News Stories About It Runs in the Family Identity Wins Last Week in Spring 2003-04-28 LEFT"> Buy this poster at AllPosters.com The last week in Spring is usually a time when studios dump movies before the summer season officially starts, and it’s usually the slowest pre-summer weekend of the year. This year was no exception. It was better than the same weekend last year, but that could be the result of twice as many movies opening this year. Picked by most to finish second, or even third, Identity managed to grab first spot with an impressive $16.2 million. Also impressive was its reviews at 64%, but its CinemaScores was just average at B. That, the genre, and X-Men 2 opening next week suggests Identity won’t have great legs at the box office, but with a budget of only $28 million, it won’t matter. In second was Anger Management, which dropped another 40% to $15 million and crossed the $100 million mark. Even with much stronger legs than predicted, this film is still well behind Big Daddy for Adam Sandler’s largest box office, despite having a larger opening weekend. Third with the smallest week to week drop in the top ten was Holes. Its more than $12.5 million represents only a 23% drop, and after two weeks its total box office is just a few million shy of its production and P&A budgets combined. After figuring in the theatre’s share of the box office, Holes should finish its domestic run just shy of profitability. But at this point, even a disappointing international box office will push this film into the black. Malibu’s Most Wanted dropped a spot to fourth, but its box office dropped little less than 42% to $7.3 million. This was a little better than most expects predicted. With a production budget of only $15 million, and a total box office of nearly $25 million, look for more films like this to follow. Opening in fifth place was Confidence at only $4.6 million, in line with most predictions. Excellent reviews couldn’t overcome the small advertising push. Word of mouth might help this movie receive a larger audience for the home market, but that’s a best case scenario at this point. To say It Runs in the Family opened wide would be a bit of a stretch. At only 1200 theatres, it wasn’t in the top ten for theatre count, but it did finish 9th at the box office. Still its $2.8 million box office is a disappointment, but probably better than its bad reviews and weak CinemaScores would suggest. It tenth place, proving that the movie going public does have taste was The Real Cancun. This movie bombed, earning $2.1 million in more than 2200 theatres. That’s a per theatre average of less than $1000 per theatre, second worse in the top twenty. Bad reviews are one thing, but the real story here is the CinemaScores. Their target audience (males under 21) gave the movie a C-, with movie goers over 35 gave it an F. Hopefully this will give the other studios contemplating Reality TV Movies something to think about. Submitted by:
A Hard Time Identifying This Week's Winner 2003-04-25 LEFT">
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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.

Submitted by: C.S.Strowbridge

Rank	Movie	Theaters	Change	Weeks in Release	Distributor
1	Anger Management	3,656	+86	3	Sony
2	Bulletproof Monk	2,955	n/c	2	MGM
3	Identity	2,733	New	1	Sony
4	What a Girl Wants	2,540	-390	4	Warner Bros.
5	Malibu's Most Wanted	2,503	n/c	2	Warner Bros.
6	Holes	2,349	+18	2	Buena Vista
7	Real Cancun, The	2,261	New	1	New Line
8	Phone Booth	2,113	-335	4	Fox Searchlight
9	Bringing Down the House	1,668	-616	8	Buena Vista
10	Agent Cody Banks	1,422	-58	7	MGM
14	It Runs in the Family	1,207	New	1	MGM
48	City of Ghosts	6	New	1	MGM
49	People I Know	5	New	1	Miramax
52	House of Fools	3	New	1	Paramount Classics
54	Mr. and Mrs. Iyer	2	New	1	Tips Films
55	Manic	1	New	1	IFC Films
56	Cremaster 3	1	New	1	Palm
58	Marooned in Iraq	1	New	1	Wellspring
59	Decade Under the Influence, A	1	New	1	IFC Films

Estimated Theater Counts for Next Week's Openers

Movie	Theaters	Distributor
X2: X-Men United	3,500	Fox
Lizzie McGuire Movie, The	2,700	Buena Vista
Dancer Upstairs, The	12	Fox Searchlight
New Suit	8	Trillion Entertainment
Blue Car	5	Miramax
Spellbound	1	ThinkFilm

See the full theater count c

Movie Websites Launches for April 17 - April 23

2003-04-23

k promotional websites for several movies were launched and some older ones added additional content. Here’s a list of highlights, plus one last look at websites for films opening this week. If you know of any new movie websites not on this list feel free to e-mail me with the details.


City of Ghosts
Current Content: Nothing new since I last reviewed it. Movie clips are still marked coming soon.


Confidence
Current Content: For a movie that promises a lot of style, the website was a little tame. It hit all the right notes, (synopsis, trailer, cast and crew bios) but it didn’t have the pizzazz I was hoping for. Some of the extras include wallpapers, screensavers and a game.


A Decade Under the Influence
Current Content: The film is a documentary about the influences in American cinema during the 70s. This site focuses on biographical information of both the interviewers and the interviewees, but the usual synopsis and trailer are there. My favorite feature is the very extensive timeline of the 70s. The way they put together the image gallery is also very well done. It is an excellent mixture of style and substance.


Dumb and Dumberer
Current Content: A new button was added that’s marked do not press. When you do you hear a clip from the movie. It’s the same clip every time you press, so there’s no need to press it more than once. Hopefully, there will be more clips added as the release date nears.


Identity
Current Content: Easily the best atmosphere for a site this week, perhaps the best atmosphere for any site I’ve reviewed. It’s very had to describe, no description would really give it justice. You just have to check it out for yourself.


The In-Laws
Current Content: Just a little bit new this week. In the downloads section there’s a new screensaver, and the song list for the soundtrack is available. Unfortunately, only the one song is available to listen to.


It Runs in the Family
Current Content: A good site that focuses on the family members and the actors that play them. Not only is there text, but there are audio and video clips for each character. Excellent information that is probably destined for a feature packed DVD section. There is also synopsis, trailer, wallpapers, etc.


Jeepers Creepers 2
Current Content: This week the trailer and some background music were added. The background music is creepy, but a little short to be effective.


The League
Current Content: The name has been shortened from The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen to just The League to coincide with the launch of the new website. While the site does contain the usual synopsis and trailer, the heart of the site are the vast character bios. Each of the 7 characters in The League have their own section complete with an introduction, why there were chosen, wallpaper and AIM Icons to download, Image Gallery and an E-Card. And there is more marked coming soon. The background music is effective, but not particularly noteworthy. Overall an excellent site.


The Lizzie McGuire Movie
Current Content: The first 5 days of Lizzie’s Diary have been added to the site.


Manic
Current Content: The interactive character bios that make up the heart of this site are very well done, very intriguing. There is good use of sound and music throughout the site. There is plenty of multimedia including a trailer, movie clips and interviews with the director. Written information includes cast and crew bios, and production notes.


Mondays in the Sun
Current Content: This website has almost as much information on the director and the producer than it does on the film itself. The synopsis and character bios are joined by bios of and interviews with the director and the producer. There is also a few storyboard pictures and some information on the music that plays in the background of the site. There’s an extensive list of the cast and crew, but none have bios except the two mentioned above.


The Real Cancun
Current Content: This site spends most of its time on introducing the participants, cause there’s really nothing else to talk about. There’s your usual synopsis, trailer, and clips, lot of clips. But unless you’re already psyched to see this movie, the website does little to persuade you.


Respiro
Current Content: A very unusual style to this website. The content scrolls continuously past, first the synopsis, then a biography of the director and then a statement from him. Next is a biography of the lead actress, Valeria Golino, then an image gallery and the poster. The final section is for the trailer, which is not available at this time. The unique and engaging way this site was put together is definitely worth checking put.


Rugrats Go Wild
Current Content: Starts with you helping Spike find the lost kids, which should keep the kids entertained. The site also has a synopsis, the teaser trailer and the Rugrat kids’ character bios, but most of the rest is marked coming soon. There are some jungle sounds for the background, but the loop is far too short and repetitive.


Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas
Current Content: Not a lot of content, but the movie doesn’t open for another 2 months. So far there is just the synopsis, character bios and a create your own wallpaper. But a trailer is marked coming soon.


Submitted by:

Remake Round Up

2003-02-04

is increasingly averse to taking risks, and when it costs an average of nearly $80 million to produce, distribute and market a movie, who can blame them? One way the studios use to reduce risk is to remake older movies and here’s some of the next batch or remakes the studios are rolling out.
Note: Some of these movies are wrapped up and ready to be released, others are still in the, ‘Idea and a Dream’ phase of the production. Also note, release dates can change often and without warning.

Cradle 2 the Grave: IMDB is reporting this is a remake of the Fritz Lang’s M which starred Peter Lorre. Having seen M and the trailer to this Jet Li / DMX action thriller I fail to see any connection at all. Perhaps when it opens February 28th we’ll learn more about the connection. If reports are true, it will be the third remake of M.

Willard: Remake of the 1971 cult-classic of the same name. This update stars Crispin Glover as the title character who has an affinity with rats. The trailer is one of the most effective trailers I’ve seen recently and I’m eagerly awaiting it’s March 14th release date.

The Good Thief: Remake of the 1955 French film Bob le Flambeur (Bob the Gambler). Nick Nolte stars as an aging gambler on a losing streak who attempts to rob the casino where he gambles. Opens April 4th.

The Wedding Party: Remake of the 1979 Peter Falk and Alan Arkin comedy The In-Laws. This time around staring Michael Douglas and Albert Brooks, as soon to be Father in-laws. Both actors each have another movie opening around the same time as the Wedding Party. Douglas stars in It Runs in the Family and Brooks stars in Pixar’s Finding Nemo. The Wedding Party opens May 23rd.

The Italian Job: Remake of the 1969 Michael Caine crime capper classic of the same name, this time around staring Mark Wahlberg. This will be the third remake in the past four movies for Wahlberg. In a strange twist, the remake will not be set in Italy, but L.A. instead. Opens May 30th.

The Party: Remake of the Peter Sellers comedy about a film extra accidentally being invited to hot Hollywood party. Still in the rumor stage, and rumor has it Mike Myers will trying and fill Peter Sellers comedic shoes.

Logan’s Run: This remake has been in the works since 1996. William F. Nolan, who co-wrote the novel, wrote a treatment in 1996 and hopes the remake will be truer to the novel than the 1976 original.

Submitted by: C.

Douglas Movie Becomes "It Runs in the Family", Moves to April

2003-01-01

mily collaboration, A Few Good Years has changed both its name and its release date in a Christmas-time reshuffle.

It will now be called It Runs in the Family, and get a US r