"Spider-Man" Rules Record 2002

By Joal Ryan

It was a good year to be a Jedi, a bad year to be a Federation officer. A good year to be Greek, a bad year to be Eddie Murphy. But, most of all, it was a very, very good year to be an arachnid-bit geek.

Spider-Man, starring Tobey Maguire (news) as a teen transformed by a souped-up spider, easily snared the 2002 box-office crown, grossing nearly $406 million through Sunday.

The movie led the way for a year at the multiplex that can best be described as boffo. How boffo? Consider:

By the time the New Year's bubbly goes gone flat, Hollywood flicks will have combined to gross an all-time high $9.37 billion domestically, according to estimates released by the box-office tabulating firm Exhibitor Relations. The total reflects a more than 12 percent increase over last year's then-record $8.35 billion haul.

Actual attendance also was up--nearly 9 percent--with 1.6 billion tickets sold. That's the most admissions since 1958, when the only entertainment options were the 12-channel TV dial or the, um, fireplace.

Through Sunday, a record 22 films had crossed the $100 million mark--with fully seven surpassing $200 million. The previous best was set in 2000, when 20 flicks registered in nine figures. It's expected that Catch Me If You Can, which got half way to the magic mark in its first week in release over Christmas, will bring 2002's tally of $100 million (or more) films to 23.

In a year plagued by financial news that ranged from lousy to extra-lousy, how did Hollywood buck the trend? According to the Industry's top lobbyist, the answer is elemental.

"When you make a movie that a lot of people want to see, you will do well," Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, says in USA Today. "We're making movies that a lot of people want to see."

Specifically, a lot of people wanted to see sequels. Half of the top 10 moneymakers were franchise players: Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones ($310 million); Harry Potter (news - web sites) and the Chamber of Secrets ($240 million); Austin Powers in Goldmember ($213 million); The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ($200 million); and, Men in Black II ($192 million).

For those who prize what passes for originality in Hollywood, the good news is that the other half of the top 10 were not sequels: Spider-Man; Signs ($227 million); My Big Fat Greek Wedding ($222 million); Ice Age ($176 million); and, Scooby-Doo ($153 million).

While Spider-Man made the most money, My Big Fat Greek Wedding made the best return on investment. The romantic comedy's big, fat gross came after backers like Tom Hanks (news) and wife Rita Wilson (news) scrounged up a little, skinny $5 million budget. (By comparison, Sony, the year's top-grossing studio, spent nearly $140 million to bring Spidey to the big screen.)

The anti-Greek Wedding was The Adventures of Pluto Nash. The Eddie Murphy (news) outerspace comedy with the out-of-sight $100 million budget made just $4.4 million after Warner Bros. released the film from the vault where it had been collecting dust for more than a year.

Other Murphy misadventures at the 2002 box office: Showtime, the buddy cop flick with Robert De Niro (news) (made for $85 million; making just $38 million), and I Spy, the TV-inspired buddy action flick with Owen Wilson (news) (made for $70 million; making just $33 million).

Big-budget, big-name bombs not starring Eddie Murphy included: Hart's War, Bruce Willis (news)' World War II misfire ($70 million budget; $19 million gross); Windtalkers, Nicolas Cage (news)'s World War II misfire ($115 million budget; $41 million gross); and K-19: The Widowmaker, Harrison Ford (news)'s Cold War misfire ($100 million budget; $35 million gross). With its modest $10 million budget, Madonna (news - web sites) and hubby/director Guy Ritchie (news)'s Swept Away was never a big-ticket project. Still, we're guessing investors hoped for more than the $600,000 the flick "grossed" at the domestic box office.

Disney's Treasure Planet proved animated flicks can bomb just as badly as live action ones. The 'toon, produced for $140 million, had made just $33 million through Sunday.

While the Star Wars franchise continued to roll, the Star Trek franchise got rolled. Star Trek: Nemesis, the Federation gang's 10th big-screen adventure, has beamed up just $34 million since opening December 13. Barring a late surge, Nemesis will go down as the lowest-grossing Trek movie ever--yes, even stinkers like Star Trek V: The Final Frontier managed $55 million at the Stateside box office.

Here's a rundown of 2002's top 25 box-office moneymakers, through Sunday, per Exhibitor Relations:

1. Spider-Man, $406 million

2. Star Wars: Episode II--Attack of the Clones, $310 million

3. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, $240 million

4. Signs, $227 million

5. My Big Fat Greek Wedding, $222 million

6. Austin Powers in Goldmember, $213 million

7. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, $200 million

8. Men in Black 2, $192 million

9. Ice Age, $176 million

10. Scooby-Doo, $153 million

11. Die Another Day, $147 million

12. Lilo & Stitch, $146 million

13. XXX, $141 million

14. The Santa Clause 2, $135 million

15. Minority Report, $132 million

16. The Ring, $127 million

17. Mr. Deeds, $126 million

18. Sweet Home Alabama, $125 million

19. The Bourne Identity, $121 million

20. The Sum of All Fears, $118 million

21. 8 Mile, $114 million

22. Road to Perdition, $104 million

23. Panic Room, $95 million

24. Red Dragon, $93 million

25. The Scorpion King, $90 million

John L.:  This is my annual look at the movies of the previous year, this one being 2002. Holy moly was there some crap. But, there were a few gems along the way. Since my computer was down for the first half of the year, I missed out on posting the reviews of some of the movies released, so I will do a month by month recap of what was hot and not along with a quick review rate here and there. Was this the year of the fantasy or the year of the death of Eddie Murphy films? I'll be the judge.

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring dominated the box office for much of the month only to be taken out of the number one spot by Black Hawk Down at the very end. The 2001 movies were rolling in full force. Beautiful Mind went wide and went on to be a major success despite its high intellectual and schizophrenic ways. Russell Crowe was better in this movie than he was in Gladiator, but he would lose the Oscar this time instead of win it. One of the worst movies of the year was released in January and it was called "Orange County" (Final Review: 1 1/2 stars out of 5; 4 out of 10; C-; thumbs down) starring Colin Hanks (Tom's son) and Jack Black. It was about a kid who's transcript to Stanford was botched up and he had to fix it. Premise was too simple and the movie was horribly edited as many of the funnier scenes in the trailer were cut out. Should have stayed on television. Another missed opportunity came out called "Mothman Prophecies" (Final Review: 2 stars out of 5; 5 out of 10; C+; thumbs down) about freaky beings scaring people into believing that their local bridge will collapse and kill several people. This movie had one of the better previews of the year and had some generally scary moments, but it was all pretty pointless by the end. It is supposed to be based on a true story, but that does not make this film any less ridiculous. Richard Gere tries, but is a bit lost here in a genre he is not comfortable with. The surprise of the month was "Kung Pow! Enter the Fist" (Final Review 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 5 1/2 out of 10; B-; thumbs up). This was a movie similar to Woody Allen's Zelig and Steve Martin's Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid in which an actor is super imposed into an old movie or other odd footage. Steve Oedekerk gives an inspired performance of the Chosen one in this "retouch" of an old kung-fu flick from the 1970s. The effects alone of the almost always seamless transitions between current and old footage is amazing. The effort alone is worth a look see. It's not a great film plot wise, but is entertaining, especially the fully loaded DVD that explains how everything is done. "The Count of Monte Cristo" (Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 6 out of 10; B-; thumbs up) is the often told tale of how to break out of prison and get revenge on those who set you up. James Caviezel is the guy who gets set up and lives to get his revenge on his former best friend, played by Guy Pearce. The movie is entertaining enough, but all too predictable.

The best movie to come out of February was Denzel Washington's "John Q" (Final Review: 3 1/2 stars out of 5; 7 out of 10; B; thumbs up). Denzel played a father who holds a hospital hostage so that he can get his son the heart transplant operation he so desparately needs. As a drama it is very effective and even makes you think seriously about the state of health care in the United States. It is overly preachy and gets very contrived near the end, but is overall a very good film. One of my favorite movies of the year came out this month and it was Britney Spears' "Crossroads" (Final Review: 3 1/2 stars out of 5; 7 out of 10; B+; thumbs up). I am a fan of most of Spears' music as it is fun pop, and she is one of the more attractive singers around and her first attempt at starring in a major motion picture is awkward, but appealing. Her quest to find her mother is your typical road trip, but her tag along friends are funny and each have their own personalities like the poor trailer trash pregnant girl, and the rich spoiled brat. The fifth best moment of the year on film occurs in Crossroads when Britney is about to have sex for the first time and she shows up in the greatest set of bra and panties that Frederick has ever thought of to surprise her potential lover. As she backs away and becomes unsure of what to do next she says that this is not how she pictured her first time would be. And then her date Henry, played by Justin (Jeepers Creepers) Long says the line of the year "that's strange, this is exactly how I pictured it." No crap dude, no crap. It's a guilty pleasure, but I still highly recommend this movie. The worst movie of the month was the late Aaliyah's "Queen of the Damned" (Final Review: 1 1/2 stars out of 5; 4 out of 10; D+; thumbs down). This is sort of but not really sequel to "Interview with the Vampire" without the cool cast or the good script. Stuart Townsend plays Lestat the rock vampire who resurrects the evil Aaliyah who gave birth to all vampires. This movie needed to be reworked completely because it just falls apart with each passing minute and since Aaliyah obviously died before completing the film, the editing is a mess. Her brother actually had to re dub her lines in a looping studio. Read the book instead.

March was a surprisingly strong time at the box office as there was a new number one movie each week and each made over $20 million its first weekend. The most successful movie to come out was "Ice Age" (Final Review: 3 1/2 stars out of 5; 7 1/2 out of 10; B+; thumbs up). Computer animation continues to dominate the cartoon films and this one was good, but not as high quality as some of the Pixar ones. This told the story of a group of late prehistoric animals trying to get a man child back to the humans while avoiding killing each other or getting eaten by sabertooth tigers. Scrat the squirrel thingie is very funny in his brief moments on screen trying to save a lone acorn. "Blade II: (Final Review 2 stars out of 5; 5 1/2 out of 10; C+; thumbs down) was a disappointment. The first Blade was very good for what it was and this new one had all of the tools to be much better and more exciting. In fact it starts out very well as it sets up the alliance between blade and a vampire sect trying to defend itself from some super hybrid vampires. But the movie completely becomes a waste of time when it turns out the super indestructible vampires are easily dispatched with a bright flashlight and 4 D-size batteries. That made for some very boring battles. The poor year that was Eddie Murphy's began with the opening of Showtime with him and Robert Deniro. It did okay at the box office, but came no where near to recouping its production costs. It would only get worse for him. The new version of E.T. the Extraterrestrial was released and it failed to enthrall many people who preferred the "you look like a terrorist" and all faults of the 1982 version. Replacing guns with walkie talkies will not increase viewing pleasure Steven. People just waited for the DVD release. The video game movie "Resident Evil" (Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 5 1/2 out of 10; B-; thumbs up) was one of the better attempts at translating pixels into celluoid. Mila Jovavich is great as Alice trying to destroy a horde of zombified people. It was very different from the video game, but kept enough of it to be fun. The special effects on the licker monster are weak and the fact that it is an early first level boss of the game and not anywhere near the threat the Tyrant is hurts the movies game cred. The final shot of the film though is great and put the movie over the hump in terms of recommending it.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson made his movie starring debut as "The Scorpion King (Final Review: 3 stars out of 5; 6 1/2 out of 10; B; thumbs up) and was successful. The Rock is the third most popular professional wrestler of all time next to Hulk Hogan and Stone Cold Steve Austin, but he is the only one that could have been tapped to play this role on this level. This was a spin-off of last year's The Mummy Returns where the S-King made a very brief and uninspired appearance. This movie sort of forgets that that happens or will happen and has the Rock play him as a full fledged good guy. The movie is a rip off of Conan, but is an entertaining action film that does what it promises, and that is have the Rock kick butt and hang out with hot chicks like Kelly Hu. I am a big fan of pro wrestling and of the Rock, and he plays Mathayus about 5 steps below the hyperactive Rock character he portrays on WWE Smackdown. If he had added a bit more of his wrestling persona spark to this role he would come off better. He tries to"act" too hard and he makes himself look bad. Overall though, it is a good film, and a tolerable effort that no one should be ashamed to have taken part in.  Another worst movie of the year candidate was released in April and it was "The Sweetest Thing" (Final Review: 1 star out of 5; 3 out of 10; D; thumbs down.  This movie was supposed to be a female version of those movies where the men are obsessed with women pornographic ways.  Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate, and Selma Blair try hard, but their sexual antics are more stupid than entertaining.  Applegate does the best as a the serious one.  Diaz is just boring as she goes after Thomas Jane.  And poor Selma is just tortured as the victim of various pranks and mishaps.  It is hard to watch this movie as it is not very funny.  Scatological humor is hard to pull off, and this movie does not do it well.  Lack of nudity from the main stars really hurts it when these types of movies really need it to get over the craziness.  The hidden gem of the month was "National Lampoon's Van Wilder" (Final Review: 2 1/2 stars out of 5; 5 1/2 out of 10; B; thumbs up).  Unlike Sweetest Thing, Van Wilder's gross humor is much better done with much better characters.  Ryan Reynolds plays Van as this smarmy over aged college student who is the Big Man on Campus.  He controls everything and is loved by everyone except most of the professors and headmasters.  His sidekick, Taj, played by Kal Penn steals the movie as the guy trying to be more than he appears.  He is very funny and is worth seeing the movie for.  The grossest thing on film this year happens in this movie when food is tainted with the most disgusting substance I have ever seen.  I may never look at a dog or an éclair the same way again.  Van Wilder did poorly at the box office due to it looking like so many other movies, but this one followed the formula well.  The tenth Friday the 13th film came out "Jason X" (Final Review:  2 stars out of 5; 5 out of 10; C+; thumbs up).  I am a fan of the Friday the 13th series with all of its extreme faults, but this tenth installment, though highly flawed, is the best one since Part 6.  Jason Vorhees is frozen and wakes up in 2455 really pissed off.  He also gets an upgrade and becomes more super human than ever.  Line them up and cut them down is the standard plan for these movies and it does not deviate from the plan.  It is not for people who hate slasher movies as it is very very violent.  There is a moment that pays great homage to the older films and is right on point with its portrayal of Crystal Lake.  I enjoyed this movie personally a great deal, but realize that a high recommendation could never happen because Friday movies are an acquired taste.

MAY 2002 - DECEMBER 2002

The rest of the year was summarized quite well on the site.  Here are some of the highlights.  Spiderman came, and ruled all that came after it.  It was the highest grossing movie of the year earning more than $400 million.  It is the best superhero movie since Superman.  Star Wars: Episode II: The Attack of the Clones was huge as well, but fell short of what was hoped.  Fortunately, it was a strong improvement over Episode I.  Yo-da man. Scooby Doo surprised the critics and became one of the bigger hits of the year.  The movie was silly but stayed pretty true to its source material and when you do that, fans will go out and see the film.  Velma's hot too.  Men In Black II came out and out of some odd devotion to the first film, people flocked to this weak sequel.  Austin Powers III: Goldmember also has a strong following that had it earn more money than it deserved.  Minority Report is overrated with its gimmicky sci fi plot, but the action sequences were very well put together.  Windtalkers was a surprising bomb, while Bad Company's failure was predicted long ago.  The best movie in my opinion to come out of the Summer was Signs as it was the only film to actually scare me.  The most disappointing film was Reign of Fire as this movie about dragons in the modern age forgot to add the dragons.  The Fall of 2002 had several minor hits, but The Ring was became the most successful horror film in years.  Harry Potter, Frodo Baggins, and James Bond proved to still fascinate the world while Star Trek appears to be done for the time being.  Eddie Murphy, Nicholas Cage, and Harrison Ford had the biggest drops of their careers as their big budget epics all collapsed at the box office.  Fortunately for them, they can make missteps and still get to make any movie they want.  Tom Hanks had to make "Bonfire of the Vanities" and "Joe Vs the Volcano" before "Philadelphia" and "Forrest Gump."  The last half of 2002 was the best time in the history of the the movie industry and it even had the best ticket sales in nearly 45 years.  But after all of the $100 million, $200 million, $300 million, and even $400 million successes, they mean nothing to the Nia Vardalos juggernaut, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."  This movie cost $5 million and has grossed over $200 million making it the most profitable film ever made.  It is also the biggest sleeper hit of all time as no one ever thought this movie would get out of the art house circuit.  It also helped that the movie stayed in the theaters for over 6 months.  If you make a million dollars a day for 200 days you will make $200 million too.  I would not be surprised if My Big Fat Greek Honeymoon is not too far off. 

JOHN L'S TOP 5 LIST OF THE BEST MOVIES OF 2002

1.    Signs

2.    Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

3.    Undercover Brother

4.    Star Wars Episode II: The Attack of the Clones

5.    Crossroads [take it]

The top five was difficult to come up with as Signs and Two Towers are the only two movies I saw last year that I can recommend to almost anyone as the others are for those who are feeling a bit frisky.  Any guy who likes to look at Britney Spears should definitely check out Crossroads.

JOHN L'S TOP 5 LIST OF THE WORST MOVIES OF 2002

1.    Reign of Fire

2.    The Sweetest Thing

3.    Queen of the Damned

4.    Orange County

5.    Blade II

There was a lot of crap that came out in 2002, and the above is just a sample of it.  Reign of Fire and Blade II had their moments, but are on the list for being the big let downs.  Sweetest Thing is so bad I refuse to give it the top spot out of spite.  It does not deserve to be noted as being at the top of a list.  Queen of the Damned would have bombed even if Aaliyah had lived and that is sad.  She was just about to start the Matrix movies when she died before any good footage was filmed.  Romeo Must Die will remain her best work.  Orange County had a great young cast of children of stars like Tom Hanks and Sissy Spacek.  A pointless film that was nearly remade when the movie Stealing Harvard came out in September.  Both sucked and should never have been released to the cinemas.

JOHN L'S 2003 MOVIE PREVIEW

The year of 2003 will either make at least $10 billion or fail miserably as key sequels and some of the most anticipated movies ever made come out over the next 11 and a half months.  The most influential film in the last 5 years is The Matrix.  Keanu, Laurence, and Carrie-Anne will return to contain the power of the Matrix and all it provides in Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions both to be released in 2003.  They plan to re-write all of the rules on what has been seen in special effects.  The opening of Matrix Reloaded should break box office records.  If they suck, it will shock the world.  If they rule, whoa.  Superhero movies will be very high profile as the attack of the Marvel Universe continues with Ben Affleck as Daredevil, Eric Bana as The Hulk, and Patrick Stewart as Professor X in X2 (Xmen 2).  I think Hulk has the most interest as footage of the big green menace is still hard to find and its teaser trailer is very cool.  Daredevil will have a lot to overcome to work.  X2 should open well, but it will definitely have to be better than the first one to warrant its existence.  Terminator 3, which is actually Terminator 4 since part 3 has been playing at Universal Studios for years now, but hey, who's counting?  I am very afraid this one might suck.  I hope not for Arnold's sake since if it does fail, he will be done.  Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King brings to an end the giant movie that did.  It grossing over $300 million is pretty much a lock.  All the fans need to know is the release date and when the tickets go on sale on Fandango.com.  None of the mentioned movies will be sleepers if they are successful.  Sleepers only work when you don't know they're coming.  Hopefully more than just the so called geeks will have something to see in 2003.

That is all, bye for now.