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SANTA MONICA, Calif., September 17, 2000 -- There was lots of Olympic Gold but very little box office gold this weekend.
Insiders had anticipated low grosses and a close race for first place, and that's exactly what they got. With ticket sales down over 33 percent from this time last year, it took only $5.7 million for Universal's "The Watcher" to nail down the top spot.
Key films in the marketplace - those grossing $500,000 or more for the weekend - did approximately $47.58 million. Distribution sources said Sunday morning they believed that was the lowest total since the weekend of Sept. 11-13, 1998, when key films took in $48.85 million.
Was it the Olympics that killed the movie business this weekend? Key distribution executives share some thoughts about that in today's report (see OLYMPICS IMPACT below).
The weekend's biggest success story was DreamWor
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., September 14, 2000 -- Hollywood will suffer from the box office blahs this weekend.
In fact, insiders anticipate so little moviegoer enthusiasm for the weekend's new wide releases that it won't take much to capture first place.
Warner Bros. and Castle Rock Entertainment's R-rated action comedy "Bait" has the best shot at topping the chart thanks to a very wide opening at 2,352 theaters and its likely appeal to urban moviegoers.
"I'm sure it's going to play well to African-Americans, but after what happened to 'Turn It Up' last week (you can't expect much)," a source points out. "Bait' is probably $6-8 million, just because it's going out so wide and should have strong black appeal. Depending on what happens to 'The Watcher,' either film could be number one."
"I would say 'Bait's got a shot at number one. I would say in the high end of