ComingSoon.net - The Weekend Warrior

Your Weekly Guide to New Movies for February 24, 2006
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 final projections based on actual theatre counts.

THE BATTLE CRY!

As promised, I've decided to rant a bit about the MPAA this week. Not that this is something new, because the movie ratings system has been a topic of frustration and aggression for as long as it's been around. Apparently, the MPAA ratings are in place to try to protect our younger generation, but what exactly are they trying to protect them from? Nudity, sex and four letter words? Sorry to break it to you, Mr. Glickman, but kids will discover stuff like that anyway in something we like to call "real life." On the other hand, it seems ludicrous that the MPAA doesn't have as many compunctions about subjecting teenagers to senseless violence in movies that make it look cool.

What I find interesting is how the bigger studios are able to abuse the system and get away with things while independent filmmakers tend to get squashed by MPAA decisions. For example, this weekend, there's a terrific new movie from South Africa called Tsotsi, which was given an R-rating, probably because of the violence associated with the film's lead character, a young thug, or possibly due to a scene of breast-feeding. (Shouldn't the latter be allowed in a G movie, since younger kids can relate?) Meanwhile, Warner Brothers was able to get the PG-13 ratings for both Firewall and 16 Blocks, violent movies that feature many people getting shot and killed, not to mention a villain terrorizing a child with cookies!

The MPAA's take on obscenity is even sillier because apparently, you're allowed to say the "F-word" once and still get a PG-13, but not twice. Sure enough, in Paramount's upcoming romantic comedy Failure to Launch, Matthew McConaughey gets irate and lets loose the word, and in Fox Searchlight's Imagine Me & You, also PG-13, a character actually says "F*cking F*ck", and they get away with it! Now mind you, I tend to swear like a truck driver on a normal basis, so I'm not one to talk, but is it even appropriate to have the "F-word" in a light comedy that is targeted to women and younger girls who probably wouldn't care to hear that language? (Correction/addendum: I've been informed that Imagine Me and You was actually rated R, contrary to the press notes given to me by Fox Searchlight, but that just makes even less sense, because there is no reason for this to be R except for the language. There's neither nudity nor anything even remotely erotic, but apparently, a lesbian romantic comedy isn't suitable for teen girls who may be experiencing similar feelings/thoughs.) It seems like the MPAA should be mindful of a movie's audience and whether they'll want to hear that kind of language or whether it's appropriate to the characters. That kind of language would make perfect sense in a movie like 16 Blocks, which is about corrupt police officers, but even though it managed to get a PG-13 rating, Richard Donner found a clever way of sneaking in the "F-word" twice. It makes you wonder whether the MPAA missed it or they realize that Warners and Donner are big Hollywood players, and allowed them to get away with more in a PG-13 movie than something like Tsotsi.

(Addition: After watching Running Scared, an R-rated movie with ridiculous levels of violence, I began thinking that maybe it was time that the MPAA separated R into two categories, much like they did with PG.)

Considering how silly it all is, maybe instead there should be a rating for quality, because Lord knows that the youth of today shouldn't have their impressionable minds subjected to stupidity and bad movies. With that in mind, movies like When a Stranger Calls and The Pink Panther and Firewall should never be shown to anyone under 30, because if you don't know better by then, there's really no hope for you.

THE CHOSEN ONE:

LITTLE FISH (First Look Studios/P&F Communications)
Starring Cate Blanchett, Sam Neill, Hugo Weaving, Martin Henderson, Dustin Nguyen, Noni Hazlehurst, Lisa McCune, Susie Porter
Directed by Rowan Woods (The Boys); Written by Jacqueline Perske
Genre: Drama, Crime Thriller
Story: Tracy Heart (Cate Blanchett), a former heroin user living in Sydney, Australia, has been struggling to make a new life for herself when her brother Ray (Martin Henderson) and her recently returned ex-boyfriend (Dustin Nguyen) try to get her involved in a drug scheme that revolves around an ex-rugby star (Hugo Weaving).
REVIEW (Coming Soon!)

Little Fish is a character driven crime drama set in modern Sydney, a film that might have slipped past me if it hadn't been mentioned when I interviewed Martin Henderson two years ago. Of course, what immediately interested me was that it starred Cate Blanchett, but little did we know, it would be her first movie since winning the Oscar for Martin Scorsese's The Aviator in 2004. I might still have missed it if not for the film's publicist, who invited me to see it before its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, and I immediately fell in love with the intricacies of the characters and their relationships. It was hard not to empathize with Cate Blanchett's character, a former heroin user trying to find a new life for herself despite financial problems, and discovering it's impossible to escape her past. Director Rowan Woods assembled an amazing cast, but it's mainly driven by amazing performances from Blanchett and Hugo Weaving, best known as Mr. Smith from The Matrix trilogy, and their relationship in the film really makes it special. (Not surprisingly, the duo have reunited for the Sydney Theatre Company's production of "Hedda Gabler" opening Off-Broadway next week.)

I had the opportunity to talk to director Rowan Woods and some of his cast at the Toronto Film Festival in a rather odd round robin interview with each actor jumping in for a few minutes before being going off and being replaced by another member of the cast. Woods told me why he made some of the unconventional choices for this particular cast. "Well, it's sort of perversely titillating casting the likes of Hugo and Sam and Cate Blanchett and Martin Henderson, and forcing them all to do things that they've never done," Woods told me, "And they're up for it! I think they're really good characters actors who happen to be stars that are also interested in challenging themselves."

Hugo Weaving agreed. "And that's the joy, to be able to do that sort of thing," he confirmed. "You don't want to play the same type all the time. I'm an actor and I want to play many different roles, and it's not hard to say "yes" to a wonderful character like this, not hard at all. In fact, I was really eager to do it, because I didn't have to look good."

"Let's extinguish the notion straight away that someone who is as decrepit as Lionel, a character that Hugo plays, doesn't wear make up," Woods added with a smile.

Hugo also told me how he researched the role of a gay ex-rugby junkie. "I'm really completely ignorant about the world of rugby league, and ignorant about the whole heroin experience really, and yeah, I needed to meet up with some people who could educate me. There's a very big ex-rugby league star who came out as a gay man while he was still playing. He also then became an actor, so he was kind of perfect for me, because he understood acting and the world, and he also understood that particular culture, and understands being a gay man within that culture. He was really invaluable for me."

Some of Woods' surprise casting includes Dustin Nguyen, best known as the Asian martial artist from Pam Anderson's show "V.I.P." who gives a strong dramatic performance as Blanchett's ex-boyfriend Johnny, who convinces her to take part in his latest scheme. "It's the most important work I've done, I think, and the most profound working experience, too," Nguyen said. "Material like this doesn't come by often in Hollywood, in terms of how Asian male are portrayed, but it all comes down to a good story and a good script. For me, the opportunity to work on a project like this where it's a great story and a stellar cast. Personally, I have the best part I've ever done, so it's just a win-win situation."

Similarly, Aussie actor Martin Henderson has mainly been playing Americans in movies like The Ring and Bride & Prejudice, but Woods' film gave him a chance to be Australian, while playing down his looks as Blanchett's drug-dealing brother. "I was in L.A. and I got a call saying that Rowan was making a new film," Henderson told me, when asked how he got involved. "He wanted to have dinner with me, and I knew Rowan's work from The Boys, which I had seen. I was delighted that he considered me, but I wasn't actually sure whether he had the right actor. I was very flattered, but I also felt that it was probably beyond me or I wasn't the best person to play a role like that, but he was sure that I was. To be honest, it wasn't a hard decision to work with Rowan and Cate and Hugo and Sam, and it's the best opportunity I've ever had to do what I really love and do some real acting. It was a real challenge and the best acting experience I've had to date."

Woods also told me what made the script, written by Jacqueline Perske based on an idea of his, so appealing to turn into a film. "It's a very multi-layered script and one that's very democratic," he told me. "Obviously, the central character Tracy sort of runs through the middle of it, but it's very ambitious in terms of its intersecting storylines, and it really delivers, unlike a lot of Hollywood scripts, on all of those storylines. It's quite interesting seeing people watch the film for the first time and the second time and the third time, because there are layers to it. I really like a lot of contemporary movies that actually deliver across several screenings that challenge the audience to that extent. I think that there's something about where cinema is at the moment, which is perhaps influenced by the fact that it's now being challenged as an artform by games and the internet and all sorts of other forms of narrative that we expect more from our cinema than we perhaps did ten years ago. One of the cool things about this script is that it did challenge you on the first read and actually demanded a second read and third read, and it's the same with the movie. I love movies that do that."

With such a great cast, including Sam Neill as a gay mob boss, I was surprised to learn that the movie was opening this weekend at New York's Village East, not exactly the most high profile theatre in town, and it's a shame, because Little Fish seems like the kind of movie that a company like Focus Features or Fox Searchlight or Warner Independent could really get behind to make a play for Oscars. Instead, it will be getting a limited platform release and who knows if anyone outside New York or L.A. will ever get a chance to see it, which is a shame.

NEW THIS WEEK:

"Are these the auditions for Toy Story 3?"

DOOGAL (The Weinstein Company)
Starring the voices of Daniel Tay, Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart, Whoopi Goldberg, William H. Macy, Chevy Chase, Kevin Smith, Bill Hader, Cory Edwards
Directed by Dave Bothwick and Jean Duval; Written by Serge Danot, Paul Bassett
Genre: Comedy, Animated, Family
Rated G
Tagline: "Things Are About to Get Hairy."
Story: When the sorcerer Zeebad (voiced by Jon Stewart) escapes from prison and swears to find three magic diamonds that can help him put the earth in a deep-freeze, a group of heroes including the dog Doogal, and his friends Dylan, Brian and Ermintrude, go on an epic adventure to find the diamonds before Zeebad can hatch his nefarious plot.

Now, this is an interesting story. See, at one point, this movie was going to be released by Miramax as The Magic Roundabout, and it was based on the popular French television show created by Serge Danot in the ‘60s, which found an even larger audience in England when it was translated. Almost 40 years later, a computer-animated movie was made with the characters speaking using the voices of some fine British talent from Tom "Dr. Who" Baker to Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Ray Winstone, and even singers Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams. After being moved around for a bit, it's reemerged as something called Doogal with the voices being replaced by American actors like Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart. Whoopi Goldberg, William H. Macy and Chevy Chase. Uh oh… the Weinsteins are at it again, having clearly forgotten how poorly their abominable dubbed version of Oscar winning Roberto Benigni's Italian language Pinocchio did a few years ago. They're probably wary of suffering a similar fate as the British animated movie Valiant, which didn't do very well here when released by the Weinstein's former parent company, Disney. Having just had a computer animated hit last month with Hoodwinked, which made back its production budget its opening weekend, the Weinsteins brought on the creative team of Hoodwinked to rework The Magic Roundabout for American audiences, essentially replacing all of the British voices and most of the humor too presumably. The trailer seems to make it look as if the whole thing is a spoof of The Lord of the Rings, although the new voice cast isn't particularly impressive, including the almost mandatory Whoopi Goldberg and Jimmy Fallon, and it's unsure whether Ian McKellen's great villainous voice was retained, but what kid is really going to know or care? It has a lot of cute characters doing funny things, right? Despite the questionable interest in this, the Weinsteins were able to get the movie into over 2,000 theatres, which is quite amazing considering the lack of awareness, but there are already plenty of choices for family and kids in theatres and a poorly marketed reworking of a European film dumped into theatres won't do much to get them away from Curious George and The Pink Panther. Without the Disney name, this likely won't even do as well as Valiant.

Why I Should See It: You're sick of your kids asking you to see Curious George again.
Why Not: Because when you replace great actors like Ian McKellen and Jim Broadbent with the likes of Jimmy Fallon and Whoopi Goldberg, you're just asking for trouble.
Projection: $3 to 5 million opening weekend on its way to around $10 million.

RUNNING SCARED (New Line Cinema)
Starring Paul Walker, Chazz Palminteri, Cameron Bright, Vera Farmiga, Johnny Messner, Alex Neuberger, Karel Roden, Ivana Milicevic, Bruce Altman, Elizabeth Mitchell
Written and directed by Wayne Kramer (The Cooler, Crossing Over)
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Rated R for pervasive strong brutal violence and language, sexuality, drug content and cunnilingus.
Tagline: "Every bullet leaves a trail."
Story: New Jersey mob flunkie Joey Gazelle (Paul Walker) has gotten himself deep in trouble when one of the stolen guns he was hiding in his basement is used by Oleg (Cameron Bright), a friend of Joey's 10-year-old son, to kill the nephew of a psychotic Russian mob boss. The events send Joey and Oleg on the run from everyone. Presumably, they're scared.
Mini-Review: Sophomore slump is one thing, but this movie is such a painful about face from Kramer's previous film, that you have to wonder what happened? Good writing, storytelling and character development are thrown out the window in favor of ridiculously stylized shoot-em-ups and cliche-ridden stereotypes.For the most part, women are used as punching bags and sex dolls, with the only exception being Vera Farmiga, who practically steals the movie. On the other hand, Paul Walker will be adding this film to the list annnounced when he receives his Career Razzie. Young Cameron Bright should have given him some acting lessons. Rating: 4/10

After getting critical attention for his Vegas-based character drama The Cooler, starring William H. Macy and Maria Bello, director Wayne Kramer decided to wander further into crime territory with an action-thriller that will try to find a more mainstream audience with its intricate story involving gangsters, drugs and stolen guns. Shot in Prague during the summer of 2004, the movie has taken a long time to see the light of day after being moved a few times. Kramer's star, Paul Walker, is not exactly the type of box office draw you might want for your first major studio film (see below), but at least he's coming off a decent-sized hit with this past weekend's Eight Below. Walker's joined by Chazz Palminteri, who has turned playing a gangster into a long-term career move, and they're joined by Cameron Bright, the creepy kid actor from Godsend and Birth, who also appears in Ultraviolet next week. Still, tackling this genre may be a gutsy move by Kramer, since crime thrillers like Knockaround Guys and Confidence have not exactly made waves at the box office, despite having far stronger casts than Running Scared. It also doesn't help that the resulting movie looks a lot like The Transporter or Tony Scott's Domino, which bombed last October despite starring Keira Knightley. At least, Kramer's film has a male lead, so it doesn't have to worry about that stigma of guys not wanting to see action movies starring women. New Line doesn't seem to have very high hopes for the movie, giving it a minimal release into just over 1,500 theatres this weekend, although they may be hoping that word-of-mouth on the internet, especially surrounding the movie's racey online game, will help the movie get a decent opening weekend audience, much like David Cronenberg's A History of Violence did last Fall. Then again, that movie had the benefits of the Cronenberg name, a strong platform release and almost overwhelmingly positive reviews, while Running Scared has none of those benefits. At least it had an action-packed ad that ran during the Super Bowl, so maybe it'll find its predominantly male audience opening weekend, although it may have a harder time taking on next week's trio of guy films.

Why I Should See It: This should be another interesting crime thriller from Kramer.
Why Not: Surely, Paul Walker can't have two good movies, let alone two box office hits, two weeks in a row, right? Inconceivable!
Projection: $5 to 7 million opening weekend on its way to $16 to 18 million.

"Just let me at that Martin Lawrence for stealing my thing!"

"Just let me at that Martin Lawrence for stealing my thing!"

TYLER PERRY'S MADEA'S FAMILY REUNION (Lionsgate)
Starring Tyler Perry, Blair Underwood, Lynn Whitfield, Boris Kodjoe, Henry Simmons, Lisa Arrindell Anderson, Rochelle Aytes, Jenifer Lewis, Keke Palmer, Tangi Miller, Maya Angelou, Cicely Tyson
Written and Directed by Tyler Perry (Diary of a Mad Black Woman)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "Learn dignity. Demand respect." (Note to Perry: You can start by cutting out the drag act!)
Story: The adventures of Tyler Perry's out-of-control granny, Madea, continue in this adaptation of Perry's hit stage play. This time, Madea must take care of a runaway, while dealing with her nieces' relationship problems and preparing for a huge family reunion that might end up breaking the family apart.

The phenomenon known as Tyler Perry continues his rule over a kingdom made-up predominantly of churchgoing African-American women with the third movie in two years based on one of his hit plays. Not content with the $75 million they've made in ticket sales, the self-made millionaire first dabbled with celluloid when his play Woman, Thou Art Loosed was released as a movie in the fall of 2004, followed a few months later by a #1 movie based on Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which defied all expectations this weekend last year. This time, Perry takes the directorial reins himself, so you can expect that the mix of humor and spirituality form his plays will be retained in this follow-up, but apparently, Kimberly Elise's Helen from the previous hit isn't important enough to be considered part of Madea's family, because she's not in this sequel, replaced by Lynn Whitfield and Blair Underwood. But that won't really matter because the real draw for the film is Perry wearing a dress as his character Madea, who is so popular with his audiences, although coming out a month after Martin Lawrence's hit comedy Big Momma's House 2--currently the #1 movie of 2006 (!)--Perry might find that people have already had enough big black men in drag for one year.

There's also the chance that a lot of people didn't really like Diary very much despite its opening weekend success; its IMDb User Rating is 5 out of 10, which is pretty bad for a major film, and its final take of $50 million is very low compared to its opening, signifying poor word-of-mouth. Perry's previous movie had a far better title to draw women in, while Madea's Family Reunion will expect people to know who Madea is to get their interest. Despite those stipulations, Lionsgate has decided to open Family Reunion in 600 more theatres than Diary, so business will probably end up being more spread out, much like it was when Barbershop 2 opened two years ago, earning only slightly more opening weekend. By comparison, Perry probably has a fixed audience of fans, and only a small percentage of them will be interested in seeing a movie based on a play they've already seen. Still, expect a lot of his most diehard supporters to flock to see this opening weekend, and since these movies don't cost a lot, it'll probably be profitable by Monday, but it'll probably get slaughtered the following weekend.

Why I Should See It: You're either Tyler Perry's biggest fan or just a masochistic glutton for punishment.
Why Not: Haven't we all had our fill of men in drag for one year?
Projection: $18 to 20 million opening weekend on its way to $45 million

TSOTSI (Miramax Films)
Starring Presley Chweneyagae, Mothusi Magano, Kenneth Nkosi, Zenzo Ngqobe, Terry Pheto, Zola, Jerry Mofokeng, Rapulana Seiphemo, Nambitha Mpumlwana, Ian Roberts, Percy Matsemela
Written and Directed by Gavin Hood (A Reasonable Man, In Desert and Wilderness)
Genre: Drama
Rated R
Tagline: "Hope Set Him Free"
Story: A young street thug in Johannesburg who finds his life changed when he steals a car and finds a small baby in the backseat.
REVIEW

This year's South African entry for the Oscars, based on the 1980 novel by Athol Fugard, is an interesting story of redemption that takes place in a part of the world that we've only seen in a certain light. Director Gavin Hood uses Fugard's story of a gangster whose life is changed when he has to care for a baby to show the crime and poverty of the shantytowns, creating an interesting mix of cultures and languages and a unique-looking film. Of course, the cast is made up almost exclusively of unknown South African non-actors, but like Fernando Meirelles' City of God, that just adds to the realism, and though the film is rather violent, there's a relevance to the main character's situation and what many inner city teens face in our country.

Why I Should See It: This is a wonderful story of redemption taking place in a fascinating part of the world.
Why Not: Didn't we just have a movie last week about a carjacking?

STAR SPOTLIGHT: Paul Walker

While Paul Walker might still be considered a young actor, the 32-year-old has actually been appearing in movies for a while, usually playing characters far younger than he actually is. Walker started as a teen actor doing television and small films, which may have been why he continued to get cast in teen roles well into his ‘20s. After roles in Varsity Blues and She's All That, Walker's big break came when he appeared in Rob Cohen's thriller The Skulls, which put him on the fast track to star in Cohen's next movie, The Fast and the Furious.

Appearing in that blockbuster summer hit opposite Vin Diesel was a huge boom for Walker's career, raising awareness for him as an actor among producers and moviegoers, although the movie's teen male audience didn't bother going to see Walker's next film, the horror-thriller Joy Ride. When both Vin Diesel and Rob Cohen bowed out of the sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious, Walker was left to star in the follow-up, and it held up surprisingly well, making more opening weekend than the original, and almost as much overall. A few months later, Walker starred in Richard Donner's movie version of Michael Crichton's bestseller Timeline, but that did poorly over Thanksgiving weekend 2003, and then last September, Walker starred opposite the super hot semi-clad Jessica Alba in the underwater thriller Into the Blue, but that ended up tanking worse than any of Walker's previous films.

After back-to-back flops, Walker is now coming off his biggest non-Fast and Furious hit in Disney's Eight Below, although of course, that Disney family film probably brought in more people for the dogs than due to Walker. This week's Running Scared will be Walker's chance to show that he can bring people into theatres, although the younger women who presumably find Walker dreamy probably won't have much interest in what is essentially another guys' film. Even with other genre movies under his belt, Walker doesn't have that much credibility among the 18 to 25 year old male audience to get them to go see this for him either.

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Eight Below	2/17/06	3,066		$20.19	$6,584
Into the Blue	9/30/05	2,789		$7.06	$2,531	$18.25
Timeline	11/28/03	2,787	$3.98	$8.44	$3,028	$19.44
2 Fast 2 Furious	6/6/03	3,408		$50.47	$14,810	$127.08
Joy Ride	10/5/01	2,497		$7.35	$2,944	$21.97
Tne Fast and the Furious	6/22/01	2,628		$40.09	$15,255	$144.51
The Skulls	3/31/00	2,412		$11.03	$4,573	$35.01
She's All That	1/29/99	2,222		$16.07	$7,232	$63.32
Varsity Blues	1/15/99	2,121		$15.92	$7,506	$52.89

THIS WEEK'S "GUEST-PERT":

Well, I was hoping to find a Tyler Perry fan to comment on Madea's Family Reunion, but apparently, they don't exist on the internet… or at least none of them read my column. I guess I should consider myself flattered that my readers have better taste than that.

ALSO IN LIMITED RELEASE:

It's all about the documentaries this weekend, but the one drama is Chris Fisher's police thriller DIRTY (Silver Nitrate), starring Cuba Gooding Jr. as a corrupt police officer who becomes a target for gangsters, along with his partner (played by Capote's Clifton Collins Jr.), when they get involved in a drug deal that goes wrong. (Mini-Review Coming Soon!)

Marshall Curry's Oscar nominated STREET FIGHT, which opens in New York on Wednesday and L.A. on Friday, documents the Newark mayoral race of Cory Booker, trying to take on the city's four-term incumbent, while dealing with the corrupt tactics being used to hold him back. (Mini-Review: While the film is rather lowfi and simple with its approach, it's quite amazing to see this fierce mayoral race taking place, and it's probably even more riveting if you don't know the outcome of the race beforehand—and it's amazing to watch all the thing Booker has to endure, as the incumbent mayor uses his political muscle to fight dirty in order to bring down the younger underdog. Rating: 8/10)

UNKNOWN WHITE MALE (Wellspring Media) is a film by Rupert Murray about his friend Doug Bruce, who one day found himself wandering around Coney Island with no memory of who he was, and suddenly found himself having to rediscover his own life. (Mini-Review: While this may be an interesting case of amnesia, it's not a particularly interesting documentary, because it mostly follows this boring guy around showing him re-experiencing things for the first time since losing his memory and identity. As an alternative documentary, it pales in comparison to Wellspring's 2004 release Tarnation, and it certainly doesn't help that the British filmmaker uses a similarly pretentious voice-over that reminds one a bit of England's version of Michael Moore, Nick Broomfield. Rating: 6/10)

Produced by Angelina Jolie and directed by Heather Rae, TRUDELL (Balcony Releasing, HBO CInemax Documentary Films) takes a look at the life and work of Native American poet and activist John Trudell, who has worked with the likes of Robert Redford, Kris Kristoggerson, Bonnie Raitt and others from the ‘70s to make people aware of the plight of the American Indian. Opens at the Quad Cinema in New York. (Mini-Review Coming Soon!)

Michael Glawogger's WORKINGMAN'S DEATH (Seventh Art Releasing), opening at New York's Cinema Village, takes a look at five of the hardest jobs in the world from coal miners in the Ukraine who have to crawl through a tiny crawlspace to do their job to Pakistani steel workers working in a dangerous environment (Mini-Review: From the opening quote and the Fritz Lang feel to the first segment, Glawogger makes this documentary a rather unique experience by simply showing these lives of these workers unemcumbered by clever narrative or anything to take away from that experience. Glawogger's ability to get the cameras into these treacherous environments alongside the workers is impressive, and the way he pulls the different segments together at the end makes this a fascinating documentary. Rating: 8/10)

THIS WEEKEND IN BOX OFFICE HISTORY:

The last weekend of the shortest month of the year may forever be remembered as the weekend that Mel Gibson's The Passion of The Christ totally destroyed box office records and superstitious myths about February releases by earning over $124 million in its first five days before going on to make $370 million, becoming one of the biggest movies of 2004. Last year, Tyler Perry's Diary of a Mad Black Woman continued to debunk the February myths, far surpassing expectations as Perry's diehard fanbase flocked to theatres to give it an impressive #1 opening despite it playing in less than 1,500 theatres. Those two films were the only ones that have opened over $20 million, though, and other end-of-February movies like the Jet Li-DMX action thriller Cradle 2 the Grave and Queen of the Damned, were both far less successful follow-ups to bigger movies. In some ways, this weekend may be considered a jinx for new movies, because only 7 new movies in the last ten years have grossed more than $10 million this weekend, and many movies have averaged less than $4,000, as studios have learned that this is a good weekend to dump their weaker films. After all, does anyone remember movies like Monkeybone or The Other Sister or even Twisted, which opened just two years ago? Then again, this curse probably won't affect Madea's Family Reunion so much, because like Diary, it has its built in audience of Tyler Perry fans, and like Passion, it will try to bring in the churchgoers who may not have as many choices when they want to go to the movies. It certainly doesn't bode well for Wayne Kramer's Running Scared or the computer animated Doogal, though.

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
The Passion of the Christ	2/27/04	3,043	$41.34	$83.85	$27,554	$370.27
Diary of a Mad Black Woman	2/25/05	1,483		$21.91	$14,771	$50.38
Cradle 2 the Grave	2/28/03	2,625		$16.52	$6,294	$34.66
8MM	2/26/99	2,370		$14.25	$6,013	$36.28
Queen of the Damned	2/22/02	2,511		$14.76	$5,878	$30.31
Donnie Brasco	2/28/97	1,503		$11.66	$7,758	$41.97
Dragonfly	2/22/02	2,507		$10.22	$4,077	$30.06
Cursed	2/25/05	2,805		$9.63	$3,434	$19.29
Man of the House	2/25/05	2,422		$8.92	$3,682	$19.12
Twisted	2/27/04	2,703		$8.90	$3,294	$25.20

LET'S LOOK AT THE NUMBERS (final update 2.23)

After two strong weekends, things were bound to settle down, but there isn't much to keep Tyler Perry's second major feature film, Madea's Family Reunion, from topping the box office this weekend. Even though the last movie based on one of his hit plays, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, topped the box office this weekend last year with almost $22 million, Perry might find a smaller audience for the follow-up despite opening in significantly more theatres. Following up this past weekend's #1 hit with Disney's Eight Below, Paul Walker also stars in Wayne (The Cooler) Kramer's R-rated crime thriller Running Scared, although neither name will do too much to sell what looks like so many other action-crime movies we've seen before. It might creep into the Top 5 if it can get past some of returning movies, but the same can't be said for the Weinstein Company's second attempt at computer animation, a reworking of French children's show "The Magic Roundabout" into the G-rated Doogal, featuring the voices of Jimmy Fallon, Jon Stewart and Whoopi Goldberg. With very little promotion and no crossover appeal from American kids, it's likely to get lost in the sea of stronger family and kids' films already in theatres. In the meantime, expect Eight Below, The Pink Panther, Curious George and Date Movie to keep two of the three new movies out of the Top 5.

TW	LW	Title	Weekend (in millions)	Change	# Of Theaters	Average	Week
1	New	Madea's Family Reunion	$20.0	N/A	2,194	$9,116	1
2	1	Eight Below	$12.5	-42%	3,072	$4,069	2
3	3	The Pink Panther	$10.5	-44%	3,313	$3,169	3
4	2	Date Movie	$10.0	-48%	2,898	$3,453	2
5	New	Running Scared	$8.0	N/A	1,511	$4,966	1
6	4	Curious George	$7.6	-45%	2,609	$2,913	3
7	5	Final Destination 3	$5.1	-48%	2,726	$1,853	3
8	New	Doogal	$5.0	N/A	2,150	$2,157	1
9	6	Firewall	$4.9	-45%	2,740	$1,788	3
10	7	Freedomland	$3.0	-48%	2,361	$1,271	2
11	9	Big Momma's House 2	$2.6	-44%	1,535	$1,271	5
			Est. Weekend Total $88.75	Est. Avg. Drop-Off -43%		Est. Average PTA $3,302

Next week, the month of March kicks off with a bunch of interesting looking movies from the Bruce Willis-Mos Def action thriller 16 Blocks, the sci-fi action film Ultraviolet, and if action's not your thing then there's a sweet teen girl movie about a mermaid called Aquamarine.

Copyright 2006 Edward Douglas

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