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The Rock and Rollers
The ascendancy
of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson took another step
forward as his antic thriller The Rundown led weekend moviegoing
with an estimated $18.4 million. There was also mixed tidings
for the debut of Under the Tuscan Sun with a $9.4 million
gross and the scriptures found comfort in the commercial recesses
with bows of Luther and The Gospel of John in a
generally soft marketplace.
While not
yet in the boffo leagues, the amiable thriller The Rundown
demonstrated that The Rock is quickly developing a fan
core comparable to the early returns for bygone action heroes
that have included Chuck Norris, Van Damme and Steven
Seagal. However, he's receiving better personal reviews than
that trio and with Arnie possibly sidelined for several years
and Sly segueing into character roles, he has a clear path to
stardom with the selection of the right vehicles.
Under the
Tuscan Sun, loosely based on the bestseller of the same name,
opened in second spot. Though trailing significantly, the Buena
Vista release was in 61% fewer theaters and had a 32% better screen
average. Still, expansion plans are modest and it's hard to imagine
that the film can be sustained in the upcoming weeks as a flood
of new films enter the marketplace.
In the seesaw
viewing trends that have marked 2003, business "see-ed"
to close to $90 million overall for the weekend. That "saw-ed"
off 12% of 2002 sales and was down by 14% for one week ago. Twelve
months earlier, Sweet Home Alabama was top choice with
a $35.6 million debut and it was followed by the $15 million bow
of The Tuxedo.
The frame's
other national release was the black comedy Duplex. However,
despite a pedigree comic cast, audiences steered clear of the
urban nightmare that grossed $4.5 million and landed seventh in
viewing preferences.
The session
also saw limited bows of two religious themed pictures. Luther,
the latest screen bio of the 16th Century reformer, secured 400
plus screens and a less than reverential box office of $730,000.
The Gospel of John targeted 14 screens in three markets
that translated into roughly $110,000. Neither film could stir
up any vestigial interest from the current controversy surrounding
Mel Gibson's The Passion that's yet to secure domestic
distribution.
Films in continuing
runs displayed no appreciable deviations from seasonal trends.
Last week's chart topper Underworld declined 60% while
the other four second weekers experienced erosions ranging from
31% to 65%. On first blush there are no films in the mainstream
or in the niches that are bucking the tide with resilient box
office returns.
Among the
other specialized and regional openers, Sony Classics' My Life
Without Me had no better than fair response of $39,400 from
seven venues and MAC Releasing's single screen L.A. bow of Prey
for Rock 'n Roll was eyeing $7,800. In Canada, the Quebec
bow of the French hit Chouchou came up shot with $26,000
from 21 screens and the family offering Kart Racer crawled
to $77,500 in 85 theaters.
The
Whole Wide Screen
The industry
is reeling from the MPAA blitzkrieg assault that rendered a Friday
afternoon decision not to send DVD screeners to members of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Hollywood Foreign
Press and sundry other critics' organizations.
As late as
Thursday, the consensus was that it was too late in the awards
process to set up the policy for this year. The argument was further
heightened by the fact that Oscar season is a month shorter for
the first time since video screeners became commonplace in campaigning
about 15 years ago. So, the conclusion was that the Academy would
send members a letter reminding them that receiving the tapes
was a courtesy and privilege not to be squandered.
According
to a senior studio exec, Friday's meeting on the subject was brief
as reps from the majors arrived convinced of the efficacy of the
move. He characterized the growth of piracy of DVDs as "cancerous"
and the action as "symbolic." He did not see the decision
as eliminating or significantly diminishing the problem and said
that current evidence places direct from screen camcorder recording
as the primary source of pirated tapes.
You can be
assured that heated response to the decision will be immediate,
intense and on-going.
- by Leonard
Klady
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