The Hot Button by David Poland

Monday, 1 February 1999

WEEKEND REVIEW

Well, it's back to the grindstone. But if you are looking for the Sundance Day 10 that covers the last day, click here. Time to go to the box office. After being away for 11 days, whatever serious hype there was for She's All That fell on eyes and ears elsewhere. So, I was a bit astonished to see the $6 million Friday total on Saturday. (For the record, EW's Owen Gleiberman wasn't remotely astonished.) After that, the $16.8 million weekend estimate wasn't so astonishing and should hold up come this afternoon. ($6 million Friday, $7 million Saturday and $3 million Sunday seems to be a reasonable acknowledgement of the Super Bowl sluggishness.) All I can say is Freddie Prinze Jr. picks girls to star opposite as well as his dad picked old men. The first place finish puts the teen Pygmalion pic in the rarified January air of Varsity Creek, uh, I mean, Varsity Blues. (See, I can still be a jerk.)

In second, it was Patch Adams, dropping an estimated 16 percent to stay in second with $6.8 million. Varsity Blues' dropped an estimated 41 percent, leaving it in third with $6.2 million. A Civil Action stayed in line, falling a somewhat disappointing 37 percent to $4.8 million for fourth. Shakespeare in Love held its own, almost literally, going up by 11 percent for $4 million and more than a $30 million total after its Tarnished Globes wins. There are those in the media who are willing to compare the film to Good Will Hunting, but don't expect the film to get anywhere near those numbers.

In sixth, The Thin Red Line took a 34 percent hit, falling to $3.8 million, and a $27 million total, which puts it well on its way to surpassing the gross of Raging Bull, the late-acknowledged "Movie of the '80s." In seventh, Stepmom continues its slow crawl to $100 million with another $3.7 million. The Prince of Egypt is in an eighth-place tie with You've Got Mail (well past $100 million itself), both grossing an estimated $3 million. And in 10th, it's At First Sight, falling 42 percent in weekend three and now sporting a total of about $19 million. A Simple Plan fell out of the Top Ten and has to hope for Billy Bob Thornton to come through with an Oscar nod and win if it wants to make some big bucks.

THE GOOD?: Hard to figure if this one really fits the category, but what the heck? Prince Muhammad Bin Bandur Abdul Aziz (say it softly and it's almost like praying) is talking about buying Polygram Filmed Entertainment, the newly acquired subsidiary that Universal was just about ready to break up into little pieces. Rumors have the Saudi Ruler Formerly Known As Prince buying up PFE for between $400 and $500 million, which is almost exactly what Universal was hoping to get and which no one who knows anything about the film business was remotely willing to pay. The trades are now poo-pooing the rumor, but it sounds like a sales trick to me, with U execs claiming that they have competitive offers. (Ha!) (double Ha!) If this happens, there are already fun players attached, like convicted felon Gilbert Federbush, and Ciff Perlman, formerly of Caesar's Palace (all together now, push your pointer finger against the side of your nose and think of Sinatra.) But the real fun comes from inside the studio if this goes down. Suddenly, October goes from the subsidiary most likely to be discarded to the all-important art arm of the studio again. Julia Roberts' Notting Hill, already announced as a Universal release for spring/summer, will likely go into the Prince's pocket. (If that film is as good as claimed, the profits from that film combined with the actual value of PFE could make the deal worth doing right there.) And suddenly, all the execs who have been waiting for the pink slip may be quitting anyway after finding better jobs while under duress. Either way, this is great for The Hot Button. I guess it really is "good."
THE BAD: Dustin Hoffman gets $1.5 million in damages for the unauthorized use of his image from Tootsie to sell dresses in Los Angeles magazine. OK. That's a warning to thoughtless publications who don't understand boundaries. But on Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Dickran Tevrizian awarded Hoffman punitive damages of another $1.5 million. That's overkill. Dustin Hoffman didn't suffer a dime of real damages. This spread wouldn't lower his price for doing advertising at all -- as though he was going to do any in America anyway. This was stupidity by L.A. magazine, not malevolence. They should have asked. He would have said no. They would have picked another star who would have said yes. Big deal. This is obviously (smirk, smirk) far more serious than an adulterous affair with a subordinate employee and lying under oath. Much more serious.

THE UGLY: It's me. I am so damned tired after 11 days in Park City that I am about to drop. My melancholy column of Sunday is still how I feel, but I guess it was exhaustion enhanced. In the last couple of days, I have had good people apologizing for losing their calm (no apologies needed), I've seen people scream and cry who really never meant to, and I've seen blank eyes where once there were lights. One friend compared this to a 10-day Space Shuttle mission. Now we have to re-adjust to Earth's atmosphere. It's time to go home.

JUST WONDERING: What's gone on while I was away? Will you all take a second to let me know what I missed?

QUOTE WHORING USA: For Sundance: "Ten days of snow; a year filled with memories," "Sundance: For the artist in every whore and the whore in every artist!" "Robert Redford's house: easier to break into than ever!"

HAPPY TRAILERS TO YOU: The only trailers I've seen the last two weekends were short shorts at Sundance. Sadly, I didn't see them all, but particularly outstanding ones included black-and-white mini-documentaries on taxidermy, the mortuary business and a comic take on just who is fishing for whom. Maybe I'll see an actual studio movie in a theater this week and have more to report on Friday.

BAD AD WATCH: Last week, The New York Times had ads for Virus and Mighty Joe Young right next to each other. What's bad about that? Both feature half-faces and one eyeball apiece. This only works if you want Mighty Joe Virus. I don't. But I wouldn't fight a Jamie Lee Curtis/Charlize Theron teaming, if you know what I mean.

READER OF THE DAY: From Fran: "Hi David, I'm glad you had a good time. I'm glad you had a 'revelation-ary' time with Ally Sheedy. (My husband has always loved her.) But ... your whole column ... as much as I liked it... as much as I can relate to it ... sounds like it came after a wee bit of wine. :-) The way you feel about her ... is the way I feel regarding Val Kilmer. I came to this column today to find out some results of the voting. And what do I find? Nothing along those lines. Thank God I get the Sundance Channel and taped it and found out that Whaley shared an award for screenwriting. Joe the King got one award. Isn't that what your column is for also? I love reading your personal observations and feelings ... that's what makes it different ... but ... hey..."

E ME: Printing that was my self-flagellation of the day. What really occurs to me is how odd Ally Sheedy might feel about the piece. I don't think she was looking to be the straw to break this camel's back. Anyway, the truth is, my feelings were not about a famous actor. They were about a person doing work that they cherish unabashedly. Kind of the way my father taught me, by example, to love and take care of the people around me. But enough about me, what about you? Have there been any actors who you really feel hanged your lives? Whether in person or on screen. I'd love to hear it. And you all need to get back into the habit of filling my e-mail box every day. Just do it.