Friday, 16 January 1998

WEEKEND PREVIEW

Things should stabilize at the box office this weekend. Given its history, I expect Titanic to drop a whopping 50 cents to $28,716,309.50. (Or let's say another 15 percent to $24.4 million) That's as close as I'll get to a rant on the subject, but e-mail me your guess at this weekend's Titanic box office figure and I'll print up to 150 words on Titanic or any other subject that pushes your hot button in Monday's column. Please include an estimated per screen average for tie-breaking purposes. (Last weekend it was $10,458.)

It's been over a month since a good chiller-thriller hit screens, so I'm betting that Denzel's Trip To Creepsville a.k.a. Fallen can pull in about $12 million to take second place. In its second weekend of wide release, look for a minimal drop from Good Will Hunting, say 10 percent, for $9.2 million and third place. Things stay good for As Good As It Gets, dropping about 20 percent to $7.2 million. In fifth, the dark horse for Best Picture (if Titanic and L.A. Confidential sink one another), Wag the Dog should be steady in its second wide week with a 15 percent drop for $6.6 million.

Hard Rain should be the first (and only) bad news for Paramount to be caused by Titanic. They need as many screens as they can get for a strong opening before word gets out that Christian Slater is safer in jail than amongst people who paid $8.00 for this flick. Their other water movie will remain the biggest screen hog in the land, leaving Hard Rain $6.5 million and sixth place. In seventh, a big hit lost behind the iceberg, Tomorrow Never Dies should drop about 30 percent to $5.3 million, but still become the biggest domestic grossing Bond film in history, passing Goldeneye's $107 million. The films in eighth and ninth place both involve incense burning. Kundun will go wide to the spiritual tune of about $5 million. Half-Baked should down about $4.7 in munchies. And in tenth, Mouse Hunt should hunt down another $3.2 million. Off the charts, but over $2 million, look for Firestorm, Jackie Brown, a re-release of The Full Monty, Scream 2, Star Kid and Amistad.

I'm still buried under Wednesday's e-mail, but keep writing.