By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Weekend Preview
Some movie about a boat will be number one again. The box office numbers for that unknown film actually rose by three percent last weekend. The Replacement Killers will replace Great Expectations in the second spot for the week, with figures somewhere in the mid-teens. The only real question mark of the weekend is whether there’s an audience out there for Blues Brothers 2000. No one involved has generated a real hit, musical or otherwise, in years. But, the original grabbed $64 million domestically, which was real money back in 1980 and maybe people will remember that when it’s night, they have a half a tank of gas and they’re wearing sunglasses. Hit it.
THE GOOD: Good Will Hunting aims at the $70 million mark while As Good As It Gets passes $90 million on its way to a nine-figure take.
THE BAD: Deep Rising should fall out of the Top 10 in its second week. The film won’t generate $10 million domestic.
THE UGLY: Kundun has disappeared into that great good night. Without Oscar’s help, which is unlikely to be forthcoming, the film will barely generate five million bucks here in the U.S.
MOUSE VS. MOUSE: DreamWorks’ Mouse Hunt easily outperformed all of Disney’s December releases and is still going strong with over $1.5 million a week. Mouse Hunt will be this year’s fifth most successful December release, behind only Titanic, Good Will Hunting, As Good As it Gets and Tomorrow Never Dies.
LIMITED SCREENS, UNLIMTED QUALITY: Trying to fill out your Oscar contender viewing schedule with some art films? Still in release and in the running are The Apostle (Robert Duvall), The Sweet Hereafter (Ian Holm/Screenplay), Wings of the Dove (Helena Bonham Carter), Afterglow (Julie Christie), The Ice Storm (Sigourney Weaver), Eve’s Bayou (Screenplay/Director) and Four Days in September (Brazil).
TWO BAD MOVIES EQUAL: Deep Rising + Desperate Measures = Deep And Desperate. The latest road comedy from The Farrelly Brothers (Dumb & Dumber). Andy Garcia is Pablo Neruda. Treat Williams is Mike Ovitz. Pablo and Mike chase Famke Jannsen across the country, trying to retrieve the $420 million they gave her as payment for the MGM studio lot. (Hint: There is no MGM lot anymore). With Michael Keaton as Jim Carrey.
READER OF THE DAY: G. Martin wrote: “The critics are wrong about Great Expectations. Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow were wonderful. The movie and book are different in many ways, but if the movie helps to open up one’s eyes to a classic work of literature then it can’t be all bad. And Paltrow’s nude scene was in very good taste.”
