Celeb News Aggregate
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The woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers have it! Despite scathing reviews, Roland Emmerich’s epic 10,000 B.C. opened at the top of the North American box office this weekend with $35.7 million.
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This weekend sees Roland Emmerich’s 10,000 BC enter theaters in the same frame that last year saw 300 pull in a $70.9 million weekend. Estimates for BC are that it will hit somewhere between $30 and $40 million.
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Actor Ian McKellen, who plays Gandalf the Grey in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, said the title for the second film will not be changed despite an online petition urging the director to rename it.
Ian McKellen The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers R Kelly Penelope Spheeris Johnny Rotten John Lydon Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs Blue Collar Comedy Tour Jeff Foxworthy Bill Engvall Ivan Reitman The Ugly Americans Alec Berg David Mandel Jeff Schaffer Dennis Quaid The Day After Tomorrow Secondhand Lions Robert Duvall Michael Caine Haley Joel Osment Sci Fi Channel Scare Tactics Shannen Doherty
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., July 6, 2000 -- "Scary Movie" has a good shot at scaring up this weekend's biggest grosses.
"I think it's going to open to north of $20 million, maybe $25 million," a studio executive speculates in view of its 27 percent overall first-choice tracking. "It's going to be between 'Scary Movie' and 'Perfect Storm' for first place. Both could be in the mid-twenties, but 'Scary Movie' could take it."
"It skews very high for the under 25 group," another insider adds. "It's 43 percent first choice for males and 45 percent for females. So it's obviously young teenagers. It could open to $25-30 million."
The R-rated teen appeal comedy from Miramax's Dimension Films label combines gross-out comedy with a spoof of classic horror flicks. It is opening very wide; Dimension was still doing its final tabulations, but insiders figure it will go into 2,800-plu
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HOLLYWOOD, July 6, 2000 -- Spike Lee hates "The Patriot." The director of "Summer of Sam," "Malcolm X" and other films blasted the Mel Gibson Revolutionary War-epic-cum-action-movie in today's Hollywood Reporter, calling it "a complete whitewashing of history, revisionist history" because none of the characters, conveniently, are depicted as slaveholders.
Lee also noted the absence of American Indians in the movie.
"When talking about the history of this great country, one can never forget, leave out or whatever, that America was built upon the genocide of Native Americans and the enslavement of African people. To say otherwise is criminal," Lee wrote in the trade's weekly guest column.
Lee concluded his missive like this: "I say to producer Dean Devlin, director Roland Emmerich and [screenwriter Robert] Rodat that maybe SIZE DOES MATTER," alluding to the bombast
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"Scary Movie" has a good shot at scaring up this weekend's biggest grosses.
"I think it's going to open to north of $20 million, maybe $25 million," a studio executive speculates in view of its 27% overall first-choice tracking. "It's going to be between 'Scary Movie' and 'Perfect Storm' for first place. Both could be in the mid-twenties, but 'Scary Movie' could take it."
"It skews very high for the under 25 group," another insider adds. "It's 43% first choice for males and 45% for females. So it's obviously young teenagers. It could open to $25-30 million."
The R-rated teen appeal comedy from Miramax's Dimension Films label combines gross-out comedy with a spoof of classic horror flicks. It is opening very wide; Dimension was still doing its final tabulations, but insiders figure it will go into 2,800-plus theaters.
Directed by Keenan Ivory
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HOLLYWOOD, June 29, 2000 -- Mel Gibson's been a post-apocalyptic anti-hero, a half-cocked cop and a rich guy at war with kidnappers. But can he beat the redcoats? Can he beat George Clooney?
It's a historic showdown of sorts at the box office this weekend. Gibson's "The Patriot" and Clooney's "The Perfect Storm" are the first two films with $100 million budgets, gigantic marketing campaigns and big buzz to face off over a summer holiday (namely, July 4 or Memorial Day).
Already, "The Patriot" has the competitive edge. The Revolutionary War action flick opened Wednesday and scored $5 million. But that doesn't guarantee a hit -- last summer, "Wild Wild West" opened on a Wednesday too, with a nice $7 mil, and we know what happened to that one.
Oh, and let's not forget the cute lil' animated moose and squirrel in "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle," who also figu
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DreamWorks' "Gladiator" should be victorious again on the box office battlefield this weekend.
With "Gladiator" still commanding a 30% first-choice tracking score among opening and released movies, there's little doubt the R-rated action adventure will keep a tight grip on the top spot.
If "Gladiator" slips 36% from its $34.8 million opening, its second weekend tribute will still be a handsome sum of about $22 million.
DreamWorks is distributing "Gladiator" domestically, while Universal is releasing it internationally. The two studios co-financed the film, which reportedly cost $103 million to make, and are 50-50 partners, sharing equally in its success.
Directed by Ridley Scott, it stars Russell Crowe.
Warner Bros. and Franchise Pictures' PG-13 rated sci-fi action adventure "Battlefield Earth," opening at 3,307 theaters, should w
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The Force could still be with "Titanic" mega-star Leonardo DiCaprio, who talked about the "Star Wars" rumors in an interview last week with "Entertainment Tonight." Leo reports that he and George Lucas have discussed the idea of the 25-year-old playing Anakin, and the actor wants to do it. So far, though, there has been no official word from either camp.
Leo's comments came during a round of press interviews for his latest project, "The Beach." The 20th Century Fox movie, an eerie adventure directed by Trainspotting's" Danny Boyle, is set to open Feb. 11.
Meanwhile, Lucas is busy preparing the next "Star Wars" script. If the stars align right, the director will begin filming the second in the series' prequel trilogy in June. He expects to complete shooting by October.
STAR TREKKER SETS PHASER TO SPOOF: "Star Trek: Next Generation" actor and director Jonathan Frake
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., Jan. 13, 2000 -- Is Tom Cruise looking for his own "Private Ryan"?
The megastar, currently courting Oscar talk with a supporting turn in "Magnolia," is reportedly mulling a starring role in "Fertig," a battle flick based on the true-life experiences of a World War II hero named, um, Wendell Fertig.
According to today's Daily Variety, the "Fertig" script by William Nicholson ("Nell") caught Cruise's eye several weeks ago. While the actor personally has never engaged in armed combat, he did make an Oliver Stone movie ("Born on the Fourth of July"), which is kinda the same thing. Fertig, meanwhile, is no stranger to the spotlight himself. He was the subject of the 1963 nonfiction book "They Fought Alone" by John Keats.
CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATION: Columbia Pictures execs are hoping John Travolta will agree to star in "Travel Agent," a newly scripted
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Mel Gibson's "The Patriot" and George Clooney's "The Perfect Storm" should spark big box office fireworks this weekend.
"Patriot," the R-rated period piece drama from Columbia Pictures and Centropolis Entertainment, marched into 3,061 theaters Wednesday. It grossed an encouraging estimated $5.0 million ($1,633 per theater) in its first skirmishes with moviegoers.
"Patriot's" overall first-choice tracking of 26% has most insiders predicting it will win the five-day battle that ends with the Fourth of July holiday. After its $5 million start, it could wind up with a first place finish of $30 million or more for three days (Friday-Sunday) and $40 million or more for five days (Wednesday-Sunday).
"If you extrapolate from other performances on this kind of holiday, it could very well get to $30 million," a studio source explains. "It's a 2 hour 40 minute
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SANTA MONICA, Calif., June 29, 2000 -- Mel Gibson's "The Patriot" and George Clooney's "The Perfect Storm" should spark big box office fireworks this weekend.
"Patriot," the R-rated period piece drama from Columbia Pictures and Centropolis Entertainment, marched into 3,061 theaters Wednesday. It grossed an encouraging estimated $5.0 million ($1,633 per theater) in its first skirmishes with moviegoers.
"Patriot's" overall first-choice tracking of 26 percent has most insiders predicting it will win the five-day battle that ends with the Fourth of July holiday. After its $5 million start, it could wind up with a first place finish of $30 million or more for three days (Friday-Sunday) and $40 million or more for five days (Wednesday-Sunday).
"If you extrapolate from other performances on this kind of holiday, it could very well get to $30 million," a studio source exp