HOLLYWOOD - The unenviable task of making a shocked nation laugh again falls on the less-than-broad shoulders of one very stupid male model.Zoolander, a sketch character-inspired comedy starring and directed by Ben Stiller, should emerge as the victor among a trio of high-profile films destined to give a depressed box office a much-needed boost. Stiller takes on Michael Douglas in the thriller Don't Say a Word and Anthony Hopkins in the adaptation of Stephen King's Hearts in Atlantis.
Stiller stars as Derek Zoolander, a dimwitted clotheshorse embroiled in an assassination plot masterminded by an evil fashion designer (the ubiquitous Will Ferrell).
Zoolander first took to the catwalk as comic relief during the 1996 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards. Not that this is necessarily the foundation of a hit comedy. Audiences consistently reject such films because they fail to generate more laughs than the five-minute skit upon which they are based. Just ask Ferrell, who starred in such Saturday Night Live-orignated comic catastrophes as Superstar ($30.6 million), A Night at the Roxbury ($30.3 million), and The Ladies Man ($13.5 million).
Yet the odds are very much in Stiller's favor for a run(a)way smash. Zoolander isn't a household name like some SNL characters, so the comedy should be assessed on its strengths and weaknesses. Also, Zoolander represents Stiller's first film since Meet the Parents, which opened last fall with $28.6 million before eventually collecting $166.2 million. Zoolander isn't likely to open as big, but it should match or exceed the $13.7 million of Stiller's 1998 sleeper, There's Something About Mary.
The lack of any other significant competition should ensure a big turnout for Michael Douglas' Don't Say a Word. Douglas once again plays a workaholic thrust into extraordinary circumstances, a formula that resulted in the hits Fatal Attraction, Traffic, Disclosure and, to a lesser extent, Falling Down and The Game. This time, Douglas is a therapist who must extract information from a seemingly catatonic patient (Brittany Murphy) in exchange for his kidnapped daughter.
Don't Say a Word should fall somewhere between the opening takes of The Game ($14.3 million), Traffic ($15.7 million). Business, however, could plummet should audiences reject the thriller's midpoint shift from its cerebral cat-and-mouse games to a downright absurd and poorly executed violent thriller.
Stephen King may sell millions of books, but his name alone doesn't guarantee that audiences will flock to see films based on his vast array of works. His undiluted tales of terrors spawned such disappointments as Thinner, Children of the Corn and Silver Bullet. In recent years, though, films based on his reality- or fantasy-rooted books have been warmly received critically and/or commercially. The Shawshank Redemption garnered six Oscar nominations, but managed to make a very modest $28.2 million. The Green Mile, starring Tom Hanks, making $136 million in addition to receiving three Oscar nominations.
This bodes well for Hearts in Atlantis, which, like The Green Mile, is tinged with supernatural elements. Anthony Hopkins stars as an enigmatic man who turns up out of nowhere to help a young boy and his widowed mother.
Hearts in Atlantis cannot even hope to arouse the same interest as Hopkins' Hannibal, which opened in February with $58 million. But count on Hopkins' presence to ensure that Hearts in Atlantis will experience a warm welcome, though nowhere close to the $18 million The Green Mile made in December 1999.