Celeb News Aggregate
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News Roundup for Dec. 14 including David Lynch Robert Altman Helen Mirren Tom Wilkinson Sissy Spacek Steve Buscemi Mulholland Drive In the Bedroom Gosford Park Tom Hanks Robert De Niro Al Pacino Jack Nicolson Kevin Spacey Jodie Foster Cindy Crawford Susan Sarandon Bradley Whitford Christina Ricci Patrick Warburton Stephen Root Tom Green Elton John Chevy Chase Lorne Michaels Joe Walsh
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 13, 2000 -- Dimension Films' "Scream 3" made the weekend's biggest waves at the box office, holding on to first place despite 20th Century Fox's strong launch for Leonardo DiCaprio's "The Beach."
"Scream 3" took a hefty second weekend drop but still sliced off an estimated $16.40 million (-53%) at 3,467 theaters (theater count unchanged, $4,730 per theater). Its total is approximately $57.1 million.
In December 1997, "Scream 2's" second weekend gross of $13.9 million was down 58%. It went on to gross about $101.3 million in domestic theaters.
"It's actually a better drop than expected considering where we opened," Miramax Senior Vice President, Marketing, David Kaminow said Sunday morning. "Looking at 'Scream 2,' after 10 days, we were at $55 million. On 'Scream 3' after 10 days, we're at $57 million. So we're on a good track and feel
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'Save' Tops Holiday Box Office
"Save the Last Dance" kicked off in first place to a record-setting $28 million for the four-day Martin Luther King holiday weekend.
Distribution executives had anticipated that Paramount's PG-13-rated teen appeal dance drama would end 20th Century Fox's three-week chart-topping reign with "Cast Away," but they were only thinking in terms of an opening of about $20 million. Instead, "Dance" came in swinging to the tune of an ESTIMATED $28.00 million at 2,230 theaters ($12,556 per theater). (For the three-day period Friday through Sunday, Paramount estimated "Dance" at $24.00 million.)
"Dance" had the highest per-theater average for any film playing at over 1,000 theaters last weekend.
"$20 million was kind of the benchmark (estimate going into the weekend)," Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen said Sunday morning.
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"The Grinch" continued making a mountain of money, easily holding on to first place for a fourth straight weekend.
Universal and Imagine Entertainment's PG-rated blockbuster comedy adventure "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas" topped the chart in its fourth week with a still magical estimated $18.46 million (-32%) at 3,186 theaters (+48 theaters; $5,795 per theater). Its cume is approximately $195.5 million, heading for $250 million-plus.
"It's exhilarating to have 'Grinch' the Number One film four weekends in a row; and as we move closer to the actual holiday season, having this film achieve the $200 million mark prior to that is most gratifying for Universal and Imagine Entertainment," Universal distribution president Nikki Rocco said Sunday morning.
"It will hit $200 million by the end of this week or with Friday's business. I can no longer say 'depend
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 5, 2000 -- Not one frame of film has been shot, the script isn't finished yet and, heck, the studio hasn't even officially announced the director's name (it's Sam Raimi). But this week, Sony started working on the most important part of its forthcoming "Spider-Man" movie: the toys. The formation of Spider-Man Merchandising L.P. was announced at an invitation-only meeting at UCLA, attended by hundreds of companies interested in licensing Spider-Man tie-in stuff when the film comes out in Fall 2001. "Spider-Man" will be one of the biggest event movies ever, and this is expected to be one of the biggest merchanidsing campaigns ever, too.
"By joining forces with Marvel, we can maximize on major licensing opportunities to support the movie, while leveraging the enormous worldwide popularity that has already been built," Peter Dang of Sony Pictures said in a
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 9, 2000 -- The infectious bug that has been plaguing TV series of late -- you know, the "I feel that my time with the show is up and I've decided to move on" epidemic -- has claimed another victim.
The latest casualty is none other than "Veronica's Closet's" Kathy Najimy. Trade papers report today that the actress, who plays Olive, Veronica's (Kirstie Alley) trusted sidekick and confidant, will bid farewell to the NBC comedy at the end of this season.
Najimy tells Variety that her decision to leave the show is based purely on personal reasons. With "Veronica's Closet" behind, Najimy reportedly plans to spend more time with her 3-year-old daughter, not to mention more of the same said time on a would-be "feature career."
Of course, the concept of "leaving" "Veronica's Closet" might become a moot point. The unbeloved comed
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Spider-Man SANTA MONICA, Calif., May 5, 2000 -- Not one frame of film has been shot, the script isn't finished yet and, heck, the studio hasn't even officially announced the director's name (it's Sam Raimi). But this week, Sony started working on the most important part of its forthcoming "Spider-Man" movie: The toys. The formation of Spider-Man Merchandising L.P. was announced at an invitation-only meeting at UCLA, attended by hundreds companies interested in licensing Spider-Man tie-in stuff when the film comes out in Fall 2001. "Spider-Man" will be one of the biggest even movies ever, and this is expected to be one of the biggest merchanidsing campaigns ever, too.
"By joining forces with Marvel, we can maximize on major licensing opportunities to support the movie, while leveraging the enormous worldwide popularity that has already been built," says Peter Dang, Executiv
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Feb. 6, 2000 -- The only loud noise at this weekend's box office was Dimension Films' "Scream 3," opening to a blockbuster estimated $35.20 million.
"Scream 3" accounted for about 42% of the ticket sales for key films over the weekend, living up to industry expectations reported by Hollywood.com on Friday. With its first-choice tracking score of 31% going into the weekend, the Wes Craven film was seen as likely to open to at least $30 million.
Dimension, Miramax's genre label, launched "Scream 3" to an estimated $35.20 million at 3,467 theaters ($10,152 per theater). The film's theater count set a new record for wide release, topping last summer's 3,342 theaters for Warner Bros.' "Wild Wild West." Dimension said there were 5,522 prints of the film in the marketplace.
An indication of how little business everything else in t