'Scream 3' Beats Leo's 'Beach' at Box Office
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``Scream 3'' fended off competition from three
new movies, including teen idol LeonardoDiCaprio's ''The Beach,'' to retain the North American box office crown for the second consecutive weekend.
According to studio estimates issued Sunday, ``Scream 3'' scared up about $16.4 million during the Friday-to-Sunday period, while ``The Beach'' earned about $15.0 million. Two new children's movies took the third and fourth slots. ''Snow Day'' earned about $14.8 million and ``The Tigger Movie'' $9.2 million.
After 10 days in release, Miramax Films' ``Scream 3'' has grossed $57 million ($4,730 per theater). Its weekend tally represented a 53 percent fall from its opening round, the steepest slide in the top 10. By contrast, the comparable drop for ``Scream 2'' was 58 percent in December 1997.
A Miramax spokesman said the comedic horror movie was holding up better than expected, and new data confirmed initial impressions that the film was expanding beyond its core 18-24 demographic to the 25-34 crowd.
Most eyes were on ``The Beach,'' starring ``Titanic'' heartthrob DiCaprio. The reviews were ``not good,'' but they did not deter DiCaprio's core audience of young females, said Tom Sherak, head of domestic distribution at Twentieth Century Fox.
From the creative trio behind British cult hit ''Trainspotting,'' the film revolves around an American backpacker who hooks up
with two French travelers and finds a hedonist community on a secret island paradise in Southeast Asia. Relationships founder,
tensions rise and Leo takes off his shirt.
Sherak said females made up 57 percent of the audience, while 55 percent of the audience was aged 25 and under. The
opening score was ``right on line'' with expectations, and he hoped the movie could end up with $50 million to $60 million domestically. Its per screen average of $5,892 was the highest in the top 10.
The film is already off to a good start internationally, debuting at No. 2 in the United Kingdom this weekend (behind ''Toy Story
2'') with 2.3 million pounds ($3.7 million) from 310 locations, Fox said.
It opened strongly in Taiwan, South Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore last weekend, and will launch in major European territories next weekend. By March it will be everywhere except for key DiCaprio strongholds Japan and Australia, which will open later.
DiCaprio last entered theaters with ``The Man in the Iron Mask,'' which opened to $17.2 million in March 1998, three months after ``Titanic'' began its record-breaking 15-week reign at the top with a $28.6 million weekend.
``The Beach'' was directed by Danny Boyle, produced by Andrew Macdonald and written by John Hodge (adapted from Alex Garland's hit novel).
According to Exhibitor Relations, which collects the studios' estimates, the top 12 films this weekend grossed $75.4 million, up five percent from last weekend. The year-ago period is not comparable since it was the four-day Presidents' Day weekend when the top 12 grossed $95.1 million.
The live action ``Snow Day'' and the animated ``The Tigger Movie'' took care of the family crowd, and there appeared to be little overlap between the former's target of young teens and the latter's core base of kids aged 2-11.
``Snow Day,'' which Paramount Pictures produced with its Nickelodeon sister company, cost about $13 million to make. It averaged a solid $5,556 per theater. A budget figure was unavailable for ``Tigger,'' but a Walt Disney Pictures spokesman expected it to be profitable. Its theater average was a more modest $3,379.
The new entrants dropped Universal's ``The Hurricane'' three places to No. 5 with $3.6 million, taking its 47-day total to $42.4 million. Like other movies, it will be hoping for an Oscar boost Tuesday morning when Academy Award nominations are announced. The biopic's star, Denzel Washington, is considered a front-runner for an acting nod.
Warner Bros.' death row drama ``The Green Mile'' held steady at No. 6 with $3.1 million, as its 66-day haul rose to $124.4 million.
New Line's urban comedy ``Next Friday'' fell three places to No. 7 with $2.8 million (33-day total $49.4 million).
Columbia Pictures' ``Stuart Little'' suffered from the new competition in the family arena, falling five places and 43 percent to No. 8 with $2.7 million. The talking mouse movie has earned $132 million after 59 days.
DreamWorks' sci-fi spoof ``Galaxy Quest'' fell two places to No. 9 with $2.2 million, taking its 51-day total to $65.8 million.
Destination Films' thriller ``Eye of the Beholder'' fell five places to No. 10 with $2.1 million and a 17-day total of $15.1 million.
Miramax Films and Walt Disney Pictures are units of Walt Disney Co. Twentieth Century Fox is a unit of Fox Entertainment
Group Inc. Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc. Universal Pictures is a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd. Warner Bros. and
New Line Cinema are units of Time Warner Inc. Columbia Pictures is a unit of Sony Corp. DreamWorks SKG and
Destination Films are both privately held.
Man
in the Iron Mask which was halfway decent and did okay at the box office.
It seems that many people have forgot about those two and think that LD has not
been around since he drowned in Titanic. In the last 2 years, Crapio has
been building up this reputation as being a box office draw and a
superstar. Tell that to Kate Winslet and Billy Zane. KW was
the star of Titanic and she still gets paid nothing to act in movies like Holy
Smoke and Hideous Kinky. No one talks about her and Titanic made $600
million in North America. Billy Zane was a major part of the movie and no
one knows him by name. He is still called the guy with the gun in
Titanic. For some reason, Hollywood decided that Crapio was the $20
million man and they paid him that to make conversation in The Beach. Here
is my general rule for paying actors $20 million. Make sure that their
movie can open to more than $20 million before they get that type of
dough. Beach could not beat Scream 3 in its second week after everyone had
been told who the killer was. The previews and publicity for the movie was
not enough to entice the non Crapio fans to show up. It looks like girls
could not even get a cheap date out of their boyfriends to see it. Oh, but
there is this hot French chick making conversations and diving off of
cliffs. That should be enough to get the guys to show up and put up with
Leo's ramblings and goofy eyebrows. Nope. Here is a tip to the
actress, Virginie Ledoyen. Don't wear bikinis. Snow day almost beat
this movie this week, and when final figures come out, it could be worse.
Crapio is an okay actor who has done very impressive work in the past like that
Gilbert Grape thing. He is still not a $20 million a picture movie
draw. Give him $8 to $10 million because when he stars in a movie, you are
guaranteed that much as long as the movie is in color. Another thing that
might have helped the Beach would have been another big name costar or more of
the bad guys running around the island. Beach should be around for a
little while because of lack of competition, but it will not make $100
million. Box office grosses do not mean anything about the quality of a
movie. However, when you put this much money into a movie that took
forever to finish (it was supposed to come out in December) box office is just
as important as the story. Read Lord of the Flies if you want a better
stranded on the beach story or rent the old movie. This one does not seem
to be the one to make Leonardo DiCrapio a superstar.
intrigued
by the premise. Many a child has fantasized about having a house all to
themselves without any parental supervision as well as beating up some bumbling
crooks. Kids want to be superheroes and Home Alone showed that
fantasy. This movie has the simple premise of the dream of every kid from
January through February. Getting a day off of school because of too much
snow means there is a party going on. The thing I found funny about snow
days in real life was that the school was closed because there was too much snow
on the ground and/or it was too cold out for the kids to walk or be driven to
school. However by 11:00 am, every kid in the neighborhood was outside
playing in the snow, making snowmen, snowwomen, and sliding down the biggest
hills on their new sleds they got for Christmas. They would spend the next
3 to 5 hours outside romping in God's dandruff until Mom said it was time to
come in and get some hot cocoa. Boy, those were the days. It is so funny
that there is too much snow on the ground or its 15 below zero so kids can't go
to school but they can still play outside all day with not one person ever
getting frostbite. Another part of the movie that is brought up is
something that I never really considered too much as a kid, but after seeing the
previews, I can see how they would be perceived as evil. The snow plow guy
who clears up all of the roads so that the buses can get through and pick up the
kids so they can go to school the next day. Chris Elliot plays the
evil snow plow guy and looks to be very funny in the role. I have been a
fan of his since he annoyed David Letterman on his show as well as his Get a
Life Fox television program, and his diseased bits in There's Something About
Mary. A very underrated actor. Chevy Chase also shows up as a
weather man and is getting good responses for his comedic moments.
Chevy used to be big star in the seventies and eighties. Now it seems he
needs the money. Where o' where are the Griswolds? Snow Day looks to
be a sleeper hit of the Winter months. 
Acre Woods crew. Christopher Robin always freaked me out for some reason
with his Doctor Doolittle attitude. This time, Big T is off searching for
other tiggers. I was such a Tigger mark that in a first grade spelling
test I spelled tiger, "tigger" and got a red check mark for it saying
I was wrong. I went up to the teacher and told her why I spelled it like
that and she said that's too bad John, you were supposed to spell
"tiger" with one G. I started to uhh, cry a bit and she was
going to send me to the office to see Mr. Boyd, but I said in my best
Tigger voice, "but tiggers bounce." She looked at me like I was
nuts and said, okay, spell tiger for me now and I will give you credit for
it. I said "t-i-g" I paused a few seconds and then said
"e-r." I got the credit and got a perfect score on my spelling
test. As I walked back to my seat I swear I could hear the teacher say
under her breath, "Tigger, please." True story.
