Preview and Projections for the Weekend of February 20th, 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 - updated 2.19.04

Despite the release of four new movies this weekend, Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore’s hit romantic comedy, 50 First Dates, should be able to hold onto the top spot for a second weekend in a row, as studios turn the weekend into a crap-filled dumping yard. The producers of Old School return with Eurotrip, another low brow comedy about four friends traveling in Europe, looks to have the strongest chances with its focused audience of guys. Ray Romano takes on Gene Hackman in the small town election comedy, Welcome to Mooseport. While it’s getting the widest release, it could suffer due to its weak premise and bland marketing. Likewise, Freaky Friday’s Lindsay Lohan stars in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen, Disney’s latest teen comedy that could do slightly better than its recent peers, but offers very little new for its audience of teen girls. Look for both of them to end up in the $8 to 10 million range, if even that. The big dog of the weekend will probably end up being the Meg Ryan-Omar Epps boxing film, Against the Ropes, which might have a hard time finding an audience among jaded moviegoers. Expect two or three of these new movies to add to the long list of big February bombs. On top of that, one can look for sneak previews of two upcoming March movies, as Friday sees a sneak preview for The Girl Next Door, a modern-day remake of Tom Cruise’s Risky Business, and on Saturday, look for a sneak preview of the upcoming Ben Stiller-Owen Wilson buddy cop comedy, Starsky and Hutch.

TW	LW	Title	Weekend (in millions)	Change	# of Theaters	Average	Week
1	1	50 First Dates	$21.5	-46%	3,591	$5,9987	2
2	New	Eurotrip	$13.5	N/A	2,512	$5,374	1
3	New	Welcome to Mooseport	$10.0	N/A	2,867	$3,488	1
4	3	Miracle	$9.2	-35%	2,711	$3,391	3
5	New	Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen	$9.0	N/A	2,503	$3,596	1
6	2	Barbershop 2	$8.0	-45%	2,600	$3,077	3
7	New	Against the Ropes	$4.0	N/A	1,601	$2,498	1
8	4	The Butterfly Effect	$3.2	-39%	1,901	$1,683	5
9	8	Lord of the Rings: Return of the King	$3.0	-28%	1,407	$2,132	9
10	6	Along Came Polly	$2.9	-40%	1,710	$1,696	6
			Est. Weekend Total $84.30	Est. Avg. Drop-Off -39%		Est. Average PTA $3,344

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AGAINST THE ROPES (Paramount Pictures)
Starring: Meg Ryan, Omar Epps, Joe Cortese, Tim Daly, Charles S. Dutton, Tony Shalhoub, Kerry Washington
Directed by: Charles S. Dutton
Rated PG-13
Tagline: “She gave the boxing world the one-two punch they never saw coming.”

Based on the true story of Jackie Kallen, Meg Ryan plays a Jewish woman from Detroit who strives to become a successful boxing manager despite facing many obstacles, including an unscrupulous boxing promoter, played by Tony Shalhoub. Against the Ropes looks at the relationship between Kallen and her first professional boxer, played by Omar Epps.

Part comedy, part bio-drama, Against the Ropes is another one of those strange movies that you wonder how they ever got made. When boxing fans think of the sport and a movie based on it, the first name that comes to their mind is probably not Meg Ryan. Likewise, one would expect that Ryan’s dwindling army of female fans would not care about a boxing movie. With Against the Ropes, we essentially have another movie that tries to mix genres in order to find a wider audience, but will have trouble appeasing either.

Ryan is better known for her cutesy roles in romantic comedies like When Harry Met Sally and You Got Mail with Tom Hanks, where she usually plays the bubbly blonde with a bit of attitude. Originally, the role of Jackie Kallen was to be played by Sandra Bullock, who could probably be more credible as a tough boxing manager, but Ryan has been trying to break away from the stereotypes with very different roles like the English teacher in last year’s erotic thriller, In the Cut, which bombed. Her dalliances with Russell Crowe, while still married to Dennis Quaid on the set of Proof of Life, did not do much to help her in the eyes of her fans, and it could have contributed to that thriller’s failure, and her cross-time romantic comedy with Hugh Jackman, Kate and Leopold, didn’t fare that much better. Meg Ryan’s popularity seems to have waned and continuing to do roles that take her farther away from the type of movie her fans might enjoy is not going to help her win them back.

Ryan’s co-star might not help much. Although Omar Epps is a talented African American actor who has built a strong audience of women from his leading roles in movies such as The Hood and The Brothers, his normal female fans might not care to see him starring with Meg Ryan is another story, and they’ll probably have little interest in a movie about boxing. Against the Ropes is not the type of movie that Meg Ryan fans might enjoy her in and she will likely detract Epps’ normal urban female audience.

The only other well known star, Tony Shalhoub, plays the main antagonist, and though he’s the star of the hit USA show, “Monk”, his presence probably won’t have much of an effect on those wondering whether to see this. Director Charles S. Dutton is probably best known for playing the lead character in the FOX sitcom, “Roc” during the 90’s, as well as appearing in dozens of movies since. Against the Ropes is his first feature film.

The last few years’ boxing movie options have not been total knockouts with Will Smith’s portrayal of Ali being one of the few high points. Against the Ropes looks more like the boxing comedy, Play it to the Bone, with Antonio Banderas, which had a similar weak release four years ago.

Against the Ropes has been delayed by Paramount for over a year, having been moved all over the schedule. This is never a good sign for a movie, since it shows that the studio may not know how to promote it. At one point, it looked like it would only get a limited release, but now it’s going to be released in a moderate 1,600 theatres. Unfortunately, comparisons to another Paramount bomb, Marci X, are too easy. That movie tried to mix the white-bread comedy of “Friends” star Lisa Kudrow with the raunchy urban humor of “In Living Colour” star Damon Wayans. It was one of last year’s biggest duds, making less than $2 million in its wide release. Then again, Against the Ropes was written by Cheryl Edwards, who wrote the successful cross-cultural dance hit, Save the Last Dance, which also looked like a dud before its release. The commercials give the movie a “woman power” feel like Julia Roberts turn as Erin Brockovich, although it will be harder for this to get women past the boxing angle.

Although Paramount has been trying hard to promote the movie with a Ryan appearance on Leno, it is likely that few boxing fans will be able to sit through a Meg Ryan movie, so the prospects for this movie to do well in such a busy weekend are slim. Expect it to make less than $4 million this weekend and be quickly forgotten.

Related Comparisons:

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
In the Cut	10/24/03	825	$0.13	$2.06	$2,501	$4.72
Kate & Leopold	12/28/01	2,452	$7.57	$9.73	$3,966	$47.10
Proof of Life	12/8/00	2,705		$10.21	$3,774	$32.56
Courage Under Fire	7/12/96	1,986		$12.50	$6,294	$59.00
The Wood	7/16/99	1,191		$8.52	$7,154	$25.05
The Brothers	3/23/01	1,378		$10.30	$7,477	$27.46
Marci X	8/22/03	1,200		$0.87	$727	$1.65
Undisputed	8/23/02	1,102		$4.55	$4,128	$12.40
Girlfight	9/29/00	253		$0.50	$1,960	$1.52
Play it to the Bone	1/21/00	1,556	$0.02	$3.43	$2,204	$8.43
Erin Brockovich	3/17/00	2,845		$28.14	$9,891	$125.55

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CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGE DRAMA QUEEN (Touchstone Pictures)
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Alison Pill, Adam Garcia, Lindsay Lohan, Barbara Mamabolo, Pedro Miguel Arce, Megan Fox, Kyle Kassardjian, Adam MacDonald, Eli Marienthal
Directed by: Sara Sugarman (Very Annie-Mary)
Rated
Tagline: “So much drama, so little time."

Freaky Friday’s Lindsay Lohan plays Lola, a hip Greenwich Village teenager who moves to a new school in a Jersey suburb, where she faces Carla Santini, a girl claiming to be the most popular girl at her school, a title that Lola must have no matter what. After trying to nab the lead role in the school play, the competition between the two girls culminates at a sold-out concert by Lola’s favorite band that Carla conveniently has tickets to see.

Based on the novel by Dylan Sheldon, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen is the latest in a long line of cutesy movies targeted towards teen girls. It follows a similar direction as another Disney movie from last year, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, based on the cable show starring Hillary Duff. Duff was originally supposed to play the lead in Confessions when it was still at New Line, but it got picked up by Disney when it ran into problems. When Duff got into contract negotiation issues with Disney over her Lizzie McGuire character, Disney quickly replaced her in the movie with Lindsay Lohan, who was about to appear in their remake of Freaky Friday.

After a stint on the soap opera, “Another World”, the young Lohan got her big break when she played dual roles in the 1998 Disney remake of The Parent Trap. It did well enough that when Disney decided to do a remake of another one of their popular movies, Freaky Friday, she was paired with Jamie Lee Curtis for the age-changing comedy. Freaky Friday ended up doing better than The Lizzie McGuire Movie last summer, not just opening weekend, but overall, something that might have convinced Disney that Lohan was able to showcase this film on her own. The question is whether enough of the young girls who saw Freaky Friday have taken Lohan to heart as another voice for their generation like Duff or Reese Witherspoon or whether she’s as disposable as Amanda Bynes was when she starred in What a Girl Wants, another similar movie.

In the summer of 2000, two successful movies took on the tribulations of being a young woman trying to make it in a competitive world, Kirsten Dunst’s Bring It On and Coyote Ugly, starring Piper Perabo as a young woman who makes the opposite move from New Jersey to New York City in search of success as a singer. Their success proved that there was definitely an audience of young girls looking for a movie heroine to call their own, and since then, every studio has been looking for the next big superstar. This led to a huge influx of teen girl targeted movies last summer with Freaky Friday being the only big hit.

A few months ago, Disney decided to release the movie this coming weekend, a bit of a last minute decision much like Fox’s release of Catch That Kid a few weeks back, but Disney has had a bit more lead time and they’re much stronger at promoting movies. On the other hand, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen has one of the longest and most unwieldy titles since Win a Date with Tad Hamilton, another teen targeted romantic comedy that bombed just last month. After movies like that and Mandy Moore’s Chasing Liberty have bombed, one can’t imagine that this last minute mover would be able to get the attention of its primary teen audience, although those other movies didn’t have the power of Disney behind them either.

This looks like another lame teen girl movie and considering the lack of success of the last few offerings, this genre might have peaked last summer. The Disney name will help this one a bit, as will the bombardment of promotion they’ve done, but it’s unlikely that a little known actress like Lindsay Lohan could sell such a dumb movie where someone like Mandy Moore couldn’t. Expect it to end up somewhere amidst the returning favorites with a weekend take of $8 to 10 million this weekend.

Related Comparisons:

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Freaky Friday	8/6/03	2,954		$22.20	$7,516	$110.22
The Parent Trap	7/31/98	2,247	$5.06	$11.15	$4,962	$66.30
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton	1/23/04	2,711		$7.32	$2,700	$13.11
Chasing Liberty	1/9/04	2,400		$6.08	$2,534	$12.01
Uptown Girls	8/15/03	2,495		$11.28	$4,520	$37.10
How to Deal	7/18/03	2,319		$5.81	$2,505	$14.11
The Lizzie McGuire Movie	5/2/03	2,825		$17.34	$6,138	$42.00
What a Girl Wants	4/4/03	2,964		$11.43	$3,858	$35.99
Coyote Ugly	8/4/00	2,653		$17.32	$6,528	$60.76

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EUROTRIP (DreamWorks Studios)
Starring: Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts, Michelle Trachtenberg, Travis Wester, Jessica Boehrs, Kristin Kreuk, Lucy Lawless, Joanna Lumley, Molly Schade, Jonathan Mankuta, Matt Damon
Directed by: Jeff Schaffer with Alec Berg and David Mandel (feature film debut)
Rated R
Tagline: “No actual Europeans were harmed in the making of this film.”

After a misunderstanding between Scotty (Scott Mechlowicz) and his German Email penpal, he learns that she is a hot girl only after she breaks off contact with him. With three of his best friends, Scotty treks across Europe trying to find her, while meeting a lot of strange characters and getting into embarrassing situations that will do little to help American foreign relations.

Eurotrip is the latest in a long line of lowbrow comedies released in the last few years, geared directly towards the college age male. Movies like this can be traced back to the comedies of the 70’s and 80’s, most notably the racy humor of National Lampoon’s “Animal House” and “European Vacation” as well as 80’s classics such as “Porky’s”. More recently, studios have tried to revive the genre, most notably with the trio of hit American Pie movies and two movies directed by Todd Phillips. In 2000, Phillips’ comedy Road Trip, featuring hot MTV star Tom Green, defied expectations and helped establish his career as a comedic director. This led the way for an even more successful follow-up with Old School, which opened in this same weekend last year. (Phillips is also directing the upcoming comedy Starsky and Hutch, starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson.) The producers of Phillips’ two comedic hits weren’t able to get him back for Eurotrip, but once again, they’re trying to showcase new talent with the writing/directing trio of Jeff Schaffer, Alec Berg and David Mandel, all veteran writers of "Seinfeld", whose latest claim to fame was writing Dr. Seuss’ The Cat in the Hat, which starred Mike Myers.

For the most part, the cast of Eurotrip is made up of unknowns with the exception of Michelle Trachtenberg, a young actress who began her career on “All My Children” in the mid-90’s before taking on a recurring role in the popular fan favorite, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, that wrapped last year. Although she might be the only considerable “draw” for the movie, other movies starring her “Buffy” cast mates, such as the horror movie Wrong Turn, haven’t shown that their connection did much for box office. The two main guys, Scott Mechlowicz and Jacob Pitts, are pretty new, although if the movie does well, it could help their careers much like it did that of D. J. Qualls after Road Trip. Other popular television favorites take on smaller roles with “Xena, Warrior Princess” Lucy Lawless as a dominatrix, and Kristin Kreuk, who plays Lana Lang on the WB’s “Smallville”, also playing a small part.

With the exception of the hugely popular American Pie movies, these sorts of movies tend to be hit or miss, as seen by The Rules of Attraction, based on the Brett Easton Ellis novel, which featured a similar European trip as one of its subplots. National Lampoon tried to return to its former glory with their collegiate comedy, Van Wilder, but it only achieved moderate success in 2002, although it still did better than their similar 1995 offering, Senior Trip. Eurotrip doesn’t necessarily have a better known cast than any of those other movies, but its ties to Old School and Road Trip should help get interest from those who enjoyed those movies.

Fortunately, DreamWorks has gotten very good at marketing these kinds of movies, and they’ve had Eurotrip heavily promoted on Comedy Central as well as with spots during the Super Bowl and Grammy Awards that will help raise the awareness among the movie’s target audience of males 18 to 25. The trailer and commercials have been effective in showcasing the movie’s funniest moments including a “friendly” Italian on a train and the effects of absinthe on the twins who get a bit friendly with each other. Reaction to the gags have been predominantly good with the easy jokes at the expense of Europeans being the lesser draw to the promise of topless women to the movie’s male audience.

Of the new movies, Eurotrip looks to have the most potential, targeting a strong demographic of moviegoers with raunchy lowbrow humor that works. Although it might have the most competition with last week’s #1, Adam Sandler’s 50 First Dates, expect horny college males to get out to see it opening weekend and word-of-mouth should be good. Without the star power of Old School or Road Trip though, it will probably end up closer to the $12 to 14 million range.

Related Comparisons:

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Old School	2/21/03	2,689	$17.45	$6,491	$75.15
Road Trip	5/19/00	2,530	$15.48	$6,119	$68.53
The Rules of Attraction	10/11/02	1,437	$2.53	$1,762	$6.53
National Lampoon's Van Wilder	4/5/02	2,022	$7.30	$3,612	$21.01
Tomcats	3/30/01	2,617	$6.41	$2,448	$13.56
National Lampoon's Senior Trip	9/8/95	1,397	$2.18	$1,560	$4.69
National Lampoon's European Vacation	7/26/85	1,546	$12.33	$7,975	$49.36
National Lampoon's Vacation	7/29/83	1,175	$8.33	$7,092	$61.39
National Lampoon's Animal House	7/28/78	12	$0.28	$23,044	$120.09

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WELCOME TO MOOSEPORT (20^th Century Fox)
Starring: Gene Hackman, Ray Romano, Christine Baranski, Marcia Gay Harden, Fred Savage, Maura Tierney, Rip Torn, June Squibb
Directed by: Donald Petrie (Miss Congeniality, Grumpy Old Men, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Mystic Pizza)
Rated PG-13
Tagline: “This town isn’t small enough for the both of them.”

The small town of Mooseport, Maine has become the retirement town for President Monroe “Eagle” Cole (Gene Hackman). After losing his bid for reelection, his political career is resurrected when the community asks him to run for mayor of the town. His arrival in the town and attention to a local veterinarian (Moira Tierney) kicks off a feud with her boyfriend, a local hardware store owner (Ray Romano) who decides to take on the former President in the election. Can the local boy beat the odds to take on the favorite both in the election and win back the woman he loves?

Being an election year, a comedy about a bitter feud between two candidates seems abundantly appropriate, although the way the premise is being handled might not be as strong as similar political movies from the last few years. The only reason the movie is worthy of even the slightest bit of attention is that it stars a hugely popular television star in his first live action feature film role.

Of course, Ray Romano is the star of the hit CBS sitcom, “Everybody Loves Raymond”, which has become one of the most popular shows on the network. Not surprising that the show and Romano have been nominated for Emmy Awards and SAG awards five years in a row, with Romano winning an Emmy in 2002 and the cast winning a SAG last year. It’s also telling that Romano has won the People’s Choice Award three years running as “Favorite Male Television Performer”. Welcome to Mooseport is only Romano’s second major feature film after providing the voice for one of the main characters of Fox’s computer animated family film, The Ice Age, which made over $170 million during the spring of 2002. The question is whether his popularity on television—a free media--can translate to the big screen, to the point where people will pay to see him. The right vehicle makes all the difference and Mooseport doesn’t seem to be it.

On the other hand, Gene Hackman is a screen veteran, who has appeared in over 60 movies across four decades. He’s well respected among critics and moviegoers alike, having been nominated for five Academy Awards, and he has won for his role in the classic crime film, The French Connection, and then another over twenty years later for his supporting role in Clint Eastwood’s Western, Unforgiven. Dramas tend to be Hackman’s forte with notable roles in movies based on the works of writer John Grisham: The Firm, The Chamber and last year’s Runaway Jury. He also has experience playing the president when he played the corrupt leader in Clint Eastwood’s Absolute Power. Hackman is a veteran of ensemble comedies, from Get Shorty, with John Travolta to Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums, which earned Hackman his third Golden Globe in 2002. His other attempts at comedy such as 2001’s Heartbreakers and the football comedy, The Replacements had a bit more difficulty, and Hackman’ s starring role in David Mamet’s Heist only did moderate business. There is no doubt that Hackman has fans, though, and they’re likely be the ones that will make the effort to see the movie, even if it doesn’t look like his strongest movie

The rest of the cast isn’t to be scoffed at either. It includes many popular television actors from the last few years, from Fred Savage (The Wonder Years) to Maura Tierney (News Radio, E.R.), as well as Rip Torn and Christine Baranski. They’re joined by Marcia Gay Harden, a popular actress who was recently nominated for her second Academy Award for her moving performance in Clint Eastwood’s Mystic River. Few of them will have the same pull that Hackman or Romano might have, but they add a bit more to the movie’s potential.

Presidential humor has been a bit hit or miss over the last few years, having its heyday during the Clinton administration. Movies like Dave with Kevin Kline, Michael Douglas’ The American President and Primary Colors, with John Travolta playing a Clinton-like Presidential candidate, all did decently in the late 90’s, but movies like Alexander Payne’s Election did poor business despite breaking the career of Reese Witherspoon. Welcome to Mooseport is probably more like the latter or other small town movies like State and Main, another David Mamet movie, or the Bill Murray comedy, Groundhog Day. Of those two, only the latter had any success, opening over Valentine’s Day weekend in 1993.

Mooseport’s primary audience will generally be older folks over forty, and they’re not exactly known for rushing out to theatres or being aware of what’s out there. Fox has not exactly been bashing down their doors with promotion, although Mooseport did get a sneak preview this past weekend. So far, this method of building buzz isn’t working as well this year, as it did last, and more than any other movie this weekend, Mooseport will be relying heavily on good reviews to survive. (Update: So far, the reviews are not good at all.)

Despite the impressive and varied cast, Mooseport is suffering from a general lack of buzz due to poor marketing and promotion, as well as a premise that seems better suited for a TV movie or video rental. Frankly, it doesn’t even look very funny. With the widest release for a new movie this weekend, it could still make between $8 and 10 million, because there are few other movies for older audiences. Chances are that it will have little legs, considering that all attention from older audiences will be on Mel Gibson’s religious epic beginning next week.

Related Comparisons:

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Ice Age	3/15/02	3,316		$46.30	$13,966	$176.39
The Royal Tenenbaums	1/4/02	751	$12.19	$8.51	$11,344	$52.35
Heist	11/9/01	1,891		$8.01	$4,236	$23.48
Heartbreakers	3/23/01	2,750		$11.80	$4,291	$40.28
Absolute Power	2/14/97	2,568		$16.77	$6,530	$50.07
Get Shorty	10/20/95	1,612		$12.70	$7,878	$72.00
State and Main	1/12/01	459	$2.37	$1.74	$3,802	$6.92
Groundhog Day	2/12/93	1,640		$14.65	$8,933	$70.83
Dick	8/6/99	1,522	$1.18	$2.21	$1,452	$6.24
Election	5/7/99	827	$0.53	$3.16	$3,821	$14.88
Primary Colors	3/20/98	1,965		$12.05	$6,132	$39.30
Wag the Dog	1/9/98	1,665	$1.96	$7.78	$4,673	$43.04
The American President	11/17/95	1,508	$1.12	$10.01	$6,638	$60.02
Dave	5/7/93	1,155		$7.31	$6,329	$63.27

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UNDER THE RADAR

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.

THE BEST TWO YEARS (Halestorm Entertainment)
CLIFFORD’S REALLY BIG MOVIE (Warner Brothers)
KITCHEN STORIES (IFC Films)
TEKNOLUST (THINKfilm)

For those looking for a more wholesome European comedy, The Best Two Years takes a look at the travails of four missionaries of the Latter Day Saints ministry serving in Holland. Directed by Scott S. Anderson, based on his stage play, this spiritual comedy opens in limited release this weekend.

A children’s favorite for many years, Clifford the Big Red Dog makes his big screen debut in Clifford’s Really Big Movie, which opens in select cities this weekend. In this family film, Clifford goes on the road with his friends Cleo and T-Bone, with adventures that include a stint in a traveling carnival.

Kitchen Stories is Norway’s offering for the Academy Awards’ Foreign Language category about the study of the kitchen routines of Norwegian bachelors. The whimsical comedy features scientists in observation chairs strategically placed in the bachelor’s kitchens to view their habits, leading to amusing situations. Bent Hamer’s amusing and original film opens in New York and Los Angeles on Friday.

Tilda Swinton plays a quadruple role in the sci-fi film Teknolust, about a scientist who creates three Self-Replicating Automatons (S.R.A.’s) all based on her own DNA. Each possessing their own personality, the trio needs injections of male chromosomes in order to survive. The most dominate one, Ruby, goes into the world to have sex with men in order to get their DNA, but they never calculate for her falling in love with a bookish loser, played by Jeremy Davies. Fans of the work of Charlie Kaufman and Hal Hartley might appreciate Lynn Leeson’s quirky existentialist film that opens in New York this weekend after a limited run on the West coast.

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THIS TIME LAST YEAR

Just like this year, four new movies were released in the third weekend of February, although none of them were able to oust Ben Affleck’s Daredevil from the top spot with just over $18 million, a 55% drop-off from opening weekend. The movie that came the closest was the Todd Phillips collegiate comedy, Old School, starring Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson and Vince Vaughan. It came within $500 thousand of the top spot with an impressive $17.5 million opening weekend. The other three movies targeted an older audience, but none of them opened in the Top 5 with Kevin Spacey’s drama, The Life of David Gale, doing the best among them with $6.5 million. Gods and Generals, the sequel to Ron Maxwell’s award winning Civil War film Gettysburg was slightly hindered by its excessive four-hour running time and a moderate release, which allowed it an eight place opening with less than $5 million. The biggest bomb of the weekend was Ron Shelton’s police drama, Dark Blue, starring Miracle’s Kurt Russell, which made less than $4 million to place ninth for the weekend. With so few strong new releases—three bombs out of four new movies--the other returning movies had a minimal drop-off.

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Next week: Jesus Christ! Superstar! Mel Gibson’s controversial historical drama about the religious icon, The Passion of the Christ, finally hits theatres on Ash Wednesday hoping to provide some divine intervention at the box office. There’s nothing quite so holy about the rest of the week’s offerings: an Ashley Judd-Samuel Jackson thriller, Twisted; the Broken Lizard Troupe’s latest comedy, Club Dread, and a retelling of the 80’s classic, Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights.

Copyright 2003 Edward Douglas