There was a close race for first place between Buena Vista/Disney and Pixar's animated blockbuster "Toy Story 2" and Warner Bros. and Castle Rock Entertainment's opening of the drama "The Green Mile." Based on Sunday's estimates, the G-rated "Toy 2" held on to the top spot on the chart, but only by a nose. When the box office dust settles Monday, it is possible that because the two films were so close in the estimates, they could wind up reversing positions. Working against "Mile" was the fact that its adult audience is busy with holiday shopping and office parties. An additional negative for "Mile" is that its three-hour running time gives it fewer performances per day than "Toy 2" has with its running time of about 90 minutes. To some extent, however, "Mile's" broad release at 2,875 theaters gives it the potential to take in big grosses even with fewer showings per da
After the success of "The Shawshank Redemption," an adaptation of the Stephen King story set in a prison that received seven Academy Award nominations in 1994, writer-director Frank Darabont was poised to become the next big thing. But the vagaries of Hollywood took over and, over the course of five years, he reportedly made uncredited contributions to the "Star Wars" prequels and the Omaha Beach opening sequences of "Saving Private Ryan." When he did find that elusive follow-up project, it was yet another King adaptation, ironically also set in a prison. Although the director jokes, "I wasn't waiting around for five years for the next prison movie I could make -- it's really King's work I'd have to focus in on because I find he's got such a spark of humanity, a humanism in his work, even in the more obviously horror pieces. People don't really recognize ... that there'
LOS ANGELES -- The "Green Mile" premiere Monday night was accompanied by all of the fantastical effects, glitz and star power a possible Oscar contender deserves. Director Frank Darabont returns after five years ("Shawshank Redemption") to bring Stephen King's 1996 best-selling serialized novel to the big screen. "This is really exciting," said Darabont. "It took me this long to make another movie. I was waiting to fall in love with a story again, enough so I would go through the anguish of directing a movie. Thankfully, Stephen King gave me exactly that story." Set on death row in a Southern prison in 1935, Tom Hanks stars as Paul Edgecomb. In flashbacks, Edgecomb recounts his tour of duty watching over a series of convicted killers awaiting execution in the electric chair. "Stephen King wrote something that is quite in the realm of fanciful there in 1935
Hollywood is expecting Warner Bros. and Castle Rock Entertainment's opening of "The Green Mile" to walk off with the most box office green this weekend. The R-rated drama, written and directed by Frank Darabont and starring Tom Hanks, kicks off at more than 2,850 theaters. "'Toy Story [2],' if it's down in the neighborhood of 35-40%, is $16-18 million. And I think 'Green Mile' beats that based on the tracking. They're sitting there with an 18% first choice right now," one studio executive said earlier this week." "It is high," he said of the tracking results. "Although I understand the reviews are not very good, with Tom Hanks (starring), that's $20 million-plus." While a $20 million-plus opening is certainly very attractive, it's not spectacular. One of the factors working against a bigger first weekend for the adult appeal "Green" is that adults are bu