Friday, 17 October 1997

WEEKEND PREVIEW

Hollywood makes bizarre bedfellows. As Miramax was busy suing Sony over their use of "from the creator of Scream" to sell I Know What You Did Last Summer, they were bidding to win the rights to make the tri-quel to The Terminator following T-2, one of Sony's biggest hits ever. Speaking of hits, I expect the aforementioned next spoke on the Kevin Williamson Scream-cicle (really cycle, but it doesn't sound as cool), to win the weekend, stealing The Devil's Advocates soul. Both films could cross the $12 million barrier, though Last Summer could be the first really big opening of the fall and toy with the $20 million mark.

The only other wide opening is Fox Mulder in Playing God, which I see as the number five finisher with about $5 million. Outside of that, it should be a pretty standard weekend of slowly-dropping fortunes. In third place, look for Seven Years In Tibet to drop about 25 percent to $7.5 million after word gets out that Brad's hair bleach is more consistent than his Germanic accent. Kiss The Girls should take its first deep cut (20 percent off for $7.2 million) opposite genre openings Devil and Summer

The Second Five should be headed up by In & Out, retaking a lead on Soul Food and passing the $50 million mark with a 30 percent drop to $3.8 million. Soul Food may be getting a little stale, taking sixth with a 35 percent drop to $3.65 million. Also taking the 35 percent hit, Dreamworks first effort, The Peacemaker is about ready to drop it's load on Europe, shooting for seventh spot and another $3.4 million. Disney's implosion-on-the-launch-pad, Rocketman, will do well to drop just 30 percent and take ninth with $3.1 million in just it's second (and kid competition-free, I might add) weekend. In the 10 Spot, L.A. Confidential, making it's likely last stand in the Top 10 with a 20 percent drop to $2.9 million. It's been fun trying to get people to see you, boys. It's hush, hush for now.

Last week, my predictions were challenged. Come on, I can take it! Email me!