August 8, 1999
Bruce Willis First At Box Office With 'Sixth Sense'
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Moviegoers felt a keen instinct for ''The Sixth Sense'', propelling the Bruce Willis afterlife drama to No. 1 in its first weekend at a busy North American box office.
``The Sixth Sense'' was one of five new wide releases, with many scrapping for the same audiences, and some -- like ``The Iron Giant'' and ``Dick'' -- falling by the wayside. Meanwhile the hit horror movie ``The Blair Witch Project'' almost doubled its theater count and remained at No. 2 for a second weekend.
According to studio estimates issued Sunday, ``The Sixth Sense'' grossed about $25.8 million for the Friday-to-Sunday period, making it the highest August opening ever. The previous record was held by 1993's ``The Fugitive'' with $23.8 million. ''Blair
Witch'' scared up about $24.5 million.
In ``Sixth Sense'', Willis plays a child psychologist who helps a troubled young boy (played by Haley Joel Osment) deal with his ability to see dead people. The movie has a surprise ending, which critics said more than makes up for its slow passages.
Released under Walt Disney Co.'s Hollywood Pictures banner, the movie had buoyant sneak previews last weekend, which helped generate good word of mouth.
``The challenge was simply to get the message out there about how much they were going to like it,'' said Chuck Viane, president of Disney's Buena Vista distribution unit. He said 73 percent of the audience was between 18 and 49 years old, and was evenly split gender-wise.
``Blair Witch'', the micro-budget horror revolving around movie footage shot by three missing film students, has now earned $80.2 million and should end up with at least $125 million, Artisan Entertainment said. It is now playing in 2,142 theaters, up from 1,101 last weekend, and is doing great business in small towns, the company said.
Last weekend's champion, ``Runaway Bride'' (Paramount), slipped two places to No. 3 with $21 million, bringing its 10- day total to $74.1 million. The film competed for the same adult audience as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's remake of ``The Thomas Crown Affair'', which opened at No. 4 with $14.6 million.
``Thomas Crown'' stars Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in the roles originally played in the 1968 original by Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. MGM distribution President Larry Gleason said 60 percent of the audience was over 30 years old, and the challenge was to bring in younger viewers. He noted that the city with the highest per-screen average was Montreal, which
bodes well for the heist thriller's international roll-out.
The shark thriller ``Deep Blue Sea'' (Warner Bros.) fell two places to No. 5 with $11 million, bringing its 12-day total to $45.3 million.
Among the other new releases: ``Mystery Men'' opened at No. 6 with $10 million, followed by ``The Iron Giant'' at No. 9 with $5.7 million and ``Dick'' at No. 11 (tied with Fox's ``Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace'') with $2.2 million.
``Mystery Men'' (Universal), a superhero satire, boasts an ensemble of heavyweight humorists such as Janeane Garofalo, Ben Stiller and Paul Reubens. A studio spokeswoman said she was very pleased with the opening score.
A Warner Bros. official expressed disappointment with the performance of his studio's ``The Iron Giant'', a well-reviewed cartoon set in the 1950s revolving around the titular hero and a small boy.
``Sometimes it takes a while to get these family movies out there if they're not branded with a Disney logo or a fast food promotion,'' WB distribution President Dan Fellman said.
But he noted that the studio's ``Free Willy'' started with a humble $7 million before gathering pace and ending up with $75 million. ``I'm optimistic about it.''
The prognosis for Columbia's ``Dick'' was less certain. The film revisits the Watergate era as two teen-age girls (Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams) befriend President Richard Nixon and his bumbling cadre of advisers, and improbably cause his
downfall. Critics liked the film, but said its subject matter held as much relevance to its target teen audience as the Jurassic period. A studio spokesman said simply, ``It's a real tough marketplace.''
Filling in the gaps in the top 10 were Walt Disney Pictures' ``Inspector Gadget'' at No. 7 with $8.4 million (17-day total $64 million); DreamWorks' ``The Haunting'' at No. 8 with $6.3 million (17-day total $77.3 million); and Universal's ``American Pie'' at No. 10 with $4 million (31-day total $85.4 million).
Artisan Entertainment and DreamWorks are privately held. Paramount Pictures is a unit of Viacom Inc. (NYSE:VIA - news) Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:TWX - news) Universal Pictures is a unit of Seagram Co. Ltd. Columbia
Pictures is a unit of Sony Corp. (NYSE:SNE - news) Twentieth Century Fox is a unit of News Corp.
According to estimates from Exhibitor Relations Co. these are the Top Ten rankings:
1.The Sixth Sense, $25.8 million
2.The Blair Witch Project, $24.5 million
3.Runaway Bride, $21 million
4.The Thomas Crown Affair, $14.6 million
5.Deep Blue Sea, $11 million
6.Mystery Men, $10 million
7.Inspector Gadget, $8.4 million
8.The Haunting, $6.3 million
9.The Iron Giant, $5.7 million
10.American Pie, $4 million
JOHN L.: I am back again this week, and with the Blair Witch defeated, this should be a ghost free box office report. Lots of stuff this week. New openings and with some of those totals, lots of closings to come. I saw no movies this week, so no long winded reviews. I will analyze why some movies did well, some did poorly, and some are not as good as they seem. Let’s start at the top.
Sixth Sense is our new champion continuing the trend of a new #1 every week for the last 2 months. Its total is very good and is one of Bruce Willis’ best openings. It doesn’t mean he can draw an ass to a seat, it just means that the movie he is in has a premise that brings in ticket buyers, plus a good preview, as well as a creepy acting kid who seems to think he has to act like a 40 year old to get over. Bruce does so many varied roles that his name cannot gurantee a good box office. Unlike a Jim Carrey or an Adam Sandler his name is still a big ehh on the want to see scale. He is the star of the wait til video crowd type of actor. Of the big movies opening this week, 6S was the one I was considering, but 2 things made me stay home. One, critics said it was somewhat slow, and two, there was an ending that was a surprise and made up for most of the film’s shortcomings. Not again fans. I am not falling for the "whatever you don’t tell the ending" or the "whatever you do, don’t give away the secret." I found out what the secret is, and it may turn out to be a shock, but in my view if you watch the preview close enough and read a couple of raving reviews, you will pick up on the twist. If you want to know the secret, you have to see the movie or email me and I will tell you. You know how I don’t like to give away spoilers. In honor of 6S’ surprise ending, here are the top 5 endings or surprises that suck and then the top 5 that kicked ass.
Endings/Surprises that suck:
Endings/Surprises that kick ass:
If you have better choices, send them to me in email. I want to know what were the best/worst ending/surprises in entertainment. TV, movies, books, real life, I don’t care. What surprise or gimmick of an ad campaign sucked or ruled. If I get a good enough response, I might even post some and put your email name in the Box Office Report.
Email me at: johnnet@acorn.net if you have something to contribute.
Blair Witch is still making tons of money, or is it? Last week the box office pundits said with TBWP doubling in theater count, it was sure to be the #1 movie this week. It did not happen. Why is that? This is the most talked about film since Phantom Menace and The Matrix, but it dropped off instead of gaining. Hell, USAToday reported that when it jumped to 1000 theaters from 60, it had a box office gain of over 1500%. You see, fans, TBWP sort of sucks and there is no payoff. At least 40% of the people coming out of the movie are saying it is not that good a movie. It’s slow, its video cam technique and shaky camera makes you dizzy, there is no real horror, the sound system is bad,, the movie does not take up the whole screen, Heather is annoying, Heather has a big ass, Heather is never shown getting her ass kicked, Heather talks too much, Heather is a horrible improvist, Heather has big nostrils, Mike should have kicked Heather instead of the map into the river, Heather thinks she’s all that, Heather doesn’t give it up, Heather is sort of butch, Heather has no storytelling technique, Heather never heard of cell phones, Heather never heard of Hansel and Gretel, Heather never heard of The Last Broadcast, Heather never heard of Cannibal Holocaust, Heather never heard of Little Red Riding Hood, Heather never hood of a wonder bra, Heather never heard of gang rape, Heather never heard of soap, Heather never head of Girl Scouts, Heather never heard of the North Star, Heather never heard of flares, Heather never heard of the library, Heather never heard of the internet, and she damn sure never heard the Blair Witch coming up behind her to school her sorry butt. TWBP will make about $150 million and be huge on DVD and video. But there are a lot of weaknesses to it. If it had combined the Sci-fi special footage with a ending showing people looking at the taped footage and wondering what happened after the last shot. There could have been a better response. The audience was never really brought into the story of the Blair Witch history. It became secondary to just 3 dummies lost in the woods while some "animals" bumped into their tent and stepped on twigs. What about the little kids noises? I don’t know, use your imagination, you might come up with an answer.
Runaway Bride completed the fabulous 3 event of the top 3 movies all making over $20 million. That happened earlier this summer for the first time and it has happened again showing that this years summer B.O. is breaking records. Roberts has another hit and will probably be making $25 million a picture in the next 2 years. Here is the movie that cannot ever be made at this time. Plot and title mean nothing, but to hire this cast would make your movie start at around $100 million. Julia Roberts, Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks, and Adam Sandler, and Mel Gibson with a cameo by Mike Myers as Dr. Evil would break the back of Hollywood producers. Dr. Evil wants a quick $100 million dolluuurrs, so he figures that if he kidnaps the top 5 actors in Hollywood that make that a picture, he will be rich. You know, paintings, statues, gold, Mark McGwire homerun balls, all have certain values, and what is more valuable than human life? Ha ha ha ha ha, cough cough, hoooo, haaa, hhooooo, PINKY TO THE LIP!
Speaking of paintings, Thomas Crown Affair opened this week and got crowned by the public. I never saw the original, but who cares, no one else does. Mr. Brosnan is typecast now. No one wants to see him play an art thief. Bond already did that earlier this summer in Entrapment. PB has to wait at least another 20 years before he can get to that level. Remakes suck. They rarely make money, and the movie moguls need to stop making them. John Carpenter’s The Thing rules the universe, but it still bombed at the box office. In 20 years, no one will go see a remake of E.T. or Titanic. Magic only works once, if you learn the secret, no one will give a damn. Original thought people, try that for once.
I must be the only one who liked Deep Blue Sea. I like people getting eaten by monster movies. This one worked in my opinion. High body count, most of the kills were shown on camera, funny black people, dumb white people, Ronny Cox doiing nothing, I dug it. I am a creature of the sea will kill you if you don’t watch out mark, but I guess I am the only one. Spielberg has ruined you all.
Talk about Smash Mouth, Mystery Men got smashed big time with its all star cast with 2, count them 2 Oscar nominees as well as one Oscar winner.. This is supposedly a satire of the Tim Burton Batman type of superhero movie. The makers of this silly thing seem to forget that the Batman movies have not been good in 10 years. Names like Champion City, Captain Amazing, and The Spleen just suck. The preview made the movie look bad and unfunny. "I’m a shoveler, that’s what I do." Geoffery Rush is slumming it and looks bored. He will return later in the Haunting of Hill House remake where he plays the Vincent Price character. Looks like Mr. Rush is suffering from F. Murray Abraham disease. Hopefully he GR will come out better than Tom Hulce. I like Jeaneane Garafolo, but I have trouble watching her perform in movies, tv, radio, books, interviews, etc. Hmm, maybe I don’t like her, but everytime I think of her I think of her Juliette Lewis impersonation on the Ben Stiller Show that FOX aired a while back. I thought it was funny, and I have been a fan ever since. Same thing with Stiller, I always laughed at his Tom Cruise impersonation, especially the one he did on Saturday Night Live in the Rainman sketch. Hank Azaria is excellent on the Simpsons as Apu, Chief Wiggam, and Moe the Bartender. Too bad he can’t act. His stint in the Birdcage did not help either. The Talk Soup guy thinks he’s the Rock with all of his eyebrow animation. He will never be on that level. Paul "I was in Batman Returns" Reubens is back in a bigger supporting role than he was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I think he might even get to keep his arm in this one. Howard Stern hates Paul’s Spleen character because it rips off Fartman. It does, and Stern should get the hint that fart jokes are not always that funny. Invisible Boy should go back to Nickleoden with Kenan and make Good Burger 2 or something. Mystery Men does have his power since no one is seeing it either.
Let’s skip to the number 9 movie. The ones in between have been talked to death by me and they all suck. Iron Giant opened up, and did not do to well, in fact it did nothing. It had good reviews, seemingly good buzz, and a decent preview that gets the Cinemark rocking. Heck, every time I would go to a theater they were playing the damn preview on little tv screens. What happened? Animation, friends. People do not like animated movies. Oh, Disney pops out a hit every 3 years or so like Lion King and Tarzan, but they have had trouble breaking the $100 million barrier for the last few years. South Park was loved by the fans, but still could not break out in any substantial way. Animation is good in short 7 to 10 minute segments in movie houses, and very good for home video for kids to watch over and over. IG is a kids movie, but kids can’t sit still with all of its talking and 1950’s nostalgia. They will sit still in front of a television, and you can pause the movie so they can go make wee wee. Prince of Egypt is the only non-Disney cartoon to make any real money in recent times, but the majority only succeed on video. IG looks interesting, but it has a box office killer in it. Jennifer Aniston. She is loved on Friends, but her name on the marquis means people stay home and watch their old The Edge and Friends tapes. Don’t look for JA to be kidnapped by Dr. Evil anytime soon.
American Pie is doing well, and I will be very pleased to see it cross the $100 million mark. It is the best movie I have seen this year. If the DVD has nothing but the movie on it, I will still buy it. However, I am sure the video disc will rule. As soon as AMAZON.com makes it available to pre-order, my checkbook will be wide open.
That’s the top ten movies at the box office. Let’s see, did I forget anything. Oh yeah, I forgot about Dick. It also seems that the target audience for this movie not only forgot aboout Dick, but did not know that there ever was a President Richard Milhous Nixon. Let’s not say that all of America’s young are stupid and don’t know fairly recent history. That is not the only problem with the movie. This is an example of a preview that is not very good. The premise is interesting, but plays more like a TV movie or a Saturday Night Live sketch. In fact, 3 current SNL actors are in the movie. SNL movies usually fail (Night at the Roxbury). The makers think that their premise is just so hilarious that just hearing the actors call 2 girls deep throat, or Nixon worried about getting rid of the sexy 18 minutes that were such a mystery in 1974, or Harry Shearer with a big ass G. Gordon Liddy mustache wiil have people rolling in the aisles. It won’t. It hasn’t. Michelle Williams should go back to stripping on Broadway. Kirsten Dunst better hope they make a Vampire Lestat movie. Dan Hedaya was good in Clueless, and looks better as Nixon than Anthony Hopkins, but he is still a star in waiting. American is not quite ready to laugh about the disgrace and resignation of a President unless it’s Dan Acroyd and John Belushi praying in the Oval Office.
Well, that’s it for this week. It was a full box office report with a lot of crap. Movies are starting to suck again after about 2 months of some pretty good ones, (APTSWSM, SP:BL&U, AP). Next week is Bowfinger I believe. I still love Heather Graham, but looks like Bow will be going in the trash bin with Holy Man in Eddie Murphy movies I have not seen and have no intention of seeing in the near future. I was his biggest fan 13 years ago. It saddens me to see what he has become. (BHC3, VIB, HM, DG, A48H). Trading Places, Beverly Hills Cop, and Coming To America are classics. Where have the good times gone. Same thing with Steve Martin. Movies like TJ, PT&A, FOTB, and R are some of the best comedies ever. Now he makes claptrap like OOT, SB, STOF, and MBH. If word of mouth is good, I might check it out, until then, bye for now.
P.S. : The secret of The Sixth Sense is buried in this report. See if you can figure it out.