This weekend was pretty predictable, all things considered. The Big Hit was a moderate hit with $11 million. City of Angels ($9 million, second place) continues to drop slowly, which is good news for Warner Bros., as Tarzan and the Lost City didn’t even hit the Top 10. (Sources at Village Roadshow, which co-financed the deal for the film with the WB, claim they put up almost all the prints and advertising money, explaining Warner’s surprisingly low-key sales job. The studio must not have wanted to release it at all.) The Object of My Affection dropped faster than I thought it would (to $5 million, losing almost 50 percent), and Titanic actually took a fall of 32 percent. Shocking! Almost as shocking as Scream 2 grabbing $1.8 million for 10th place as it chugs towards $100 million.
THE GOOD: Species II dropped even faster than I expected.
THE BAD: In God’s Hands got dumped onto the market quietly by Sony. My question: Why would anyone pay to see a Zalman King movie without a whole lot of naked people in it, which the PG-13 rating for IGH assures there will not be. Or this: Why would anyone pay money for a Zalman King movie at all?
THE UGLY: I’m trying to take a positive attitude to my vacation, so no ugly today.
THE CONTEST: Jennifer Nowitzky will be compiling the entries and will let you know who won later this week. And there will be a contest next week even without me to promote it, so motivate yourself.
TWO BAD MOVIES EQUAL: Sliding Doors + The Big Hit = Sliding Hits. What would happen if Marky Mark really did have a Dirk Diggler and Gwyneth’s alter ego could replace Brad Pitt with him? What would happen if Lou Diamond Phillips were six inches taller? What would happen if Christine Applegate were shot for her incredibly offensive (because it is so bad!) Jew imitation? What would happen if Antonio Sabato Jr. could act 10 percent as well as he can pose? And what if America liked itself enough to make movies like Sliding Doors without all the Brits?
JUST WONDERING: Doesn’t the little girl in the Deep Impact previews look an awful lot like a midget Helen Hunt?
BAD AD WATCH: Scream 2′s re-release campaign runs such a butt-kissing pull quote (by an unnamed ABC-TV reporter from God knows where) that they hide the ABC-TV in the credits, inches away from the quote. What up with that? Did they think that we would assume the comment came from Martin Scorsese?
LOOSE NEWS STORIES: Rebecca Hughes sold her first script, The Mile High Club, to Working Title Films last week. It’s a comedy about an airport security guard who goes undercover to bust (no pun intended) an in-flight prostitution ring. Naturally, Propaganda Films hired her to write yet another version (number 27 and counting) of Pamela Des Barres‘ rock ‘n’ roll groupie epic, I’m With The Band. Hughes is hoping to some day write a movie in which most of the cast won’t be wearing kneepads. On the other hand, writing a biopic about President Clinton may not be all that bad.
LOOSE NEWS STORY 2, THE SEQUEL: The Spice Girls’ upcoming Madison Square Garden concert sold out so quickly this week (12 minutes) that New York State Attorney General Dennis Vacco is looking into possible illegal block sales to scalpers from out of state. New York State Surgeon General Joe Nonexistent is looking into evidence of the statewide brain damage that would be required for 13,000 people to shell out $35-$50 each to see the Spice Girls perform live.
READER OF THE DAY: You guys have all week to talk. Reader’s Week starts tomorrow.

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