Tuesday, 17 February 1998

WEEKEND REVIEW
As though Titanic needed any help, the combination of 14 Academy Award nominations and Valentine's Day launched the film to its best yet one-day total of $13.05 million on Saturday, with a four-day holiday weekend total up about 15 percent in a $33 million weekend. Hearts and flowers also go to The Wedding Singer, which grabbed $22 million to take second. Sphere did about what I expected with $14.1 million, but it paled in comparison to the two top guns. And the other new kids movie on the block, The Borrowers, scraped by The Replacement Killers to take sixth place with $6.1 million.

The biggest winner in the business of converting Oscar nods into box office dollars was L.A. Confidential, which jumped from $422,308 last week to $2.5 million over three days and $3.3 million over four. But the other Best Picture contenders felt the heat too. Good Will Hunting jumped 17 percent compared to last Friday through Monday and As Good As It Gets jumped a whopping 27 percent as the film passed the $100 million mark.

THE GOOD: Sphere's first half hour.

THE BAD: Sphere's next hour and 45 minutes.

THE UGLY: That queasy feeling you get after seeing Sphere and realizing that gathering some of the best talent in Hollywood still doesn't guarantee that a movie will be worth watching.

JUST WONDERING: Will The Borrowers be the next Mouse Hunt? I've seen nothing but good reviews so far. Maybe it will emulate DreamWorks' most successful movie to date and overcome a slow start to become a hit.

READER OF THE DAY: From Greedo1469: "I'm thinking Titanic will get knocked out of the top spot in March with DiCaprio's next film, The Man in the Iron Mask. What do you think?"

E-ME: Well, what do you all think? We'll know what some of you think tomorrow when The Hot Button offers up an all-reader rant.