Hot Button Archive for June, 1998
Weekend Preview
How will week two of The Truman Show end? For all the love that film is generating, including a strong showing of about $12 million Monday through Thursday, I still expect a drop, albeit a small one. Say 15 percent. That means a little under $27 million this weekend. That should be enough to fend off Harrison Ford in Six Days, Seven Nights. The poorly reviewed drama The Devil’s Own opened with $18 million last spring, and the much-loved Air Force One opened with $37 million last summer. Box office resource Exhibitor Relations is guessing a $13.6 million opening, but I don’t think Ford can open that low. I’ll say $22 million for second place this weekend. I expect A Perfect Murder to continue pretty comfortably, dropping about 25 percent to $12.5 million and third. And I think Can’t Hardly Wait will surprise people by opening around $11 million before anyone has a chance to figure out that this is no John Hughes movie. (That could be a good or bad thing. In this case, it’s the negative of the two options.) Godzilla should take fourth place, holding steady in its current box office mediocrity, adding another $8 million to its monstrous coffers. In fifth, the race between holdovers Hope Floats and Deep Impact could get pretty tight. Hope should float a little higher as both films linger around $6 million. The Horse Whisperer should manage one more strong week with a little over $4 million. In the under-$3-million category, look for Bulworth, Titanic, I Got the Hook Up and newcomer Dirty Work to battle for slots eight through 10.
THE GOOD: Got to see The Mask of Zorro. Sony wasn’t lying. It’s a really fun film, perfect for the summer. It’s a real movie movie. Oodles of style, a very charming movie star turn from Antonio Banderas, a star-making turn by Catherine Zeta Jones and the glorious growl of Anthony Hopkins keeping it all together. It’s hard to imagine anyone not enjoying this one.
THE BAD: As if the return of “Fantasy Island” to TV wasn’t scary enough, Sony just optioned the movie rights to the ’70s series. Men In Black director Barry Sonnenfeld is executive producing the series, so maybe Sony hopes he’ll make the movie. Will Smith in a white suit saying, “You know the difference between me and the little guy is that I make this look good!”
THE UGLY: Perhaps the most disgusting horror movie I’ve ever seen is being rolled out as a Midnight movie in selected cities this weekend. It’s called The Beyond and is being re-released by Quentin Tarantino‘s Rolling Thunder films. I’m planning on doing a photo essay on the film as soon as we get the materials. It’s the grossest! (WARNING: Every woman in the screening left the room.)
THE AMUSING: I must admit, it tickled me to find my “interview” with Godzilla quoted in my alma mater magazine, Entertainment Weekly, this week. Of course, the interview took place before the film was released. I’m talking to Big G’s publicist now about whether we can chat about the reception the movie got. We’ll see.
TWO BAD MOVIES EQUAL: Can’t Hardly Wait + Dirty Work = Can’t Hardly Work. Norm MacDonald stars in this really boring movie about a stand-up comic who can’t get work after being fired from a major network comedy show, and then makes a really stupid movie directed by the guy who used to host “America’s Funniest Home Videos.” Co-stars Ethan Embry, who can’t hardly calm down. Charlie Korsmo, who can’t hadly get excited about acting while pulling down a 4.0 in astrophysics at M.I.T. Plus Chris Farley, Phil Hartman, John Candy, John Belushi and Freddie Prinze, who can’t hardly believe this piece of crap is going to be their legacy.
JUST WONDERING: Why don’t actresses in L.A. notice that beautiful actresses with moderate-sized busoms who don’t get breast jobs (Catherine Zeta Jones, Sandra Bullock, Anne Heche, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Lopez, Meg Ryan, Kristen Scott Thomas and Mulan) seem to be becoming major movie stars while the actresses who silicone up (Hello, Demi! I know, You are the exception.) seem to end up naked and playing bimbos all the time?
BAD AD WATCH: Every day that Dirty Work gets closer to actually hitting theaters, there seems to be a little more Chris Farley in their ads. It probably wouldn’t have happened if he were alive because his management would be going nuclear on MGM, threatening future projects for overusing Farley, who is basically in a cameo role. Gross.
READER OF THE DAY: Lots of terrific letters on babies at the movies. I chose Courtney S. to represent the lot: “At the AMC theatres in Lansing, Mich., there is a rule barring children under the age of 6 from all showings of PG-13 or R films after 6:00 p.m. I really think this is a policy all theaters should adopt. When Star Wars first came out in ’77, my mom took me to see it even though I was only 2 1/2. Although I don’t remember it, I made her read aloud the entire opening. After that though, I settled down and watched the movie. She had common sense enough to leave my 9-day-old brother at home with grandma and grandpa. And that’s really all it is, common sense. People who take their babies to the movies are the same people that take toddlers to five-star restaurants and let them mash food into the tablecloths. Of course, if these people had any common sense, they’d realize the waste of money involved in paying seven or eight bucks for a movie they probably won’t even get to watch all the way through!”
Summer Excitement
The other day when I asked whether you all were excited about anything except The X-Files and Armageddon, the No. 1 response, by far, was “We want Saving Private Ryan.” (Mr. Spielberg will be pleased to know that The Mask of Zorro was the second most looked forward to film.) The odd part was that people seemed to think I wasn’t excited about anything other than X and A. Not true. I was just wondering how you all felt. I still think there will be some great surprise films this summer. Maybe not the biggest money-makers, but some quirky, great stuff. That said, I am excited to be at The X-Files premiere tonight. You can be there, too. Just click on the link on the right side of this page. The one with The X-Files logo. See you there.
EYE ON LEO: As the American Psycho debacle looks like more than Leonardo DiCaprio wants to take on, Universal has stepped into the batter’s cage with Bombshell: The Secret Story of America’s Unknown Atomic Spy Conspiracy. They just hired a writer to pen a screenplay from the book of the same very long title. And this one has the pedigree of already having DiCaprio’s manager Nick Weschler and Leo’s father, George, attached as producers. It’s the true story about the youngest member of the Manhattan Project team, who it turns out, gave secrets to the Soviet Union, perhaps being responsible, in his actions, for starting the Cold War. Don’t expect Universal to balk at Leo’s $20 million price tag. When studios are perceived to be in trouble, they tend to overspend. When Ron Meyer was hired to run the studio, he tried to prove the studio’s mettle by signing Stallone to a three-picture-$20- million-per contract. Everyone laughed. Some studios buy $1 million specs when they need respect. Leo could be Universal’s $20 million feather in their cap.
MORE TITANIC: The video of Titanic that hits stores September 1 will be the same version you saw in theaters. But Jim Cameron promises an extended version, or at least a version with a number of scenes that were cut reattached sometime soon. (Guess November, just in time for X-Mas buying.) Thank goodness we’ll finally see the rest of the gun chase with Billy Zane LeGreed. And the back story on that guy who fell to his death while Kate and Leo held on will take your breath away! (Anyone catch Gloria Stuart in the new Hanson video acting opposite Weird Al Yankovic? Scary!)
EVEN SCARIER: Miramax is entering the summer fray with their Halloween sequel (the seventh), H2O, which reunites Jamie Lee Curtis with Michael Myers (the murderer, not Austin Powers) on the 20th anniversary of the horror classic. After scheduling H2O for late September, a more traditional release period for teen horror films, they’ve moved the film’s release to August 5, putting it directly into the path of MGM’s Disturbing Behavior, a teen horror flick starring “Dawson Creek”‘s Katie Holmes. Why? Miramax says that H2O has outscored Scream in test screenings, which would make the move to summer completely sensible. My guess is that Miramax has decided Disturbing Behavior, which was written by Con Air scribe Scott Rosenberg and is directed by “The X-Files” TV director David Nutter, is a miss. In fact, Miramax chief Harvey Weinstein has warned MGM off the date. One little problem. H2O will also have to fight off Snake Eyes, the Nic Cage/Brian DePalma thriller which opens on August 7. The next weekend doesn’t ease up any either with The Avengers and Virus hitting theaters. Perhaps Weinstein has Scream in mind. The sleeper sensation started with just a $6 million weekend, but ran for seven months, never earning less than $1 million a weekend, and ending up with over $100 million domestically. By opening in August, Weinstein probably is looking for a run of at least 15 weeks, taking the film all the way to, when else, Halloween.
MY LAST GODZILLA THEORY: Word has it that Dean Devlin was going toe-to-toe with Godzilla bashers on the Godzilla Website’s bulletin board. Don’t run over there. The board has been shut down to keep Devlin from ruining his relationship with his core audience even further. But let me float this idea. Had Godzilla been ready a month or two before its release, in time to test screen the film, Sony, Devlin and Emmerich would have likely gotten a clear sense of how audiences reacted to the new-style monster. Had that happened, they may well have abandoned the “veil of secrecy” campaign they ran and diffused the backlash before it happened. The hyper-anticipation would be deflated somewhat and, I suspect, the harsh reactions to the film with it. What do you think?
HOPE SINKS: Last weekend, Hope Floats was reviewed on “Siskel & Ebert” (which continues to be Roger and a telephone, with Siskel calling in from his recovery bed). Or more to the point, the film was reviewed by Ebert because Fox didn’t get Siskel a copy of the film on tape for his review. Siskel was generous on air, saying that Fox “wasn’t able” to get the film to him. Bull. Fox has a film that’s been in release for two weeks and had a lot more to lose than gain by having a Siskel review of the film. What does this say about the power of these two critics and the cold, professional cynicism with which Hollywood approaches them? Too much. I didn’t think Hope Floats was a bad film, and I hate to defend the rights of the Thumbs Up team (like they need me to fight their fights), but it sure seems like bad form by Fox to me.
MEATBALL SPICE: Were you worried about who would replace Ginger Spice? Well, Luciano Pavarotti filled in on Tuesday in the group’s first appearance since Ginger turned back into Geri. The concert took place in Modena, Italy and was filmed for TV by who else, but…Spike Lee? Yes, Spike directed the show, which was a charity benefit for the children of Liberia.
READER OF THE DAY: From Chatroissy: “I do [care about screenwriters]. But I’m a writer, so I’m obviously biased. I think most writers recognize that movies are a collaborative effort, blah, blah, blah. It’s surely a trial, though, to open up a posh mag like The New Yorker to confront: ‘Peter Weir‘s The Truman Show.’ I mean come on. As I read the review I was actually grateful that Anthony ‘Smug Bastard’ Lane mentioned Andrew Niccol’s name. Is there a snowball’s chance in hell that this auteurist stuff will crawl away and die. (Weir is a great director by the way.) The average moviegoer, in response to your original question, doesn’t give a monkey’s *@#& who wrote or directed it unless it’s Spielberg.”
Ranting and Raving
How should we, as consumers of art, assess responsibility for artistic choices that we don’t like? We are quick to blame filmmakers for all kinds of things that we consider flaws. But what if they made the “flaw” on purpose. What if the “flaw” is the point? Seeing Artemisia finally brought this issue to a head for me. The Miramax Zoe film has caused a stir in New York, the stomping grounds of Gloria Steinem, who was livid at what she says is the historical inaccuracy of the film. The movie is about the very real Artemisia Gentileschi, who became the first woman in history to be commissioned to paint. History says Artemesia was raped by her teacher, Agostino Tassi, a crime to which he ended up pleading guilty. Filmmaker Agnes Merlet takes quite a different tack, suggesting that Artemisia was forced to cry rape by her father, and that Tassi was her chosen lover, who confessed to rape only to keep Artemisia from being tortured by the judge who wanted to force a confession from either her or Tassi.
Watching the film, I could well understand why Steinem and her legions were pissed off. Merlet had taken a 300-year-old story about a feminist icon and allowed her to take complete responsibility for her life, earn the respect of those who knew her and, ultimately, take responsibility for her “rape” as well. Anti-feminists who claim that women often cry wolf about rape couldn’t have made a film that made their case any better. However, the filmmaker is a self-proclaimed feminist herself and one of the very few female directors working in this industry. Does she deserve to be attacked for having a different point-of-view? After all, given that this story is far enough back in history to be a little murky, who’s to say that Merlet isn’t right in her assessment? And even more to the point, does Merlet have a responsibility to be historically accurate in her work? Tough questions.
Oliver Stone is known as the King of the History Benders. JFK was notoriously paranoid about the U.S. government, while Nixon was surprisingly generous to Tricky Dick. But he’s hardly alone. There were many historical inaccuracies in Amistad, including one of the most moving moments in the film, the meeting between Cinqué and John Quincy Adams. Did Spielberg and Co. do the right thing? Did changing history make the point that Spielberg wanted to make? And a good point it was. But, did he do the wrong thing?
What about Titanic? Jim Cameron was obsessed with the details, yet he based his movie around two fictional characters and their adolescent romance. Should he have stuck to reality?
Scorsese has made numerous movies based on real-life stories (GoodFellas and Casino amongst them), making heroes out of what would traditionally be called “bad guys.” It’s all point-of-view. His Last Temptation of Christ was boycotted for suggesting that Jesus ever had moral doubts, even though he never succumbs to them in the film.
There are even bigger taboos. Pedophilia exists, yet Lolita is still scaring the heck out of studios and politicians alike. Kids made the hideous error of admitting that teens smoke pot and have sex. MASH, a film (and TV series) about Vietnam, had to dress up in Korean War sheepskin in order to make it into public view. Disney has a closet-full of short films that have been locked away because they are so offensive to today’s multicultural world. Song of the South is tame (Zip-a-dee Doo-Dah!) in comparison. Italian superstar Roberto Benigni took a load of heat at Cannes this year for his Chaplin-esque comedy Life is Beautiful, in which his character shields the horrors of World War II Germany from his child, with comedy. (Benigni ended up winning a jury prize for his daring.) Jerry Lewis made a concentration camp dramedy (The Day the Clown Cried) in 1972, and the film went unreleased and hasn’t been screened again to this very day.
Maybe I’m just getting soft in my old age. (Well, I guess 33 isn’t that old, but it’s been a long 33 years.) Maybe I’m sick of the Godzilla fight. Maybe it’s having to examine these issues six days a week for this column. But, I want to support every truly artistic choice, whether I agree with it or not. There are some terrible “artistic” filmmakers out there. But it is my responsibility, as I think it is yours, to separate the choice from the execution. Our sense of morality from the point that a morally questionable stance is trying to make. The value of art from the value of accuracy. Who should we blame for art that we don’t like? There shouldn’t be any blame. Just thought. Lots of thought.
X-FILES: If you haven’t started downloading the software to join us for The X-Files premiere tomorrow night, now is the time. Trust no one. Except for rough cut.
READER OF THE DAY: From Aaron: “I saw The Truman Show this past Sunday in a Burbank, Ca. multiplex, which was packed to the gills, of course, and 20 minutes in, a baby started to wail. I blocked it out, and really didn’t even notice its cries anymore when a viewer across the theater said, ‘Would you please take your baby outside?’ The mother replied, ‘I paid my $7.50, just like you.’ ‘Well, you should’ve paid for a babysitter then.’ ‘You pay for the babysitter.’ ‘Your baby, lady.’ So by now, this was a full-blown conversation, and it was loud. Loud enough to block out the movie. ‘That’s right, it’s my baby, and my baby’s staying here!’ ‘You’re ruining the movie for everyone.’ ‘So be it.’ Long silence. Maybe 20 seconds. The baby still crying. And now, from way in the back, a new voice, ‘I’ll pay for the babysitter.’ The theater erupts in raucous applause and cheering. I skipped into a screening of A Perfect Murder right after, and same thing — baby crying. A man says, ‘Could you take care of your baby, please?… Please?’ He was very nice about it, and the mom took the baby outside. It seems, the more this happens, the more people are feeling comfortable about saying something. I just wish it was that easy on airplanes.”
Tony, Tone, Toni
Sunday Night’s Tony Awards had Hollywood to spare. The big winner was Disney’s The Lion King, which took home six Tonys (for Best Original Musical and bests in direction, choreography, lighting, scenic design and costumes). As a matter of fact, when the show won the top honor, the producer was listed as, “Disney.” Just “Disney.” No names. No Disney Theater blah-blah-blah. Talk about branding. Besides appearances by movie stars like Nathan Lane, Helen Hunt and Alec Baldwin, there was the co-winner of the Tony for Best Original Play, Art, none other than Sean Connery. But after a speech by one of his female co-producers, Connery moved to the mike as the TV director pulled away and went to commercial. He won’t be dissed like that again until The Avengers opens.
SAILING ON A SEA OF VIDEO: Can’t get enough Titanic? Well, you can own it for yourself on September 1. Yesterday’s Hot Button (THB 6/08) figured out that the film had a shot at hitting $600 million domestic by Labor Day. This may change that. In fact, Paramount moved the release from September 9 to the 1st in order to take advantage of your Labor Day Weekend video rental plans. Sales are expected to easily pass the record of 20 million units sold for a live-action movie. It’s not enough to beat out the best of the Disney collection, but it is good for another $500 million or so in profits.
BACK TO THE NC-17 RATED FUTURE: Did you love The Brady Bunch movies and Austin Powers? Hopeful that the “Charlie’s Angels” remake will actually come to pass? Do you love go-go boots? Then, the Betty Thomas version of Jacqueline Susann‘s Valley of the Dolls should be right up your alley. Fox is close to signing on the-line-that-is-dotted for the ’90s version of the saga, with the trio of hot-patted, hot-loving chicks in New York, trying to make it in today’s business. There’s Anne, the uptight New Englander. There’s Neely, the hot-blooded horn dog of Hollywood who did everything to rise up the ladder to stardom. And there’s Jennifer, the big-busted beauty. Together they find the view from above isn’t as pretty as they thought. Susann is back in full force, with Universal making a biopic starring Bette Midler and Nathan Lane which was written by the bitch-genius Paul Rudnick and directed by Honeymoon in Vegas director Andrew Bergman. Plus, USA Network is doing their own biopic, and Rhino films is trying to get a remake of the Roger Ebert-written, Russ Meyer-directed Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.
JUST WONDERING: Besides Armageddon, is anyone excited about anything coming out this summer after The X-Files?
THE CREDITS ARE HERE! THE CREDITS ARE HERE!: Wondering who to thank for Armageddon? (Assuming you like the movie when it arrives in July.) Well, if you want to thank the writers, you’ll have to find the credits, which will read: Screenplay by Jonathan Hensleigh and J.J. Abrams, Adaptation by Tony Gilroy and Shane Salerno and Story by Robert Roy Pool and Hensleigh. You think that’s a lot of people? That still leaves out four little-known writers who worked on the film: Paul Attanasio (Donnie Brasco), Ann Biderman (Primal Fear), Scott Rosenberg (Con Air) and Robert Towne (Chinatown). That’s at least $7.5 million in writing expenses for the film. Probably more. The Writer’s Guild gave the film the “Adapted By” credit in a rarely used exception to their normal “four writers max” rule. And this is bad news. The last film to get that exception was Sphere.
COPPOLA TRIAL UPDATE: In a moment that would make Harry Knowles have an orgasm, Francis Ford Coppola showed his jury pre-production footage of his version of Pinnochio (wonder if Harry has any spies on the jury). He used the footage to try and explain how he would cut the $70 million projected budget to $60 million. He also testified that Warner Bros. ended up paying him only $3,100 and $700 in expenses. $700 in expenses? A guy like Coppola spends that at lunch! Geez! Warner Bros. spent almost that much promoting Almost Heroes.
X ALERT: I’m going to be at the premiere on Thursday night, trusting no one. Will you trust me with some questions?
READER OF THE DAY: Peter R. wrote: “I think knowing things about a movie enhances the experience. I can’t think what wouldn’t, except maybe a surprise ending. Even then, I still fall for it every time. (My personal example is Jumanji, which I think has such a wonderful Capra storyline under the special effects. I do get all weepy at the end when the father/son conflict resolves. Every time.) But with regards to info I learned from this site that the Godzilla monster ‘looked better in the rain,’ which I found interesting to watch during the movie. Not an easy effect to produce, and sometimes, it wasn’t produced very well. Things like rewrites and insider stuff only makes it better. For me. Now my parents just want to see the darn movie. They don’t want to know about Anne Heche’s orientation and how will that create/diffuse tension between her and Mr. Ford. But I do. In fact, I can’t wait.”
Weekend Wrap-Up
Well, gang, you’re about to see the difference between a movie whose opening weekend disappoints but critics and media types like, and a movie that was equally disappointing financially but got smashed in the face by hype and hysteria. My estimate (THB 6/05) of $35 million to $40 million for The Truman Show was low compared to some, but what you’ll be reading this week in the press will be accolades about how a “difficult,” “hard-to-sell,” “serious-minded” film beat the odds by opening with $31.6 million. Which is absolutely true. But The Truman Show is not going to be the next Forrest Gump. It’s not going to do half the business of Forrest Gump. If the film declines in the slowest likely trajectory (keep in mind that Titanic‘s descent was a historical anomaly), The Truman Show will reach $100 million after six weeks (four weeks longer than it took Godzilla to hit that mark), topping out at around a $120 million max. Don’t get me wrong. I like and support this film. And a $100 million-plus drama is a rarity that should be applauded. But keep an eye on the spin.
The rest of the box office news starts with the No. 2 film, A Perfect Murder. It wasn’t long ago that a $16.3 million opening was considered a good thing. In today’s economy, it’s a sign of trouble. None of the hits that opened last June (Con Air, Batman & Robin, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Face/Off and Hercules) opened under $20 million. The only June film to open at $16 million last year? Speed 2. Now, A Perfect Murder is not going to be the disaster that Speed 2 was, but APM will be lucky to get to $50 million in this market. Not good. (And as far as the film goes, I thought the first act was actually brilliant on every level. But from that moment on, they clearly had no idea what the hell to do with the story. Too bad.) As I expected, Godzilla did rise over Hope Floats (which had been ahead of Les Lizardables every weekday, including Friday) with the kids free to fill seats around the country. Godzilla takes third place with $10 million and Hope Floats took fourth with $8.5 million. Deep Impact took fifth with another $6.7 million. Right now, it doesn’t look like Godzilla will catch up with Deep Impact domestically. (Overseas, Godzilla is still likely to crush the All-American Deep Impact.)
In the second five, The Horse Whisperer passed the $50 million mark with a sixth place, $5.2 million weekend. In seventh, Bulworth, with $2.2 million was the last of the films over $2 million for the weekend. Titanic and I Got the Hook Up tied for eighth with $1.6 million. And Quest For Camelot grabbed another $1.4 million to get within striking distance of a $20 million domestic total. So much for the Holy Grail.
THE GOOD: Titanic keeps chugging along. It continues to generate about $2 million every seven-day week. If things continue apace, the film should hit the $600 million domestic mark by Labor Day weekend. Do you think James Cameron will take a note from Jerry Lewis and drop his pants when he hears that timpani?
THE BAD: Barring a flashback, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas will be lucky to hit the $10 million mark by the time it disappears from American screens.
THE UGLY: Almost Heroes will barely pass the $5 million mark.
TWO MOVIES EQUAL: The Truman Show + Godzilla = TRUZILLA. Jim Carrey is Truzilla, King of the Rubber-Faced Monsters. Adopted by an evil nuclear conglomerate at birth and put on TV without his knowledge, Truzilla is exposed to an extreme dose of radiation at 18 when the ratings take a dive. As a result, the boy grows to 30 stories tall and wreaks havoc on The City when he talks with his butt and lights his flatulence. Some have accused Truzilla filmmakers Weir, Devlin and Emmerich of creating a monster that “is a ripoff of Jerry Lewis” and that “it’s not the real Jim Carrey.” But Carrey responded, “alrighty then,” said that he “liked it” and taunted viewers’ inability to control the quality of the movies by saying, “Somebody stop me.”
JUST WONDERING: Am I the only person left on the planet who doesn’t talk in the movies?
BAD AD WATCH: A tie this week by Six Days, Seven Nights and Can’t Hardly Wait. Harrison Ford’s latest is reduced to pull quotes from The Nashville Network, NY-1, Jeanne Wolf’s Hollywood and WQAM/NBC Chicago. The film from Love is in the err (get it?) with quotes from Entertainment Time-Out and Chicago pop radio station Q101. Can’t hardly believe it.
READER OF THE DAY: Three e-mails on The Truman Show that seem to express the range of reactions I’ve heard from almost everyone. First, killcows: “The Truman Show is probably the best movie I’ve ever seen. It was creepy. It was funny. It was SMART (a word usually not associated with summer cinema.) It was entertaining. Yada yada yada. Truman was a very tragic character, just wanting a person to really love and a real life, but he wasn’t allowed to. He couldn’t be happy. That was creepy, and the fact that the director, Cristof, thought he was actually doing a service to Truman was… sad. Insane. I loved the ending. A great movie. Five stars.”
In the middle, it’s Paul D.: “I saw The Truman Show three times over its opening weekend, and even though it’s a masterpiece and easily the best movie of the last few years, I left the theater pissed off every time. The audience, which included people of all ages, just didn’t get it. They laughed continuously through the movie. A few of the scenes were supposed to be funny, but most weren’t. The movie is not a comedy. Why in the hell are people laughing? It looks like the movie is going to open wonderfully and be a hit, as it should. But if the majority of the people who saw it don’t get it and think it’s just another Jim Carrey comedy, does that really matter?”
And finally, A.J. wrote: “Saw The Truman Show. Hmmm. I bought all the hype ahead of time, and have to say, I was a little disappointed. I enjoyed the movie overall, but I just don’t see the comparisons to Forrest Gump, or between Carrey, Williams, and Hanks. I think at Oscar time, only screenplay and direction will be mentioned. I could be wrong, after all I saw Godzilla opening weekend.”
News By The Numbers
10. Charles Grodin lost his TV job this week. I was always a big fan of the guy until he hit CNBC and came out of the whiny-radical-self-
righteous-jerk closet. I’m sure he is financially stable, but I’m equally sure that he’ll be knocking on Hollywood’s door at any moment. His last three films before heading to TV were the unreleaseable Marty Short co-starrer Clifford, the MGM disaster It Runs in the Family and the truly value-free Beethoven 2. To be fair, Grodin’s films just before those included a wonderful cameo in Dave and a co-staring role in the terrific and underseen Heart and Souls. But whether Hollywood decides to re-open the door to Chuck will come down to one thing. Money. Pick your first part wisely.
9. Charlton Heston is about to take the presidency of the Nation Rifle Association. Chuck ran on the “If we don’t have our guns, how will we stop those damned stinking apes from taking over the planet” platform. Based on the recent series of schoolroom shootings, I’d say the monkeys are ahead.
8. Do you get your movies on illegal cable? Well, you may be in trouble. The U.S. government sided with the studios for the first time this week and shut down All-Star Electronics Corp., one of the largest makers of, so-called, black boxes. The judgment against the company was for $53 million, which to those of you who may face paying for cable for the first time, is approximately three months of basic plus the full movie package.
7. Francis Ford Coppola is in jury selection for his lawsuit against Warner Bros. over his never-made Pinnochio. Coppola could have saved us from the incredibly hideous Martin Landau/Jonathan Taylor-Thomas version produced by the man who brought us Bachelor Party. He also could have gotten back on top and avoided having to work as a director-for-hire on Jack. He went four years between movies as Pinnochio worked its way to not being made. Warner Bros. didn’t understand, man. Francis is the man. The man with the plan, man. He sees cosmos and galaxies that normal people just can’t, just can’t, just can’t, just can’t… Sorry, I was possessed by Dennis Hopper for a minute.
6. Can’t get enough lawsuits. Someone has the cajoles to sue over rights to a 9 1/2 Weeks’ prequel. No, Mickey Rourke will not be abusing women against a green screen, and then have George Lucas put New York City in later. Seems that original producer Peter Hoffman gave Lions Gate (There they are again! Nothing but trouble, these Canadians!) the rights to make the prequel, and because Trimark (the people who brought you Carrot Top in Chairman of the Board) did the sequel (which starred the budding porn star, I mean actress, Angie Everhart) they claim they have the distribution rights to any prequel. In the end, this complex legal matter will be resolved and the essential story will be all that’s left. NO ONE CARES! NO ONE WANTS TO SEE THIS FILM! (Was I too subtle?)
5. Leo is going to be in American Psycho. Leo may not be in American Psycho. Leo can accept two awards for Titanic at the MTV Music Awards, but not in person, even though he’s been hanging around in L.A. doing nothing for months. WHAT IS WITH THIS GUY?!?!? The American Psycho deal was classic Hollywood. Leo said “yes,” the studio (Lions Gate) announced, and Leo got cold feet when the press ate him alive over the choice. Sure, Leo’s publicist blamed Lions Gate for jumping the gun, but she would have retained a modicum of credibility had she done so less than a week after Lions Gate made the announcement. And all this was after the Miramax/Columbia team passed on Leo’s $20 million price tag for All the Pretty Horses and picked up a bargain rate Matt Damon for $5.5 million. Then, the MTV thing. I guess he was too busy banging Playmates up at Hef’s. What’s a boy to do?
4. The MTV Music Awards were given out. Jim Carrey got it all right in his speech, which took a page from his award-winning performance in Liar, Liar. “It’s an honor. Business. Honor. Business. It’s an honor and it’s also business.” It’s the most meaningless award since George Schlatter invented the American Comedy Awards to get a two-hour slot on ABC. `Nuff said. (Watch for the roughcut Movie Awards, coming to TNT as soon as we stop giggling and actually propose the idea.)
3. Norm MacDonald‘s movie, Dirty Work, was given the heave-ho from NBC’s “Saturday Night Live”‘s advertiser list. Ads for the film were banned by Don Ohlmeyer, who prefers O.J. Simpson to MacDonald in a landslide. Ohlmeyer was the guy who fired Norm from his SNL anchor job for “not being funny.” And that was even before Dirty Work was released. No word on whether Ohlmeyer will be banning Ford Bronco ads or reruns of “The Green Hornet,” featuring Bruce Lee as Kato.
2. The Spice Girls are looking to fill the void left by Ginger/Geri Spice. Hot Button readers have offered up: Talented Spice (from killcows), Lena Horne as Old Spice (Steve W), Butch Spice (from AJ, who ads, “Think about it, she would be the perfect compliment to those lipsticky femmes. She can basically be like the construction worker in the Village people, but you know, manlier.”) and The Empty Space in the Spice Rack (Joe Z). I also got a letter from John F., who said, “According to The Globe (or was it the Weekly World News) Charles Manson has announced that he will commit suicide, but only after he gets a chance to meet the Spice Girls. I’m guessing this means that Squeaky Spice is taking lessons in Girl Power. Lock and load indeed.” Meanwhile Ginger gets to be both John and Yoko.
2. While NBC was turning away MGM’s money (they produced Dirty Work), they were getting a bargain on Godzilla. After staying out of TV-rights negotiations before Godzilla opened, expecting a record $100 million opening weekend, Sony had to drop their $35 million TV rights demand and settle for NBC’s $25 million. This is almost as good a deal for NBC as their pick-up of the Titanic rights from Paramount/Fox in the first week of January for only $30 million. No truth to the rumor that NBC is getting another great deal, accepting $25 million from Warner Bros. to air Almost Heroes on their network.
1. In what was a very rare moment of intense honesty and cruelty, Lucasfilm posted the “Plot Does Matter” teaser page on their Star Wars site. (Check it out, with thanks to Cinescape). Word has it that the stunt made Dean Devlin shed tears. Understandable. The guy has had a hard week. He has a $105 million movie in its 17th day, and he’s been vilified (along with Roland Emmerich) as the scourge of cinema. It’s an excellent reminder of just how extreme the Hollywood rollercoaster can be. If you want to get in the biz, make sure to bring a barf bag.
1A. Thanks For The Malfeasance: Arizona Congressman Bob Stump was a little fast on the draw when he announced on Friday afternoon that Bob Hope was dead. Stump got the news from House Majority Leader Dick Armey who got it form a staffer who saw it on the AP wire. (Great. Another thing to blame on the Internet!) Turns out that Hope was alive and having breakfast, according to his daughter and his publicist. What AP meant to say was that Hope looks like he’s dead.
READER OF THE DAY: From Geoff F: “I’ve been reading the comments about Fear and Loathing, which I saw over Memorial Day weekend. I agree with the reader who said that the book and the movie are companion pieces to each other. I thought the movie was done well — very faithful, in many ways, to the feel of the book. The audience I was with seemed very appreciative, although also uneasy at times. What I think might bother some people is not the fact that the movie rambles (like a rollercoaster, maybe the point of it is the ride itself, not the destination), but the fact that there are no heroes in it. It seems to me that we’ve become used to having movies with strong, noble characters in them (especially with all the disaster pictures over the last couple of years), and Duke and Gonzo are anything but. They’re uncompromising, which is perhaps their only laudable trait, but that’s not nearly enough to get an audience solidly behind them or identify with their quest. The other problem might be that audiences were expecting a more of a period, nostalgia piece and got smacked in the face with some pretty brutal images of excess.”
Weekend Preview
The question for this weekend is not whether The Truman Show will be No. 1. It’s how high the moon? (In this case a simulated one.) Based on a high-interest level, good word-of-mouth and a massive (if somewhat inaccurate) ad campaign, plus some guy name Carrey, I’m guessing that the film will do between 35 and 40 million bucks this weekend. In the second spot, not the lizard, but the lizard-skinned Michael Douglas (OK, it’s a cheap shot, but Mike and Gwyneth makes me almost as queasy as Ben and Gwyneth) in A Perfect Murder. The buzz is all over the place on this Hitchcock remake from The Fugitive director Andy Davis. First it was up, then Warner Bros. couldn’t make up its mind about the June 5 release date, then some bad reviews, then some good ones. But as we all know, it doesn’t much matter whether the film is good in the first weekend. It’s the hype, and Douglas traditionally earns his keep on first weekends, no matter what the film. Eighteen million for second place.
In third, I was expecting to predict that Hope Floats would rise above Godzilla this weekend, but I’ve changed my mind. Hope was ahead of The Liz (soon to be a Broadway musical starring Michael Jackson as Godzilla) all week, but not by much. I think kids will still be checking out Godzilla this weekend, and last week’s 59 percent fall-off will become just 35 percent for around $12 million this weekend. Hope Floats should have a similar drop and fall to fourth with about a $9.2 million take. (A $9 million take? Sounds like an Armageddon price tag.) And what would the top five be if Deep Impact wasn’t here? People really like this film and I just don’t get it. I wish there was something about it that I did like. Oh, well. Throw another $6.5 million in the way of the asteroid.
The second 10 should be pretty contentious this week. The only newcomer should be Dirty Work, which should manage about $2.5 million, even with crappy reviews, crappy reaction to the trailer and no stars, which has led to a crappy abuse of Chris Farley‘s cameo, in desperation. (The Almost Heroes/Dirty Work double feature could be right next to “drug overdose” in the “cause of death” section on Farley’s autopsy report.) In sixth, The Horse Whisperer should take another $4.8 million in its march to be this year’s official Bridges of Madison County, though it will have to scrape to match Madison’s $71 million domestic take. Bulworth should come in right ahead of Dirty Work (about $2.9 million for seventh) and I Got the Hook Up should come in right behind it (about $2.4 million for eighth). In the rest of this ugly little gathering, Almost Heroes and Quest for Camelot will try to hold up while Titanic might float back up a little. All three films should be somewhere between $1 and $2 million.
JUST WONDERING: Titanic is amazing and all, but why isn’t Paramount pulling it for a September re-release? They could make more money from the film in a couple of fall weekends than they’ll make from letting The Boat linger at $1.5 million a week all summer. Video killed the distribution executive star.
THE GOOD: The Truman Show is pretty damned good. For better or worse, it left me wanting more. (Warning: Shameless Truman-Show-like product placement to follow.) If you are interested in what was missing and why, check out my feature. And there’s a lot more Truman in this week’s rough cut.
THE BAD: Bad? Well, when you have to open a major motion picture starring Michael Douglas with a lead quote from Jeanne Wolf’s Hollywood, it sure looks like a slamming time. But I haven’t seen the picture yet, so I won’t judge. (Snicker, snicker.)
THE UGLY: The Internet rumor mill has got people like A Perfect Murder director Andy Davis buying into stories like Psycho being remade shot-for-shot and word-for-word. Notice how the world isn’t a buzz with news that Brian Grazer broke his media silence to acknowledge that the new Psycho is currently getting some minor rewrites. I’m beginning to feel bad for the publicists. If they talk, they get bombed (Godzilla) and if they stay silent, there will be backlash when people find out the pundits had it wrong (potentially Psycho).
THE CONTEST: Check out the new weekly box office contest. It’s fun, it’s easy (especially this week) and the prizes (soundtrack CDs) are swell! But make sure to start playing now because the new contest has monthly winners. Miss a week and you may not be able to catch up. And don’t forget my contest, which runs all summer long. You have $100 in your pocket and all June to bet before you lose it, but take a look now. The odds are about to change.
TWO MOVIES EQUAL: The Last Days of Disco + A Perfect Murder = The Last Days of Murder. The fourth film of Whit Stillman’s delightful trilogy, The Last Days of Murder follows white Anglo-Saxon Protestants Chip, Mac, Theodore and the exotic Courtney (she moved to Brooklyn at 20) as they sit in really expensive living rooms and talk about their lives as hitpeople. The group piles up 27 kills during the film, but we see none of the action. Only the chat about how blood stains white polo shirts.
BAD AD WATCH: San Diego Union Tribune reviewer David Elliott says of Almost Heroes, “This is one of the year’s funniest goofs.” Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Is he talking about the movie or Warner Bros. choice to release it? Or perhaps he was talking about quality actors and the brilliant Chris Guest’s choice to take on the project, which came from some otherwise-talented Chicago improv guys?
READER OF THE DAY: From Rori: “With all the fuss over a certain lizard not doing boffo business, I have to bring up what would seem to me to be a greater failure — Quest for Camelot. Is it true that it cost Warner Bros. over $140 million? (I assume the building of original facilities for production was factored in.) Nothing I saw in that film suggested such expense. It was even poorly edited — and with storyboards worked through on animated films. That is inexcusable. I read a lot about production troubles, what the hell REALLY went wrong with it? Why did Warner Bros. do such a poorly thought-out tale in the first place?”
I Love Litigation
Ever wonder what happened to the heat around Francis Ford Coppola after Dracula hit? Well, he was pouring it into his version of Pinocchio, but the film never got made because he couldn’t settle on a deal with Warner Bros. Meanwhile, Warner Bros. put the kabosh on Coppola’s efforts to set a deal for the project over at Sony by claiming they retained the rights. Not pretty. But now it’s coming to a courtroom near you! (Well, near me.) Coppola’s court date with Warner Bros. is here. Usually, a lawsuit against a studio that actually gets all the way to court is a death sentence for the talent. But this isn’t just some guy. This is Coppola. Just don’t look for him to be directing the next Batman or the sequel to The Postman for Warner Bros.
SPARE THE ROD: Speaking of stalled WB projects, Nicolas Cage gave up on making a movie of the Iron Man comic book when he took on Superman Lives. But while Superman sits, Iron Man is at play, as rumors have started circulating that Tom Cruise may take on the role of multi-billionaire industrialist Tony Stark and his super iron-plated alter ego, Iron Man. (I hope I haven’t ruined the movie for anyone.) Personally, I still think Cage would be the perfect Tony Stark. As for the height-challenged (but still beautiful) Mr. Cruise, if they ever make a movie about Bucky, Captain America‘s wartime sidekick, he da man! (Sorry if 80 percent of you don’t get the joke. Hey, I’m still more comprehensible than Dennis Miller.)
THE PORN SCORN: The fun never ends at Universal. After all the turmoil of the last months, now they have a little problem of the Disney/Miramax variety. October Films, which was brought under the Universal tent after a strong Oscar showing in 1997, has four movies pushing the border of the NC-17 rating: Orgazmo, the porno industry/bodily function comedy from “South Park” co-creator Trey Parker. Todd Solondz’s Happiness, which won Solondz a special award at Cannes for “its bold tackling of controversial contemporary themes, richly-layered subtext, and remarkable fluidity of visual style.” The controversial contemporary theme is pedophilia, which is also a potentially NC-17 rated theme of Thomas Winterberg‘s Festen (aka The Celebration) which was co-winner of the Jury Prize. Last, but certainly not least potentially offensive film to the MPAA, is Breaking the Waves director Lars Von Trier’s The Idiots (aka Dogma 95), which features an orgy with lots of male frontal nudity and X-rated penetration. There’s some talk that October will use distortion techniques to make the film R-ratable.
But why would October care about any of these films, most of all Van Trier’s and Winterberg’s getting an NC-17? Neither film has any chance of breaking out of the art house circuit. Under those circumstances, October would normally reject the MPAA rating and release the film unrated. The controversy might even draw in curious gawkers. But now, as part of Universal, October is forced to have all of their films rated. And an NC-17 means that newspapers like the New York Times won’t accept advertising. In the very beginning of their relationship with Disney, Miramax created a separate distribution arm in order to release one of these “adult” films, but not since. They have conformed as necessary. We’ll know in the next months how it gets handled by October and Universal. Given his proclivities, perhaps Edgar Bronfman Jr. will sell the company and then buy it back two weeks after the film opens.
REALLY DIRTY WORK: Don’t look for ads for MGM’s Dirty Work, the June 12 release that has been in the can longer than most items on your grocer’s shelves, on “Saturday Night Live,” even though the film stars SNL-alum Norm MacDonald. The nix was put on the ad buy by the same guy who put the nix on MacDonald, NBC West Coast President Don Ohlmeyer. This would be a great issue of censorship if the movie didn’t suck so horribly, which brings to mind a singularly inane story in Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times. The story was about how the quest for PG-13 ratings for comedies has softened the powerful wit of movie comedy. One problem. The example that they used was Dirty Work. And the one joke they used as an example was a hilarious joke about prison rape. God, I can’t believe that we are going to have to go without that!
MOVIE FLEA MARKET: Remember last January when Paramount sold the TV rights to Titanic to NBC for $30 million because no one knew that Titanic, which opened nicely, but was still looking like a $150 million domestic hit at maximum, was going to be the first billion dollar movie? The deal so upset co-producer Fox that threats of suits filled the air. Well, here’s a reversal on that story. Godzilla, which was being held up from a TV sale in the quest for the biggest TV sale possible, has had to settle for a $25 million, 5-run sale to NBC. Sony was looking for at least $35 million. This time, a studio was caught waiting too long. And once again, NBC won the war.
SPICE ADVICE: I guess we have to talk Spice Girls. I mean, they did have a hit movie. Let’s just say that the exit of Ginger should have about as much effect as the exit of Suzanne Somers from “Three’s Company.” In fact, the only real difference between the two exiting femme fatales is that in her nude-pictures-from-her-past, Ginger turned out to have bigger boobs than Somers. I’m not sure whether this will help her career. In American Showbiz 1998, they are still too small to land a role on “Baywatch.” (If Ginger marries Tommy Lee, I’m retiring from this business once and for all!) Anyway, there was one great story on the exit. It was in the New York Daily News, and the reporter was talking to psychologists about how to handle this potentially serious blow to an over-Spiced girl. The advice: “Invite [the children] to talk about it and don’t judge or minimize how they are feeling. Try to explain that some things are unfair. Encourage the child not to generalize.” I say, buy them some Motown and teach them what a real girl group sounds like.
THE NEW CONTEST: OK, so there’s no banner for it, but the Summer Movie Race has begun. You have $100 to bet in each summer month (June, July and August) to pick the movies you think can clean up. And there are odds on each, just like at the races. But you can’t sit on your hands, here. The odds will change every week. It’s a little complex, but what else would you expect from me. And did I mention that the winner gets a DVD player?
READER OF THE DAY: Erin wrote: “I’m feeling inspired. Two Bad Movies Equal: Hope Floats + Hope Floats = Hope Bloats. Sandra Bullock is dumped on a national talk show by her husband because she retains too much water. She packs up her stuff and daughter, puts it all on her shoulders, and floats down the river to mama’s house in Texas, where she suffers from extreme, inordinate PMS symptoms and munchies and eats the town alive — wait, that’s another bad movie. Chris Farley co-stars.”
Ranting and Raving
received the following letter on Monday: “Please. I beg of you. Enough about how the unwashed masses toppled Godzilla. With as much finger-wagging and whining as you keep doing, I’m beginning to think you have some stock in the big beast. Look, I’ll make you a deal. I haven’t seen Godzilla, and I have no desire to, but if it will shut you up on this matter I’ll go see it, like 10 times. 20 times. Anything to not have to read ‘YOU are why Godzilla flopped!!!’ again. This has gotten mighty old. For what it’s worth, other than that I love the site. Thanks, Brian.”
Well, how else can I respond to that other than by shutting up. Frankly, I thought I was complimenting the audience by giving them credit for what’s happened with Big G. Who else would Brian like to be responsible? Me? The rest of the media? Sony? Anyway, I think we are all sick of talking about Godzilla. And lots of you seem really inspired to talk about your local bijous. So, today will be one of those days for some readers to rant and rave. My apologies if you aren’t here or if I cut your letter severely. Only so much room available. And remember, Carmike was the subject the other day, so there are a few Carmike letters, but stick with it. Your personal chain of choice (or chain you hate) may come up in the next letter.
“I, too, am sure Jim was sincere, but he was sincerely wrong in his conclusions. I live in a city dominated by Carmike as well, but the recently constructed 12-plex is state of the art, and moviegoers in my town would be much worse off if the chain goes under. I choose to support this chain not only because they deliver great value for my movie money in their newest theater, but because they converted a full-price three-plex to a $1.50 theater, which is a real boom to budget-minded folks like myself.” — Another Jim in Wilmington, NC
“I’ve been a stockholder for Carmike Cinemas for seven years. Granted, they are not my favorite theater chain (that would be AMC). But I haven’t sold my stock just yet. Here’s why: I get the stockholder reports. I see the nice profits. And I have to wonder, if Carmike couldn’t afford a little something. Carmike doesn’t offer the most competitive salaries around. In fact, I’ve had several friends that work for the chain joke to me that the only way they get a raise is if Congress votes for it. They’re not called ‘The Wal-Mart of Movie Theaters’ for nothing.” — Matt C
“Cinemark has been known for terrible conditions around here (we have five of them, with a total of 30 screens), but they recently opened a brand-new 12-plex (with big-screen TVs for screens, but stadium seating and THX in every theater). This has sapped viewers from the other theaters, especially the old local theater that I enjoy, with a huge screen, new seats and a new sound system. That big screen now gets to use its seats and top-notch digital sound on Hope Floats and Good Will Hunting. Sigh.” — Erik
“I live in Boston and have to say that the owners of the older theaters don’t seem to see the need to refurbish them. What it comes down to is this: people just don’t care, or they don’t know any better. I have high standards for my movie-going experiences and especially appreciate good sound. My sister is currently in the UK and says that nearly every movie theater there is top-notch… or better. The Brits have a real appreciation for movies and show them in huge, high-quality theaters. She used to laugh at my anal need for good sound, etc., but now, having seen the light, my sister is a convert.” — Marty
“The phenomenon [of improving theaters] stops on the edges of the big cities. Trust me. The smaller cities that still have movie theaters know they have a captive audience and ours, here in the swamps of Georgia, are much like Carmike described: dim-bulbed projectors, wrong lenses, out of focus, sound either too loud or too quiet and are run by dim-witted-minimum-waged-teenagers playing grab-ass with each other. The managers are usually about 22 years old, having worked their way up in the moobie theater bidness. It is amazing to me having grown up and lived most of my life in Denver and Houston. Granted these are not giant cities but they have always had great theaters.” — General Patton
“I live in Columbus, Ohio, a city that is dominated by AMC Theaters. They recently built a huge 24-screen theater in the middle of town and it is the pinnacle of quality. Not only does it have all of the newest, nicest features (stadium seating, huge HIT screens, even 70mm projection in some), but the quality of projection is always great and the theaters are always immaculately clean. They do charge $.75 more than the suburban locations for an adult ticket, but that’s still only $6.50, which I think is a great price. There is a small chain of independent art theaters in town, but unfortunately, their quality of projection is spotty at best, and in order to stay afloat, they often duplicate the films currently being shown at the 24-plex and sometimes don’t open them until a week or two later, essentially ensuring they’ll lose business. To be fair, though, they do show a lot of films that would normally get lost in the shuffle. Also, AMC is planning a gigantic complex that will offer 36 screens as well as Planet Hollywood concessions inside.” — Matt B.
“Smaller cities are ‘slowly’ catching up quality-wise, as theater owners realize that if they want people to shell out $20 for a night out at the movies, they had best provide some amenities. I live in Durham, NC, in the heart of Carmike Cinema land, and I’ll agree with Jim, they’re horrible. One of my friends calls himself the Sound Nazi because he has to go yell at the projectionist every time we go see a film. My old hometown of Roanoke, VA (100K people) is just now getting a theater with THX sound. So the changes are coming, albeit slowly.” — Andy
“I live in Nashville and there are about 10 Carmike theaters. I’m not sure where this guy lives, but in Nashville, Carmike is the only theater with THX on its screens, and they sound better than the Hollywood 27 and also Regal. I have no problems with their theater and they’re a hell of a lot better then General Cinema and United Artist. I’ll find out how good they are next year when a Charlotte-based company opens up a new theater.” — Mike.
Cher and Cher Alike
You may have read Cher‘s quote the other day about waiting to become old enough to evolve from lover to mother. (At least mother without motorcycle.) Looks like she’s made it. She’ll star in Tea with Mussolini for director Franco Zeffirelli along with other mature actresses Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith and Judi Dench. Cher plays a Jewish-American living abroad in the 1930s and early ’40s with bank accounts filled by numerous husbands. She, with assistance from the other ladies, takes the opportunity to change the life of a young man. Sounds like Auntie Mame with fascism. Either that or Harold and Maude with a nose job and breast implants. Your call.
NOW THAT’S COOL: Rap star Coolio will play a triple role in the upcoming independent film Tyrone. He plays Tyrone, Tyrone’s twin brother Jerome and their triplet sister, Cherone. You know what I always say, you can never have enough Coolio. (Unless you had enough Coolio before his “Dangerous Minds” video was over.)
AND EBERT: Gene Siskel is still recuperating from brain surgery, so you had to wonder what would happen on “Siskel & Ebert.” Maybe Roger and a disembodied hand puppet? Well, the answer came last weekend as Roger took his balcony seat and Gene called in from his recovery room. It was pretty surreal. Disney (who produces the show) had a split screen with stills of Gene and an “On the telephone: Gene Siskel” graphic. But the stills would dissolve into slightly different stills every few seconds, giving the illusion of movement. Rogert Ebert was very solicitous, but clearly pretty uncomfortable. I’m glad Siskel is well enough to look at video tapes and to put together his thoughts on the latest films, but isn’t this a little more than we needed? Certainly not more than the studios needed. Siskel and Ebert are apparently important enough to the ongoing marketing of films; in the eyes of the studios, that propping up Gene seems like a good idea. I mean, this isn’t exactly like waiting for the president to return to office after a major operation. This guy is a film critic! I know that we were all on pins and needles waiting to see what he thought of Godzilla, but he could have taken a few weeks off if he and Disney wanted my thumbs up.
STONE IN A BROOK(S): Sharon Stone is apparently chatting about being in Albert Brooks‘ next film, The Muse. The film is about a writer who finally finds the woman who inspires him to possible greatness. The film will be made by October Films, which was recently folded into Universal Pictures. But I still wonder, why don’t the majors support Brooks in his work? There’s nothing wrong with October, but Brooks would seem like the kind of writer-director, like Woody Allen, who could help the overall profile of a major by being part of the family. On the other hand, I hear that Woody’s long-established freedom to make whatever he wants whenever he wants to has taken some serious hits in the last couple of years that has led to his re-association with producer Jean Doumanian.
ONE IF BY LAND: The return of the Titanic may be behind Warner Bros.’ willingness to pay for the rights to the unpublished book 1906 for Barry Levinson‘s Baltimore Pictures. It’s the story of the Big One, the earthquake that hit San Francisco in 1906. The purchase of the book was based on a movie treatment which has a budding romance in the days before the quake and through the four days in which the city burned. “I’m fireman of the world!”
X MARKS: Are you anxiously awaiting The X-Files? Are you reading The Hot Button? Click on The X-Files banner on the nav bar to learn all you need to know about how to plug into The X-Files premiere next week on rough cut. I’ll be there. You come, too.
PLOT DOES MATTER: Thanks to Cinescape, who caught the Lucasfilm moment of insanity on their hard drive, you can see the Godzilla diss of the week. Click.
THE CONTEST: The end of Dave’s Box Office Contest has come. But there will be two contests in its place. Win, Place & Show is the new weekly box office contest. It’ll be easier to play and should be fun, so check it out tomorrow. Plus, Dave’s Summer Movie Race is up today. Handicap the movies best, and you can end up with your very own DVD player.
READER OF THE DAY: Erin writes: “Your weekend The Hot Button has proven to be a source of amusing confusion for a friend of mine and I’ll admit that it did take me a minute to realize the source. Then I laughed. From last weekend’s The Hot Button: ‘Nicolas Cage, freed from Super duty for at least eight months, is going on with his work. He just finished principal photography on the snuff film thriller 8mm for director Joel Schumacher.’ On first glance, it sounds like Schumacher (about whom I will refrain from comment) has made a studio- and industry-sanctioned snuff film. No mention here of the fact that 8mm is ‘about’ a snuff film, not ‘actually’ a snuff film itself. Pretty wily words you’ve written. It’s a good thing I was able to set her straight, or before you know it media outlets across the nation will be running ‘Schumacher shoots film — literally!’ headlines. I can see it in the Weekly World News already.”
Weekend Wrap-Up
His box office drop is bigger than The Lost World’s. Not as big as Batman & Robin‘s, but close. Godzilla managed just $18 million this weekend. That was a drop of 60 percent from last weekend’s three-day number. Ding dong, the Lee-zard is dead. And for better or worse, you all killed him. With this crushing blow, Sony has become the victim of a revolutionary moment in the industry. Size doesn’t matter. Spending $50 million (and tens of millions in marketing-tie-ins) to launch a film can be more dangerous than helpful. Building up all the hype had better pay off, or audiences will not only be disappointed, they will now come after you with torches and guns like the villagers chasing down Frankenstein.
In a remarkable coincidence, The Truman Show, which covers the issue of how media fits into our lives, is on the way next Friday. Director Peter Weir told me the film was testing best with 17-35s because that age group “got it.” They understand media manipulation after growing up with it in the ’70s and ’80s. Godzilla proved that. (One last note: I am still sympathetic to Devlin and Emmerich and feel they made a good monster movie with weak human characters. In time, as the hype fades, I think that more people will like the film. We’ll see.)
Eighteen million dollars was still enough to take first place. As I predicted, Sandra Bullock was able to raise Hope Floats above water, but not high enough to open really big. Almost $15 million dollars and second place is a nice start. I don’t think the film is good enough to actually build on that number next week, but look for the box office to stay steady and to, perhaps, come in No. 2 to The Truman Show next weekend, leaving Godzilla to pick up the third place scraps. Deep Impact came in a strong third, continuing to pull in audiences as it passed the $110 million mark. It would now appear that D.I. will outrun Godzilla as the top May release of 1998. And The-Boys-of-Summers-Past stayed current, as Redford (The Horse Whisperer, fourth place with $7.4 million) and Beatty (Bulworth, fifth place with $5.1 million) showed that they could still get it up. The box office, that is.
The second five was led by Dimension’s surprise low-budget hit I Got the Hook Up. The film, which opened, as almost all black-themed films do, on Wednesday (an ugly reminder of the racial tensions of America), actually opened strong in fourth place during the week and ended up with a $3.3 million weekend. That kept it ahead of Almost Heroes ($2.8 million for seventh), Quest For Camelot ($2.3 and eighth) and the tie in the nine and 10 slots between Titanic (in weekend 24) and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (in weekend 2).
THE GOOD AD: Bulworth is running very clever print ads right now. Fox took a whole load of positive pull quotes from critics large and small and turned them into a background for their standard movie ad. The effect is powerful. Not powerful enough to make people who don’t care about Warren Beatty go see the movie, but very good. Also, I love the new ads for Small Soldiers which include the great referential tags “Size Doesn’t Matter” and “It’s a small world after all.”
THE BAD AD: Some theaters are running a Garth Brooks music video as a promotion for Hope Floats. I’ve seen it with audiences twice so far, and giggling was the primary reaction. Every 18 months or so someone gets the idea that a music video belongs in a movie theater. And every 18 months plus a day, we know they’re wrong.
THE UGLY AD: Well, this one was a variation on an ad. I got an e-mail on Friday tipping me to go take a look at the official Star Wars site. Hmmmm. When I got there, I found a teaser screen that shouted in Godzilla-like flaming green and yellow, PLOT DOES MATTER. (For those of you who were confused by my admonitions to see “the best Godzilla slam yet,” that was it. Sorry that I couldn’t get the link off the site earlier.) By Friday evening, the teaser was gone without a trace. Who exactly at Lucasfilm was responsible for this amusing, if cruel, attack on Sony, Devlin and Emmerich? No answer yet. But whoever it was must be pretty comfortable that their film will not disappoint when it’s in theaters next Memorial Day with even bigger box office expectations than the world had for Godzilla this year.
JUST WONDERING: Does it bother anyone else that Disney is using the exact same bus stop photo campaign for Armageddon that they used for The Little Mermaid? Okay, Liv Tyler is never that animated, but you get my point. A big close-up, a character name above it and the movie title below. Super simple. (There is, however, the creepy fun of seeing Steve Buscemi’s 4-foot-tall head staring out at us all over Los Angeles.)
THE CONTEST: The end of Dave’s Box Office Contest has come. But there will be two contests in its place. Win, Place & Show is the new weekly box office contest. It’ll be easier to play and should be fun, so check it out later this week. Plus, Dave’s Summer Movie Race will turn up tomorrow. Handicap the movies best, and you can end up with your very own DVD player. For those of you who are expecting prizes from Dave’s B.O. Contest, they will soon be on the way. I’ll be making a mass mailing later this week once the final week’s winners have been determined.
TWO MOVIES EQUAL: Almost Heroes + Godzilla = Almost Godzilla. Chris Farley dons the rubber suit in his final role and destroys Tokyo, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Corpus Christi, Texas, all by mistake as he bumbles his way across the globe looking for a really big donut. Godzilla fans hail the performance as “better than that *(&$@* Sony thing,” but fail to notice that Sony is the distributor of the Farley film, which goes on to gross $700 million worldwide, more than making up for the disappointing returns on Godzilla. Co-starring David Spade as The Smug Monster.
THANKS: I would like to offer thanks to the Jimanator, Mr. Pink, Sir Bubba and Jimmy 669 for participating in the Green Room. Can’t seem to get a critical mass going in there yet. I’ll keep begging. Also, I want to thank those of you who were nice enough to send me supportive letters re: Phil Hartman. And I’d like to thank all of The Hot Button readers. I didn’t get one e-mail begging for more ugly details. We don’t have the most readers on the net here at rough cut, but I like to think we have the best readers. Thanks.
READER OF THE DAY: After my story on Carmike Cinema’s claim of Godzilla-created poverty, I got this note from Jim, who really ripped the chain on a new auditorium: “Poor Carmike. Had the misfortune to live in a city dominated by this most pathetically cheap jack-of-all-theater-chains. Maybe the reason Godzilla isn’t doing so great is that in the Carmike universe, audiences can’t see or hear it. The underpaid teenagers who run the facilities can’t be induced to focus the projectors, put bulbs in them, or point them at the screen. Poor, poor Carmike. The sooner they go under, the better off a lot of moviegoers are going to be. What a bunch of jerks.”
