July 23rd, 2002

"Little" Opening

It was a bit slow at the movie box office this weekend, and while Sony claimed victory a bit early, it turns out Road To Perdition (an excellent film IMHO, BTW) beat a certain talking mouse ever so slightly. Taking in 15.4 million, the drama expanded theaters and beat kiddie flick Stuart Little 2, which took in 15.1 million. This news is slightly disappointing to Columbia/Tri-Star, who saw surprise success with the original "Stuart Little" in 1999. Many thought it'd make over 25 million. And despite the heavy advertising, I guess that didn't cut it. The film may have legs, but it's certainly not as strong if this is supposed to be a franchise picture. This breaks Sony's streak again, as "Stuart" and the J.Lo thriller from last May, "Enough," are the only two movies from the studio which didn't come in first during their opening weekends.

Men In Black II slipped to third with 14.5 million, while another major new release, K-19: The Widowmaker flunked in its maiden weekend voyage with a mere 12.7 million. I didn't think the film was marketed enough, and the mediocre reviews didn't help (Harrison Ford fans, where are you?). Reign of Fire and Mr. Deeds took in another 7.3 million each, and "Deeds" has gone to the 100 million mark and beyond...

Eight Legged Freaks, the campy fun horror flick made only 6.4 million over the weekend and 9 million since it's opening last Wednesday. Halloween: Resurrection brought in 5.5 million more, while Lilo & Stitch and The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course took in 4.9 and 4.6 million each over the weekend.

As far as the site goes, be sure to check out Anthony D.'s excellent review of "The First Nudie Musical" and an interview with the film's director, Bruce Kimmel. On the videogame front, I take a look at Sega's GameCube release of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle.

Until next time, DVD fans...

-Zach B.