Friday, 29 August 1997

READERS WEEK
Well, I'm in Cabo San Lucas, and you're at your computer, stuck with a choice between: last weekend's best and Spike Lee's latest, He Got Game (with Denzel); Liam Neeson, Uma Thurman and Claire Danes (and yes, that guy from Shine, who happens to be quite good in the film) in Les Misérables; and Patrick Swayze in Black Dog. I'm not going to tell you what I think, but don't think because I'm not here that you can escape the Hot Button Box Office Challenge. If you beat out the competition this week, you can win one of our selected few The Truman Show posters.

Need some help picking? Here's what the roughcut staff, other than me, thinks about the Top Five for this weekend. Some are more specific than others, but what did you expect?

Jen: I'm thinking the fairly good press (Dave excluded) on The Big Hit will keep it in first place with about $10.5 million. The top debut will be Les Misérables in a close second with $9.8 million, followed by He Got Game in third with $8 million. City of Angels will finally take a plunge with $5 million into fourth, and Titanic will continue to float, closing out the Top Five with just under $5 million (let's say $4.7).

Susan: 1. The Big Hit -- $10 million
2. He Got Game -- $9 million
3. City of Angels -- $6 million
4. Les Misérables -- $5.5 million
5. The Object of My Affection -- $4 million

Andy: 1. The Big Hit
2. Black Dog
3. City of Angels
4. Titanic
5. Les Misérables

Graham: 1. He Got Game - $9 million
2. The Big Hit -- $8 million
3. City of Angels -- $7 million
4. The Object of My Affection -- $4 million
5. Black Dog -- $3.5 million

Chris: The Big Hit will remain No.1 drawing another $10 million. Les Misérables will make about $8 or $9 million in second place. He Got Game will earn enough to score No. 3. Black Dog will bomb big time, only making enough to place No. 8 or 9.

As you can see, here at rough cut, we pride ourselves on thinking alike. Feel free to follow our advice to win cool prizes, but I'm sure you'll do significantly better if you follow your instinct. And now, some picks for The Worst Film of 1998, to date:

From Krillian: "The worst movie of 1998 so far is Fallen. I only say this because I haven't seen Meet the Deedles, Palmetto, Odd Couple II, Hush, My Giant, Desperate Measures, Phantoms, Spice World, Major League: Back to the Minors or any of the other doozies I hear about. For the rules of Fallen to work, it means that Satan is stronger than God, and Satan always will win. If the Almighty is so unmighty, why weren't there greater levels of mass destruction by the evil ones? What would've saved the movie is if a cat had walked by meowing that Rolling Stones tune."

From Jnorris: "The worst so far is Chairman of the Board. (The worst to actually reach theaters, anyway). Also a sidenote -- am I the only person on the planet that thinks Gwyneth Paltrow is the most overrated actress in Hollywood???????????"

From Geof: "The worst film of 1998 is Half Baked. I can't believe I even walked by the theater that showed it. The only funny scene in the film was shown in the preview and edited out of the movie. It comes in second on my all-time-worst list, right behind The Jerky Boys. UGH!"

From Steve Chien-Wei, Weng: "Of course it's Burn, Hollywood, Burn, what else?"

From Gary Salem: "US Marshals."

From Beanpodd: "US Marshals."

Dave Note: (Gary and The Bean are obviously from the Tommy Lee Jones School of Dialogue.)

From Randy R: "Hush. One of the very worst films of the last several years."

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E US: I'm almost ready to come up, and I need to come back to your e-mail to feather the fall that shall be my return. From a life of leisure to a life of chasing down the hounds of Hollywood. Put one letter in front of the other, and soon you'll be writing an e-mail. (Sing it if you remember!)