Thursday, March 29, 2001

'Heartbreakers' Beats Loudest at Box Office

By Dean Goodman

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - ``Heartbreakers,'' a new mother-daughter con artist comedy, swindled its way to the top of the North American weekend box office, while the three ``best picture'' Oscar contenders in the top 10 posted strong results ahead of the Academy Awards on Sunday evening.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday morning ''Heartbreakers'' (MGM), starring Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt, nabbed $12.3 million for the three-day period beginning on Friday. Fellow rookie ``The Brothers'' (Screen Gems), a relationships comedy revolving around four young black men, bowed at No. 2 with $10.7 million.

The top 10 contained one other new release, ``Say It Isn't So'' (Fox), an incest comedy starring Chris Klein and Heather Graham. It opened at No. 10 with $3.1 million, a figure termed ''disappointing'' by the studio's distribution president, Bruce Snyder. He said the subject matter may have scared off audiences. Fox, a unit of Rupert Murdoch's Fox Entertainment Group Inc., also bombed last month with the Brendan Fraser comedy ``Monkeybone.''

The top 12 films grossed $70 million, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, down 3 percent from last weekend and off 4 percent from the year-ago period when ``Erin Brockovich'' was tops for a second weekend.

Oscars Weekend Lifts Contenders

Among the Oscar contenders, ``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' (Sony Pictures Classics) rose one spot to No. 5 with $4.7 million, a 15-percent boost from last weekend. In its 16th weekend, director Ang Lee's martial-arts romance has grossed $106.3 million. It is competing for 10 Oscars including best picture, director and foreign-language film. Sony Classics is a unit of Sony Corp. .

``Traffic'' (USA Films) rose three places to No. 7 with $3.9 million, a 14-percent improvement. Director Steven Soderbergh's drugs drama has pulled in $107.6 million after 13 weekends and is competing for five Oscars including picture and director. USA Films is a unit of USA Networks Inc. .

``Chocolat'' (Miramax), ninth last weekend, vied for No. 8 with ``See Spot Run.'' Both reported about $3.3 million. The former's 4-percent dip was the slightest in the top 10, and its 15-week total stands at $60.6 million. Its five Oscar nominations include picture, actress (Juliette Binoche) and supporting actress (Judi Dench). Miramax Films is a unit of Walt Disney Co. .

The Academy Awards take place at the Shrine Auditorium, beginning at 5.30 p.m. PST (0130 GMT Monday).

Last weekend's box office champ, ``Exit Wounds'' (Warner Bros.), fell to No. 3 with $9.2 million and a 10-day haul of $32.7 million. The Steven Seagal cop thriller lost 50 percent of its audience, the steepest drop in the top 10. Warner Bros. is a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. .

Also in its second weekend, the Battle of Stalingrad drama ''Enemy at the Gates'' (Paramount), starring Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes, fell two places to No. 4 with $8.4 million for a 10-day haul of $26.2 million. Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc. .

``Heartbreakers,'' which cost about $40 million to make, skewed toward females (60 percent). Some 68 percent of moviegoers gave it a ``definite recommend'' rating, said Larry Gleason, president of distribution at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.

``It's a lighthearted, fun movie, and there hasn't been one in the market for a while,'' he said.

``The Brothers,'' starring comedian D.L. Hughley, soap star Shemar Moore, Bill Bellamy and Morris Chestnut, rated a 93 percent ``definite recommend'' from its mostly black audience, said Valerie Van Galder, executive vice president of marketing at Screen Gems, also a Sony Corp unit.

``The support in the African-American community was overwhelming,'' she said, but added that the next step was to pull in a wider audience.

New releases next weekend include the children's espionage comedy ``Spy Kids,'' the romantic comedy ``Someone Like You'' and the raunchy teen comedy ``Tomcats.''

The top movies in North America -- March 23-25

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Following are the final data for the top 10 movies at the North American box office during the March 23-25 weekend, according to studio figures released Monday by Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Film Three-day Cumulative

Title Gross Gross

1. Heartbreakers .......... $11,801,323

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $11,801,323

2. The Brothers .......... $10,302,846

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $10,302,846

3. Exit Wounds .......... $9,710,747

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $33,132,004

4. Enemy at the Gates .......... $8,258,312

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $26,054,136

5. The Mexican .......... $4,623,578

BOX OFFICE SO FAR: $57,979,920

6. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon .......... $4,613,172

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $106,253,538

7. Traffic .......... $3,948,118

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $107,681,527

8. See Spot Run .......... $3,605,570

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $29,488,322

9. Chocolat .......... $3,308,107

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $60,657,943

10. Say It Isn't So .......... $2,861,903

BOX OFFICE SO FAR:  $2,861,903

Reuters/Variety REUTERS  

John L.: Russell Crowe, Julia Roberts, Steven Soderbergh, Ang Lee, Marcia Gay Harden, Benicio Del Toro, Steve Martin will all be mentioned in the box office report this week because they were all major factors in this past week's Oscar telecast. Other notables will be Bjork, Jennifer Lopez, and of course Zhang Ziyi. Three new movies entered the top 10 this week with some hits and one big miss. Also, on the table are the results of this year's Razzie awards for worst performances in motion pictures. It was a clean sweep by last years most villified film. Loaded report this week, so let's get to it.

Heartbreakers wins the award this week for best marketed film. The movie stars Sigourney Weaver as the grifting mother to Jennifer Love Hewitt who have this scam of divorcing cheating men. The premise is Weaver marries or becomes significantly involved with a man, and then her super hot and heaving daughter (Hewitt) seduces said man and then they take him for as much as they can. Ray Liotta and Gene Hackman are the 2 major losers set for attack. The premise is simple enough and sets up all sorts of comic mishaps to carry the film, but the main selling point that helped get the movie to the number one slot this week is JLH's supple bosoms. Holy moly she looks good in some of those outfits. This may be their best work since their unmatched, near Oscar worthy performances in "I Still Know What You Did Last Summer" and "Can't Hardly Wait." I almost fell for their hypnotic spell and spent my $7.25 to see them flop around, but I figured if I just slow motioned the trailers and talk show clips I could get my fill. Hewitt has been the object of young males' affection since her "Party of Five" days and with the help of magazines like "Maxim" and "Stuff" she gets to show off her true talents every few months. However, as of late, there seems to be a backlash against the Audrey Hepburn-like beauty. You see, Hewitt has this annoying smile and laugh that never seems to go away and it is turning off many guys who are trying to find her attractive. If she could take down that peppy high strung persona about 3 notches, I think Heartbreakers could have broke $20 million its opening week. Weaver is an actress who is desperately trying to make people forget her Alien days and treat her as a more versatile actress. Weaver is famous for her dramas, but her more high profile work has been in comedies like "Galaxy Quest" and Heartbreakers. I expect her to team up with Robert Deniro in the near future to have the ultimate dramatic actors getting a new career spark in comedy movie. Gene Hackman seems to be above playing the dodering old fool, but he has done it all and is over 70 so why not have some fun after losing to Christopher Reeve, Russell Crowe, and Clint Eastwood over the years. Ray Liotta is in the midst of a comeback after getting his brain eaten in Hannibal. He is on some career high at the moment. Heartbreakers should do okay at the box office and if it is lucky make about $60 million, but will probably close out around $40 million.

The Brothers is sort of being marketed as the Waiting to Exhale for men without the burning car. It stars D. L. Hughley, Morris Chestnut, Bill Bellamy, and Shemar Moore as 4 guys trying to figure out the best ways to have relationships with the opposite sex. Oh, they are not related by blood, but they are as close as brothers, hence the title. Things change for these guys when one decides it is time to settle down and get married. This makes the rest rethink their own lives. Moore plays the engaged guy who messes up the brotherhood. Chestnut goes out and finds a hot sista in the form of "Bring it On's" Gabrielle Union who is in the running as one of the more attractive actresses out there not getting enough work. Hughley's character is already married but is frustrated by how it is going along. His life is becoming boring and he needs to be more adventurous. Bill Bellamy seems to be in full "How to be a Player" mode here as the love 'em and leave em eternal bachelor who will probably end up finding the love of his life by the end of the film. This movie opened pretty well this week due to an attractive cast that ladies can enjoy while their boyfriends drool over Jennifer Love Hewitt in Heartbreakers. Relationship movies are usually hit and miss with more misses, but this has a chance to last a while if it clicks with audiences. Men will be hesitant to see it however since it looks too much like a "chick flick" even though it stars mostly men. However, I think the makers of the film made it to appeal to the male point of view on relationships, but they forgot to realize that men don't like to see that part of themselves on film like women do who tend to sit around and goof on them as the movie goes on when they recognize attitudes of the characters in their own everday lives. Next time, have more karate.

Talk about mismanaging an ad campaign. Say It Isn't So is the archetype for how not to market a comedy. Never give away the money gag in the preview. In There's Something About Mary, you never saw what the hair gel was made of, you never heard the punchline to band camp in American Pie, and you never saw the major secret of the gym teacher in Scary Movie in the trailers. You knew there was a big joke there, but you had to pay your admission fee to find out what it was. Say It Isn't So's big gag is that Heather Graham and Chris Klein play 2 people who fall in love with each other and then find out that they are of all horrors, brother and sister. Okay, stop right there. We now have an incest comedy directed by the Farelly Brothers of There's Something About Mary fame. Outrageousness is a given, I'm there. However, the previews tell you that they are not brother and sister and it was a big mistake, so Klein spends the rest of the film trying to tell Graham the truth but keeps screwing it up. The previews should never have given away the secret and kept the eww factor as the selling point. But since everyone knew the truth going in, then there was no point to sit through the comedy of errors. If the secret is not a main part of the film and is given away early, then the movie still sucks because there is never any gross out moment of seeing two siblings make out. Sally Field shows up as the crazy mom who says crazy things. People may start to really hate her if she keeps making crap movies. Orlando Jones shows up as an amputee with artificial legs that tend to fall off. He is a funny guy who has yet to really break out.  It will come though.  Say It Isn't So had a good chance of being a hit, but the creepy incest story, no incest, tired gags, and poor marketing has doomed it to oblivion.

REST OF THE TOP 10 IN 10:

1.    Exit Wounds is about to make its exit from the top 10 in a couple of weeks.

2.    Steven Seagal still needs to be in a movie where he fights a famous martial arts guy like Jackie Chan or Jet Li.

3.    Enemy at the Gates is holding up pretty well in its second week and should do well for the studio.

4.    Even though Julia Roberts has won a best actress Oscar, Mexican will still not reach a $100 million in box office.

5.    Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has won a best foreign film Oscar.

6.    I am so happy that Zhang Ziyi did not waste her time dressing up to go to the Oscars since the movie won several awards.

7.    Traffic was another big winner at the Oscars by winning a best supporting award  for Benicio Del Toro and best director statue for Steven Soderbergh.

8.    See Spot Run is still sticking around with probably another week in the top 10.

9.    Chocolat conspired to get an Oscar nomination for best picture, but came up very short.

10.    It is also amazing that 4 of the 5 films nominated for best picture this year had grossed over a $100 million at the box office.

REVIEW OF THE 2001 OSCARS FOR THE 2000 FILMS

This years Oscar telecast was mostly uneventful and fairly predictable, but was probably the best run show in years.  For one thing, Steve Martin was the host and not the overrated Billy Crystal who has not been funny since Jack Palance did push-ups.  I am a huge Martin fan and could not wait for his time as host.  His bit about Tom Hanks being the attempted kidnapper of Russell Crowe was very funny, especially Hanks who sold it perfectly.  He did not have to sing mock musical numbers to get over with the crowd.  The fact that the show ended on time at 3 and a half hours makes it the greatest Oscars ever.  All the speeches sucked this year since there was that weird time limit that is never stuck to. The person with the shortest speech would have received a free big screen television and that went to the winner of the best animated short film, Michael Dudok de Wit who spoke for 18 seconds.  Like an idiot, he is giving the television to charity.  The longest speech went to Julia Roberts who won for Erin Brockovich and forgot to thank the real woman who the story was based on.  I just saw the movie and it was very good in a predictable tv movie of the week sort of way and Roberts was very good in it.  However, if you want the full spectrum of that film, get the DVD as they show a whole subplot of Erin getting sick similar to the illnesses people were getting from the poison water.  I think it should have been added to the film, but the director did not want the focus of the story to be too focused on Erin's problems and not the victims of the bad water. However, the biggest fault of the film was that Soderbergh never shows how sick the people really are. They talked about how sick they are, but you never see the true physical effects. In one of the deleted scenes, they show a woman sick in bed, but it is not in the final film.  You never really see those effects and to me it lessens the impact of the obvious legal victory.  Overall, "Erin Brokovich" was very good as it is, but a best picture nominee it should not have been. My final review of Erin Brockovich is 3 stars out of 5, 6 1/2 out of 10; B; thumbs up.  Roberts probably deserved her award, but her nearly 4 minute meandering speech was really lame.  She told the conductor to hold his stick, but if I was him I would have played the theme to "Hook" through her whole spiel.  You had 45 seconds, not 345 seconds.  Russell Crowe's speech was okay and moving and honest in a humble way, but his non sense of humor to Steve Martin goofing on him turned me off of anything else that happened to him and Gladiator.  Gladiator was a good film, but was a little to popcorny in my opinion to be a best picture of the year.  It was no Ben Hur.  Gladiator was more of a People's Choice type of film than an Oscar winner.  Traffic or Crouching Tiger looked to be the true frontrunners in my opinion even though I have not seen Traffic yet.  The biggest surprise of the night was Marcia Gay Harden winning the best supporting actress award for Pollock.  I did enjoy seeing Kate Hudson losing after everyone was kissing her ass so much. Victory is mine. If she is the real thing, then her day will come.  It took Roberts 3 nominations to win so you still have time honey.  Ang Lee is soon to start making the Hulk movie after getting an Oscar for CTHD. He is an amazing guy.  Overall, I liked the show and of the predictions I made in my free time, I got 10 out of 23. I did pick Gladiator to win best picture, but I thought Ridley Scott would get director based on tradition.  I guess it doesn't matter anymore.  So far, there is no movie of 2001 that will be mentioned at next year's telecast.  By the way, what the hell was Bjork wearing?

Full List of Winners of 73rd Annual Academy Awards

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The following is a complete list of winners of the 73rd Annual Academy Awards, the film industry's top honors, presented Sunday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Best Motion Picture

``Gladiator''

Achievement In Directing

Steven Soderbergh, ``Traffic''

Best Actor In A Leading Role

Russell Crowe, ``Gladiator''

Best Actress In A Leading Role

Julia Roberts, ``Erin Brockovich''

Best Actor In A Supporting Role

Benicio Del Toro, ``Traffic''

Best Actress In A Supporting Role

Marcia Gay Harden, ``Pollock''

Adapted Screenplay

``Traffic''

Original Screenplay

``Almost Famous''

Best Foreign Language Film

``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'' Taiwan

Achievement In Cinematography

``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon''

Achievement In Film Editing

``Traffic''

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC (ORIGINAL SCORE)

``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon''

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC (ORIGINAL SONG)

``Things Have Changed'' from ``Wonder Boys''

Music and Lyric by Bob Dylan

Best Documentary Feature

``Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the

Kindertransport''

Best Documentary Short Subject

``Big Mama''

Best Animated Short Film

``Father and Daughter''

Best Live Action Short Film

``Quiero Ser (I want to be)''

Achievement In Art Direction

``Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon''

Achievement In Costume Design

``Gladiator''

Achievement In Makeup

``Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas''

Achievement In Sound

``Gladiator''

Achievement In Sound Effects Editing

``U-571''

Achievement In Visual Effects

``Gladiator'' 

REVIEW OF THE 2001 RASBERRY AWARDS FOR 2000 FILMS

Not much to say about this year's winners since Battlefield Earth swept the ceremony.  It won worst picture, actor and my favorite, worst duo which meant John Travolta and anyone else on the screen with him. Does that mean Forest Whitaker gets a Razzie?  I still say Hollow Man was a bigger disappointment.  Madonna still is the queen of the Razzies with her last film.  Billy Pepper was the best actor in B.E. and should not have won worst actor. He is a victim of being guilty by association.  Next year's awards should be full of a lot of good/bad material.  Don't be surprised to see Hannibal on these lists somewhere. Worst onscreen duo, Ray Liotta and his brain.  Blair Witch 2 was an underrated movie that is not as bad as it seems.  The premise was not very good and it hurt the film.  I own the film and I do not regret it. In fact, I own Battlefield Earth and I proudly admit it.  My hope is that one day they will televise these awards and some of the winners will show up.  

LOSERS OF THE RASBERRY AWARDS

"Charlie's Angels" was released on VHS and DVD this week, and Ejo Sceip wanted to know if I would post this picture.  Okay, here you go:

That is enough for this week.  Bye for now.