''Bring It On'' brings home gold at U.S. box office
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``Bring It On,'' a high school cheerleader comedy starring Kirsten
Dunst, kicked up a storm at theNorth American weekend box office, opening at No. 1 with ticket sales of about $17.4 million, according to studio estimates
issued Sunday.
The $10 million-budgeted Universal Pictures film grossed more than the other two new entrants combined.
The Wesley Snipes thriller ``The Art of War'' opened at No. 2 with $11.2 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, while the
Richard Dreyfuss-Burt Reynolds mob comedy ``The Crew'' snagged $4.1 million and shared the No. 7 spot with ``The
Replacements.''
Last weekend's No. 1, Jennifer Lopez's psychological thriller ``The Cell,'' slid to No. 3 with $9.6 million. Final data will be
issued Monday.
After four down weekends in a row, overall ticket sales this weekend were flat compared to the year-ago period. Tracking firm
Exhibitor Relations Co. reported the top 12 films grossed $75.7 million, down 13 percent from last weekend. New releases
next weekend include the thriller sequel ``Highlander: Endgame'' and the romantic comedy ``Whipped.''
``Bring It On'' follows a team of San Diego cheerleaders as they struggle to find a new routine just weeks before the national
championships. Eighteen-year-old Dunst (''Interview with the Vampire,'' ``The Virgin Suicides'') leads a cast of virtual
unknowns, while Michael Peyton makes his directing debut. Reviews were generally favorable, and the audience was primarily
young females.
``In a summer where there have been a lot of teen films that didn't work, finding the right marketing hook was crucial,'' said
Nikki Rocco, president of distribution at Universal Pictures.
The story emphasized the competitive aspect of cheerleading and deliberately buried the romance angle, Rocco said. Universal
is a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd.
In ``The Art of War,'' Snipes plays a United Nations operative caught up in a web of international intrigue. Reviews were
mostly negative, and the audience was dominated by young males, although Snipes has a ``nice female following,'' said Dan
Fellman, president of distribution at Warner Bros.
The film was budgeted in the low $20 million area, and was financed by Franchise Pictures, the company behind the John
Travolta box office flop ``Battlefield Earth.'' WB, a unit of Time Warner Inc., has no financial exposure and receives a
distribution fee, Fellman said.
``The Crew'' stars Reynolds, Dreyfuss, Dan Hedaya and Seymour Cassel as four retired mobsters in Florida who return to
their old ways to prevent the gentrification of their neighborhood. Reviews were mixed. The film was distributed by Touchstone
Pictures, a unit of Walt Disney Co.
Rounding out the top five were actor/director Clint Eastwood's ``Space Cowboys'' at No. 4 with $6.6 million, taking its
24-day total to $63.8 million; and director Spike Lee's stand-up comic concert film ``The Original Kings of Comedy,'' with
$6.1 million and a 10-day haul of $21.4 million.
``The Cell'' has pulled in $33.7 million, also after 10 days, and has a shot at $60 million, said David Tuckerman, president of
distribution at New Line Cinema, a unit of Time Warner.
``Space Cowboys'' is a Warner Bros. film, while ``Kings of Comedy'' was distributed by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom
Inc. REUTERS
chants. However,
for some reason the new cheerleader movie, Bring it On, just does not look all
that sexy or interesting. Kirsten Dunst of "Interview with a
Vampire" fame stars as a head cheerleader competing against a rival school
in a championship. The gimmick here is that Dunst's team is stealing the
moves of the main competition. The other team is from a predominately
black school that is having trouble raising the money to even be in the
competition. This is where the critics have said the movie rises above
being just a T&A fest. It is supposed to be socially conscious
to address race issues in a format that can also be entertaining so people might
pay attention and learn something. There have been real life stories about
black cheerleaders feeling they are not being respected while the white squads
get all of the attention. Lawsuits and lots of griping happens and people
bitch a lot. Let's end the debate now. It does not matter what race
you are, it is how well you dance and chant in synchronous motion. It is
wrong to say a bunch of cheerleaders suck or are not worthy just by their skin
color when there are so many other ways to goof on them like big asses, pimples,
fat legs, runs in their stockings, lisps, guys 
trying
to fight sex discrimination by trying out for cheerleading, training bras,
losing teams, bad hip hop music, yellow teeth, baldness, and never forget Cheri
Oteri and Will Ferrell searching for the "perfect cheer." The
promos for Bring it On said that young girls could not wait to see the movie
while guys seemed to be quite indifferent so they showed a bunch of girls
seductively washing cars and showing their panties under their skirts.
Yeah it looked hot, but nothing you can't get for free on the average Saturday
morning live action high school comedy show. I believe "Saved By the
Bell" is still in reruns somewhere. But the promotion for the movie
was successful since $17. 4 million is excellent for a movie that cost $10
million. We shall see if there is a large drop off next
week.
have some okay action sequences especially with Snipes doing another dive off a
high point. Donald Sutherland and Michael Biehn show up to cause
trouble as well as Cary Tagawa from "Mortal Kombat" and "Rising
Sun" fame. Anne Archer of "Fatal Attraction" fame rounds
out this "all-star" cast. However, I think the public is sick of
movies where people are accused of crimes they did not commit or are put into
these situations where the star is mistaken as someone that knows more about a
criminal organization than he really does. I think Cary Grant and Alfred
Hitchcock did the definitive mistaken identity movie with "North by
Northwest." It is good, but many of the parts of that movie are now
cliches. This movie did not have a chance to make more than it did.
Hollywood is repeating themselves way too much and their box office totals are
suffering for it. Here is a tip, if a movie makes a whole lot of money and
becomes a box office phenomenon, do not make a movie that rips off its style
because it will always fail. Sequels are fine, but derivative films,
especially the next one after the big one will bomb if it is not significantly
different than the original. Snipes needs to get to work on "Blade
2" so that he can keep any box office clout he might have gained with some
of his earlier films. It also did not help that the title makes the movie
seem to be based on the famous book. People learned that it wasn't and
stayed home. Better luck next time.
movie
and hilarity ensues. The previews set up the movie okay, but none of it
was funny. Jennifer Tilly, a surprisingly good actress, seems to just be
running around to show how tight her dresses are and how wonderful her cleavage
is (which it is). She has yet to get that big break, but she is
still doing a million times better than her sister Meg who was hot in the
1980s. Richard Dreyfuss is a great actor and has done classic films, but
it looks like he is in another "Let it Ride." He has not been
relevant since "Mr. Holland's Opus." Burt Reynolds keeps trying
to come back and thought he had with "Boogie Nights," but he is still
trying to get back to that "Longest Yard" and "Smokey and the
Bandit" popularity. That will never happen. Boogie Nights
bombed, and the role he thought would "steal the picture" the
politician in Demi Moore's "Striptease" fell completely flat.
Reynolds needs to get away from comedy and minor roles like in "Mystery
Alaska" and do one of those serious type movies he used to do in the
1970s. I personally do not like movies that glorify mobsters.
It sort of creeps me out. It is also a trend that Hollywood is in right
now and that is the mob like with "The Sopranos" and "Analyze
This." These 2 things are very popular so it seems that the public
wants to see more like them where the mob is made to look silly and serious at
the same time. The Crew does not seem to match the quality of its
predecessors. This movie has now become just another picture that caused
Hollywood to make less money this Summer than in 1999.
