June 25th, 2002

"Minority" Rules... Slightly

Wow, talk about a battle this weekend. Sunday afternoon was ablaze as Disney and Fox each tried to claim the number one spot for their new releases. While neither were "Scooby-Doo" material, each had strong showings, but the final numbers proved that each studio overexaggerated figures slightly, especially Fox who I suppose really wanted to be decked out in first place. In either case, Minority Report had a very solid opening of 35.8 million, as opposed to 36.9 million as Fox originally tracked. This is a solid opening, but one must wonder how the film will hold up in future weeks. Given the rave reviews and the power of Spielberg and Cruise (and wow, together for the first time!), it is slightly disappointing... plus the film had major hype. It all reminds me of another film this time last year called "A.I. Artificial Intelligence." Great reviews, a ton of marketing... but a mere 30 million opening, only to gross around 80 million. Hopefully, "Minority Report" won't be another dud and won't have terrible word of mouth, suffering the same fate "A.I." did (I don't think many audiences understood it). I saw "Minority Report" and loved it tremendously... best film I've seen all year, and will surely remain one of my personal favorites come year's end.

In second was Lilo & Stitch, Disney's latest 2-D animated opus with a very strong 35.3 million dollars. Hopefully this one will prove 2-D is not dead, and will also fare well in coming weeks. In third was last week's champ, Scooby-Doo, with a major drop, only making 24.4 million. Still, it's a hit, as the film passed 100 million over the weekend. Wow. In fourth and fifth were The Bourne Identity and The Sum Of All Fears, respectively, each with 15 million and 7.7 million. "Sum" should pass that glittered 100 mark this week...

Windtalkers continued to be an embarassment for MGM, making 6.5 million this weekend while Divine Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood continued its way down the box office ladder 6 million. Newcomer basketball/drag comedy Juwanna Mann didn't play so strongly with 5.4 million, while two of the summer's biggest hits, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones and Spider-Man are about to drop off the list, this weekend making 5.1 million and 4.5 million.

Next weekend Adam Sandler should do fairly well with "Mr. Deeds" (and perhaps proving "Little Nicky" was merely a mistake and that audiences just love classic Sandler) and another kid's flick, "Hey Arnold! The Movie" opens. And then... the July 4th juggernauts (oh who are we kidding? I only mean "Men In Black II").

As far as the site goes, Anthony has checked out two Blake Edwards comedies recently released on DVD, that being the classic film version of Victor Victoria and 1965's The Great Race. Each are quite detailed reviews, so do read them. And in case you haven't seen it by now, I checked out August's second season of The Simpsons on DVD in my own detailed review. The wait is still there, but it's worth it.

Until next time DVD fans...

-Zach B.