Business is starting to pick up again for DVD releases. It's still not up to the level of the pre-Christmas boom, or even the yearly average, but at least it's not a desolate wasteland either. There were a couple releases that were contenders for DVD Pick of the Week, but in the end I went with This Film is Not Yet Rated - Buy from Amazon, but since I work in the industry, at least tangentially, my enjoyment of the movie may have been increased somewhat.
For those looking for last minute gifts (and you can't get much more last minute than this), there are many, many former wide releases coming out this week.
Unfortunately, only one such film earned even reasonable reviews, and that was Serenity - Buy from Amazon, which is our DVD Pick of the Week.
Also earning that honor is Party of Five - The Complete Second Season.
=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2003/FNEMO.php>Finding Nemo became the undisputed highest grossing animated movie of all time beating The Lion King total including its IMAX run. And that's not the only milestone Finding Nemo could beat this week. It is now less than $1 million from topping Forest Gump for eighth place overall. Also, each dollar it brings in increases the odds it will finish number one for the year. Right now it has a 1 to 2% chance of doing that. While its release is still four months away, I'd estimate The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King final tally will be $350 million, plus or minus $20 million. (And nearly double that internationally.)
There were other milestones that were crossed or will be crossed this week. Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl crossed $250 million, only the third film to do that this year. And Spy Kids 3D will cross $100 million tonight, (it's currently only $500 thousand below that figure.)
Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle and The Italian Job are both widening their respective releases to try and hit $100 million. Charlie's Angels was about $4 million back of the milestone when the pushed started last week and it has since cut the gap in half. The Italian Job needs about the same and will expand next weekend. This strategy doesn't always work. Pearl Harbor was just $5 million back of $200 million when Disney tried to do the same, and it only managed to add an extra $3 million.
The last weekend before the unofficial start of the summer season sees four movies opening wide, or at least sort of wide-ish.
Identity, which has been described as a mixture of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians and The Usual Suspects, is opening the widest at over 2,700 theaters. This comes as a bit of a surprise as early estimates put the theatre count at only 2,300. And the push for more theaters seems to be justified by the good reviews. So far Identity has been able to maintain the 60% needed for an overall fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. This could give it the edge in this week's race and allow it to open in first place.
The second widest opening is for The Real Cancun, with 2,261 theatres. The reviews are surprisingly good, but that doesn't mean they are actually good. 32% positive is still really bad, but it is much better than expected. However, with a small theater count and a advertising push that was sub-par outside MTV, don’t expect The Real Cancun to do that much business. Top five this week, out of the top ten two weeks later, and three months after that the DVD release will advertise, "Includes all the stuff too hot for the theatre."
Confidence is the next on the list of largest openings this week at less than 1,900 theatres. Originally scheduled to open in December for an Oscar bid, the movie was pushed all the way back until now. This is usually a bad sign, but the reviews have been excellent> Its nearly 80% Rotten Tomatoes score is head and shoulders above the rest of the wide releases. Without the theaters, it won't compete for first place, but a place in the top five and some strong legs could be in store.
The last movie to open wide, if you call it wide, is It Runs in the Family. It opens in only 1,207 theaters, which is two less than Chicago in its 18th week. This movie has been bounced around a few times, and unlike Confidence, the reviews confirm this is a bad sign. Its 28% is even lower than The Real Cancun, although it did receive significantly better reviews from the Cream of the Crop reviewers. Still, it might have trouble making the top ten.
Two notable holdovers, Anger Management and Holes, will battle Identity for first place. For Anger Management, expect another drop of 40% or more at the box office, on its way to a $100 million total this weekend. A smaller than expected drop will mean a third straight first place finish, a greater than expected drop could leave it in third place. Holes has held up surprisingly well mid-week, especially for a movie aimed at kids. Usually kids movies suffer mid-week then bounce back for a very low week-to-week drop. The strong mid-week performance could lead to Holes maintaining most of its first week box-office and stealing first place.
Anger Management broke the record for largest April opening, and it helped the Box Office to break out of its slump. Not only was the Box Office higher than last week, but for the first time in 4 weeks it was higher than the same weekend in 2002. But before studios and theatre owners celebrate, week 15 was a slow week in an otherwise strong spring in 2002. But in 2003, week 15 looks more like a small bright spot in a weak year.
As previously noted, Anger Management broke the April opening record with $42.2 million, about $3 million less than initial studio estimates; this is also personal records for both the stars. However, that’s where the good news ends. After getting great early reviews, the final tally for Anger Management was lass than 50%, and the CinemaScores were even worse. The target audience did give the film an A-, but it quickly dropped off from there bottoming out with a D+ from woman aged 35 and older. All this suggests this movie will be a pump and dump losing more than 50% next weekend.
The second largest opening was for House of 100 Corpses. This movie did much better than was expected on Friday, opening in fourth place. However, it lost more than 13% by Saturday. Box office drops from Friday to Saturday are rare to begin with, but a double-digit drop is almost unheard of. In the end it could only hang on to 7th place. Better than many expected, but don’t expect much more during the rest of its run.
The rest of the top five positions were held by last week’s holdovers, with Phone Booth taking second spot with $7.6 million. That drop-off was just shy of 50%. Still, the studio’s take of the box office is enough to cover the $13 million production budget, so Fox should be quite happy.
What a Girl Wants came in third with $6.2 million, an unexpectedly large 45% drop from last week. High CinemaScores and a younger target audience suggested this movie should have better legs than this. However large the drop was, it was the best in the top five, and only Chicago had a better week to week record in the top ten.
In fourth place, up a place from last week, is Bringing Down the House with $4.5 million. What more can be said about this movie? Already the highest grossing film of 2003, it continues to be one of the few bright spots in a soft year.
In fifth with a larger than expected drop-off was A Man Apart. Losing almost 60% of what was already a weaker than expected opening weekend, A Man Apart shows that Vin Diesel isn’t the superstar some were calling him. At least not yet.
Head of State and Bringing Down the House battled for top stop at the box office this weekend, while the two other new releases faired poorly.
Head of State came in first with $13.5 million, a good figure when you consider its relatively small budget and the small number of theatres it was playing in. With reasonable CinemaScores, this film should have reasonable legs - nothing amazing, but enough to make the studio heads happy.
Chris Rock’s first attempt at directing has done significantly better than most analysts predicted and should lead to more opportunities to direct in the future.
Bringing Down the House failed to become the first film to win the weekend for weeks in a row since The Fellowship of the Ring. However, it was able to squeak over the $100 million mark by mere thousands. It is only the second film release this year to do so, after How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days did it on Saturday. And it reached the mark in less than half the time.
The Core came in third with only $12.0 million, which is nothing short of a disaster. Its estimated $70 million production and $30 million Print and Advertising budgets means this movie will end up costing Paramount a bundle. This movie failed to live up to analysts' predictions and its chances of sticking around in the top ten for more than one more week are minimal.
Also failing to live up to expectations was Basic, which could only muster $11.5 million. While cheaper than The Core, it still won't see a profit. In fact, after factoring in the exhibitor's share, the domestic box office probably won't cover John Travolta's salary. Expect Basic to lose more than half its box office next weekend before dropping out of the top ten.
Chicago re-entered the top 5 after its big win at the Oscars last week. Its box office climbed slightly to $7.2 million due in part to the increase in theatre count. However, it only increased by about 150 theatres, not the 300 - 400 predicted after its 6 Oscar wins last Sunday. With two of the three openers this week ready for a collapse at the box office, and none of next week's opening films creating much of a buzz, Chicago could stay in the top five for another week.
F=http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2002/CHCGO.html>Chicago will pull in an estimated $7 million to raise it’s total to $144 million, all without ever hitting #1 during any weekend during its 14 weeks in release. And that total is 9th best on the all time list of movies that have never reached #1 at the box office. What’s very interesting is Chicago joins three other movies released in 2002 in the top 10 on that list. First is My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Catch Me If You Can is fourth and Lilo and Stitch is 8th (for now.)
Now most box office records are expected to fall on a regular basis due to increased ticket prices and a growing population. But at the start of 2002 the leading ‘Bridesmaid’ Film was Dances With Wolves, which was over a decade old. And the top ten films were, on average, over a decade old. Including such films as Gremlins from 1984 and The Rocky Horror Picture Show from 1975. And three months into 2003, the best Bridesmaid movie so far is Old School, which won’t even make the top 50.
So what made 2002 so strange? Quite frankly, I have no idea. But I’d love to hear your opinions.
After 3 weeks of box office domination by an escapist comedy, an escapist adventure movie looks set to take over the box office crown.
The Core contains all the elements needed for box office success - special effects, heroism, tough but beautiful women, tough but sensitive men, and a story line that bears almost no relation to reality.
A popcorn-muncher's dream.
Movie theaters figured out this is the kind of entertainment people are looking for right now, and it's booked in 3,017 theaters this weekend, which should give it a strong opening.
Mission to Mars earned $22 million on its opening weekend in March, 2000 in 3,054 theaters, and I'm projecting a $20 million debut for The Core (add a little for ticket inflation, take a little for the generally depressed market at the moment).
Basic is the latest war movie to hit theaters, and looks headed for modest opening numbers, and terrible numbers in the weekends to follow.
I'm projecting a $13 million opening, and a rapid decline to follow.
The final wide release this weekend is the Chris Rock comedy Head of State, which will unspool in a fairly limited 2,151 theaters.
That suggests an opening of no more than $6 million, although it could get a minor boost from being a comedy - a genre that people seem to be seeking out at the moment.
Among the returning movies, Bringing Down the House should manage around $11 million, and take 3rd in the chart.
Dreamcatcher will drop sharply, to around $7 million, giving Chicago a shot at 4th place - it is running at around a 10% increase from last week right now, boosted by its Oscar wins, and should take close to $7 million over the weekend.
h 23rd, 2002) the 75th Annual Academy Awards were handed out in a star-studded gala event hosted by Steve Martin. The big winner of the night was Chicago with 6 awards.
ovies are opening wide but will any of them unseat Bringing Down the House as box office champ?
The Contenders:
Dreamcatcher: Opening in nearly 3000 theatres, this Stephen King adaptation is the latest in a long line of Stephen King adaptations. And that’s a mixed blessing. For every Green Mile in Stephen King’s movie career there’s a Mangler. Dreamcatcher is not as bad as that, but its reviews are very poor so don’t look for this one to be a blockbuster. Dreamcatcher should do a little better than $11 million for its opening weekend.
Piglet’s Big Movie: Opening in just 2000 theatres, this Disney redux is the latest in a long line of Disney Reduxes. Follows in the footsteps of The Tigger Movie, Return to Neverland, The Jungle Book 2, etc. Reviews are almost immaterial (but quite good) considering how dependable these movies have been at the box office. Like those movies The Piglet Movie should make around $10 million in its opening weekend and about $50 million overall.
View From the Top: Opening in 2500 theatres … maybe. Miramax has just hours to delay the release of View From the Top for the seventh or eighth time; I’ve lost track. Officially it was delayed due to worries over whether the public was willing to laugh at the airline industry. Rumors were circulating that it was actually delayed cause it just wasn’t funny. And the reviews seem to support the second theory. Reviews are simply awful with Rotten Tomatoes currently showing only 8% fresh. Look for View From the Top to make a $5 million debut before disappearing quickly.
Boat Trip: Opening in just 1700 theatres, and for good reason. Reviews are on par with View From the Top, at only 9% of them positive. Oscar winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. is apparently trying to make people forget just how good of an actor he can be. Boat Trip will make about $4 million this weekend before sinking completely.
And the winner is…
Bringing Down the House: Should bring in another $15 million to become the first movie of 2003 to finish first three weeks in a row.
Agent Cody Banks should remain in the top five, and perhaps Chicago will join him there.
www.the-numbers.com/people/SMART.html>Steve Martin / Queen Latifah comedy earned $22 million at the box office and its second straight first place finish. Bringing Down the House dropped less than 30% for its debut last week and has earned a total of $61.3 million. $100 million is all but assured at this point.
Battling for second place were two of the three new releases this week.
After spotting The Hunted a $300 grand lead on Friday, Agent Cody Banks came back to take second place by half a million dollars, $14 million to $13.5 million. Compared to last year’s Big Fat Liar, Agent Cody Banks pulled in a little more than 20% more in the box office with almost identical CinemaScores so look for nearly identical legs. MGM is obviously quite pleased with its performance so far since work on a sequel is already beginning.
The Hunted, on the other hand, will not impress the folks at Paramount. The Hunted had a much higher budget than Agent Cody Bank’s and a lower internal multiplier, weaker CinemaScores, etc. The studio’s share of the box office probably won’t even cover their advertising budget. This is the second weak in a row with an under-performing military movie, perhaps real-life events are affecting the box office of these movies.
In fourth place was last week’s under-performing military movie, Tears of the Sun, which became this week’s biggest drop off in the top 5. Its weekend tally of only $8.7 million is barely more than half of last week’s and brought its total box office to only $30 million so far. This one also won’t pay for the advertising budget.
In fifth place is the unstoppable Chicago. In it’s twelfth week Chicago’s box office climbed nearly 4% without any increase in its theatre count. With the Oscars only a week away a big win could keep Chicago in the top ten for many more weeks to come.
The only other movie to be released wide this week was Willard. The low budget horror was only able to pull in $4 million and should disappear quickly from the theatres. Willard had good critical reviews, but horrid CinemaScores, which usually means the fault lies with the marketing campaign.
ar since Steve Martin’s last movie was released and over three years since he last had a wide release. But it looks like that absence didn’t cause his fans to forget about him. Bringing Down the House brought in $31.1 million this weekend, a opening weekend record for both Steve Martin and his Co-Star Queen Latifah. This was much higher than almost anyone predicted and should lead to an increase in demand for everyone involved, especially Eugene Levy who has four movies being released this year.
The only other movie opening wide this week was Tears of the Sun staring Bruce Willis, which was in second place with a box office of $17 million. With a budget of $75 million (and almost 50% more for advertising) Sony has to be disappointed with this figure.
Still doing well after 3 weeks is Old
School. Just over $9 million this week raises its total past $50 million. Moving up a place to fourth was Chicago, now in its eleventh week. The multiple Oscar nominated film continues its impressive post nomination run adding almost $7 million to its total box office. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days is still hanging in the top 5 and should reach $100 million, but probably not before Daredevil does.
Of note, last week’s winner Cradle 2 the Crave fell from first to sixth with an unbelievable 60% drop. We haven’t seen that kind of drop since Star Trek: Nemesis dropped 76%.
/www.the-numbers.com/movies/2003/CRGRV.php>Cradle 2 the Grave was the only movie to open wide and it won the weekend race with little difficulty. The Jet Li and DMX action movie made a more than respectable $16.5 million. However, Jet Li’s movies tend to open well and crash quickly afterwards. Cradle 2 the Grave could prove to be an exception, but we’ll have to wait another week before that could be judged.
With only one film opening wide this week the real winners were last weeks’ holdovers. Starting with Old School which held on to second spot with $14.0 million, a drop of less than 20% from last week. An amazingly small drop-off considering the genre. Old School could beat director Todd Phillips’s previous best box office, which was with Road Trip at just shy of $70 million.
Daredevil didn’t fare so well as it dropped from first to third while losing 38.5% of its second weekend box office. While this was the largest drop in the top 10 it is still much better than last week’s 55% drop. This should help Daredevil cross the $100 million mark before its run is over.
In fourth place is the Romantic Comedy that Wouldn’t Die, also known as How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. This week it made a little over $10 million, only an 11.5% drop. So far this movie has had amazing legs and should cross the $100 million mark, possibly before Daredevil does. Next week it could still be hanging on in the top five, which is bad, 'cause typing How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days over and over again is giving me carpal tunnel syndrome.
Still in fifth place 10 weeks into its run is Chicago with only a tiny 5% drop from last week. Chicago beat $100 million this weekend and should beat Rocky Horror Picture Show for third place on the all time box office list for Musicals. Grease will likely remain first on that list with over $188 million.
X Warner Bros. actioner Cradle 2 the Grave lept its way to #1 this weekend, grossing a relatively mild $17.1 million opening weekend for a not-bad per screen average of $6,520.
In second place is DreamWorks' comedy Old School. The comedy had good word-of-mouth and dropped only 20% to gross $13.8 million from 2,742 cinemas. In two weekends it has grossed an excellent $37.2 million.
In third place is Fox's Daredevil. After freefalling a massive 55% last weekend, the Man Without Fear recovered only slightly this weeking, falling 39% to a gross of $11 million. The superhero flick has grossed a lower-than-expected $84.1 million in three weekends.
In fourth place is Paramount's rom-com How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The film is showing some terrific legs, falling only 12% from last weekend for a gross of $10.1 million. It has amassed $77.5 million in four weekends, surely excellent news for Paramount.
And sitting pretty at #5 is Miramax's Chicago. The 13-times-Oscar-nominated film gross $8.1 million, a drop of only 1.4% from last weekend.
The Top 10 looked like this this weekend...
1. Cradle 2 the Grave ($17.1 million)
2. Old School ($13.8 million)
3. Daredevil ($11 million)
4. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days ($10.1 million)
5. Chicago ($8.1 million)
6. The Jungle Book 2 ($6.7 million)
7. Shanghai Knights ($4.8 million)
8. The Life of David Gale ($4.3 million)
9. Gods and Generals ($2.7 million)
10. The Rec
the-numbers.com/movies/2003/DARED.php>Daredevil was only able to grab $18.5 million during its second week at the box office, good enough for first place. However, the loss of 55% was greater than expected. Fox claims this loss was due in part to post-holiday weekend slumps. However, Presidents’ Day is not a big holiday for movies and the snowstorm that hit the Northeast lessened its effect even more. If Daredevil doesn’t rebound next week with a lose of less than 40% it will have a very difficult time crossing the $100 million mark. Making it the first movie to make $40 million on its opening weekend to fail to hit that milestone.
In second place, making $17.5 million (exactly what I predicted) was Old School. This teen comedy staring 30 year olds got surprisingly great reviews. It was the only movie opening wide last week that got an overall fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes.
Also living up to predictions was How To Lose a Guy in 10 Days with $11.6 million for third place. In fourth was Jungle Book 2 which only dropped 24% from its first weekend. A phenomenon which can be entirely explained by the complete lack of competition for its target audience, a trend that will continue till March 21st when Piglet’s Big Movie is released. Just behind in fifth place was Chicago with $8.2 million. Chicago should hit the $100 million mark next weekend.
As for the rest of the new releases, none made much of an impact at the box office. The Life of David Gale just failed to make the top 5 with $7 million. Gods and Generals made slightly more than predicted, but still not enough. Its production and advertising budget was nearly $90 million, so less than $5 million during it’s opening weekend has to been seen as a huge disappointment. And sitting in 9th place with less than $4 million is Dark Blue, which I predicted would make more than twice as much.
entrants into the box office race this weekend, but don’t expect any of the to challenge Daredevil for the top spot. Even a 50% drop would leave DD with a box office of more than $20 million. With no real competition that should be enough to win.
The widest opening this weekend is for the frat comedy Old School starring Will Farrell, Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughn. None of who are big box office draws. Better than expected reviews could help out, although the target audience for these movies generally don’t read reviews. Expect similar numbers to other comedies of a similar maturity level. Almost 2,700 theatres and a predicted $6,500 per theatre for a total of $17.5 million.
Battling for third will be How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Dark Blue with Kurt Russell. Kurt hasn’t stared in a big hit since Stargate, and with an ad campaign that wasn’t aggressive enough and less than 2,200 theatres he’ll have to wait even longer. Dark Blue will lose a close race for 3rd with both movies getting between $11 and $12 million.
Chicago is still picking up theatres, but will start to lose box office, but slowly for the next couple of weeks. $10 million and 5th place is reasonably safe bet.
The Life of David Gale at 2,000 theatres and Gods and Generals at 1,500 theatres are the only other movies opening wide this weekend. But with such low theatre counts and generally awful reviews they will not factor in the top 5. In fact, Gods and Generals might not factor in the top 10.
.the-numbers.com/movies/2003/DARED.php">Daredevil easily won the Presidents’ Day weekend race with a four day total of $45 million, just a little higher than most predictions. However, its Friday to Sunday internal multiplier was only 2.63 and low Cinemascores suggests that Daredevil won’t have the legs fellow Marvel comic book creation Spider-Man had. It will probably end up with a final box office of $100 to $125 million.
The Jungle Book 2 came in 4th with $14 million, in line with recent Disney sequels like Return to Neverland. Similar opening weekends suggest The Jungle Book 2 should finish with a box office just shy of $50. But it will do better business with home video market than it did in the theatres.
Notable holdovers this week include How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which couldn’t maintain its Valentine day boost, but still only lost 21% compared to last weekend. Buoyed by the Oscar buzz, Chicago’s box office increased this week by nearly 18% for a total so far of more than $80 million. But that increase can be entirely attributed to the increase in Chicago’s theatre count as its per theatre average dropped a few percent. Rounding out the top 5 was Shanghai Knights, which lost nearly 43% from its debut last week. That’s quite steep and doesn’t bode well for its long-term box office success.
It does appear that, for the most part, any increase in box office due to the long weekend was nullified by the blizzard conditions in the North East.
ted Daredevil to break Hannibal’s record for highest February opening, which is good, cause it won’t. It will come closer than most experts predicted, (although here at The Numbers we’re closer than most) with more than $15.6 million on Friday alone. The only other movie opening wide on Friday was The Jungle Book 2, which pulled in $3 million.
The Oscar bump was barely noticeable as Chicago only made $4 million. A million more than last Friday but in 400+ more theatres, for a per theatre increase of only 10%. Other movies with multiple nominations got similar bumps, but most were so far down the list that it hardly mattered.
The real surprise for holdovers the weekend was How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which only dropped 10% from last Friday. Since opening weekends tend to be more frontloaded, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days could actually have a better the second weekend at the box office than their first. The other sophomore movies didn’t do so well. Deliver us From Eva lost a very respectable 33% but Shanghai Knights lost nearly 43%. Maybe The Tuxedo’s sluggish performance at the box office wasn’t Jennifer Love Hewitt’s fault after all.
year again when Hollywood hands out the Oscars for
their take on the best achievement in film of the year. 2002 was a rather slow starter
for good quality movies, though by December, a handful of great films sought their
way into multiplexes. Among the titles tossed around for the 75th Annual Academy
Awards (airing March 23) are Chicago, with 13 nominations, The Hours,
Adaptation, The Pianist, and Gangs of New York. But if it's
any consolation, what with a slack in awarding the films and people who actually
deserve the award, Oscar has been pretty routine the last several years and this
year looks to be no exception. Heck, I'm shocked My Big Fat Greek Wedding
didn't sweep the nominations!
Since 1998, I've been observing the Oscar race closely and have noticed that TV ratings
seem to matter more than quality. In other words, the Oscars have become nothing
more than a way of honoring who is young, pretty, and popular. That's not to say
someone as pretty as Nicole Kidman doesn't deserve the award. It's just that Halle
Berry's win over both Sissy Spacek and Judy Dench last year had me
scratchin' my noggin'. There's an answer to everything: Halle Berry is more popular
then Judy Dench and her win will bring in ratings. The same can be said for Gwyneth
Paltrow's win over both Cate Blanchett and Fernanda Montenegro and the whole
Titanic thing. If Titanic hadn't made a trillion dollars, do you think
it would been nominated?
For 2002, the nom's are pretty decent and I see Lord of the Rings: The Two
Towers was thrown in for some recognition to the average American. Yet,
Oscar is still snubbing here and overrating there. So without further ado, here's
my take on the '03 Oscars.
Best Picture
Chicago, Gangs of New York, The Hours, Lord of the
Rings: The Two Towers, and The Pianist. Predictions: Chicago
will win easily. It's the most popular film out there at the moment and the musical
hasn't been honored since 1968's Oliver!. My pick: The Hours.
Snubbed: Far From Heaven.
Best Actress
Selma Hayek, Frida; Nicole Kidman, The Hours; Diane Lane,
Unfaithful; Julianne Moore, Far From Heaven; and Renee
Zellweger, Chicago. Predictions: I'm split between Zellweger and
Kidman, though I'm putting money on Kidman. It may be her time. My pick:
Julianne Moore. Snubbed: Meryl Streep, The Hours.
Best Actor
Adrien Brody, The Pianist; Nicholas Cage, Adaptation; Michael
Caine, The Quiet American; Danial Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York;
and Jack Nicholson, About Schmidt. Predictions: It's between
Brody or Day-Lewis, and I'm predicting the latter. My pick: Tie between Jack
Nicholson and Adrien Brody. Snubbed: Dennis Quaid.
Best Supporting Actress
Kathy Bates, About Schmidt; Queen Latifah, Chicago;
Julianne Moore, The Hours; Meryl Streep, Adaptation; and
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago. Predictions: Bates and Streep are
the front-runners, but with modern Oscar looming about, look for Latifah or
Jones to snatch it up...Maybe. My pick: Meryl Streep. Snubbed:
Patricia Clarkson, Far From Heaven.
Best Supporting Actor
Chris Cooper, Adaptation; Ed Harris, The Hours; Paul Newman,
Road to Perdition; John C. Reilly, Chicago; and Christopher
Walken, Catch Me If You Can. Predictions: Hollywood loves to honor
their older and wiser mega-stars (Newman), though Cooper has a resume any actor
would kill for. My pick: Ed Harris.
Best Director
Pedro Almavodor, Talk to Her; Stephen Daldry, The Hours;
Rob Marshal, Chicago; Roman Polanski, The Pianist; and
Martin Scorsese, Gangs of New York. Predictions: Marshal will win.
The year Almavodor is awarded by the Oscars is the year I turn straight.
My pick: Martin Scorsese. Snubbed: Todd Haynes, Far From Heaven.
So all in all, look for Chicago to dominate the ceremony. It's a tiresome
and vastly overrated fluff-fest, though an enjoyable one, nonetheless. It will
bring in the viewers for sure.
ruary 11th, 2002) nominations for the 75th Annual Academy Awards were announced by Academy President Frank Pierson and Marisa Tomei. Chicago lead all nominees with 13 nominations. Gangs of New York and The Hours nearly tied for second with 10 and 9 nominations respectively.
"Burn It Blue" from Frida
· Music by Elliot Goldenthal
· Lyric by Julie Taymor
"Father and Daughter" from The Wild Thornberrys Movie
· Music and Lyric by Paul Simon
"The Hands That Built America" from Gangs of New York
· Music and Lyric by Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen
"I Move On" from Chicago
· Music by John Kander
· Lyric by Fred Ebb
"Lose Yourself" from 8 Mile
· Music by Eminem, Jeff Bass and Luis Resto
· Lyric by Eminem
Sound
David Lee, Michael Minkler and Dominic Tavella for Chicago
Ivan Sharrock, Tom Fleischman and Eugene Gearty for Gangs of New York
Christopher Boyes, Michael Hedges, Michael Semanick, and Hammond Peek for Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
Bob Beemer, Scott Millan and John Pritchett for for Road to Perdition
Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Ed Novick for Spider-Man
s in for the weekend How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days overcame bad reviews to take top spot in this weekend’s box office race. How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days won with a higher than predicted $24 million. In second place was the sequel to Shanghai Noon, Shanghai Knights which pulled in a disappointing $19 million. Sequels tend to be front-loaded, and Jackie Chan movies are already quite front-loaded to being with. Shanghai Knights could have difficulty beating Shanghai Noon, or maybe even The Tuxedo. Finally getting a wide release was Chicago, although it may have been too late as per screen average dropped nearly 50%. Chicago's box office of $10 million was good enough for 3rd place. It will take a serious Oscar Nomination bounce this week to get Chicago’s final box office past the $100 million mark. The only other movie widely released was Deliver Us From Eva came in at a respectable, if a little disappointing, $7 million good for 6th place.
As with all estimates, the final numbers may vary.
Award nominations were announced today (Tuesday January 28th) at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Chicago lead the way with 5 nominations and Julianne Moore received two nominations, a feat matched by Sean Hayes in the Television categories.
At the award ceremony, which will take place on March 9 at the Los Angeles Shrine Exposition Center,
Clint Eastwood will be awarded the Life Achievement Award.
wo weeks, Chicago has sung up mighty business during a limited run. Its debut weekend of Dec. 27 saw a per-screen average of $26,947 from 77 locations across the country. But if you remember last year’s musical, Moulin Rouge, bringing in some $85,000-plus on its opening weekend of May 18, let me remind you that the Nicole Kidman spectacle opened on just two screens, in New York and Los Angeles. And if it is any consolation, Chicago (based on the Broadway phenomenon by Bob Fosse and Fred Ebb) will most likely appeal to a wider audience and extend its neck past Moulin Rouge in the long run, both critically and commercially.
Proof of that has already emerged. Here in the sun-drenched city of Orlando, the film opened at two theaters and I was present at one of the earliest showings at Walt Disney’s AMC Pleasure Island 24, undeniably the biggest and best Cineplex in town.
Having considered some friends and myself to be the only ones attending Chicago that morning, I was stunned when, after the lights dimmed and the show began, every single seat in the auditorium was filled. A sell-out had emerged and the first full-fledged packed house I’d attend all year, that including my presence at opening nights of Spielberg’s Minority Report and 2002’s highest-grossing film, Spider-Man.
Not only was the theater full, but the crowd was exuberated. They all laughed, whistled, and applauded several scenes, most notably the courtroom/tap dance number performed splendidly by star Richard Gere.
Chicago is expected to bring in $14,500 per-theater in its second weekend, having expanded to 304 sites. If word-of-mouth stays strong, Chicago could become the most popular musical since Grease and could sing up some Oscar nods as well.
Chicago is currently in the run for numerous Golden Globe awards, including best actor (Gere) actress (Zeta-Jones, Zellweger and co-star Queen Latifah), and best picture (musical or comedy).
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
