The more things change, the more the Japanese moneymakers get the crap kicked out of them by Hollywood. Buzz has it that Peter Guber is preparing to relocate his Mandalay Entertainment to Warner Bros. in 2000 when his deal with Sony runs out. As you might remember, Guber and his then partner, Jon Peters, were brought to Sony in 1989, bought out of their Warner Bros. producing base at a cost of over $500 million. Peters was soon dumped, but under Guber’s tenure, Sony wrote off billions. A deal to start Mandalay was Guber’s reward for failure when he was kicked upstairs in 1994, leaving Sony in the hands of former WB film topper, Mark Canton. More losses. Flash forward. Peters is already back at WB, pushing the Superman Reborn train along. Canton, after the summer of Striptease, was dumped for the legendary John Calley and he went back to a Warners’ deal, leaving M.I.B., My Best Friend’s Wedding and Godzilla to embarrass Calley (as in, story after story reminding everyone that the hits weren’t Calley’s). And here comes Guber back to the WB fold. Kismet, baby!
Another film being blamed for another tragedy, a.k.a., another sick kid shifting responsibility to avoid a life sentence. This time, it’s The Basketball Diaries, a movie that could well have inspired moviegoers unable to get a refund to shoot the theater manager. Kentucky high school rampager Michael Carneal (killed three, wounded five) was asked by prosecutor Timothy Kaltenbach whether he “had ever seen this before, ever seen anything done like this,” reported Kaltenbach, “and he said, ‘Yes, I have seen this done in Basketball Diaries.'” I guess that the school’s principal, who reported that Carneal was a regular victim of intense ridicule was missing the point. Excuse me now, I saw Starship Troopers recently and I have to go kill a bug.
Did I miss anything? Oh yeah. The remake rights to Piranha have been sold for $2 million. But that’s not the funny part. They were sold to Fox Family Films. As I recall, Piranha (directed by a pre-Gremlins Joe Dante and written by a cash-poor John Sayles) was filled with violent attacks on naked swimmers by fish with razor-sharp teeth. Now that’s family entertainment. What’s next for F.F.F., a remake of Flesh Gordon?
So, people, what’s on your mind? E-mail me your thoughts and questions.
Posts Tagged ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’
The More Things Change…
Tuesday, December 9th, 1997Tags: Joe Dante, John Calley, Jon Peters, Mark Canton, Michael Carneal, My Best Friend's Wedding, Peter Guber
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Thanksgiving Weekend Results
Monday, December 1st, 1997Interesting, somewhat disappointing results at the box office this Thanksgiving weekend. Flubber did pretty much what I expected, though it took first place, not second. An impressive $36.4 million five-day weekend is well short of 101 Dalmatians‘ $45 million take last Thanksgiving ($137 million total). Flubber, with $27 million over the Friday-Sunday period, looks to be more in the range of My Best Friend’s Wedding or Face/Off, hitting the $100 million mark domestically, but not passing $120 million. Alien: Resurrection snagged $27.2 million for second place, actually winning the Wednesday-Thursday battle with $10.1 million over Flubber’s $8.7 million, but losing the war as the weekend wore on. Look for a final tally in the high 60s (comparable to Dante’s Peak or Anaconda), placing it third in the quad-ology’s box office hierarchy.
Anastasia took third place with $16.7 million, but the breakdown shows that even though the film dropped minimally over the three-day weekend ($14.1 million last weekend versus $13.9 this one), its Wed-Thurs performance stunk the place up, averaging only $1.4 million each of those days, the weakest of the Top Five. To me, that says younger kids are going (with mom and dad) and those of Flubber age are passing. Pretty fine line, huh? If Anastasia hits $60-70 million, did they win the war against Disney? I say “yup.” The surprise of the weekend was The Rainmaker’s strong performance in fourth, performing well all week and adding another $14.5 million to Francis’ judgment. And The Jackal held on for fifth, shooting $10.3 million into its Swiss bank account.
Mortal Kombat: Annihilation fell like a stone, about 60 percent in a three-day weekend comparison, kicking up $9.5 million with a truly awful movie. Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil is more the latter than the former, on-screen and at the box office, taking seventh with $7.3 million. Now, y’all say bye-bye to them Oscahs. The Little Mermaid got her fin kicked, adding just $2.7 million to her $25 million three-week total, a little more than her P & A costs. Bean slinks towards the $50 million domestic finish line, adding $4.2 million to its total for ninth. And, “The Troopers Are Going! The Troopers Are Going!” passing $50 million with $4 million for 10th.
Thanks for all of your weekend predictions. You’re all getting better every week. Way to use that e-mail.
Tags: 101 Dalmatians, Alien Resurrection, Anaconda, Anastasia, Flubber, Mortal Kombat, My Best Friend's Wedding
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Sony Takes the BO Lead
Saturday, November 15th, 1997 Sony Pictures (a.k.a. Columbia/Tri-Star) has broken the box office, passing the previous record of $1.2 billion in domestic grosses for one year. The studio hit the record high six weeks earlier in the year than the previous record-holder, Disney, leading the box office pack for the first time in over 25 years. How’d they do it? Bugs! Men In Black‘s aliens were pretty buglike. Julia Roberts went buggy in My Best Friend’s Wedding. And Starship Troopers proves that bugs and tight pants mix just fine. Just one fly in Sony’s ointment. The run of hits is the product of the past administration and the deja-vu will continue until next Memorial Day Weekend’s release of Godzilla. Well, at least next year’s monster is a reptile. Thank goodness for evolution.
Former b.o. king, Walt Disney Studios, is going through its next evolution. Studio chief Joe Roth says that the studio will cut back to 22 releases next year after putting 40 flicks in theaters this year. By 1999, he says Disney will release only 15 films. As Roth told The Hollywood Reporter, “You have to make your shots count.” All of this would seem to make a lot of sense since no matter how cheaply you make a film, releasing the film costs at least $20 million and close to $40 million on average these days. This year, that’s about $1.2 Billion (with a capital “B”) out of Disney’s pocket before you even pay for the movies! If they cut 25 films from the schedule, saving $800 million, even missing one Men In Black-size hit and a few other moderate hits would leave the studio in better financial shape than they’re in now.
Finally, studio-moguls-to-be, Charlie Sheen and Bret Michaels, have started production on No Code of Conduct, their latest venture as Sheen/Michaels Productions (The first was a cheesecake calendar). Michaels will direct the film that he and Charlie wrote, with Charlie acting his butt off as a former vice cop. How original! One novel thing. The boys will be served legal papers in a few days that claim they refused to make good on their oral contract with Alexander Tabrizi and Anthony Esposito, a couple of producers who helped initiate the project on this, their maiden voyage.
Anything on your mind? Don’t be shy, e-mail me.
Tags: Bret Michaels, Charlie Sheen, Joe Roth, Julia Roberts, My Best Friend's Wedding, Sony Pictures, Starship Troopers, Walt Disney Studios
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