April 2000

The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas oozes with the stench of straight-to-video, coming six years after the not-well-liked-but-high-grossing original with a new and lower profile cast and cheesy special effects. The first one opened to $37.2 million over the long Memorial Day weekend in 1994 en route to a $130.5 million total, but it had more novelty and nostalgia going for it. The sequel should benefit from the paucity of family movies in the market though, much the same way that The Road to El Dorado has. By default, in other words. Still, that means it will likely make only a fraction of the original's total from its mega-wide 3,036 venue release.

It may be Where the Heart Is, but is it where the money is or is it Where the Money Is? Fox hopes for the former. Like a younger skewing Fried Green Tomatoes, this is a chick flick based on a bestseller. Natalie Portman and Ashley Judd should make it tolerable for some guys too, though the marketplace has a predominance of similarly appealing pictures right now, such as Keeping the Faith and 28 Days. Despite this, Heart should have some hearty returns from its 2,437 playdates.

After Final Destination, New Line may have another sleeper hit in Frequency. Positive buzz generated from its two sneak previews, good reviews, a Sixth Sense-y tone, and affecting trailer likely has audiences, men in particular, tuned in. U-571 and Rules of Engagement represent the primary competition. Playing at 2,621 theaters, audiences could frequent it in solid numbers.

After a long drought, naked, bongo drums player Matthew McConaughey has finally appeared in a picture that actually made money. Who'd a thunk? U-571 sunk $19.6 million into its coffers from 2,583 theaters, the third best April opening after The Matrix' $27.8 million and Life's $20.4 million from last year. It benefited from being the first event-style action picture in some time and from a rollicking ad campaign that de-emphasized the former "it-boy's" presence. Of course, it helps not having many submarine pictures out there either, the last two being 1995's Crimson Tide which opened at $18.6 million ($91.4 million total) and 1990's The Hunt for Red October which opened to $17.2 million ($120.7 million).

All's fair for Love and Basketball as the urban romantic drama shot nothing but net, scoring $8.1 million at 1,237 courts. Its opening was in line with other recent urban pictures, The Wood's $8.5 million and The Best Man's $9 million.

Did you hear about the WB's latest teen picture, Gossip? It just couldn't perform and was small, really small, like just $2.3 million from 1,525 theaters.

Among holdovers, Keeping the Faith held up the most impressively, down just 10% to $7.2 million. Sleeper hit Final Destination had yet another gravity-defying hold, dropping 9%, though it has benefited by the Frequency sneak previews these past two weeks.

In general, most pictures benefited from the holiday weekend, dropping in the 20-30% range. Except for American Psycho, which due to mostly negative word-of-mouth tumbled 45% to $2.7 million and looks to end its run in the $15 million range.

Overall box office totaled $91.5 million, up 12% over last weekend and up 2% over the same frame last year when The Matrix regained the top spot from Life, adding another $12.6 million on its way to a $171.4 million total.

Rules of Engagement won the weekend by default amidst modest competition from newcomers. Its modest 27% decline to $10.9 million is indicative of positive word-of-mouth and its decidedly older skewing demographic that tends to take its time to see a picture.

Sandra Bullock again showed that she is one of the few actresses that can open a picture, as her rehab comedy 28 Days grossed $10.3 million from 2,523 theaters. She has been on a minor roll since Speed 2 sunk, with her three previous pictures, Hope Floats, Practical Magic and Forces of Nature opening with $13-14 million each. 28 Days' opening was significantly lower, but its material was less appealing and there were no major co-stars this time out.

The God squad was in the partially full house, as Keeping the Faith got off to a decent $8.1 million start from 2,152 venues. The Edward Norton-directed romantic comedy scored a promising 97% approval rating and could hold up well in the weeks to come. What blunted the opening was direct competition from other date-crowd appealing flicks like 28 Days and Return to Me. What's more, as opening day loomed, the ad campaign resorted to too much slapstick, featuring a woman demanding that Ben Stiller punch her. Though the scene of Norton stumbling about and catching fire in his priest robes and then extinguishing it in the holy water helped.

Like the stock market last Friday, American Psycho, with its uninspired title*, was slaughtered on its opening. $5 million from 1,236 theaters is a disappointment given the hype and especially the inherently front-loaded nature of this love-it-or-hate-it material. Indicative of this was its dismal 51% approval rating and its minute 8% Saturday bump-up. Last November, Psycho distributor Lion's Gate capitalized on controversy more successfully with Dogma, garnering an $8.7 million opening en route to $30.7 million. New Line's Boiler Room had a similar setting and demographic appeal and opened to $5.7 million from 1,335 theaters in February looking to end its run with about $17 million.

Where the Money Is was where the money wasn't. $2.5 million from 1,538 theaters was all that the Paul Newman starrer could muster. It primarily appealed to older women, an audience that neither rushes out on the first weekend nor is that big to begin with. Also contributing to the low gross was USA Films' low-profile promotional campaign and erratic scheduling shifts from April to May to April, etc.

Among holdovers, Erin Brockovich enjoyed yet another drop of just 28% to $7 million. It will cross the century mark on Tuesday, the first picture of the year to do so. Benefitting from the paucity of significant competition for teens, sleeper Final Destination continued its leggy run, dropping just 20% to $3 million and $38.2 million to date. However, this figure was slightly inflated by the Frequency sneak preview that was included its gross.

Return to Me was noticeably affected by direct competiton for the date crowd from 28 Days and Keeping the Faith. It added 313 theaters, but fell 36% to $5 million despite strong word-of-mouth. The total stands at $15.3 million, but the picture's drops should start to level out some allowing it to finish in the neighborhood of $30 million.

Overall box office totaled $81.6 million, down 4% from last weekend and down 1% from the same frame last year when Life topped the chart with $20.4 million en route to a $64 million total.

* Tangent: What is up with all these pictures with "American" in their title anyway? Come on people, let's be a bit more original here. Granted American Psycho is just taking its name from the eponymous novel, but still. They could have renamed it with something more evocative, perhaps even an ironic use of one of the '80s songs the main character ruminates on. Other recent titles include American Beauty, American Pie, American History X, American Pimp, and American Movie. In addition to the lack of originality, most filmmakers seem to use it to rather pretentiously imply that their picture goes to the core of what America is all about. Beauty and Psycho seem to be the most pernicious example of this.

Three pictures starting with the letter "r," each appealing to different demographics and each representing the first of their respective genres in quite some time, entered the marketplace to mixed results.

Playing to the strengths of stars Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson, Rules of Engagement invaded a whopping 3,155 theaters, engaging a decent $15 million. Paramount timed it well, as it was the first military drama since last summer's The General's Daughter and given the relative paucity of ponderous spectacles in the marketplace. This had the studio and many analysts expecting a start in at least the high teens for the $60 million production. However, this was clearly out of the question since the subject matter was not going to appeal to women or the younger demos that are key to blockbuster-sized openings.

The returns for Return to Me bode well for David Duchovny's bid to transition from The X-Files to a movie career. The romantic comedy opened with $7.8 million from 2,007 theaters. Solid, given its relatively low budget, low key promotional campaign and that the audience it primarily appeals to (adult women), tends to to not rush out on the first weekend. That and a 96% approval rating should contribute to a leggy run. It certainly benefited from being the first of its genre in five months (The Bachelor was the last one). More importantly, though, the ad campaign scored with old-fashioned humor and warmth, and MGM was able to build up a decent amount of buzz through two sneak previews.

David Arquette's first major outing as star, Ready to Rumble wasn't with a paltry, Pauly Shore-ish $5.3 million from 2,585 theaters. Being the first silly comedy since Deuce Bigalow and the current wrestling craze were in its favor. But the ad campaign lacked laughs and wasn't aggressive enough. Little appeal to women and a focus on the waning WCW as opposed to the WWF contributed to the failure as well.

Black and White tried to mix it up with both urban and artsy-fartsy audiences, but generated mostly indifference as it grossed just $3 million its first five days.

Last weekend played the complimentary demographics game a tad more successfully.

The Road to El Dorado didn't exactly strike gold given its $95-million budget and its exceptionally wide 3,218-theater release, but its $12.8 million opening was well above average for a family picture this time of year. It held up fairly well in its second outing with $9.1 million.

The Skulls snagged $11 million, appealing directly to teens. Rather strong given the cheese factor, the unproven WB cast and the direct competition from the likes of Romeo Must Die and Final Destination. Staying true to its genre though, it fell 41% to $6.5 million.

$6.4 million may seem rather paltry in these days of the uber-openings, but it was solid for High Fidelity's first weekend. Mostly appealing to men old enough to have experienced the '80s, the comedy played at 1,183 theaters and scored the highest average of the top ten that weekend. In fact, it was John Cusack's second best opening as top-billed star behind another of his quirky retro-comedies, Grosse Pointe Blank and its $6.9 million in April 1997. Fidelity continued to get decent play in its second frame, dropping 34% to $4.2 million.

Erin Brockovich finally gave up pole position after a phenomenal three-week run. It dropped just 28% for a still strong $9.8 million. It will likely cross the century mark by next Tuesday. Sleeper hit Final Destination continued to defy the usually precipitous drops of its genre, as it was down just 28% to $3.8 million and $33.9 million to date.

Overall box office totaled $85.1 million, down 4% from last weekend, but up 1% over the same frame last year when The Matrix topped the chart in its second outing with $22.6 million en route to a $171.4 million total.