Sunday
September 26 4:02 PM ETSunday
September 26 4:02 PM ET
'Double' Duo Judd And Jones Top Box Office
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The crime melodrama ``Double Jeopardy'' enjoyed a sizzling No. 1
debut at the weekend box office, while Robin Williams' new Holocaust comedy ``Jakob the Liar''
flopped miserably.
According to studio estimates issued Sunday, ``Double Jeopardy'' opened with $23.7 million in box
office receipts, pushing cop comedy ``Blue Streak'' to No. 2 in its second weekend with $13.2 million.
``The Sixth Sense'' held steady at No. 3 with $8.5 million, and now ranks as the 20th biggest movie of all time in North
America with a 52-day total of $225.1 million, said a spokeswoman for Walt Disney Co.'s Hollywood Pictures.
``Jakob the Liar,'' in which Williams' character tries to raise morale in a Polish ghetto by broadcasting fake radio messages
about Allied successes, debuted at No. 8 with just $2.2 million. A spokesman for Columbia Pictures said the fact-based film
was crippled by the tough subject matter, comparisons to Italian Oscar-winner ``Life is Beautiful'' and bad reviews.
Moviegoers also ignored the other new wide release in the top 10: ``Mumford'' (Disney's Touchstone Pictures), a comedy
about a fake shrink in a small town, debuted at No. 9 with $2.0 million.
Taking its title from a legal term that one cannot be tried twice for the same crime, ``Double Jeopardy'' stars Ashley Judd who
sets out to kill her husband after she is convicted of murder when he fakes his death. Tommy Lee Jones plays her parole
officer. A spokesman for Paramount Pictures said the film's revenge theme made it a strong draw for female moviegoers.
Rounding out the top five was Kevin Costner's ``For Love of the Game'' (Universal), which lost half its audience in its second
weekend as it slipped two places to No. 4 with $6.6 million. The baseball film's 10-day total is $23.2 million.
``American Beauty'' remained the undoubted box office star as it jumped six places to No. 5 in its second weekend with $6.0
million from just 429 theaters, up from 16 theaters a week ago. By contrast, the top four films each played at more than 2,500
sites. A spokesman for DreamWorks said he believed it was the first time a movie had made the top five on fewer than 500
screens. The family tragi-comedy stars Kevin Spacey as an ''ordinary joe'' who quits his job, smokes pot and works out in
order to impress a schoolgirl. Its 12-day total is $7.6 million.
The 10-day total for ``Blue Streak'' (Columbia), which stars Martin Lawrence, is $37.7 million.
According to Exhibitor Relations, which collects the studios' data, the top 12 films this weekend grossed a combined $72.6
million, up 7.8 percent from a week ago, and up 10.4 percent from the year-ago period when the buddy cop comedy ''Rush
Hour'' was the top attraction for a second weekend.
Rounding out the top 10 were ``Stigmata'' (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), down two to No. 6 with $4.8 million (17-day total $40.5
million); ``Stir of Echoes'' (Artisan), down two to No. 7 with $2.3 million (17-day total $15.6 million); ''Jakob the Liar'' at No.
8; ``Mumford'' at No. 9; and ``Runaway Bride'' (Paramount), down four to No. 6 with $1.6 million (59-day total $146.6
million).
The top 10 movies at the box office
LOS ANGELES, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Following are the top 10 movies at the North American box office for the September
24-26 weekend, according to studio estimates collected Sunday by Reuters. Final data will be released Monday.
1 (+) Double Jeopardy .................. $23.7 million
2 (1) Blue Streak ...................... $13.2 million
3 (3) The Sixth Sense .................. $8.5 million
4 (2) For Love of the Game ............. $6.6 million
5(11) American Beauty .................. $6.0 million
6 (4) Stigmata ......................... $4.8 million
7 (5) Stir of Echoes ................... $2.3 million
8 (+) Jakob the Liar ................... $2.2 million
9 (+) Mumford .......................... $2.0 million
10 (6) Runaway Bride .................... $1.6 million
NOTE: Last weekend's position in parenthesis. + - new release.
Double Jeopardy and Runaway Bride are released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA - news)
Blue Streak and Jakob the Liar are released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE - news)
The Sixth Sense is released by Hollywood Pictures and Mumford by Touchstone Pictures, both units of Walt Disney Co.
For Love of the Game is released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Seagram Co Ltd.
American Beauty is released by DreamWorks, which is privately held.
Stigmata is released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. (NYSE:MGM - news)
Stir of Echoes is released by Artisan Entertainment, which is privately he
JOHN L.: Curses, foiled again!! Double Jeopardy is the #1 movie this week? Good going Ashley, you were able to open a movie. Hollywood loves to show Jews tortured, but mainstream society does not like to get their entertainment from it. Mumford has the award for the weakest premise of the week. American Beauty is trying to become the biggest Annette Beatty hit. Lots to cover this week, so lets get it going.
The premise of DJ is that a woman convicted of killing her husband finds out her husband faked his death. So if she goes out and kills him in the middle of Mardi Gras, she can’t get arrested because of the double jeopardy rule that says that you can’t be tried for the same crime twice. I am no lawyer, but let’s examine this idea. If I get tried for robbing a grocery store, but because the video camera tape showing me grab the twinkie and stick it in my pocket came up missing so I was found not guilty. But, if the tape is found after the trial showing me stealing the Hostess merchandise it doesn’t matter because I have already been found not guilty and I cannot be tried for the same twinkie heist twice. Double Jeopardy. However, in the evil Judd sister movie, she is convicted of killing her husband who later turns out to be alive. So, I guess the law says that if she kills him now, since she has already done her time, she can’t be tried for the same crime twice. Huh? If I still another twinkie at 711, I will go to jail if it’s proven I did it. It’s double jeopardy if she is found innocent of the crime and then they find out she did in fact killed him. She could not be tried again for it since it is the same crime. If she kills him "again" it’s a different crime. I don’t care what the movie says or that prison chick in the preview. The premise is too contrived for my tastes regardless of what the box office results say. I must clarify, I am not a lawyer, but I am going to do a little research on this double jeopardy law and have more info next week when DJ loses 50% of its box office. Also, Tommy Lee Jones needs to get a new gimmick. He is always going after the wrong criminals. He sucks.
Jakob
the Liar is being compared to Life is Beautiful and they are saying that that is
the reason people are avoiding JTL. Noone saw LIB either. People do not like
Holocaust films just like they won’t go see slave movies. Its too real and too
depressing. Everyone knows that stuff sucked. And the people that think the
Holocaust and slavery were cool or should happen again hate these movies too
because they make them look bad since it shows how those things sucked. Also,
Robin Williams doing his Dead Poets Society schtick is sort of inappropriate.
Leave these stories to documentaries where they can be kept real. War and
Rememberance is the best Holocaust stuff I have ever seen, not Schindler’s
List. Check that out if you want to see a retelling of those years. This is
Williams third movie in 2 years in which he is mourning his wife’s death. Good
Will Hunting and What Dreams May Come are the other two. Time to get a new
gimmick Mork.
What
the heck is a Mumford? This gets the worst preview of the week award. Oh, it is
so funny, he is faking being a psychiatrist! Ho ho ho. Movies that give away the
punchline in the preview and that punchline being the whole gimmick, usually
suck. The main actor is someone I have seen glimpses of in other movies like
Enemy of the State and Billy Bathgate, but he is still not over with the fans.
Also, Martin Short is a box office loser who if he is shown in the preview,
people stay home, Father of the Bride notwithstanding. Boring boring boring.
Worst preview since I saw the Talented Mr. Ripley with Matt Damon and that slut
Gwenyth Paltrow. Jeez movies suck nowadays. I see no hope on the horizon.
American Beauty is racking up the limited release bucks. When it gets into more than 1500 theaters, call me. I like Kevin Spacey, but he still can’t carry a movie. Annette Beatty has always meant death and good reviews (cough cough American President… Grifters). But no one knows who she is. She even has a chance to become the next Mrs. Clinton if Warren Benning was serious about running for the role of Da Man. If AB becomes super popular when it goes wide, say, more than $18 million in a weekend, then I will go see it and do a full review. Also if it makes more than $55 million at the box office, I will write an apology to Mrs. Beatty and email it to the production company of American Beauty. And that is $55 million in North America, not worldwide and video rentals.
The rest of the top 10 is as it usually is. Sixth Sense is now the 20th highest grossing movie of all time, eat your heart out Harrison Ford. Looks like it is time for Martin Lawrence to go jogging again since his box office is down a bit this week. Costner is bombing again, even though Kelly Preston is a hottie. Stir of Echoes is hanging in there like Bowfinger and Thomas Crown did, but don’t look for it to make the studio its money back. Stigmata is still in the running for highest grossing Patricia Arquette movie. It might just beat Nightmare on Elm Street 3: The Dream Warriors after all. And Julia Roberts is still hanging in there as one of the oldest movies in the top 10. At this point, Roberts may start making more than the men, even maybe Adam Sandler?
That’s it for this week. I am still working on my web site, in fact it is actually done, but I can’t get my Frontpage 2000 program to publish the damn thing. When it is able to, it will be one of the coolest sites to come out of my house, that’s for sure. Maybe next week. Bye for now.
ABOUT JOHN L.'S KICKIN' BOX OFFICE REPORTS
SPECIAL SUMMER OF 1999 MOVIE REVIEW
SPECIAL MIDSUMMER 1999 BOX OFFICE REVIEW
THE BEST AND WORST MOVIES OF 1998
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