March 2000

Mission to Mars didn't quite blast off, but it did dominate the slow marketplace as expected, grossing $22.9 million from 3,054 theaters. While strong, Disney was hoping for more Matrix-like numbers from this summer-style event picture, given the $100 million budget and aggressive ad campaign they mounted. Mixed word-of-mouth should cause it to burn out quickly. The derivative premise and trailer that seemed to spoil the whole thing contributed to keeping the opening at more down-to-earth levels.

The Ninth Gate was a distant second with $6.6 million from 1,586 theaters. That's a decent sum, given the limited and cheesy ad campaign and competition from Mars. Distributor Artisan hopes to make its money from the home video market, similarly to what they did with Stir of Echoes, where rentals have already eclipsed its modest theatrical gross from last fall.

The most impressive performance was by My Dog Skip. Without adding any theaters, it was actually up 2% to $6 million, cementing its status as the sleeper family hit of the season. The $7 million-budgeted picture has now grossed $14.1 million.

American Beauty and The Cider House Rules continued to hold up exceptionally well even by Oscar nominee standards, grossing $3.7 and $3.5 million respectively. Beauty's total reached $98 million and it should cross the century mark by Friday. Overseas, it has already eclipsed that total, having grossed $111.5 million thus far. Amazing, since it's not the kind of picture that traditionally does well overseas.

Overall box office totaled $86.9 million, up 5% over last weekend and up 3% over the same frame last year when Analyze This topped the chart for the second weekend in a row with $15.6 million.

Mission to Mars is the picture that would be blockbuster this weekend. It's the first of the two Mars pictures, beating Red Planet to the punch by eight months, much like the dueling volcano pics, Dante's Peak and Volcano, and asteroid pics, Deep Impact and Armageddon. Mission has the same feel as Impact with its astronaut scenes and ensemble of well-known-but-not-bankable actors. The ad campaign also has the same feel as The Mummy with its red sandstorm and similar music. All this suggests a mid-May release, not a March one. But Disney is hoping to copy Warner Bros.'s success with The Matrix by releasing it now. While that could end up being a wise move, given the competition in May, this picture just doesn't have the buzz and the money shots. The ad campaign gives the sense that you've seen the whole picture, even spoiling the alien plot twist. It would have been more interesting (and more bankable, I suspect) if it simply documented the first trip to Mars. Why must aliens always be involved in these kinds of pictures? What's more, the picture looks too derivative of 2001, The Abyss and others. Launching at 3,054 theaters, big business is in store, though not outright blockbuster status in relation to its $100 million price tag.

Artisan tosses The Ninth Gate in Mission's trajectory, hoping to catch some spare change. Both pictures have similar demographic appeal, namely young males. Mission not only has the promotional and special effects advantage, but a more demographically inclusive PG rating. Gate is R-rated and comes off as just another cheesy Satanic thriller, a la Lord of Illusions, in its limited ad campaign, whereas similar offerings from last year, like Stigmata, had a more apocalyptic feel to them. Opening at 1,586 theaters, business should be closer to star Johnny Depp's The Astronaut's Wife than Sleepy Hollow.

Nothing exciting to report on the holdovers, with most likely to come in well below $4 million. Expect a strong hold for My Dog Skip and, and precipitous declines for Drowning Mona and The Next Best Thing.

The Next Best Thing's title turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as Madonna's first movie in three years opened in second place with a tepid $5.87 million from 2,007 theaters. These kinds of numbers were to be expected despite the hype. An unappealing ad campaign, scathing reviews and Madonna's annoying "earth mother" persona contributed to the failure.

My Dog Skip was panting down Madonna's neck with $5.86 million from 2,331 theaters. It expanded successfully after a modestly performing seven-week platform release. Positive word-of-mouth could propel it to becoming the sleeper family hit of the season, much in the same way last spring's October Sky was.

Drowning Mona, the third feature from Destination Films after duds Bats and Eye of the Beholder, managed a mediocre $5.8 million from 1,981 theaters. That's a bit better than one might expect for such a forced "quirky" comedy. Then again, Destination aggressively promoted it and likely burned up whatever financial upside there was to the picture's relatively low budget.

What Planet Are You From? was completely out of orbit, grossing just $3.0 million from 2,268 theaters. With a reported budget north of $50 million, Sony has yet another disaster on its hands. A sneak preview turned out to be a mistake, as bad buzz snowballed for an already tough sell. What was needed was a more aggressive, punchier ad campaign. Then again, the potential extra business still probably wouldn't have been enough to offset the extra cost. This was never going to be a hit given the low star power and the low-key treatment of a broad premise.

The Whole Nine Yards topped the chart for the third weekend in a row with $7.3 million and $38.3 million to date. Solid and stronger than one might have expected it to gross based on the premise and ad campaign. However, the arguably more impressive performance has been by the star-free and relatively low budget Pitch Black. It grossed $5.1 million, down just 29% for a $29.7 million total. An outstanding hold for a sci-fi or horror picture, genres which tend to drop in the 50% range.

American Beauty and The Cider House Rules had exceptional holds even for Oscar nominees, dropping just 13% and 1% respectively. In comparison, The Sixth Sense was down 23%, The Green Mile was down 44%, and The Insider was down 59% after dropping to just 200 theaters. Since the latter had grossed just about $27 million prior to nomination, it would seem that it stood to benefit the most. However, its studio, Disney, has seemed to resign itself to the financial failure (the budget was a reported $70 million), and it has no heat in terms of actually winning the big prize.

Hanging Up continued to perform in a fizzly fashion similar to other recent chick flicks such as Message in a Bottle and For Love of the Game, despite not starring Kevin Costner. It fell 50% to $3.7 million in just its third weekend. Its total stands at $31.5 million, and it might hang on to $40 million at most.

The Beach dived another 56% to $1.6 million, bringing the total to a disappointing $36.9 million. Fortunately for Leo (though unfortunately to many), the picture is posting near blockbuster numbers overseas where it has already grossed $54.6 million.

Overall box office totaled $82.8 million, down 8% from last weekend, but up 1% over the same frame last year when Analyze This topped the chart with $18.4 million en route to $106.8 million.