This weekend the box office is all trussed up like a prize turkey with no place to go but down. There are no new wide releases due this week. Everyone was scared off of the date by Flubber and Alien: Resurrection. Oops! Scream 2 should do stellar numbers next week, but could have had clear sailing for two weeks, pushing the new Alien out of the ship early. Oh, well. Soft word-of-mouth should drop the three-day weekend total for Flubber by 40 percent with $16 million, still enough to take first. Alien: Resurrection should keep the two spot, despite what I’m guessing will be a steep 50 percent drop to take in $8.2 million. As stable as it is slow (though I liked the film), The Rainmaker should drop about 25 percent, still enough to pass Anastasia for third with $8 million. Thus, Anastasia, dropping a reasonable 35 percent, should be in fourth with $7.7 million.
The Jackal is likely to be on the other side of a wide b.o. gap, dropping to fifth with a 40 percent drop to $4.5 million. Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil should skulk about with a 25 percent drop to $4 million for a sixth place finish and no hope of surviving the mid-December onslaught of serious films. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation should hit the skids to the tune of 60 percent, kicking up another $2.7 million for seventh. The bottom four of the Top Ten gets the benefit of Disney’s withdraw of The Little Mermaid. Her disappearance (authorities are questioning Roman Polanski) allows Bean to take eighth with a 50 percent drop to $1.5 million. And Starship Troopers moves up a notch to ninth with another 50 percent drop to $1.4 million.
The Ten Spot will likely offer a three way tie, with I Know What You Did Last Summer (dropping 35 percent), Eve’s Bayou (dropping just 20 percent) and The Wings of The Dove (suffering its first drop with 15 percent) all camping out around the $1.2 million mark.
Will Alien: Resurrection rise from the dead box office week to take top spot? Will Flubber flub its box office break and drown under The Rainmaker? E-mail me what you think.
Posts Tagged ‘The Jackal’
Box Office – Nowhere But Down
Friday, December 5th, 1997Tags: Alien Resurrection, Anastasia, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, The Jackal
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Behind the Scenes
Wednesday, November 19th, 1997DreamWorks is prepping Hell Bent, an effects comedy about a tobacco executive whose primary responsibility is selling cigarettes to kids. When his disgusted wife pushes him out of his window to his death, hell is the next stop and he, of course, fits right in. You all have read Rough Cut Daily’s Pact With The Devil. Well, here’s your chance. What show business people — star, executive or job title — do you think are one window push away from running the city that never extinguishes? E-mail me your candidates and the reasons. The best entrant will win their very own slot on The Hot Button.
The Jackal may have been number one at the box office this week, but the road was as twisted off-screen as on. You may remember the controversy over the original title, “The Day of the Jackal,” which was meant by Universal to make the new version seem like a remake of the 1973 classic directed by Fred Zinnemann. Fred objected strenuously after reading the screenplay by Kevin JarrŽ. At the time, producer Jim Jacks defended the changes in the screenplay as part of the artistic genius of JarrŽ, the writer of Tombstone and Glory. “Why the IRA character?” I asked. “Kevin’s Irish,” was Jack’s response. “Why a Richard Gere-type rather than the frumpy government guy?” “Kevin thought The Jackal was so charismatic that we needed someone equally as charismatic.” Cut to the release of the movie. Universal settles with Zinnemann, who sadly passes away before the movie is done. It’s called The Jackal. And as far as Kevin JarrŽ? His name is nowhere near the credits, displaced by Chuck Pfarrer, the genius who brought us Hard Target, Barb Wire and Navy S.E.A.L.S. Fickle business, huh?
Sony chief John Calley is prepping the studios first Bond movie for 1999. MGM is suing. Which company is going to get the Goldfinger? Who knows? Sony’s already snuck around MGM and snagged the prize. Now MGM has Sony in the war room, threatening its life. Soon, Sony will be hung over a tank of sharks, hog-tied to Sharon Stone in a string bikini. That watch you’re wearing had better be more than a standard issue Rolex, Mr. Calley.
Anything on that movie mind of yours? E-mail me your thoughts.
Tags: Dreamworks, Hell Bent, Pact with the Devil, Richard Gere, Rough Cut Daily, The Jackal
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Jackal Opens at Number One
Monday, November 17th, 1997Got a lot of challenges to my box office prognostication throne this week, but all things considered, I don’t think anyone knocked me off the hill. Aaron Simpson did predict that The Jackal would be the top picture, but he got sucked into The Hollywood Reporter’s vortex of over-expectation, guessing at a $23 million opening. Jackal ended up taking first with just $15.6 million, much closer to my $14 million guess. Starship Troopers dropped off the face of the earth, losing 55 percent in week two to take second with $10.2 million. In third, The Little Mermaid did as Master Wok predicted, taking in $10.2 million. Marc Andreyko‘s prediction that Mermaid would come in first was under the sea.
The middle of the chart held no surprises with Bean coming fourth with $8 million. The Man Who Knew Too Little did too little business: just $4.7 million for fifth. The Horror Movie Formerly Known As “From The Makers Of Scream” (IKWYDLS) continued at a normal pace, slicing another $4.1 million off the box office pig for sixth. The Devil’s Advocate did $3.6 million for seventh. And Red Corner, about China and not a neighborhood in hell, grabbed $2.6 million for eighth.
My first surprise was that Mad City dropped so rapidly — more than 50 percent to disappear from the Top Ten in just its second week. Boogie Nights took ninth with a 33 percent drop to $2.6 million. And Eve’s Bayou, the little movie that could, stayed in the picture with $2.5 million for tenth.
One of the most contested of my predictions, a weak opening for One Night Stand, came true. The film ended up with just over 400 screens and not the 800 originally reported, probably due to multi-plexes finding room for Starship Troopers and three big new films. Soft reviews would seem likely to make this poor showing a trend for ONS’s future. New Line must be hoping that Mortal Kombat: Annihilation opens big, because if they thought the reviews for ONS were bad, just wait for these!
Any box office questions? E-mail them to me.
Tags: Boogie Nights, Eve's Bayou, Starship Troopers, The Devil's Advocate, The Jackal
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Predicting the Box Office Gets Tough
Friday, November 14th, 1997This weekend is the hardest I’ve had to predict in quite a long time. Why? Big stars, low want-to-see. The Jackal features Bruce Willis and Richard Gere, but there’s less buzz around than in a decaf latte. Disney hasn’t had big results from its re-releases since they became so video friendly, but The Little Mermaid may be special. Or not. And Bill Murray is far from a guaranteed opener in a film that isn’t as easily defined as his last hit, Groundhog Day.
So here’s my take. Starship Troopers drops just 20 percent to $17.6 million, taking first for a second week. The Jackal opens with a nice, but not overwhelming $14 million for second. The Little Mermaid surfs to a third place finish with about $12 million. Bean flatulates to the tune of $9.6 million, dropping 25 percent for fourth. Bill Murray’s The Man Who Knew Too Little will stay undercover with a soft $8.5 million for fifth.
The Second Five should all be repeat visitors, with New Line’s One Night Stand opening at only 700 screens. I Know What You Did Last Summer slices another $4.2 million — a 35 percent drop — for sixth. Also dropping about 35 percent should be The Devil’s Advocate ($3.3 million for seventh) and Red Corner ($3.2 million in eighth). Mad City should make its second and last Top Ten appearance in ninth with a 25 percent drop to $3.5 million. And Hot Button fave Boogie Nights should dance into 10th with a 20 percent drop to $3.1 million. Trailing closely should be surprise hit Eve’s Bayou with about $2.6 million.
And make sure to go to the movies this weekend, because the holiday onslaught will start burying you next week with Clint Eastwood’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, Anastasia, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and Francis Ford Coppola’s Grisham entry, The Rainmaker. And your Thanksgiving plans will probably include Flubber or Alien Resurrection or both.
Don’t think I’ve pegged this weekend’s results? Let’s see your Top Ten. If you beat me you will … “Win David Poland’s Money!” Well, no, but I might tell our readers about it.
Tags: Bill Murray, Boogie Nights, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Richard Gere, Starship Troopers, The Jackal, The Little Mermaid
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