nurse Betty ............... $2,072,981

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $21,003,845

8-(6) Bait ...................... $1,731,888

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $13,244,329

9-(8) What Lies Beneath.......... $1,644,746

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $150,596,856

10-(+) Beautiful ................. $1,409,433

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $1,409,433

NOTE: Last weekend's position in parenthesis. + - new release.

``Remember the Titans'' is released by Touchstone Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co.

``The Exorcist,'' ``Bait'' and ``Space Cowboys'' are released by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc.

``Almost Famous'' and ``What Lies Beneath'' are released by DreamWorks SKG, which is privately held.

``Urban Legends: Final Cut'' is released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp.

``Bring It On'' and ``The Watcher'' are released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd.

``Nurse Betty'' is released by USA Films, a unit of USA Networks Inc.

``Beautiful'' is released by Destination Films, which is privately held. REUTERS

JOHN L.:  The box office is slowly coming back to the days of mid July 2000.  The public still does not enjoy most of the movies in the top 10 since repeat business is not happening a whole lot.  Remember the Titans received a strong ad campaign that made it known to most people so it was a given to open at number one this week. Sally Field directs Minnie "Matt Damon who" Driver in "Beautiful."  Oh, you never heard of this movie.  Neither did a lot of people who did not work on the film.  Let's look at why these movies are where they are in the top ten.

Remember the Titans is the feel good movie of the Fall.  Two teams from different worlds join together and succeed in their sport and in preconceived attitudes they had before they met.   Denzel Washington had his biggest opening ever and that should help in him establishing himself as a top tier Hollywood actor.  His movies in the past have been off and on in box office success even though many of them are quite critically acclaimed.  RTT is about how a high school football team is integrated even though racial problems continue to be the concerns of all involved.  This movie is about how those racial attitudes are changed.  Some controversy happened during the making of the movie when it was decided to ease up on the more extreme racial epitaphs.  People thought that this movie based on real events would be trying to turn the film into a fantasy or something.  But, the makers wanted a PG rating because the overall story of working together was important to expose to a mass audience especially the high school age level so it was intended to keep the movie more of a family event.  The previews don't even mention the conflict between the blacks and whites.  In the preview, the team bicker a bit, but they are dancing and singing together more than fighting.  Washington is seen working out team coaching ideas with a little 7 year old girl.  The trailer made the film look like your average underdog team makes good and wins the championship team sort on the level of "Varsity Blues."  Whatever the marketers did, it worked.  The movie opened very well and looks to have good word of mouth.  Race is a problem still in this country, and with this movie showing it, but not overdoing it like other films might have done shows how things are getting a bit better in society.  Remember the Titans won't change the world, but it should not have to.  RTT should entertain, but if it makes you think then all the better.

The other side of the report is Sally Field's "Beautiful" which had an ugly opening this weekend.  This movie had practically no marketing at all.  I only know of it because I watch way too much CNN Showbiz Today.  It is another beauty pageant bomb like "Drop Dead Gorgeous" was last year.  For some reason, make believe beauty pageants have not been that popular with the public like the Miss America shows are.  Fields does not direct a lot and she has been in some of the most successful movies ever like "Forrest Gump" and "Mrs. Doubtfire."  She thinks that everyone still really really likes her and making a movie with Minnie Driver and Hallie "Drink Pepsi" Eisenberg would gather an audience.  Minnie Driver is attractive in a weird way, but not what I would consider bathing suit competition material and world peace advocate.  I like her, and still laugh when I think about how she did not clap for Matt Damon winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "Good Will Hunting" just because they had broken up romantically.  She was so bitter.  Hallie is that little pixie who lip syncs to Aretha Franklin in those ba ba ba ba ba Pepsi toe tapping commercials.  She also showed up in that Robin Williams disappointment, "Bicentennial Man."  In Beautiful she is playing Driver's daughter.    Driver wants to be Miss America, but her daughter is illegitimate and may get her disqualified.  That is all I know about the film.  If they had aired a commercial or 5, maybe I could have paid more attention.  Oh well, there is always the FOX television movie of the week.

REST OF THE TOP 10 IN 10:

1.    The Exorcist is still packing them in and will probably outgross the other horror films released this month.

2.    I think they should re-edit Exorcist 2 and make that a better film.

3.    Almost Famous is one of the most liked movies of the year by the people who have seen it.

4.    For some reason, the producers won't release AF wide enough to gross more than $10 million a week.

5.    Urban Legends is quickly becoming a legend in its own mind when people in the future may not be sure if it ever really existed.

6.    Bring it On has brought quite the profit to Universal Pictures.

7.    The Watcher continues to be watched by less and less people.

8.    Nurse Betty could have been a bit more successful if it had a better ad campaign as well.

9.    Jamie Foxx is still hanging in there hoping bait people to see him in future films.

10.    What Lies Beneath looks to finally be headed out of the top ten after 11 weeks of dominance.

That is it for this week.  More next time with more movie stuff.  Bye for now.