August 1999

The Sixth Sense joined Titanic and The Phantom Menace to become the third picture in history to enjoy four $20 million plus weekends. It grossed $20.1 million from 2,763 theaters, bringing its total to $138.9 million. It's already the second highest grosser of Bruce Willis' career, and is on track to topple his highest, the $201.6 million grossing Armageddon.

The 13^th Warrior scored a modest $10.3 million. It certainly could have been worse for the troubled production. However with a reported budget of $160 million, Disney will be swimming in red ink on this one, canceling out much of the money they made on The Sixth Sense.

In Too Deep was the next highest new release, scoring $4.2 million from just 667 theaters. It performed just as one would expect an urban picture to, a low screen count with a strong average ($6,327 in this case). It should fall fast though.

The terror may have been multiplying, but audiences sure weren't as The Astronaut's Wife grossed only $4 million from 2,209 theaters, giving it a paltry $1,823 average. This puts New Line's record at 1-5 for the year, with the Austin Powers sequel being their only hit.

Though The Muse made only $3.9 million from 1,263 theaters, it couldn't have been expected to make much more. Albert Brooks' pictures just don't make money, his top grosser being Mother at $19.1 million.

Meanwhile, the two new family pictures, Dudley Do-Right and A Dog of Flanders, bombed, grossing $3 million and $807,873 respectively. Both were D.O.A. but were also affected by being released at the start of the new school year.

This is one hell of a crowded weekend. Six new wide releases vie for the ever dwindling summer dollars. None of them are particularly strong, and since this is a traditionally slow weekend, the studios are likely just dumping them. The Sixth Sense will easily dominate for the fourth weekend in a row.

The 13^th Warrior finally sees the light of day. The production was so troubled that its budget reportedly ballooned to an astounding $160 million. It has been collecting dust in Disney's vault for well over a year now. The delay has been so long that director John McTiernan already has another picture out (The Thomas Crown Affair) that he made well after it. You may remember seeing a preview for a picture called Eaters of the Dead a long time ago. That's the same one. They changed the title to the bland 13^th Warrior for some reason. Strange since the original title was the same as the Michael Crichton book on which the picture is based. Playing at 2,306 theaters, Disney has been promoting the hell out of it, which is odd given the inconspicuous weekend they chose to release it on. Needless to say, they won't be making their money back.

The Astronaut's Wife is another picture that seems to have been in the can for a while. It looks like a cross between Rosemary's Baby and Species 2. The marketing campaign has been hokey and seems to reveal too much about the plot. Johnny Depp is a respected actor, but he's not a draw. Charlize Theron probably hoped to make the transition from starlet to star this time out, but that's not likely to happen. This picture will likely be lost in the shuffle despite its fairly wide 2,209 theater release.

The Muse is the most critically acclaimed of the lackluster new releases. However, as the disappointing performance of Bowfinger shows, audiences just aren't that interested in movies about Hollywood. Albert Brooks' pictures don’t make much money anyway to begin with, and there is direct competition from Bowfinger, Mickey Blue Eyes, and Runaway Bride. Expect a mediocre showing for this first release from USA Films, the merging of October and Gramercy.

Universal started the summer with a Brendan Fraser smash, The Mummy. Now, they will end the summer with a Brendan Fraser dud. Dudley Do-Right was rather abruptly added to the summer schedule. With the little promotion it's getting, it's almost like the studio is just releasing it due to contractual obligations. Its ads have been playing mostly during kid shows, but it's unlikely that many kids are eager enough to see it to convince their parents to take them.

Meanwhile, In Too Deep should score with the still starved urban audience, and Warner Bros. dumps out another period family picture, A Dog of Flanders, that will make next to nothing.

The Sixth Sense had yet another stunning weekend, raking in an $24 million. That's just a 7% drop after expanding 293 theaters to 2,688. Its total stands at $107.5 million after 17 days, and it could end up being the second highest grossing picture of the summer. Chances are also that it will stay at the top spot for the next two to three weeks, giving it the longest reign since Titanic.

The newcomers performed like late August entries usually do. Mickey Blue Eyes grossed $10.2 million from 2,573 theaters. Decent for a Hugh Grant picture, but it averaged only $3,956 per theater. Universal Soldier: The Return ended up with $4.6 million, about average among Jean-Claude Van Damme's recent outings. That he wasn't able to capitalize on the action drought is further proof of his has-been status. Teaching Mrs. Tingle was a spectacular failure, grossing just $3.3 million from 1,710 theaters. The signs did point to this, but who'd have thought that a picture from one of the main proponents of the genre could fare so poorly? Perhaps this is a sign that the latest teen cycle has almost run its course.

With another $20 million plus gross, the sleeper smash, The Sixth Sense, will be on top for the third weekend in a row, a feat achieved only by The Phantom Menace so far this year. The new releases should largely inspire indifference and bring the overall box office down to more traditional levels.

Mickey Blue Eyes is the second fish-out-of-water mob comedy this year. The $107 million grossing Analyze This was the other one and is now providing competition by just having been released on video. Oddly, Warner Bros. is the studio behind both. They are rather confident in this new one, releasing it at 2,573 theaters. Now I haven't seen the trailer, but the commercials for it have been rather lackluster. They just feature Hugh Grant trying to say such mob terms as "fuggedaboutit" and making a note to himself to rent Goodfellas and other mob movies. Sure, it plays on his befuddled British persona, but this one joke is not funny enough to sustain a whole movie. Grant's last hit that he carried on his own was 1995's Nine Months, which benefited from his infamous incident on Sunset Blvd. He got a big break playing opposite Julia Roberts in Notting Hill, but while people could stand a double dose of her in one summer, I don't think they can stand a double dose of his neuroses and scrunched up shoulders. (I find it utterly bizarre and insulting when he's compared to the great Cary Grant.) Runaway Bride offers direct competition on the romantic comedy front, while The Sixth Sense, Bowfinger and The Thomas Crown Affair will also draw away adults.

I remember last year when Killing Mrs. Tingle was considered to be quite the event. Scream scribe Kevin Williamson's directorial debut from his own script and starring his Dawson's Creek leading lady, Katie Holmes was a teen dream. Alas, the picture was delayed long enough that the teen craze has shifted from pop culture laden thrillers to pop culture laden comedies. Holmes did not prove to be much of a box office draw as Disturbing Behavior and Go both tanked. After the Columbine shootings spurred a rage against these kinds of pictures, the title was changed to the blah Teaching Mrs. Tingle. The general buzz turned bad after it was seen. Now, it's finally here, and Miramax is opening it at an unconfident 1,710 theaters. However, the stars and the premise seem to be appealing enough to teens and direct competition is low enough to score a modest opening.

The sequel to Universal Soldier comes seven years after the first one. Not exactly striking while the iron was hot, or rather lukewarm in light of the original's modest grosses. Why was it even made? Perhaps a grasping at straws by a has-been action star? Jean-Claude Van Damme recently suffered the humiliation of seeing his last picture, Legionnaire, go straight to video. All of his pictures since 1994 that did get theatrical releases bombed. So this new one has nothing going for it. Or does it? It co-stars some wrestler named Bill Goldberg. Apparently, he's very popular. But more importantly, this is the first pure action picture to come out in months. So the starved action fans are restless and may go see this just to get some kind of fix. Therefore, I expect a better than average opening for Van Damme.

The Sixth Sense continued its extraordinary run. It grossed $25.8 million, down just 3% from last weekend after a slight expansion. Who'd have ever thought a Bruce Willis picture could perform like this? This is the real sleeper success of the summer. It came out of nowhere, and, unlike The Blair Witch Project, it is well liked.

Bowfinger wasn't quite the big thing, grossing a relatively modest $18.1 million from 2,706 theaters. I thought it would do a lot better, given the recent huge openings of many less appealing pictures. I mean, come on, this was the momentous team-up of Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin, and it was the only major comedy amidst all these scary movies. Hell, Murphy's last picture, Life, opened with $20.4 million, and that didn't look nearly as funny. Furthermore, given the recent expansiveness of the box office, there certainly was enough room for it. Not to mention it had a PG-13 rating and Heather Graham, hot off of the Austin Powers sequel, featuring her assets. Then again, pictures about Hollywood and movie-making tend to be tough sells. What's more, the ad campaign focused on the stars, at the expense of the story. Universal too thought the momentous team-up of Murphy and Martin would prove irresistible. The slogan "the con is on" was tailor-fitted to the stars' personae, but was unoriginal.

Brokedown Palace performed a bit better than expected as it grossed $3.9 million. Though still a bomb, that's better than the similar Return to Paradise's $2.5 million the same time last year. Most likely its edge came from its teen focus.

Detroit Rock City proved that the teen picture is not infallible. A nostalgic 70's setting combined with teen leads has proven to be box office poison, as evidenced by this picture's $2 million take from 1,802 theaters and earlier by Dick's dismal performance.

Bowfinger's the big thing this weekend. It features a scene of Eddie Murphy running across a freeway. Coincidentally, Holy Man also featured Murphy crossing a freeway. That picture was a disaster, grossing just $12.1 million last October. The big difference though is that Bowfinger actually has laughs in its ad campaign. Steve Martin hasn't had a hit this decade outside of the Father of the Bride remakes, but that's more due to his pictures having generally been the sort he's skewering in Bowfinger rather than people tiring of him. Universal has done well specifically promoting the first time pairing of the two great comedians, and I think it will pay off by breaking the August opening record just set last weekend.

The Sixth Sense is enjoying some strong word-of-mouth and as a result should see only a small decline. Runaway Bride took a significant hit last weekend, but should start to level out. The same can't be said for The Blair Witch Project. The backlash is so intense that it will likely have the largest drop-off of the top ten.

Detroit Rock City may suffer from its target teen audience not relating to its 70's setting as was the case with Dick. An R rating won't help either, especially since the ad campaign features no major laughs like American Pie did. It is now spoofing Blair Witch's campaign, yet it's just not funny in light of numerous other spoofs. Still, Kiss fans should help it to earn a modest amount.

In a bit of odd scheduling, the long delayed Brokedown Palace finally sees the light of day on the very same weekend that the similar Return to Paradise tanked last year. That picture opened with $2.5 million from 965 theaters en route to an $8.3 million total. Palace is opening at 1,740 theaters, but still, I don't see it making much more money. Obviously, downers tend not to make much money this time of year. The picture will also suffer from poor reviews and a lack of star power. Claire Danes may still be a teen idol, but she is no box office draw as all of her pictures other than Romeo and Juliet have bombed.

Unsatisfied with the sheer crappiness of The Haunting and the motion sickness of The Blair Witch Project, audiences turned their attention to The Sixth Sense, in yet another unprecedented weekend. The Bruce Willis starrer made a stunning $26.7 million from just 2,161 theaters, breaking the August opening record previously held by The Fugitive's $23.8 million. This must be considered one of the true sleepers of the summer. It practically came out of nowhere. Here's a picture that was just recently and abruptly added to the summer schedule, that opened in a crowded market place and amidst a plethora of other horror pictures, yet it took the nation by storm. Sure, it had a big star, but Willis is a wild card in non-action roles. I didn't see the trailer, but the ads didn't seem that appealing. Atmospheric, yes, but devoid of the "money shots" used to lure audiences. One of them said something like "Four words will change everything" Then it cut to the kid saying "I see dead people." Uh, okay. Whatever. Don't get me wrong though. It's nice to see audiences going for a movie that resembles a movie rather than a video game. Apparently, the low grades audiences gave The Blair Witch Project were not exaggerated. The picture nearly doubled its theater count yet made $24.3 million, 17% less than last weekend. Sure, that's huge, but it has to be a sign that this fad is fading, because usually when a picture expands so extensively, its box office goes up.

Runaway Bride made $20.8 million, down 41% from its lofty opening. While still a hell of a lot of money, that drop is quite substantive for a romantic comedy. Probable reasons for it are the high level of anticipation of the Roberts-Gere re-teaming having inflated the opening and, of course, the intense competition.

Some reports are claiming that The Thomas Crown Affair is a failure. They say it "ignited few sparks" as it "limped" into fourth place with $14.6 million. Funny how some have totally lost perspective. Sure, next to some of these recent openings, $14.6 million may appear paltry. But historically, it's not. Just because a picture isn't a record breaker, doesn't mean it's a bomb. Thomas Crown actually performed above expectations and made a strong showing, especially given the direct competition for adults and couples from Runaway Bride and The Sixth Sense.

The Iron Giant turned out to be the latest acclaimed family picture to bomb, grossing just $5.7 million. It also continued Warner Bros.' losing streak with animation, which includes such disasters as The King and I and Quest for Camelot. Given the buzz, you would think Warner Bros. could have done more with it. But they advertised it as if it were more Saturday morning cartoon than event, not to mention how they opened it on this crowded weekend. They should have waited until October. That month is wide open for this kind of picture, and it would have given it plenty of room before Toy Story 2 on Thanksgiving. As usual, Warner Bros. spun the disappointing gross by citing how their own Free Willy started small yet went on to gross $77.7 million. Well, that picture opened with $7.9 million from 1,476 theaters. Giant opened at 2,179 theaters, so it has far less room to grow. Strong word-of-mouth should keep it playing for a while though.

Universal's lack of confidence in Mystery Men turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. The $65 million picture took in just $10 million and will likely plummet as this type tends to make most of its money up front.

Perhaps Sony thought people would pick up on the 25^th anniversary of Watergate and celebrate with Dick. Not many did as the picture grossed a flaccid $2.2 million from 1,522 theaters. It seems like Sony just dumped it. I don't think even they thought this picture could make money on the most crowded weekend of the year and with so little promotion. Like Rushmore and Election, this picture just became the latest adult teen comedy to fail to gain an audience.

This is one crowded weekend. Five new pictures plus some strong holdovers. Damn, what are these studios thinking? The marketplace has recently proved to be rather expansive, but this is really pushing it. Since most of the new releases share the same demographics as the holdovers, they all seem to be the odd men out, like the studios are just dumping them.

The Blair Witch Project is poised to take the top spot after adding 1,000 theaters. Word-of-mouth has been mixed, but the zeitgeist is strong enough to carry it through its new venues. The new commercials feature critic's quotes flying at you in big bold print accompanied by screams and those drumbeats you always hear for thrillers. It's rather cliché, and doesn't fit with the rest of the campaign.

Runaway Bride doesn't have room to grow, given that it already had an ultra-wide release. It also still doesn't have much direct competition. It should make enough for second place.

The Sixth Sense has an ad campaign conspicuously lacking in the "money shots" usually employed to sell thrillers and any movie starring Bruce Willis, though I haven't seen the trailer. It just seems rather late to the horror party. It also seems like it would have been better suited as a Fall release. I suspect the reason it suddenly appeared on the Summer schedule a short while ago, was that two other Willis pictures, The Story of Us and Breakfast of Champions, set Fall release dates. Anyway, it looks like it's going to be a crowd pleaser, and that should help it make a decent amount.

Mystery Men is shaping up to be quite the non-event. Universal pushed it back from the less crowded July 30 weekend, to this one, which suggests trouble. It certainly has a "hip" cast, only "hipness" usually doesn't translate well into big box office. Its initial appeal kind of reminds me of that infamous bomb, The Avengers, from about the same time last year.

James Bond aside, MGM's name on a picture has become box office poison. Then again, they have been releasing some dogs. The remake, The Thomas Crown Affair, had some potential. But MGM delayed it until this crowded weekend and released it after the similar caper thriller Entrapment already made a bundle.

The Iron Giant has received much praise for being a thoughtful, entertaining picture for the whole family. That means it probably won't make much money. Sad, but that's what history suggests. This picture like all family fare is pretty much out of my radar though.

Dick's spoof of Nixon and Watergate could appeal to adults, however its teen focus does not. Conversely, teens might like the stars, but will not likely be interested in the subject matter. In other words, there is no significant audience for this.

Wow. Led by the phenomenal performances of The Blair Witch Project and Runaway Bride, the overall box office overcame a traditionally slower weekend to make a record-breaking $158 million. Hell, this weekend was so amazing I'm tempted to start using such cliché box office terms as "scorching" or "socko" or even "boffo."

The Blair Witch Project is certainly a candidate for most incredible opening weekend ever. This micro-budget indie picture made a mega-budget style $29.2 million from just 1,101 theaters. The marketing campaign marks the first truly successful use of the internet and one of the few to gain significant momentum from a platform release. But what I think it comes down to though is that, like Jaws or Psycho, this picture just taps into many people's basic fears. This is compounded by it being considered the first truly scary picture in years. Another reason may be that many people actually believe it's real. Since I am not a horror fan and have little interest in seeing it, I must say I don't get this phenomenon though.

Meanwhile, Runaway Bride overcame being the second Julia Roberts movie in two months, a lackluster albeit incessant ad campaign, and a treacly premise to blow away the romantic comedy opening weekend record. Playing at 3,158 theaters, it ran away with $35.1 million, handily beating previous record holder Notting Hill's $21.8 million. Sure it had no direct competition, but wow, like The Blair Witch Project, this is really unprecedented. It turns out that all Paramount had to do was make it be known that Roberts and Gere were finally back together again. That's how high demand was for a Pretty Woman reunion.

Deep Blue Sea apparently benefited from sold out Blair Witch shows as it grossed a solid $19.1 million, significantly higher than its mid-week opening suggested. The picture also must have benefited from positive word-of-mouth as it really delivered the traditional summertime thrills that audiences have been deprived of for the past few months.

The Haunting buckled under the pressure of competition and poor word-of-mouth. The cheesy remake plunged 54% to $15.3 million, and it looks like it will fall short of the $100 million mark.