September 30th, 2003

Under The Run

With decent buzz and favorable reviews, The Rock's action pic The Rundown stormed first place over the weekend with a nice 18.5 million. If word of mouth is strong on the movie, it should do quite well - and from the way things are looking, The Rock is on his way to becoming a major action star.

In second place was the romantic dramedy Under The Tuscan Sun starring the always-reliable Diane Lane. While reviews were mixed, 9.7 is a decent opening for the movie - especially since it was on less than 2000 screens. Disney plans on expanding the movie to more screens this coming weekend, and I'd say chances are good that the movie will hold up in weeks to come.

The biggest surprise of the weekend probably came from last week's champ, Underworld. Dropping to third with 9.4 million, the steep plunge may prove that the film doesn't have as strong legs as many thought it would have. But Secondhand Lions is still going strong, this weekend taking in 8.2 million. With few family films out there, and even fewer quality ones, this charmer should last itself a good and well-deserved run.

The Fighting Temptations hit fifth with 6.3 million, while Once Upon A Time In Mexico made 5 million over the weekend. The weekend's bomb had to be the Danny Devito-directed, Ben Stiller-starrer Duplex with a poor 4.6 million opening. Cold Creek Manor is proving to be a major bomb with only a 4.4 gross over the weekend, while Ridley Scott's Matchstick Men is on the way out with 4.3 over the weekend. But also holding strong is the beloved Lost In Translation which expanded to more theaters over the weekend. Expect the great word of mouth to make this another little-Indie-that-could, and hold momentum for awards season.

Next weekend: Jack Black may prove to be king of the comedies with his latest, or will Denzel's latest action drama topple him? As always, stay tuned DVD fans!

-Zach B.