Preview and Projections for the Weekend of August 6, 2004
By Edward Douglas -

Greetings and welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly guide to the weekend's new movies. Tune in every Tuesday for the latest look at the upcoming weekend, and then check back on Friday for any last minute updates.

WEEKEND PROJECTIONS - final update 8.5.94

The first full weekend in August sees the return of Tom Cruise in Michael Mann’s action-thriller Collateral, co-starring Jamie Foxx. It shouldn’t have a problem dethroning last week’s #1, M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village, as the poor word-of-mouth should make that one behave more like Unbreakable than The Sixth Sense. Although Collateral doesn’t look as strong as some of Cruise’s past efforts and it faces tough competition in the action-thriller department, it should be able to make close to $30 million its opening weekend. Uptown Girls’ Brittany Murphy and Holly Hunter star in the battle of the sexes comedy Little Black Book, which could benefit from the lack of movies geared towards women from 18 to 30. With a moderate release, it may just get into the Top 5. Otherwise, this should be a pretty slow weekend, as the worst summer month for new movies begins to rear its ugly head. Also, don't be surprised if the indie horror flick Open Water has a big opening weekend earning close to a million in just under 50 theatres in select cities; it may even offer enough competition in those cities to hurt movies like Collateral.

COLLATERAL (DreamWorks Pictures)
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo, Peter Berg, Bruce McGill, Dennis Farina, Irma P. Hall, Javier Bardem, Bodhi Elfman
Directed by: Michael Mann (Manhunter, The Insider, The Last of the Mohicans, Ali, Heat)
Rated R
Tagline: “It started like any other night.”

A Los Angeles cab driver named Max (Jamie Foxx) gets in over his head when he agrees to drive a killer named Vincent (Cruise) around Los Angeles to his various hits, an arrangement that is not so easy to get out of.

Long in development with a number of directors and writers, this high concept thriller uses a rather simple premise to create a tense action-packed thriller. In the last few years, superstar actor Tom Cruise has played a disfigured publisher, a futuristic cop, and a Civil War soldier turned samurai. In what may be his most challenging role, Cruise changes sides and plays the bad guy, complete with graying hair, in a movie that looks like a cross between Taxi Driver and Driving Miss Daisy. Considering the nature of the story, it shouldn’t be that surprising that director Michael Mann was brought in to take over once the movie’s previous director bowed out, but it looks like the movie will still be classic Cruise.

Although Cruise is still considered one of the Top 3 stars in Hollywood, it has been awhile since he has attained the success of some of his earlier films. Cruises’ biggest success has been his transformation of the television show Mission: Impossible into a series of huge blockbuster action movies, and though many of his films have made over $30 million their opening weekends in the past, the only recent movie to make more than that in the last few years was Minority Report, a futuristic crime thriller directed by Steven Spielberg. As an actor, Cruise has been trying to branch out with different types of movies including roles in P. T. Anderson’s Magnolia, starring with his then wife Nicole Kidman in Stanley Kubrick’s strange thriller Eyes Wide Shut, and Cameron Crowe’s remake of the Spanish film Open Your Eyes--yes, there’s some irony there-- into 2002’s Vanilla Sky. The weaker opening of movies like Vanilla Sky and his samurai war epic, The Last Samurai, both in the $25 million range, show that a movie needs more than Cruise’s name and face to get people into the seats.


Cruise’s co-star Jamie Foxx was not the first choice to play the cab driver. At one point, superstar comic Adam Sandler was going to play it as one of his first serious dramatic roles, but when negotiations fell through, Foxx was brought in by Michael Mann as a replacement. Foxx has a little bit of dramatic experience having appeared in Mann’s biodrama Ali, as well as playing a football player in Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday, but he is best known from his days on the FOX comedy show “In Living Colour” and his comedic roles like Booty Call. Other than that, his career has been rather flaccid, as seen by his romantic comedy Breakin’ All the Rules, which had a disappointing opening earlier this summer.

Mann himself is a well respected director having cut his teeth in 70s television before making the move to films that include a number of Los Angeles based crime thrillers like 1995’s Heat starring Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, but even before that, he directed the original Hannibal Lecter movie, Manhunter, based on Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon. The high point of Mann’s career so far may be the topical drama The Insider with Russell Crowe, which earned Mann nominations as a producer, writer and director, although it was far from a box office hit.

Outside of previous work from Cruise and Mann, it’s hard to find comparisons for Collateral. As a high concept thriller, it certainly bears comparison to last year’s Phone Booth with Colin Farrell or even the classic action-thriller Speed with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. Thrillers that can get their premise across in a sentence (“there’s a bomb on the bus that will go off if you drive under 55”) is the kind of movie that can do decent opening and then maintain that business depending on whether the thrills deliver. Phone Booth was a great example of an underrated movie doing decently its opening weekend more because of its premise then its star. Collateral also looks a bit like the two actor showdown of John Woo’s 1997 action thriller Face/Off with Nicholas Cage and John Travolta. Regardless, the inclusion of Cruise should have a bit more effect on how many people go out to see this. Whether Tom Cruise playing a villain might hurt Collateral’s chances, one only need to look as far as Tom Hanks’ 2002 crime drama Road to Perdition, which had a decent opening in a moderate theatrical release on its way to $100 million, or Training Day, a true turning point in the career of Denzel Washington that had him playing a bad cop.

In a year where Tom Hanks, Catherine Zeta Jones and Steven Spielberg can’t open a charming romantic comedy over $20 million, one can’t just assume that having the likes of Tom Cruise and Michael Mann on board will be enough to open Collateral big. DreamWorks has done its best to get the word out but the promotional campaign started a bit later than normal. Because of this, Collateral doesn’t have nearly the advance buzz of Cruise’s previous movies even if the premise is a bit more down-to-earth. Those who see the simple posters showing Cruise and Foxx with the name of the movie probably won’t know what the movie is about. After all, the title is not exactly inspiring enough to get people interested. This approach is nothing new, since it’s a similar approach to the campaign used for many of Cruises’ other recent movies like Vanilla Sky.

Unlike his last two or three movies, the premise seems like it would appeal more to guys, something which could put off his legion of female admirers, and its R-rating and two hour running time could certainly hurt the audience it could bring in. Then again, talented African-American cast like Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Irma P. Hall does give the movie more of an urban bent than Cruise’s previous movies, giving the movie more appeal to that market than some of the other movies currently in theatres. Cruises’ attempts to get the word out in the next week include a one-hour interview on E! and various talk show appearances, but it seems like a lot of this is being done in hindsight, since it took so long to get a trailer into theatres.

With many action-thrillers already in theatres, Cruise may be facing tougher competition than he has with previous movies, but Collateral does have the benefit of being only one of two new movies opening this weekend. Topping $30 million may be tough, but it won’t get much of a fight for the top spot from M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village due to its primarily bad buzz. It should be able to take advantage of the slower month of August to make a strong play for $100 million as well.
LITTLE BLACK BOOK (Columbia Pictures)
Starring: Brittany Murphy, Ron Livingston, Kathy Bates, Holly Hunter, Rashida Jones, Sharon Lawrence, Josie Maran, Julianne Nicholson, Jason Antoon, Samantha Murphy, Rick Overton
Directed by: Nick Hurran (Virtual Sexuality, Girls’ Night Out)
Rated PG-13
Tagline: “Have you ever been temped to look inside his…?”

Brittany Murphy is Stacy Holt, a television talk show producer angry that her former boyfriend Derek (Ron Livingston) won’t discuss his ex-girlfriends. With the help of a co-worker (Holly Hunter), she snoops into his Palm Pilot (the modern day equivalent of the title) and starts to interview them, only to find out that some of them are a little less “ex” than she presumed.

After the success of her romantic comedy How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days, actress Kate Hudson is back doing what she does best in another battle of the sexes...sorry? What did you say? Brittany Murphy? Oh, you’re right. That isn’t Kate Hudson. Maybe she wasn’t available, but this movie looks so much like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days and Raising Helen and even a bit like Alex and Emma that someone must have realized that they could probably get Murphy to be aggressive and adorable enough to take Hudson’s place in this new romantic comedy. Apparently, Meg Ryan wasn’t available either.

Fortunately for the Little Black Book, Murphy has proven herself to be almost as viable a star as Hudson ever since her first memorable role as the Alicia Silverstone’s “Eliza Doolittle” in the breakout 1995 teen comedy Clueless. Six years later, Murphy returned to the spotlight with a pivotal and creepy role in the Michael Douglas thriller Don’t Say A Word, and played Drew Barrymore’s friend in Riding in Cars with Boys, a similar toned chick flick as Little Black Book. After starring opposite Eminem in his 2002 biodrama 8 Mile, she starred with her then boyfriend Ashton Kutcher in the madcap comedy Just Married, followed by Uptown Girls with Dakota Fanning. While Murphy hasn’t shown that much range in her roles, she has proven that she can do comedy, and though she definitely has an audience of younger fans, her appeal to those over twenty should help this movie avoid the stigma of other recent teen chick flicks.


While Murphy will bring in the younger female set, Little Black Book should have a fairly wide pull for older women thanks to the talents of Murphy’s supporting cast, Holly Hunter and Kathy Bates, two Academy Award winning actresses who have remained in the public eye with their recent successes. Unlike most movies where the supporting cast is ignored for the bigger star, the ads for Little Black Book mention both actresses in hopes that it will give the movie a bit more credibility among older women.

Hunter’s distinctive Southern drawl has made her respected and loved actress, even if she hasn’t had a starring role in quite some time. Hunter first got Oscar recognition in 1998 for her supporting role in Broadcast News, and then in 1994, she was nominated for Academy Awards in both actress categories, winning for Jane Campion’s The Piano. Her career slowed down a bit after that, but she received great recognition and another Oscar nomination for her supporting role in last year’s indie drama, Thirteen. Although she plays different roles, Kathy Bates is also well respected as an actress for her work ethic and her memorable characters. Although she’s been acting since the 70’s, she first got attention as the obsessive fan in the adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery, which got her an Oscar. She also played the title character in King’s Dolores Clairborne and in 1999, received a nomination for her role as an advisor in the Presidential comedy Primary Colors. Bates is a character actress who has appeared in many big movies like Titanic, but her most recent coup was her daring skin-baring role in Alexander Payne’s About Schmidt with Jack Nicholson.

Little Black Book’s genre may be more of a draw as the actresses, as it’s the type of estrogen driven movie that gets women to see it both with their girlfriends as well as dragging their husband and boyfriends for date night. True groundbreakers in the genre include actresses Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan, both of whom have appeared in many of these movies, paving the way for a new breed of actresses like Hudson and Reese Witherspoon. The most recent pinnacle for the genre is of course Hudson’s How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, a comedy that defied the odds by earning over $100 million last year, although Hudson’s attempts to repeat that success with Alex and Emma and Raising Helen failed, even with Gary Marshall in the director’s chair for the latter. Other movies like The Banger Sisters and The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood have also brought in women audiences with their strong female stars, though the latter was boosted by the success of the book on which it was based.


Little Black Book is one of those romantic comedies that will sink or swim based on whether women buy the premise and whether they want to see a movie about it. (The misnomer of the title, since the “little black book” is actually a Palm Pilot, doesn’t help.) The subject matter could strike a chord with enough single and dating women to make it a fun night out, although it might take a bit more to convince their dates to see a movie about male infidelities. Although it doesn’t have the advance build-up of Kate Hudson’s How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, it does open in a market where there are very few movies geared directly towards women, and the success of the similarly titled The Notebook shows that there is still an audience for a non-action summer movie. Expect Brittany Murphy’s latest to come into the weekend with a decent but unspectacular opening in the $10 to 12 million range as women and their girlfriends get a more mature alternative to all of the guy movies invading theatres.
Do you live in a major North American city? If so, there are a number of limited release movies worth checking out. And if you don't live in one of the cities in which these movies open, look for some of them to hit your area sometime in the next few months.

BANG RAJAN (Magnolia Pictures)
CODE 46 (United Artists)
MARILYN’S MAN (Illuminare Entertainment)
OPEN WATER (Lions’ Gate Film)
SAINTS AND SOLDIERS (Studio)
STANDER (Newmarket Films)
WASABI TUNA (Café Entertainment Studios)

Bang Rajan is an 18^th Century Thai war movie by Tanit Jitnukul about 11 farmers who take up arms against the Burmese army in a desperate struggle to keep their land, causing a revolution by farmers nationwide against their oppressors. Bang Rajan opens in Los Angeles this weekend and elsewhere in the next few months.

Michael Winterbottom, director of 24 Hour Party People, returns with the futuristic love story Code 46, starring Tim Robbins as an investigator who falls in love with the perpetrator of a crime (Samantha Morton) only to learn that their love is forbidden by society. Bearing resemblances to Blade Runner, Brazil and Until the End of the World, Winterbottom’s moody science fiction film opens in New York and Los Angeles this weekend. MY REVIEW

Marilyn’s Man is Schani Krug’s feature documentary about the actress formerly known as Norma Jean Baker and her relationship with Jim Dougherty, a romance that was torn apart by the studio moguls of tinsel town. Opens Wednesday is New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Miami.

A young couple are left stranded in the middle of an ocean surrounded by sharks in the low-budget thriller Open Water from Chris Kentis and Laura Lau. Having received a lot of buzz at the Sundance Film Festival for its daring use of real live sharks, Open Water opens in major cities on Friday before a nationwide expansion on August 20.

Four soldiers trapped behind enemy lines try to cross the frozen German wilderness and get back to Allied territory with important intelligence in Saints and Soldiers. The winner multiple “Best Picture” nods from a variety of film festivals, Ryan Little’s World War 2 drama opens in select theatres on Friday.

In Stander, Thomas (The Punisher) Jane plays Andre Stander, a disaffected South African police captain who takes up a life of crime with a series of daring bank robberies and ruses. Set in the backdrop of Apartheid South Africa, Bronwen Hughes’ stirring 70s crime drama opens in New York and Los Angeles this weekend. MY REVIEW

The annual West Hollywood Halloween Parade is the setting for the madcap comedy Wasabi Tuna about a group of friends that dress up in outlandish costumes leading to a case of mistaken identity. Featuring an appearance by Anna Nicole Smith and a gaggle of her drag impersonators, Wasabi Tuna opens in San Francisco this weekend.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR
Colin Farrell starred in his fourth #1 movie of 2003, this time paired with Samuel L. Jackson and LL Cool J for a modern day remake of the 70’s television show, S.W.A.T., which took in a decent $37 million its opening weekend last August. For whatever reason, Disney decided to release their own remake of the 70’s family comedy Freaky Friday on a Wednesday, but the comedy that paired Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan earned $11 million in its first two days and another $22 million over the weekend. The late summer favorites Seabiscuit and The Pirates of the Caribbean continued to hold ground for the fourth and fifth slot while most of the other movies continued to have drastic weekly drops.

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Next week, a battle of the sci-fi creatures in Aliens vs. Predator; Anne Hathaway returns for a sequel to the Disney hit that started her career, Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement; while the popular cartoon and card game hits theatres with Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Movie. (Note: Next week’s Weekend Warrior may be a day or two later than normal.)

Copyright 2004 Edward Douglas