American
box office over the weekend as his low-budget urban comedy ``Next Friday''
debutedSunday January 16, 2000
Ice Cube's ``Next Friday'' chills atop box office
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rapper-turned-moviemaker Ice Cube heated up the North
American
box office over the weekend as his low-budget urban comedy ``Next Friday''
debuted
The film, a sequel to the 1995 film ``Friday,'' sold about $14.5 million in tickets for the
Friday-to-Sunday portion of the four-day Martin Luther King holiday weekend. Since opening
Wednesday, it has grabbed $19.1 million.Last weekend's No. 1, ``Stuart Little,'' slipped to No. 2 with $9.7 million, while ``The Hurricane''
blew into the No. 3 slot with $9.1 million after two weekends in limited release.Estimates for the full four days of the holiday will be issued Monday, with final data Tuesday.
According to Exhibitor Relations Co., which collects the studios' estimates, the top 12 movies this
weekend grossed a combined $83.9 million, up three percent from last weekend, but down three percent from the same weekend last year, when teen comedy ``Varsity Blues'' opened at No. 1 with $17.5 million.Written, produced by and starring Ice Cube (ne O'Shea Jackson), ``Next Friday'' cost about $9.5
million to make. Ice Cube reprises his role as Craig, an easygoing slacker who relocates from South Central LA to the suburbs to escape local bully Debo, a giant he beat up at the end of the 1995 movie.``This surpasses anything we could have thought of,'' said David Tuckerman, executive
vice-president of domestic distribution at New Line Cinema, which released the movie.
The film's core audience was males aged between 18 and 25, and it played equally strongly to
blacks, whites and Latinos, Tuckerman said. Its per screen average of $13,146 was the highest in the top 10.The original film, which debuted at No. 2 in April 1995 with $6.6 million, ended up with $27
million, and became a hugely popular home video item. It co-starred Chris Tucker, who did not return for the sequel.The talking mouse movie ``Stuart Little'' has a 31-day total of $106.8 million, having passed the
century mark on Saturday. The movie, which cost about $103 million to make, could end up around the $150 million area, said Jeff Blake, president of distribution at Sony Pictures Entertainment.``The Hurricane'' jumped 12 places to No. 3 with $9.1 million. The movie stars Denzel
Washington in the true story of Rubin ``Hurricane'' Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for three
murders in the 1960s. Its 19-day total stands at $14.7 million.``This is not a picture you blow out in two weekends,'' said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution at
Universal Pictures. The film, being positioned for Oscar contention, played solidly across the board.Also entering the top 10, after three weekends in limited release, was ``Girl, Interrupted,'' starring
Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie as two young women in a mental institution. It pulled in $8.2 million, jumping 29 places to No. 4. After 27 days, it has $9.0 million.``It's a nice, solid opening for a picture that largely drew young women,'' said Sony's Blake. ``It's
speaking to them in a relevant way. If we can fully exploit that audience we'll be in very good shape.'' The film cost about $24 million to make.The other new entry in the top 10 was ``Supernova,'' a 22nd century sci-fi thriller starring James
Spader and Robin Tunney. It debuted at No. 8 with $5.7 million. A spokeswoman for the film's distributor, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (NYSE:MGM - news), declined to comment on the film, which cost about $60 million to make.``The Green Mile'' (Warner Bros.), a sentimental Death Row drama starring Tom Hanks, fell three
places to No. 5 in its sixth weekend with $7.6 million and a 38-day haul of $101.6 million.``Galaxy Quest'' fell one place to No. 6 with $6.6 million in its fourth weekend, taking its total to
$44.8 million.``The Talented Mr. Ripley'' (Paramount) fell four places to No. 7 with $6.0 million, for a 23-day
total of $62.6 million.Rounding out the top 10 were ``Toy Story 2'' (Walt Disney Pictures) down three to No. 9 with
$5.0 million, and ``Any Given Sunday'' (Warner Bros) down six to No. 10 with $4.8 million. The 59-day total for ``Toy 2'' is $225.9 million, while ``Sunday'' has pulled in $66.2 million after 26 days.New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. are units of Time Warner Inc. Columbia Pictures is a unit of
Sony Corp. Universal Pictures is a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd. Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc. Walt Disney Pictures is unit of Walt Disney Co. DreamWorks SKG is privately held.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 first three days of the Jan. 14-17 Martin Luther King holiday weekend, according to studio estimates collected Sunday by Reuters. Four-day estimates will be issued Monday, and final data Tuesday. .1 (+) Next Friday ..................... $14.5 million
2 (1) Stuart Little .................... $9.7 million
3(15) The Hurricane ................... $9.1 million
4(33) Girl, Interrupted ............... $8.2 million
5 (2) The Green Mile ................... $7.6 million
6 (5) Galaxy Quest ..................... $6.6 million
7 (3) The Talented Mr. Ripley .......... $6.0 million
8 (+) Supernova ....................... $5.7 million
9 (6) Toy Story 2 ...................... $5.0 million
10 (4) Any Given Sunday ................. $4.8 million
NOTE: Last weekend's position in parenthesis.
JOHN L.: Yo yo yo, wassup. John L's Kickin' Box Office Reports be in da hizzouse,boyyee. Hollar if ya can read my scribe. Ice Cube has returned to the top 10 after being gone from it since about October. "Hurricane" has fought it's way up to a respectable spot after a few weeks of limited Oscar contention release. Winona Ryder is riding the coattails of Jon Voigt's big lipped daughter to make it into the top ten for the first time in years. And Supernova looks to be burning out in its initial run as a space thriller the whole family can ignore. Not a very busy week at the b.o, but eventful nonetheless. Here we go.
Since the news media likes to report shootings at movies starring a
predominantly African-American cast, the movie "Next Friday" had to
open up this past Wednesday so that all the thugs could see it opening day and
the families can enjoy it in peace on the
weekend. Take two steps forward and then 5 steps back I guess.
"Friday" is one of the most loved inner city movies ever made.
Everyone I know that has seen the first one is a fan. They have it on video or
DVD and can quote whole scenes of its hilarity. "Don't nobody go in the
bathroom for about 35 to 45 minutes." Chris Tucker was still the 3rd
comic on the roster of Def Comedy Jam when the first one came out and now he is
looking at a $20 million payday for the Rush Hour sequel. Tiny Lister was the
actor turned wrestler to battle Hulk Hogan in the WWF as Zeus. Now he the ex
president of Earth in Fifth Element. John Whiterspoon was just a guy yelling
about Public Enema during house parties and now he is the father on The Wayans
tv show. Friday made a lot of people stars. Next Friday is like an Austin Powers
phenomenon that does fair at the cinema but becomes a cult hit on video. Twenty
years ago there would not have been a Next Friday. This new movie has the
travails of trying to have a money making sequel without the comedic wit of
Chris Tucker. When people learned of Next Friday being absent the pot master,
they were saying that NF would be no Friday. Ice Cube needs to say "daaamnn"
with Tucker to make the bit work. And you know this man. So, when Cube movies to
a new neighborhood to hide out from Lister, he meets up with several characters
to fill the Tucker void like his cousin, aunt, 3 Chicano neighbors, the hot
latina, and the grandmotherly Korean homegirl. If the movie has the outrageous
drug use, hot ethnic chicks, Whitherspoon stinking up the bathroom, and Ice Cube
vs Deebo 2, you might have something. I was watching clips of the premiere and
they did not interview people coming out to the film which is rarely a good
sign. Word of mouth will keep NF on top next week. Bad word gets spread and you
will pour a forty to the memory of Ice Cube’s potential movie franchise.
The chick flick of the week is Girl Interrupted about the true story of
Susanna Kaysen’s 
18
month stay in a mental institution where she met a fairly hot chick with big
lips. Winona (not the singer) Ryder is in her first mainstream film since Alien
Resurrection and Angela Jolie is in her second top 10 movie in 3 months. Whoopi
Goldberg shows up as a nurse type. I believe this is her 30th or so
movie in the last 10 years. She is almost as prolific as Samuel L. Jackson. This
movie is for those who enjoy pretty girls go crazy. I also bet that the real
woman Ryder is playing looks nothing like her. Saying this is a chick flick is
unfair since the definition of a chick flick is a romantic tearjerker where the
guys are wusses and the women get critically ill or lose their children in a car
accident. GI has a cast that stars mostly women, but the plot of being insane is
more appealing to the male mind than a female one looking for hand holding in
the park and roses on the pillow. Looking at all of the closeups of Ryder and
Jolie, you would think some hanky panky between them might occur which would
actually turn this into a guy pic. I may check this out because I do like Winona
in an ex Matt Damon’s girlfriend sort of way and I like to look at Jolie and
find any kind of Jon Voigt resemblance and not finding any. Whoopi is always fun
to goof on as well. Must have filmed this on her days off as the center square
on her tv game show. GI should stick around in the top ten for a while but it
will take quite an effort to make more than Alien Resurrection, The Bone
Collector, or Ghost.
Speaking of all star casts, we have a doozy in this one. We have James
"I had movie sex with Susan Sarandon" Spader, Angela "I am buffer
than Linda Hamilton" Bassett, and Lou Diamond "What does David Lee
Crosby have that I don’t" Phillips. They play astronauts of some sort in
the future who pick up a lost soul who turns out to be a monster. Typical crappy
sci fi that I love to watch. Event Horizon type of junk. This is a paycheck
movie. Actors who don’t get their just due, but need to eat, take a science
fiction role in hopes of getting a box office hit so they can have some leverage
when they audition for the next hot bio pic. Phillips is looking for that next
La Bamba. And Bassett has played every famous female black women in modern
history from Tina Turner, Betty Shabazz, and Katherine Jackson. Spader is still
looking for that true to life pic. These Hollywood actors do not seem to realize
that making these movies may be fun, but they rarely if ever turn out very well.
This is what happens, and I have seen it to many times to be wrong. They have a
lot of character development stuff in the script like two characters that dated
or married each other in the past but broke up, or someone has a fear of closed
spaces, or someone was abused as child, or my favorite a somewhat villainous
character has a soft sympathetic side. The special effects are secondary to the
story of the people trapped on the spaceship so that when bad things happen to
them you care. However when the movie is made the director has to step in and
take out the boring parts. Boring parts equals character development. Sun
exploding and creature biting a head off stays in over 2 people kissing or
crying. Listen to directors commentary on any science fiction movie and they
will tell you that the majority of the scenes they cut out are the ones that
helped make you care about a person on screen. They don’t have time for people
to discuss their situation since that is boring. The mindless chase supercedes
the mindless drivel. Check out the director’s commentary on "Deep Blue
Sea" about the smart sharks. They show a deleted scene that has a villain
sound human and it made you like the character too much so they cut it out so
that when they are eaten by the shark you only have one emotion and not several
to make the scene stronger. Supernova failed to attract an audience because we
have been burned too many times.
REST OF THE TOP 10 IN 10:
That is all for me this week. The next 2 weeks should be pretty slow at the box office with little over $20 million action if any occurring. But, on February 3, 2000 comes the movie that should open around the $30 million mark and that is Scream 3. I plan to see that movie and also give my thoughts on the first 2 Screams and how they stack up with the third one. It will be a very special report because I have a lot to say about that series. If I see a movie in the next few weeks, I will include a review of course. January is just so bad for anything really exciting in cinema. Lazy bums. Bye for now.
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