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Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 16:11:24 -0600
From: "The Reporter" <gregorys@xmission.com>
Subject: [MV] Sci-Fi Movie News - 05/26/99
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace took in
$28,542,349 during its first day of release, setting a
new record for the largest single-day box-office gross
in history. The previous record was held by Jurassic Park:
The Lost World, which earned $26.1 million on its opening
day back in 1997.
"We're thrilled and overwhelmed that so many people went
to see Episode I yesterday and enjoyed the movie so
much," Gordon Radley, the president of LucasFilm Ltd.,
said in a prepared statement. "As we've said before,
whatever the box-office records, Star Wars is about
having a great time at the movies with your friends and
family."
The Phantom Menace opened on May 19 in 2,970
theaters, and more than 2,000 of those began showing
the film at 12:01 a.m.
-=> * <=-
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace earned an
estimated $7.5 million during its first six hours of
release on May 19. Variety reported that Fox came up
with that figure based on a sampling of the 2,011 theaters
that showed advance screenings of the film from 12:01
a.m. to 6:00 a.m. on its opening day.
-=> * <=-
Patrick Stewart is finalizing a deal to play the role of
Professor Xavier in Fox's upcoming film X-Men,
according to Variety. Xavier, also known simply as
Professor X, is the telepathic leader of a group of mutant
superheroes called the X-Men.
Although Xavier is confined to a wheelchair, his abilities as
a telepath as well as his incredible intellect make him one
of the most powerful men on Earth. Stewart will star
opposite Ian McKellen, who will play the super-villain
Magneto, Xavier's former friend and now arch enemy.
Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly is reporting that
professional wrestler Tyler Mane will play the role of the
evil mutant Sabretooth, the arch nemesis of the X-Men's
Wolverine. The film, which is being directed by Bryan
Singer, is scheduled to begin shooting on July 19 in
Toronto, Canada.
-=> * <=-
Oscar nominee Sir Ian McKellen has agreed to play the
role of super-villain Magneto in Bryan Singer's
live-action film The X-Men, according to Variety. The
Fox flick is based on Marvel's long-running comic series of
the same name and is due to begin shooting in Toronto,
Canada, this August.
The X-Men are a group of outcast mutant superheroes led
by the brilliant Professor Xavier, who hopes that mutants
and humans will one day live in peace. Magneto, the
Master of Magnetism, leads a rival cadre of evil mutants
who want to conquer humanity and rule the planet by
force.
No other cast members have been signed.
-=> * <=-
Batman Forever headliner Val Kilmer is in final
negotiations to star in the Warner Bros. film Mars,
according to Variety. Kilmer would play an astronaut
on the first manned mission to the Red Planet who
becomes stranded on the Martian surface after an
accident.
As the astronaut tries to find a way out of his
predicament, he learns some startling truths about his
mission that make his rescue all the more important. The
film, previously titled Alone, is being directed by Antony
Hoffman from a script by Chuck Pfarrer and Jonathan
Lemkin.
The film is scheduled to begin shooting in late August or
early September.
-=> * <=-
Last Action Hero director John McTiernan is in talks
with United Artists to remake the 1975 SF classic film
Rollerball, according to Variety. The original movie
was based on the William Harrison novel Roller Ball
Murders and featured James Caan as the star player of a
violent, roller derby-like sport.
McTiernan recently finished shooting the United Artists
remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, and both sides are
said to be pleased with the outcome. The Die Hard with a
Vengeance director is also considering making a movie
based on the Quiller series of mystery books.
-=> * <=-
City of Lost Children co-director Marc Caro has
signed on to helm the SF adventure film Snark for
Pathe Pictures, according to Variety. The film is
loosely based on Lewis Carroll's poem "The Hunting
of the Snark."
-=> * <=-
Camryn Manheim will star alongside Gary
Shandling and Annette Bening in the SF comedy
What Planet Are You From, according to Variety.
The picture is about an alien equipped with a
mechanical penis who is sent to mate with an
Earthling in order to take over our planet.
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 15:44:05 -0400
From: Mel Eperthener <bcassidy@usaor.net>
Subject: [MV] The Eight-Week Rule
At 01.15 PM 26/05/99 CDT, Wade S. wrote:
>300 Mil seems like a good number, but I would probably lean to the 350 Mil
>or more mark. I don't see what the big deal is with the 8 week rule though.
>I don't see why any theater would have a problem with it, with the
>exceptions of smaller theaters which may have had a harder time getting the
>movie to play there in the first place
It goes beyond that. The theatres were contracted to play the same number
of copies for eight weeks on the same screens. For example, The Mummy was
shown on two screens a lot of places, but dropped off to one by this week.
Phantom Menace is to be held for those eight weeks. In other words, if
your local multiplex has three copies, and put them on the three biggest
screens to satisfy first week-end crowds, then on the 10th of July, it is
supposed to still be on those same three screens.
Again, I think that this movie can go in just about every direction right
now. All that is guarenteed is that it break the $100 million mark
(because it already did:-). I think this week-end, with the holiday crowd,
is key. If it falters much at all, Lucas is in trouble. If the audience
increases (and I still hear people making the argument that it might), then
he's set. Of course, I can't think of anything coming out this week-end to
threaten the movie's number one spot, so at this point, all we can do is
wait and see.
Regards,
- --Mel
- --Mel Eperthener
president, Gowanna Multi-media Pty
email: bcassidy@usaor.net
gowanna@australiamail.com
http://www.webz.com/gowanna
419 Butler Street
PO Box 95184
Pittsburgh, PA 15223-0184
(412) 781-6140
(412) 781-6380
1-888-45-GOWANNA -- TOLL FREE
(1-888-454-6926)
____________________________________________
"Mulder, if you had to do without a cell phone for
two minutes, you'd lapse into catatonic schizophrenia"
- --Dana Scully
______________________________________________
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Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 16:49:42 -0600
From: jkrudy <jkrudy@micron.com>
Subject: RE: [MV] The Eight-Week Rule
Even if Lucas ends up "in trouble" I wouldn't mind having those kind of
problems. I don't think he'll go bankrupt and I'm sure the sequels to this
prequel will be made regardless of the revenue it generates. Good hell, if
we can have 4 or 5 Iron Eagle movies we can have more Star Wars movies.
James K. Rudy
- -----Original Message-----
From: Mel Eperthener [mailto:bcassidy@usaor.net]
Sent: Wednesday, May 26, 1999 1:44 PM
To: movies@lists.xmission.com
Subject: [MV] The Eight-Week Rule
At 01.15 PM 26/05/99 CDT, Wade S. wrote:
>300 Mil seems like a good number, but I would probably lean to the 350 Mil
>or more mark. I don't see what the big deal is with the 8 week rule though.
>I don't see why any theater would have a problem with it, with the
>exceptions of smaller theaters which may have had a harder time getting the
>movie to play there in the first place
It goes beyond that. The theatres were contracted to play the same number
of copies for eight weeks on the same screens. For example, The Mummy was
shown on two screens a lot of places, but dropped off to one by this week.
Phantom Menace is to be held for those eight weeks. In other words, if
your local multiplex has three copies, and put them on the three biggest
screens to satisfy first week-end crowds, then on the 10th of July, it is
supposed to still be on those same three screens.
Again, I think that this movie can go in just about every direction right
now. All that is guarenteed is that it break the $100 million mark
(because it already did:-). I think this week-end, with the holiday crowd,
is key. If it falters much at all, Lucas is in trouble. If the audience
increases (and I still hear people making the argument that it might), then
he's set. Of course, I can't think of anything coming out this week-end to
threaten the movie's number one spot, so at this point, all we can do is
wait and see.
Regards,
- --Mel
- --Mel Eperthener
president, Gowanna Multi-media Pty
email: bcassidy@usaor.net
gowanna@australiamail.com
http://www.webz.com/gowanna
419 Butler Street
PO Box 95184
Pittsburgh, PA 15223-0184
(412) 781-6140
(412) 781-6380
1-888-45-GOWANNA -- TOLL FREE
(1-888-454-6926)
____________________________________________
"Mulder, if you had to do without a cell phone for
two minutes, you'd lapse into catatonic schizophrenia"
- --Dana Scully
______________________________________________
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[ movies" (without the quotes) to majordomo@xmission.com ]
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 20:29:12 -0300
From: "Phoenix" <phoenix@fundy.net>
Subject: Re: [MV] The Eight-Week Rule
>Even if Lucas ends up "in trouble" I wouldn't mind having those kind of
>problems. I don't think he'll go bankrupt and I'm sure the sequels to this
>prequel will be made regardless of the revenue it generates. Good hell, if
>we can have 4 or 5 Iron Eagle movies we can have more Star Wars movies.
>
>James K. Rudy
>
Poor George.
He probably only pocketed $200-300 million in merchandising rights alone.
And that was before the film even opened. Not to mention what he stands to
make as a stockholder in Hasbro if the toys keep flying off the store
shelves.
If George's financial troubles keep up, we may have to organize some sort of
benefit on his behalf to keep him out of the poorhouse.
Of course, we all know George isn't in it for the money anyway. :)
JPC
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------------------------------
Date: Wed, 26 May 1999 20:05:51 -0400 (EDT)
From: maillist@moviejuice.com
Subject: [MV] MovieJuice! - ADVANCE - NOTTING HILL - Roberts Rules of Ardor
FOR YOU INDUSTRY INSIDERSà
One of the best and most dastardly things I've ever done is the phony (?) CAA page. And, as luck would have it, there's new stuff on the page! Don't miss the all-new Agent Web Cam!
http://www.moviejuice.com/1999/caa.htm
********************
NOTTING HILL - ROBERTS RULES OF ARDOR
by Mark Ramsey
http://www.moviejuice.com/1999/nottinghill.htm
May 26, 1999
This was one of those crowded-to-the-rafters previews brought to you by a radio station, a cable company, and a car dealer. What's with all the promotion? Just add Donny and Marie, some surviving Temptations, and some chickens and we'll open a State Fair.
So crowded was the scene, the search for seats was financed by the Discovery Channel ("I can just make out the bow of Titanic...AND ONE EMPTY SEAT!").
Scores of shameless, teleprompterless TV anchor-folk strolled across the front of the theater expressing their big-fish-small-pond celebrity and vainly searching for a seat to be vain in. Hey, newscasters! There's "Consumer Bob" and "Mr. PC" and "Captain Mike." Where's the rest of the Justice League of America, you guys? Where's "The Incredible Schmuck"? Doesn't he do Traffic? Can Superman kick your asses, or are those kryptonite plates between your ears?
Since Notting Hill is, by nature of its "Rom-Com" genre, a testosterone-challenged flick, I found myself surrounded by a room chocked full of Jewel contemporaries, each exposing more belly and more roots than the next. Ah, Southern California, where a jungle of Jewels is one wild animal kingdom! Where's my machete? Picture a Halloween party where every costume is Gretchen Mol - plus a couple Brides of Frankenstein for good measure. No candy tonight, girls, I'm workin'!
Thanks to the throng, I was very nearly front and center. Wow, Julia Roberts' head is BIG! And I don't mean that in the Dustin Hoffman sense. Can those lashes swat biplanes atop the Empire State Building? Didn't Luke already blow this death star?
Yes, Benjamin's Bratt Julia is the Obi-Wan Kenobi of Romantic Comedy. Feel the Force of her charisma! Damn, if the bewitching Julia doesn't do some of her very best work here! With that million-watt smile and those big brown Bambi eyes, I'm thinking: Forget the Star Wars trailer - download this!
My favorite Julia flick will always be Mystic Pizza, but Notting Hill runs a surprisingly close second and - best of all - the pod race sequence happens off camera!
Brought to you by the team that made Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill is Fewer Weddings, No Funerals, and No Jar Jar. It's the kind of clever, fairly fabulous romantic comedy we haven't seen since, well, Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Kudos to the writer, Richard Curtis, who is so scary good, you wanna lay down your pen and surrender. Damn Redcoat!
Whenever a movie quotes classic screen siren Rita Hayworth and peppers itself with Henry James jokes, you know three things: Adam Sandler doesn't star, Jerry Bruckheimer doesn't produce, and George Lucas sure as Hell didn't write the script.
Big star Julia is type-cast as "the world's most famous star" (or at least the most famous one without an action figure) who meets quintessentially stammering Hugh Grant, "the Alec Guinness of awkwardness," in a bookstore. Romance and hilarity ensue, but nothing's funnier than the tie Julia wears during their interview encounter. A tie? Should Hugh check his purse at the door?
What's with this nouveau trend toward bookstore romance, anyway? First You've Got Mail, now this. It's just my observation, but it seems to me most folks working in a bookstore are already in highly committed same-sex relationships and would sooner browse the HTML aisle than drop knickers for you, pal. Besides, who'd believe a bookshop without a prominent Stephen King display?
As with FW&AF, the supporting cast is a colorfully eccentric, loony, luckless lot.
Hugh's outrageous flat-mate Spike couldn't be more British if Richard Branson stamped "Virgin Atlantic" on his bum and gave him a gate at Heathrow. Check out the Mormon Tabernacle Choir-full of bad teeth (bonding by Picasso). I think his toothbrush is hiding in the FBI's Witness Relocation Program. Spike, like a lot of the folks in this flick, is a beastly, quirky scream.
Hugh's relatives are charmingly flaky, all. And not one of them is a Saturday Night Live alum! Unless you count Alec Baldwin, who does such a mean Mickey Rourke, the Mickster deserves some commission coin.
Universal's got itself a winner! No more pigs in the city; just a Babe in the bookstore.
Hey Star Wars fans, if you can't squeeze into the theater again for George's master class in computer graphic speak-and-spell and techno-juvennihilation, then line-jockey over to Notting Hill. This flick is ten times the movie that Phantom Menace is.
Step to the rear, Sandra Bullock. Please wait outside, Jennifer Aniston. The sweetheart queen has returned to the throne.
And the quirky shall inherit the Earth.
Copyright 1999 Mark Ramsey. All rights reserved. NO PORTION MAY BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE AUTHOR.
********************
DONÆT FORGET TO VISIT MOVIEJUICE.COM!
Hey, kids, don't forget to visit the MovieJuice! Site at http://www.moviejuice.com. The pictures are half the fun (and sometimes more than half the laughs)!
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End of movies-digest V2 #193
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