Wednesday,  September 27, 2000

Scary movies thrill U.S. moviegoers

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES, (Reuters) - A pair of scary movies led the field at the North American box office, while Cameron Crowe's rock 'n' roll saga ``Almost Famous'' leaped five places to No. 3 in its first wide weekend, according to studio estimates issued Sunday.

Opening at No. 1 was ``Urban Legends: Final Cut,'' a sequel to the 1998 teen thriller, ``Urban Legend.'' Released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp., it pulled in $8.8 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period from 2,539 theaters across the United States and Canada.

A reissue of the 1973 horror classic ``The Exorcist'' (Warner Bros.), featuring digitally enhanced sound, 11 minutes of extra footage and a different ending, opened close behind at No. 2 with $8.5 million from just 664 theaters, making it the weekend's real winner at the box office.

Writer/director Crowe's semi-autobiographical ``Almost Famous'' (DreamWorks), also set in the 1970s, grossed $7.0 million after increasing its run to 1,193 theaters from 131 last weekend.

The box office contained one other new wide release, ``Woman on Top,'' starring Spanish-born actress Penelope Cruz in her first leading role in an English-language film. Released by Fox Searchlight, the arthouse arm of Fox Entertainment Group Inc.'s Twentieth Century Fox, the fantasy romance opened at No. 10 with a disappointing $1.9 million.

Overall ticket sales fell for the ninth consecutive weekend, when compared with the year-ago period. But compared to the week-ago period, they broke a lengthy losing streak.

Business last weekend was hurt by competition from the Summer Olympics, and particularly the opening ceremony. But U.S. ratings for the sports extravaganza have not been stellar because of the lack of major stars and the lengthy time delay of the televised events.

Unfortunately for Americans with time on their hands, the studios planned long ago not to go up against the Olympics with their big guns, said box office analyst Gitesh Pandya at box officeguru.com (http://www.boxofficeguru.com). This has created a vacuum, with few films generating a ``gotta see'' buzz.

Rounding out the top five were the Kirsten Dunst cheerleader comedy ``Bring It On,'' down one place to No. 4 with $4.2 million; and the Keanu Reeves serial killer thriller ``The Watcher,'' the box office champ for the previous two weekends, with $3.6 million. Both are released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd.

``Urban Legends,'' starring a no-name cast that slowly gets dispatched at a student film school, received awful reviews, but succeeded in pulling in its target young adult crowd, said a Columbia spokesman. With a reported production budget of $14 million, the film is expected to be profitable.

The original opened at No. 3 with $10.5 million exactly two years ago and ended up with $38.1 million.

``The Exorcist'' reissue performed ``phenomenally,'' said Dan Fellman, president of distribution at Warner Bros., which is a unit of Time Warner Inc. Its average of $12,839 per theater was easily the highest in the top 10, outpacing the so-so $3,466 tally for ``Urban Legends'' and solid $5,860 for ''Almost Famous.''

Boosted by strong reviews, the movie played to a slightly older crowd, Fellman added. Excluding the three ``Star Wars'' reissues of 1996, he said ``The Exorcist'' was the best performing reissue of all time.

Now clocking in at 132 minutes, the Linda Blair/Max von Sydow horror swaps director William Friedkin's original grim ending for an audience-friendly one in line with novelist/screenwriter/producer William Peter Blatty's vision.

While Blair was channeling the devil a quarter century ago, Crowe was living every kid's fantasy by traveling with demonic rockers Led Zeppelin in his capacity as a teen-age scribe for Rolling Stone magazine. He has turned his experiences into ''Almost Famous,'' which stars Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit and Oscar-winner Frances McDormand.

The film has grossed $10.3 million after three weekends, and will probably add between 400 and 500 screens next weekend, said Jim Tharp, president of distribution at privately held DreamWorks.

``We need to get it in the marketplace to get the word-of-mouth out,'' Tharp said of the well-reviewed film, which is pulling in an older-skewing audience.

``Woman on Top,'' in which Cruz plays an amorous TV chef, performed better in big or Latino centers like New York City, Houston and Miami than in midwestern or urban places, said Stephen Gilula, distribution president at Fox Searchlight.

After 17 days in release, ``The Watcher'' has grossed $22.7 million, while ``Bring It On'' has $55.9 million after 31 days.

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. 22-24 weekend, according to studio estimates collected Sunday by Reuters. Final data will be issued Monday.

1 (+) Urban Legends: Final Cut .. $8,505,513

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $8,505,513

2 (+) The Exorcist .............. $8,157,666

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $8,431,437

3 (8) Almost Famous ............. $6,926,467

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $10,147,759

4 (3) Bring It On ............... $4,275,380

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $56,000,070

5 (1) The Watcher ............... $3,665,640

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $22,758,200

6 (2) Bait ...................... $3,365,674

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $10,576,895

7 (4) Nurse Betty ............... $3,270,176

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $18,025,661

8-(7) What Lies Beneath.......... $2,192,119

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $148,433,841

9-(5) Space Cowboys ............. $2,156,506

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $85,072,147

10 (+) Woman on Top .............. $2,008,191

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $2,008,191

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

``Urban Legends: Final Cut'' is released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp. (6758.T).

``The Exorcist,'' ``Bait'' and ``Space Cowboys'' are released by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news).

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

``Bring It On'' and ``The Watcher'' are released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd. (Toronto:VO.TO - news).

``Nurse Betty'' is released by USA Films, a unit of USA Networks Inc. (NasdaqNM:USAI - news).

``Woman on Top'' is released by Fox Searchlight, the arthouse arm of Fox Entertainment Group Inc.'s (NYSE:FOX - news) Twentieth Century Fox. REUTERS

JOHN L.:  A very busy if somewhat lackluster  week at the box office.  It seems that the seventies are back again as movies that take place in 1973-1974 are very popular nowadays.  It looks like if Hollywood would have released Exorcist and Almost Famous a bit wider this weekend's box office would have come close to beating last year's.  I saw Almost Famous and have  a full review of this movie that everyone seems to love unconditionally.  I decided to pass on Urban Legends Final Cut and will probably wait for a video nose pick of the week to see it.  I have Exorcist on DVD and the deleted scenes added to this new version I have seen like the "spider walk" and they are on the current DVD release but not intercut into the film like the movies is put together now.  My take on Exorcist will actually be like a review, but not.  Okay, let's get this thing going.

The remake of Scream 3 was the number one movie this week.  Urban Legends Final Cut is a continuation of the ideas put forth in the first movie of a similar name.  A crazed killer gets the keen idea to act out urban legend murder stories.  The first film, which I liked in a goofy sort of way, had the "don't turn on the lights because your friend has just been killed while you were in the room," then there was the guy under the car who slashes your ankles, and then there was the guy with the axe in the backseat of your car.  They tried to do my all time favorite urban legend, the waking up in the tub full of ice and seeing a note that says that your kidneys have been removed for illegal body organ donation and to call the paramedics.  The first one mentioned that one, but never did it.  In the preview for Final Cut they show the girl actually in the tub of ice.  At that point, I say cool, we might finally get to see this.  But then the preview shows the girl complaining about waking up in the tub not showing the effects of being cut open.  It bothered me that this legend may once again be messed up in its reenactment.   Also, the killer running around in the film is wearing some sort of fencing mask and is acting like every other college campus serial killer.  The preview really does not show the different types of urban legend kills it has.  The reason this movie was number one this weekend is because these type of movies have a loyal audience that will always see it the first weekend.  They make good date movies and are fun to goof on when they suck and every once in a while you might get a good one like this year's "Final Destination" (which just came out on DVD and I recommend).  But, the first Urban Legends movie was not that well received and a sequel was not all that necessary.  So, not many people rushed out to see this.  It also did not help that Joseph Lawrence is going around saying this is his comeback vehicle so that he can be taken seriously as an actor and not just Blossom's dopey brother who goes "whoaa" all of the time.  He is the biggest name in the film, but I still can't make him out in the trailers.  This movie should still be in the top ten next week, but if it's the number one film still, then Hollywood may have to go on strike and regroup.

One of the most popular horror movies of all time was re-released this weekend.  The Exorcist is infamous for its graphic images and strange violence.  This version out now puts in 11 minutes of deleted footage that has only been seen in television specials or DVD collectors editions.  There are also a few extra demonic images and sounds added that have never been shown anywhere else.  The selling point of the re-release is a short 20 second scene where Linda Blair's character walks down the stairs... backwards in a crab like position and then sticks out her forked tongue.  This scene was so disturbing that it was edited out to show some compassion for the audience.  I guess a gymnastics stunt is more disturbing than a 12 year old girl thrusting a cross in her crotch and screaming "let Jesus fuck you."  That, people can deal with.  This movie has been a favorite of mine for its sheer outrageousness.  You cannot take it seriously, but this was before every horror movie had to have doses of humor to ease the terror.  Here are the parts that freak people out in the Exorcist and had them running out of the theaters in 1973.  For one, a little girl is possessed by the Devil.  That is hard to watch because Blair is a little girl and had to go through a lot of physical torture to pull of the role.  Another is to hear this little girl cursing, well actually you did not hear HER curse since her demonic voice was dubbed by Mercedes McCambridge.  The best line in the movie is the "your mother sucks cocks in Hell."  I find that one funny because of the old Saturday Night Live sketch with Richard Pryor as the exorcist and Loraine Newman says "your mother sews socks that smell."  I guess you had to be there.  The other thing that freaked people out was the pea soup vomit.  That was gross, but nowadays it would be laughed at if done in a new movie.  It is taken seriously here because of Exorcist's rep.  All of this is cool and scary and all that but there were two things that freaked me out about this movie.  One was the first time her head turned around and Blair says "do you know what she did?"  That was legit creepy.  Thank goodness for making of specials, because if I did not learn how that shot was done, I don't think I would have watched another horror movie again.  The second thing that I found the most disturbing was when the doctors were doing tests on the Linda Blair and they gave her a shot in her throat and you see what looks like the needle going in her.  The reality of the scene was so irritating that it not only creeped me out, William Friedkin, the director, said on DVD commentary that this sequence gets the most squirms from audiences.  Exorcist is a great horror movie because it takes things so seriously and it breaks every religious taboo you can think of.  It looked like child abuse on the screen and you can feel dirty looking at it.  The makers of the film and the writer of the novel try to tell you that the movie is really about one's faith in their religion and how they can keep that faith when faced with events that should make you doubt your belief in a benevolent god.  Okay, I can see that, but it's really more about showing metaphorically the biological changes an adolescent goes through as they reach that age when hormonic activity is so high that all you can do is lash out at the people who love you.  To the people that saw Exorcist: the version you've  never seen it is about how the hell do you get satan out of a little girl's body in 5 easy steps.  One:  Tie her to a bed.  Two:  throw holy water on her. Three:  Get some back up.  Four:  Read a lot of Biblical verses. And Five:  Just friggin' choke the hell out of her until the demon gets bored and bothers someone else.  This movie is good, but for no reason see its sequels.  In some ways they were scarier to watch than the first one.

ALMOST FAMOUS - FULL REVIEW

This may be the best movie of the year.  There is very little wrong and so much right with this movie.  Kate Hudson is now a star.  Frances McDormand was wonderful as the mother. The soundtrack is perfect and even the fake band, Stillwarter's Fever Dog song rocks.  I became emotionally involved with all of the main characters especially Kate and Billy Crudup.  The kid playing the character based on director Cameron Crowe's real life experiences as a teenage rock critic was just wonderful.  He was all bright eyed and innocent and after all of the stuff he saw and experienced, he still kept his integrity and respect for his mother.  Phillp Seymour Hoffman continues to show that next to Oliver Platt, is the most underrated actor in Hollywood.  He plays the famous rock and roll critic, Lester Bangs, and becomes a mentor to the Crowe-type character played by Peter Fugit. The film focuses on three people, Hudson, Crudup, and Fugit.  Hudson plays a groupie who is not a groupie who hangs out with Crudup's band, Stillwater.  She is having something of an affair with Crudup, the lead guitarist, but he is married and is hesitant to commit to Kate.  When Fugit comes along to do a story on the band for Rolling Stone Magazine, she latches on to him as a way to escape the potential heartache of being with Crudup who seems to not really know what he wants.  Her scenes with Fugit are almost mystical because she sort of pops up out of nowhere sometimes and does this David Copperfield like hand wave in front of his face to get his attention.  At one point, I thought she was just an imaginary character in the minds of the other people in the band and we were going to get one of those weird modern movie twists.  That was not the case.  She was all too  real.  Crudup plays the band member that everyone loves and causes the other members of the band to be ignored.  There is a great scene between him and the lead singer about the jealousy that comes about between band members.  My favorite person in the movie is Fugit as William Miller.  He is perfect for the role and like most things in the movie comes off very real.  As a viewer of the movie, you feel like you are right there experiencing what he is experiencing... well except for this one part that I won't give away.   His relationship with his mom is cool and touching.  His mom is very strict, but also fair.  She always warns him about not taking drugs and staying out of trouble, and what makes this movie different is that William obeys his mom on about everything she tells him to do.  There is no big scene where he gets high or gets totally out of control.  This was different and unpredictable.   For those people who grew up in the 1970s, this will bring back much nostalgia especially if you listened to the music that is played and referred to in the film.  You might think this movie may have some real dark side just because several rock stars of the past have had tragic lives, but this movie almost lives in a utopia.  It may be somewhat idealized, but it works.  Sex and rock and roll is a major factor with just a pinch of drugs, but not an overabundance.  It mostly consists of alcoholic consumption.   I can't say enough about how good this movie was.  If it doesn't win best picture it will be because Crowe does not put it up for nomination because it's not about the awards, man, it's all about the music.  Final Review:  4 stars out of 5; 8 1/2 out of 10; A; thumbs up.  Definitely a must buy when it comes out on video.

Uhhh, most of what you have just read is, how can I put it... crap.  The opinion above is not mine, but that of the majority of those who see Almost Famous.  To put it bluntly, I did not like this movie. It is not horrible, just blah.  The movie is too nice.  There is not enough conflict between the band members to hold my interest.  For example, the biggest argument came when Crudup's character gets the prominent shot on the band t-shirt while the lead singer and the others in the band are stuck out of focus in the background.  This is the jealousy thing that bands tend to have, but after this scene everything is okay and there is no follow up like the fight never happened.  Crudup is supposed to be the main guy in the movie, but his character really does nothing.  You never get to know much about him.  In fact, William Miller tries the entire film to get an in depth interview and just as he is about to get it, the movie is over.  Kate Hudson is supposed to be likable and sympathetic, but she just ends up looking pitiful.  For some reason, the movie wants us to feel sorry for her when she realizes she is just another groupie and no one cares about her.  Hudson is fine with what she is given to do, but she isn't given much.  She just talks in platitudes and gee whizzes.  The scene that annoys me the most is when the band, Hudson, and Miller are on the bus and Miller is complaining about how he has to get home soon and Hudson does waves her hand in front of his face and says "you are home."  That hand wave is still haunting me at night and that is not a good thing. The problem is there is no real big scene where we get to understand what these people are like even though they are shoved down our throats constantly.  The music played is fine but the songs of the band are underused.  It seems the only song they know is something called "Fever Dog."  It is generic and stale and would never be a rock classic or anthem if used in real life.  There are two moments that are supposed to bring everyone together and the song they use is "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John instead of some more anthem rock number.  The other is this plane ride that may be their last when everyone confesses to their sins and secrets.  Nope, nothing much here either just a bunch of "I slept with blank, sorry dude" comments.  The movie plays more like a VH1 movie of the week and could have worked better as one of those than a full length feature film.  The parts where the Miller kid is trying to get his Rolling Stone story and trying to keep his mother calm are the best parts of the film.  Frances McDormand is fine, but most of her scenes are her scaring people on the phone who might corrupt her kid.  Her character is contradictory because she is very overprotective but lets her 15 year old son live with a rock and roll band instead of going to high school.  I am not sure how that was done.  I came out of this movie trying to find what was so great about it, and I did.  I mentioned what was good in the previous section, however I did not necessarily agree with it.  Almost Famous is almost a good movie but never crosses that line of insight to what life is like on the road playing music and sometimes not getting paid for it.  I say watch those VH1 and E! television specials about celebrities to get insight.  It's cheaper.  Final REAL Review:  2 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 1/2 out of 10; C+; thumbs down.  The movie is just fine and most people that see it will enjoy it.  They may even find it very touching.  If you are not as critical as me and accept what you see then read my first review.  But, if you see the movie think really hard  about what you saw and you will realize that Almost Famous is almost just pretty average.

It 's the attack of the "IT" girl in Penelope Cruz and her first English speaking starring role in "Woman on Top."  She plays a woman who leaves her Brazilian home and comes to America to become a cooking show host, but she has a problem avoiding her husband and becoming motion sick.  Cruz's character is so hot that she gets guys to watch her cut vegetables on TV even though they have no intention of cooking anything.  This movie is supposed to attract a large audience because Cruz is so captivating and hot and guys will run to see it just to see her walk around.  Women will want to see it because of all of the romantic mushy stuff.  However, the preview never shows anything all that interesting and there was very little marketing for the film.  Cruz is a victim of it does not matter how hot you are, if you speak with an accent, your movie makes no money especially if you star in it. Nicole Kidman, Salma Hayek, and Minnie Driver are very good looking, but they have yet to make it big in a movie because they talk funny.  Kidman and Driver try to cheat by using American accents most of the time, but it still has not worked.  The problem with accents, and especially Hispanic ones is that English words are hard to understand when pronounced like Cruz and Hayek do.  If the audience has to strain to understand someone, they will just tune out and ignore the actor.  This Woman on Top movie tries to equate sex with eating food.  That makes some sense since so much of food is phallic and ass-like, and booby like cucumbers, pears, and cantaloupes.  And don't forget the ever lovable whipped cream on a strawberry spot.  Mickey Rourke and Kim Baldwin made food sex famous with "9 1/2 Weeks."  The movie "Like Water for Chocolate" continued the trend.  I think if the preview had been more sensual and less comical, it might have opened a bit better than 10th place.  Also, the Cruz character gets sick a lot in the movie and showing her not being so attractive might have made the trailer more interesting.  Something should have been done differently since it looks like this movie will not be making the studio a profit.

REST OF THE TOP 10 IN 10:

1.    My least favorite movie of the year that I actually like is Bring it On.

2.    Kirsten Dunst has grown up into a very attractive young lady and should continue to have a successful career.

3.    I expect Bring it On 2 to be about Dunst trying out for a professional football team cheerleading spot.

4.    The Watcher is being watched by less and less people every week.

5.    Bait is not doing that well, but due to the lack of competition which actually includes things like Bait, this movie is sticking around the top 10 longer than some expected.

6.   Nurse Betty, like Almost Famous, is one of those movies that most people who actually see the film like a whole lot even though I think it is weak.

7.   What Lies Beneath is now the second most popular Michelle Pfeiffer film of all time.

8.    WLB continued the trend of adult horror that does not have to mean slasher serial killer bloodletting.

9.    Space Cowboys is possibly Clint Eastwood's first sleeper hit in his career.

10.   The past month of box office totals has probably been the most pitiful I have ever seen and if next week's top film makes less than $10 million I may just skip the next kickin' box office report.

That is all for this week.  Sometime soon I will finish my analysis of the whole marketing of violence to children issue.  I have about half of it written and it is taking quite a long time to write.  As of this writing, the movie studios are promising to not show R-rated movie trailers in front of G rated movies.  Oooo, like that is not a current unsaid policy now.  More on this issue later.  It is up to Denzel Washington to save the box office next week with "Remember the Titans."  I may end up seeing it, but I am not looking forward to the showing.  Oh, and one more thing about Almost Famous.  Definitely see the movie if you grew up during the early seventies or just remember the time.  Don't expect some revolutionary insightful film.  It is actually just something to make you feel good when you leave the theater.  It works for most, just not for me.  Bye for now.