Thursday, January 18, 2001

''Dance'' numbers spin record holiday box office

By Carl DiOrio

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - ``Save the Last Dance'' waltzed its way into the hearts of female teens as well as the record books, grossing $27.2 million over a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend that delivered industrywide box office of record proportions.

Several of the crowded weekend's other titles bunched together in the mid-top 10, and Disney's ``The Emperor's New Groove'' showed enough legs in its fifth week for a No. 10 performance with a four-day haul of $7.5 million.

But MGM's first release in months, cyberthriller ``Antitrust,'' played the wallflower with a limp $5.6 million and No. 12 finish behind the $6.7 million reported by Universal's holiday leftover, ``The Family Man.''

The industry's $166 million box office bested 1998's previous MLK high mark by 30% and ranks as the third-highest four-day weekend ever, after last year's Memorial Day and the recent New Year's weekend.

``It doesn't matter which way anybody wants to spin it, the weekend was h-u-g-e -- huge,'' enthused Dan Marks, vice-president at box office tracker ACNielsen EDI.

The MLK holiday has suddenly evolved into ``a weekend for fresh teen releases,'' Marks noted. Of the boffo performance for ``Last Dance,'' released by Paramount Pictures in association with MTV Films, he added: ``This was a much higher number than most people anticipated on this film. So it overachieved, which is a great thing.''

The highest-grossing picture previously for the four-day frame was Paramount's teen-skewing ``Varsity Blues,'' which grossed $17.5 million in 1999. Last year's top film over the MLK weekend was also a teen-oriented opener -- New Line's ``Next Friday,'' which did a nifty $16.9 million.

Van Toffler, president both at MTV and its MTV Films unit, cited his company's ``constant daily dialogue with our audience and demographic'' as shaping the picture's success. But even he acknowledged surprise at the size of the ``Last Dance'' performance.

``We thought it might take awhile for people to find the film,'' Toffler said.

``We would have been happy with the three-and four-day grosses over the life of the film.''

Among the weekend's notable expansions were a pair of pictures virtually tied at No. 6. Sony's Sean Connery starrer, ``Finding Forrester,'' and New Line's Cuban missile crisis thriller, ``Thirteen Days,'' both rang up four-day estimates of $11.3 million.

``We have 'Snatch' (debuting) next week, so I hope it clears out a bit,'' said Jeff Blake, Sony's president of distribution and marketing. ``It's been pretty crowded.''

New Line distribution president David Tuckerman expressed satisfaction with the weekend numbers for ``Thirteen Days,'' on which the studio split production costs with foreign distributor Beacon Pictures.

``We all knew it was going to be an incredibly competitive field,'' Tuckerman said. Executives were pleased that more than 56% of the audience for the Kennedy-era drama was younger than 35 years old.

Miramax also has its eyes on next weekend, when its Johnny Depp-Juliette Binoche starrer ``Chocolat'' widens to 800 screens. The picture grossed $2 million on 261 screens over last weekend's four days for a sweet $7,662 per-engagement average.

But two specialty pics delivered even tastier average grosses, as Sony Pictures Classics' ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' whipped up $10.3 million on 693 screens for a $14,797 average, and Fine Line's ``Before Night Falls'' delivered $159,000 in 18 theaters (a week before adding 100 more) for an $8,842 average.

Fine Line's laffer ``State and Main'' grossed an estimated $2 million in 459 locations for a $4,357 per-engagement average, while Miramax's ``Malena'' took in $210,000 in 33 theaters for a $6,363 average.

Two long-running arthouse pictures nudged their totals over the $5 million mark: Paramount Classics' ``You Can Count on Me'' and Fox Searchlight's ``Quills.''

Paramount Classics presents its supernatural suspenser ``The Gift,'' starring Cate Blanchett, in 800 theaters next weekend after a short Academy-qualifying run over the holidays.

Also next weekend, director Sean Penn's Jack Nicholson starrer, ``The Pledge'' hits 1,200 locations. The same number of venues will host Sony's ``Snatch,'' directed by Guy Ritchie.

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the January 12-15 weekend, according to studio figures released Tuesday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

1. Save the Last Dance .......... $27,526,443 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $27,526,443

2. Cast Away .......... $19,777,426 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $167,758,651

3. Traffic .......... $13,437,010 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $35,339,764

4. Double Take .......... $11,736,236 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $11,736,236

5. What Women Want .......... $11,632,456 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $153,551,869

6. Thirteen Days ..........  $11,283,041 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $11,919,279

7. Finding Forrester .......... $11,112,139 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $20,537,936

8. Miss Congeniality .......... $10,587,474 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $79,408,245

9. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon .......... $10,331,296 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $30,325,865

10. The Emperor's New Groove .......... $7,840,544 

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $71,484,885

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

JOHN L.: After several weeks of ho hum, same movie at the top box office reports, we now have a supersize, 4 new movies in the top 10 weekend. I even managed to see two of the top movies this week, Double Take and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Full reviews coming up later in the report. It was a solid week for the top 10 entrants, but a fifth new movie, Antitrust was unable to ride into the main list because Tim Robbins is not a box office draw, Ryan Phillipe still gets a "who?" when you say his name, or Rachel Leigh Cook's hairstyle is still a turnoff. Cyber movies tend to do very badly for some reason. I get jealous when I see people in movies with better computers than me that talk and can take down space military satellites. Shock of the week goes to Save the Last Dance becoming the number one movie. I did not see that one coming. More than enough to cover this week, so let's get to it.

The fish out of water/stranger in a strange land plot is very popular with filmmakers. One person enters a world that they know little to nothing about, but soon learns how to adapt to the new surroundings along with the majority becoming influenced by the new kid on the block. The Crocodile Dundee movies sort of popularized this plot for the modern era. In this movie we have the young white girl who is forced to go to a predominately black school in Chicago as she tries to get good enough at dancing to go to Juliard. While at this school she becomes involved with one of the smarter "brothers" there who teaches her how to dance more in the hip-hop style. She also get's her pygmalion training from the guy's sister who tells her that the word "cool" is out of step and the current term for something that is very good or nice is "slammin'." The movie explores the differences between white people culture and black people culture. The girl is not afraid to go to the black school, but she is leery of how she will be treated. Will she be accepted as just another student or will there be some sort of issue that makes her an outcast. Julia Styles is the current flavor of the month who plays the new girl. She makes friends fairly quickly with a girl who teaches her about the slammin' slang. This new friend also has a brother (and I mean that in a related sense) who is very smart and attracted to the new girl. He becomes her dance and secondary social instructor to the dismay of all the other girls who feel threatened by a white girl taking one of the "few good black men left who are not on drugs or in jail." The issue of interracial romance becomes the issue the movie wants to deal with and how it shouldn't matter what race you are when you find someone attractive or engaging. Somehow, this movie made $27 million over the long weekend. What that seems to show is that the movie is right. Most people don't care about race as a barrier to enjoying things and whites and blacks can get along. It also helps if you're fairly good looking and are willing to learn the slang of the hood. It is unfortunate that the movie has a perception that it is rare for blacks in the inner city to be educationally motivated in a drug and crime infested world. It would be nice to see a movie where a predominately black school is not shown as underprivileged. Too bad that is the case too much of the time. The movie attracted its target demographic of young girls, but seems to be having trouble getting that older male group. Save the Last Dance may be perceived as a chick flick. But, if you get a movie that attracts a large female audience, then you usually have a hit. Look at the box office totals of What Women Want and a little film known as Titanic to see that the female audience is just as gung ho about films as the guys and will see them multiple times as well. It's almost like it is a genetic thing.

DOUBLE TAKE - FULL REVIEW

The most popular type of action movie is the Odd Couple action picture.  People of very different ways have to come together to defeat a common enemy.  In this new action comedy, we have Orlando (Make 7Up Yours) Jones as a financier who gets involved in a drug-murder plot.  Due to very contrived means, Jones gets what may be help from Eddie (Malcolm and Eddie) Griffin to prove he is not a murderer and his boss is crooked.  The double take happens when Jones and Griffin switch identities and since "all black people look alike" they fool the people that are looking for both of them.  The movie's big scene happens on a train where Jones tries to act like a street hustling black person wanting malt liquor while Griffin is ordering a fancy meal that he had at Harvard.  If you have seen the preview then you have seen pretty much the entire scene except maybe the payoff. The movie moves along at a good pace and has its comedic moments, but it is not a film that most people would enjoy.  Jones and Griffin are adequate but other than a couple of bits, the movie falls flat much of the time.  Jokes are repeated over and over again like Griffin's catch phrase comebacks about bitches and knowing people's mothers.  The racial aspect of the film is a bit disturbing that J and G switch places and people actually think they are the other person since the photos they compare the two to are only similar in wardrobe.  But, what the movie is saying is how ridiculous that is and goofs on it.  The thing that the movie rides on is all of the double crosses and good guy/bad guy switches.  Everyone in the film is not exactly what they appear to be.  Is the guy with the glass eye really evil?  Is the CIA guy really trying to arrest the drug cartel members or trying to skim the profits.  Has Vivica A. Fox's career going down hill after being in Independence Day and a TV series and now getting 5 minutes of screen time in the movie?  The mainstream critics have demonized this film saying it may turn out to be one of the worst of the year.  No, it is not that bad.  It is what one calls mildly entertaining.  If you have seen the main preview, you have seen the entire film.  Most of the best gags are shown and I can't think of another bit funnier than what was set up in the trailers.  The Schlitz Malt Liquor, what is up with your eye, there is a time and place for (slap the nun's ass) everything, and I can throw a bullet at you are the funniest things and are shown in their entirety within the 2 minute preview.  Only see this movie if you have time to kill or free passes.  If you have to pay you will be disappointed.  Except for the cursing it could play just as well as a network movie of the week.  I think this movie needed an R rating and a scene a strip club that is mandatory for comedies like this.  There was no real edge to the film.  It's message of street hustlers should be respected and the bougie blacks may be stuck up but they still can remember where they came from is blatant but not presented well enough to elevate the film above being just average.  Orlando Jones was very funny on Mad TV and is amusing in his 7Up commercials and just might have future in more movies.  Eddie Griffin has been around for a while, but he was much funnier in Deuce Bigelow: Male Gigolo.  He should do a movie with Martin Lawrence and Chris Tucker where we try to find out who has the most teeth.  Double Take is okay, but not a film you will see twice.  Final review: 2 stars out of 5; 5 1/2 out of 10; C; thumbs down.  Matinee or wait for video to see.

Nuclear War is less of a threat now, but back in 1962, the bomb shelter was all the rage.  In 1962, President John F. Kennedy had to figure out a way to save the world from nuclear catastrophe when it the Soviet Union was using Cuba as a place to keep atomic bombs.  Thirteen Days tells the story of how we are still alive now.  Kevin Costner plays the Presidential aid who helps advise JFK and his brother Robert on strategy. This movie is getting hype for being very accurate in its portrayal of the time period and the seriousness of the subject matter.  This story has been done several times over the years such as "Missiles of October" with William Devane as JFK.  This is Costner's second big Kennedy movie.  I guess he has thing for the time period or something.  This movie is a hard sell for a theatrical release since everyone knows how it ends.  Pretty much there is all this build up and then nothing.  The movie Apollo 13 had this ending is already known problem but overcame it because not a lot of people knew about the space program mishap. However, the Cuban Missile Crisis is talked about all the time so this movie becomes pointless for people that actually lived through it and feared for their lives.  However, the young audiences of the day know very little about the incident since schools rarely ever get up to the 1960s  in history class and most kids don't know much about historical events in the last 40 years.  This movie has to be very accurate because many of the young people who see it will get all their information from the film and not a book or documentary.  The sad thing is these dramatizations have to fool with actual events to make them more exciting which compromises the truthfulness of the story.  If it was not for PBS specials and World War II movies or Vietnam War movies I would not know anything about the last 50 years of history.  You never get that far in school so you have to learn everything from secondary means.  This is why when you see those Jay Walking segments on the Tonight Show or hear those ask the stripper questions games on the Howard Stern Show very few people know the historical or current event questions.  We live in a learn it for the test mentality and then forget it.  It is sad that people seeing 13 Days will have no idea how it ends and not breathe a sigh of relief until the final reel.  Hopefully, people who see this movie who do not know the story will read a book or rent a documentary movie about the incident.  The true story as it happened is more dramatic than anything the movies can show.

Martin Luther King Jr Day weekend is becoming the weekend to debut movies that have a strong African-American presence and  Finding Forrester, is another example of this. Sean Connery plays the title character, William Forrester, who comes across the writings of the local inner city smart kid who also happens to be a great basketball player played by Robert Brown. Brown is a smart kid who plays dumb because if he showed how smart he really is, he would be ostracized by his friends for acting too upity. When he meets Connery, he changes his ideas and tries to become a better student and creates a new enemy, the doubting Thomas teacher played by F. Murrary Abraham. Abraham thinks Brown is cheating when it comes to his schoolwork, so is reluctant to give him any credit. This movie was made to inspire people to try hard in school to apply themselves, and to always try to reach the goals you set out for yourself. Sean Connery's character also has his own issues to deal with since he has taken himself out of society for some reason after writing just one book which earned him the title Pulitzer Prize winner or as Connery puts it, being "the man now dog." Through his bonding with Brown, he can learn how to come out of his shell and re-enter society. This movie opened fairly well, but seems to be more of a made for television script than something you would want to pay money to go see. These teacher/student stories are fine and encourage children to learn, but they can be a bit boring. They also like to take place in the poorest sections of town to show that there are smart people there and they are not all thugs, even though the movies show mostly thugs surrounding the smart kid who just needs a chance or two to be successful and get out of town. It is funny how there are three types of smart kid/poor life movies. There is this one where the kid is near perfect and just lives in the bad neighborhood. There is the everyone is a 20 year old serial killer still in 11th grade listening to a boombox as the new teacher who secretly works for the FBI tries to find the drug dealer who murdered the city councilman's son. Then there is the prep school/private school/pothead white kids with one black friend who just have sex all the time and sneak into the girls locker room after softball practice. The blacks are all shown as criminals or perfect, and the whites are shown as super brilliant or sex crazed. There is really nothing wrong with these plots because if movies actually portrayed life like it really is, no one would go to the cinema.

CROUCHING TIGER HIDDEN DRAGON - FULL REVIEW

Ooo, look at them fight each other with swords and martial arts kicks.  That is amazing.  Ooo, look at them run up the side of the wall. How do they do that?  Oooo, now they are flying around like Superman, or Supergirl. That is just incredible.  What's this, unrequited love? Ooo, how romantic.  Just a glance or a touch is more sensual than a kiss or full blown intercourse.  Ooo, look at the cute princess.  She can really kick ass. Ooo, she is also a piece of ass.  Ooo, I wonder if that is her or a stuntwoman?  Oh crap I missed the roundhouse because I was reading the screen that said "oof."  Will the princess marry the one she has been chosen for or will she get together with her true love?  Ooo it is all just so exciting.  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a movie starring international film stars Chow-Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh as two star crossed never to be lovers trying to protect a magical sword from being stolen by the Jade Fox and her mysterious protoge who just happens to be a princess.  This movie is basically two types of films.  It is this love story between Fat and Yeoh and between Jen and Lo.  It is also this insanely well choreographed classic martial arts flicks with super fast moves and fighters dancing on rooftops and tree limbs.  It is all amazing to look at and the romances are nothing unique are interesting enough to be captivating.  For some reason, this movie gets the award for the most ass kissed film of the year.  Every critic says this is one of the best films of the year 2000.  It will probably get some Oscar nominations for movie, directing, and acting.  Well, the movie is very good, but I am not going to kiss its ass.  Let me go over what is good first and then criticize it for some things that I guess people are unable to accept.  First off, I think I am in love.  The actress Ziyi Zhang plays Jen the very confused princess who is trying to prove herself to her master as well as get with her rogue thief boyfriend.  She is also one of the hottest women I have seen on film in the last year.  She has 3 major battles in this film, 2 of which are some of the best martial arts action I have ever seen.  She has 2 with Yeoh and one where she takes on several tough guys in a restaurant.  I think she did most of her own stunts, but not all. But what I saw her do was very impressive.  She actually has about 6 or 7 fights, and the most romantic is the one where she meets Lo for the first time and chases him down when he takes her comb.  It is sort of like one of those dances bugs do when they know they are going to die soon and have to carry on the hive.  She is also the only one in the film that should get an Academy Award nomination. She is the star, but would probably get a supporting actor nod.  It is hard to judge acting talent when you don't understand the language and have to read the entire time, but her facial expressions and voice inflections, let alone her battle technique came through universally.  I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed her and she has this seen at the end in the rain which completely put the movie over for me as a thumbs up.  She could be a big star if she learns English and does some action movies in the United States.  The Matrix 3 anyone? The other actor who I enjoy is Michelle Yeoh.  She is legit with her fighting and does all of her own stunts.  Her battles with Zhang rock and are enough to see the movie.  She has this strange relationship with Chow that is done in that way that is supposed to be more romantic because it is an unspoken love for various reasons. Yeoh also had to do all of lines phonetically since she does not speak Mandarin.  I don't know how she did it.  Chow Yun Fat plays the bad ass dude that can't be messed with.  He does not say a whole lot, but when he has to fight he keeps it fast and simple.  He is so good that he can just stand there and let his opponent flail about recklessly while he makes his quick moves effortlessly.  I loved his John Woo movies, but he is still trying to get respect here in the U.S.  This movie just might do it.  The romantic stuff takes up a bit more than half of the film, but it is done in interesting ways like Zhang chasing Lo in the desert all the while they are falling in love at the same time.  The love scenes are sensual but not too graphic to turn off the more conservative audience.  This is the type of film that people who don't like martial arts movies will like this.  The violence is minimal.  There is one very graphic death and one spot of blood after a battle.  It is more done like a dance than a street fight.  No one is beheaded or gets a limb cut off like most films like this have. Heck, Princess Mononoke, a cartoon, had beheadings and dismemberment and still got a PG-13.  For the most part, the movie is excellent, but it has problems.  For one thing, the romantic part of the movie that is used to get people to accept the battles is pretty lame overall.  Zhang and Lo fall in love because there is nothing else to do.  There is no build up and it is obvious from the start that they will get together in some way. Also, Lo does nothing of importance in the film.  The relationship is developed mostly in flashback and when it reaches the present he is pretty much ignored until the end.  Falling in love with Zhang is not that tough an assignment.  The love story between Chow and Michelle is nothing as well.  They do the glance and the touchy feely thing that romantic critic lovers like so much is done a couple of times but never developed or truly consummated.  The whole romantic plot is overrated and if they cut out about 3 of the fights like the silly treetop one maybe something more could have been done.  The other thing is that the fights are overrated as well.  Why, you ask?  The reason the fights fail to be unique or great is that there is no context for them.  Yeoh, Fat, and Zhang somehow are able to fly in the air and walk up walls. Now, this is a fantasy story, but it takes place in a reality that things like that need to be explained.  The walking up walls and flying just happens with no opening credit blurb about the history of this fighting technique that allows people to have these special superpowers.  The makers of the film assume that everyone knows the history of the fighting style and screen time is not needed to explain it.  When you see Yeoh walk up the wall the first time you are taken aback and never learn how it is done.   Something about being trained by Wudan.  In reality, CTHD is just another goofy martial arts flick that you used to watch on late night Kung-fu Theater.  If you accept the movie as it is, it is amazing to watch.  It is directed well and the subtitles are not too annoying.  There are only a few times when we are supposed to read the screen and see the swords clash at the same time. You have to pick one.  Pick the action on the screen when in doubt.  The dialogue is never that important except when Zhang fights the group in the restaurant when she is talking trash.  I would prefer a dubbed version so I would not miss anything, but people seem to hate the dubbed versions because the true words spoken have to be altered so much.  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a very good film, but don't pucker up for it.  It is not God's gift to cinema.  Everything in the film has been done before, but it is done well.  Final review:  3 1/2 stars out of 5; 7 1/2 out of 10; B+; thumbs up.  Only see it if you like martial arts action at top speed.  The romantic stuff is okay, but could have been better developed.

REST OF THE TOP 10 IN 10: 

1.    Castaway is making a lot of money, but everyone that I know that has seen it has said that is was not good enough to be as popular as it is.

2.    Castaway needed to flesh out its ending instead of just ending as abruptly as it did.

3.    Traffic could be a big success, but its limited release run is still making the film look like an independent movie that does not want to be seen.

4.    Traffic is doing okay, but not a movie that is causing a traffic jam of cars rushing to see it.

5.    What Women Want could be considered a slight sleeper hit.

6.    Women actually want three things from men and that is a guy who can kill a spider, open a jar of peanut butter, and last for more than 15 minutes in bed.

7.    Miss Congeniality is also a movie making much more money than anyone thought it would.

8.    Miss Congeniality may be the movie that puts Bullock back on the list of B+ actresses.

9.    The Emperor's New Groove continues the trend of movies that started off weakly or with lowered expectations and surpassed them all.

10.    The Emperor's New Groove is no Prince of Egypt but at least it is no Titan A.E.

Whew.  Bye for now.