- Title: USA: NEW FILM "SCARY MOVIE" MAKES 42.5 MILLION U.S DOLLARS ON ITS FIRST WEEKEND
- Date: 10th July 2000
- Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 10, 2000) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) SCU UNDBITE] (English) DERGARABEDIAN SAYING "I think "Gladiator", from the beginning when it did so well in the U.S., and again an R-rated film doing tremendous business and kind of going counter to the whole notion that you have to be a PG-13 in the summer to do well. But, this movie really cap
- Embargoed: 25th July 2000 13:00
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- Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, US AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: USA
- Reuters ID: LVA9NELVJ5RTYHIFFW1A1JZMVXVM
- Story Text: The surprising success of newcomer "Scary Movie" has forced Hollywood pundits to take a second look at the summer box office after previously declaring the summer of 2000 a bust .
"Scary Movie", a zany scattershot spoof of teen horror pics from director Keenen Ivory Wayans, laughed its way to the top of the box office in its debut weekend, taking in some
5 million United States dollars (usd) on its way to the highest grossing opening for an R-rated film.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking company Exhibitor Relations, says the big opening came as a surprise to many.
"'Scary Movie' surprised a lot of people. We knew going in that it was going to be big because it was tracking well, the trailer was playing very well and there was this anticipation that it would be a big opener. But, I don't think anybody realised it would be to this level with the 42 million (U.S. dollar) plus opening. I think what happened there was you had a lot of teens bored with what was going on in the market place and really since "Road Trip" there hasn't been anything specifically aimed at teens. This film came in and just brought kids into the theatres, filled the seats and it was just a phenomenon."
Perhaps a bigger surprise are reports that "Scary Movie"
could prove to be the messiah of what some are calling a struggling summer movie season in the year 2000.
"Now, whether this is the saviour of the summer, we'll have to see as time goes on. If the film holds well, it will be a good holdover for next weekend and will boost the overall box office. If "X-Men" comes in and does big business. One film does not a summer make. You have to have several hits in a row. You have to have films holding well in order to get that kind of business. But, certainly "Scary Movie" is a welcome relief. Something that big, in the 40 million dollar range, is something the summer desperately needed and we got it," said Dergarabedian.
Wolfgang Peterson's "The Perfect Storm" was second most popular among movie-goers with a 27 million usd haul over the three day weekend, bringing it's two-week total to just over 100 million usd.
Mel Gibson and his Revolutionary War epic "The Patriot"
held third position at the box office with a 15.5 million usd take.
"The Patriot" has earned 65.5 million usd to date, a somewhat disappointing number to those expecting Gibson's star appeal to compete with the likes of Tom Cruise, who's summer blockbuster "Mission Impossible 2" has garnered well over 200 million usd and finally dropped out of the top ten.
"You know, if you talk about the star power of Mel Gibson, certainly, for "The Patriot" to draw that kind of box office off an R-rating, very long running-time and a Revolutionary War drama, I mean, that still speaks very highly of Mel Gibson's drawing power. I suspect if anyone else had been in that lead role or at least a star that was not of his stature the film wouldn't even have done half of what its done.
Rounding out the top five were Disney's "The Kid", starring Bruce Willis, and Nick Park's "Chicken Run".
The success of "Chicken Run" is a surprise to Dergarabedian ...
"'Chicken Run' has just been great. It opened well, but it's been playing consistently. Its drops have only been in the 20 percent range each week and its managed to stay in the top five top ten range every weekend its been in the theatres and its just generating a great word of mouth. A great marketing campaign took characters that Americans were not familiar with, made them familiar and made those characters a must see for the summer and they've done really well with that film."
Tom Cruise's "Mission Impossible 2" and "Gladiator", starring Russell Crowe, the summers two biggest movies to date finally made an exit from the American top ten but continue to prosper with strong overseas grosses.
A superwide, U.S.-style release pattern delivered mega-grosses for "Mission: Impossible 2" last weekend as director John Woo's action thriller raked in $49.7 million from 23 countries.
"Gladiator" harvested about $7.6 million purely from holdovers in 20 territories, propelling its foreign total to $190 million.
While "MI:2" has clearly benefitted from the Cruise name and the now established "Mission Impossible" franchise, "Gladiator" has outperformed most expectations in reviving a genre many thought long dead.
"I think "Gladiator", from the beginning when it did so well in the U.S., and again an R-rated film doing tremendous business and kind of going counter to the whole notion that you have to be a PG-13 in the summer to do well. But, this movie really captured the imagination of audiences who probably hadn't seen a Roman epic on the big screen. Maybe on televison, but never on the big screen. I think it just played perfectly here. Now, in Europe and in foreign markets, its playing tremendously well because its an epic. An epic will sort of transcend any cultural biases or cultural differences because that's what people go to the movies for to see something on the big screen bigger than life. And, certainly "Gladiator" is bringing that to the worldwide audience."
While many had begun to write-off the summer of 2000 as a disappointing movie season, there are still 9 weeks to go in the period between Memorial Day and Labour Day weekends, and the strong opening of "Scary Movie" proves there's still interest among moviegoers. And, with movies like "X-Men" and Eddie Murphy's "Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps" on the horizon, Dergarabedian sees a chance for moviemakers to pull in some late summer cash.
"Look at "Scary Movie" as a jump-off point, a positive jump-off point. Look at the films coming up: "X-Men", "Hollow Man", "Soace Cowboys", the Replacements". I mean, every studio has a film thats still yet to come in the summer. What will remain to be seen is wether those films can generate the kind of business that films like "The Blair Witch Project" and "The Sixth Sense" did last year." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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