Friday, 26 June 1998

WEEKEND PREVIEW
Well, the X-philes are going to be p(h)issed, but I think The X-Files is looking at a 40 percent drop this weekend to about $18 million. That should give the film about $60 million by the end of the weekend, but not first place. That should fall to Mulan, which I see as only a 20 percent dropper, given good word-of-mouth and a reasonably quiet start last weekend. So, $18.2 million and first place for Mulan. Right in the tails of X and M should be the debut of Doctor Dolittle. Everyone I talk to liked the preview, but there's still not too much buzz. If it manages a $17 million opening, Fox should be happy under the circumstances. Less happy, but perhaps with a better movie (I haven't seen either film yet), will be Universal with Out of Sight. Again, light buzz, terrific trailer. Hard to imagine more than $15 million and fourth for the Elmore Leonard-based film, but if it's as good as some say, it could have legs to match Jennifer Lopez's. Rounding out the top five, The Truman Show should manage another $7.5 million as it gets real close to the $100 million mark.

The second five should be lead by Gone With the Wind, which should add $5 million to its $192 million total. Six Days, Seven Nights should do six million, four-hundred thousand with a 40 percent drop. A Perfect Murder passes the $50 million plateau, as it grabs another $4.8 million and eighth place. Can't Hardly Wait and Hope Floats should fight for ninth and 10th with about $2 million apiece. Have you noticed? Someone is missing. He has scales and a tail. He's bigger than a bakery. Godzilla passed the $130 million mark on Tuesday, but should drop from the Top 10 once and for all this weekend, giving us a full week to recover before we start fighting over whether Armageddon is the greatest film ever or the biggest disappointment since... well, Godzilla.

THE GOOD: Mulan and The X-Files have been doing exceptionally well during the week this week. But -- surprise! -- Mulan passed The X-Files up on Tuesday and did better than any movie has done on a Tuesday all year.

THE BAD: Want to read some really bad versions of Gone with the Wind? So bad that they're good? Well, check out New Line's GWTW website and make sure to check out David Lynch's version of the classic, Aaron Spelling's Tori-loaded version ("With Dad as my witness, I'll never go Porscheless again!") and recast the movie in New Line's contest. You can win a trip to the heart of dixie. And even better, you can cast RuPaul in the role of Scarlett. (FYI, Tom Selleck and Harrison Ford lead Rhett voting, and Kate Winslet is ahead of Nicole Kidman and Demi Moore in the Scarlett voting.)

THE UGLY: Dirty Work will get near the $10 million mark at the box office. The Last Days of Disco, The Opposite of Sex and Wilde will not. Boo. Hissssss.

THE EYEBALLS: You can still enter your very grossest movie moment and win your very own eyeball from The Beyond. I'm looking for the best 100-word movie gross-out moment descriptions. And good news: You can choose the color of the eye I'll be sending you.

TWO MOVIES EQUAL: Gone with the Wind + The X-Files = Gone With The X-Files. Mulder is the smoldering renegade who just knows the Yankees are being supported in their war effort by alien forces. Scully is the woman by his side who swears, "With God as my witness, I'll never get-cancer-from-an-alien-life-force-
that-I-won't-really-understand-until-I-see-the-movie again." Non-X-philes complain they don't understand why the government burns Atlanta, but the X-philes know that it's to get rid of rough cut for not showing the movie on our live cybercast. The movie ends as Duchovny leaves for L.A. to see his wife (the other redhead), and Gillian Anderson, while eating a sandwich, says, "Frankly, Mul-dear, I don't give a damn."

JUST WONDERING: Which would you rather deal with on a closed set, Rex Harrison's infamous and chronic flatulence or Eddie Murphy's singing? I guess either way, it's a toss-up.

BAD AD WATCH: I still can't quite get over Armageddon's "Wow" ad (THB 6/22). But let's rip on a small film. Henry Jaglom's Deja Vu offers Tom Marshall from the Dallas Morning News screaming, "Deja Vu is daring -- a blinding, dizzying fairy tale -- like taking a magic carpet ride." What Marshall doesn't know is that Jaglom dropped acid in his Diet Coke at the screening and threw him into an empty theater showing Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. He was taking a magic carpet ride.

READER OF THE DAY: This was an easy choice today. I'll let the reader sign in for herself: "Dear David, FYI, I am the producer-director of the film Exhausted. The correct name is Julia St. Vincent not Jesse St. James. Jessie St. James was a porn actress, and as far as I know never produced or directed any film. Would you please correct your Web page? By the way, if you found the movie Boogie Nights disturbing in a way, couldn't get it off your mind....you should have lived it."

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E ME: Exhausted is the only movie review I've ever done for rough cut. But I'm asking for your Doctor Dolittle and Out of Sight reviews. And still, your questions for Drew Barrymore, Matt Dillon, Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller. You have the write of way.