HOLLYWOOD - An uncertain future awaits The Time Machine.Originally scheduled for a Dec. 25 release, DreamWorks' $70 million version of the H.G. Wells literary adventure doubtless stands to benefit immensely from its move to March. In the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, DreamWorks wanted to rework a scene during which large pieces of the moon rain down on New York City.
The Time Machine also ran the risk of stalling in December against The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. As it stands, The Time Machine represents the sole family oriented effects-driven spectacle to hit theaters since The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Guy Pearce, as the inventor whose 800,000-year spin through time takes him to a dark and foreboding world, holds more appeal now than he did at Christmas. His villainous turn in January's The Count of Monte Cristo helped director Kevin Reynolds' remake of the Alexandre Dumas novel earn $48.4 million through Tuesday. Plus, Pearce earned rave reviews for last year's art house smash, Memento.
Accordingly, The Time Machine will zoom past holdovers We Were Soldiers, 40 Days and 40 Night and John Q and land in the No. 1 spot this weekend.
Given its March launch, The Time Machine won't post a dazzling holiday-like opening. Instead, the remake will likely exceed Mission to Mars's $22.8 million debut in March 2000. The Time Machine's fate ultimately rests upon its ability to compete against the upcoming Ice Age, E.T. The Extra Terrestrial and Clockstoppers, and, to a lesser extent, Resident Evil and Blade 2.
But the tinkering that has been made to this version of The Time Machine could stop it from earning no more than Mission to Mars' eventual $60.8 million. With its dazzling special effects, this Americanized version of The Time Machine might win over fans of director George Pal's somewhat staid and terribly dated 1960 effort to adapt Wells' novel. But The Time Machineis burdened with a laborious and unintentionally funny romantic predicament, lousy dialogue, stiff acting and monster makeup that Pal would have rejected as silly and fake looking.
Rollerball stands as the most recent example of a remake that crashed and burned with just $18.2 million because director John McTiernan failed to improve upon the original 1975 sci-fi classic.
This should not have happened, considering The Time Machine remains a family affair. Director Simon Wells is the author's great-grandson (The Mexican's Gore Verbinski stepped in to finish the film when an exhausted Wells dropped out 18 days before shooting ended). Wells neither preserves his great-grandfather's vision of evolution or inject complementary new ideas.