Monday, 26 July 1999

WEEKEND REVIEW

Some weeks you eat the monster, some weeks the monster eats you. The monster this weekend was The Haunting, a film that shot to the top of my Worst of 1999 list by the time it limped to its unconvincing, uninspired ending. At least the daily numbers for the film (Friday at $11.8m, Saturday at $12m) and the Sunday estimate of just $9.2 million indicate that America was hearing the word of mouth. I'm going to put my tired, old, cranky butt on the line now and predict that The Haunting will drop by more than 50 percent next weekend and that the film will, by the grace of (fill in a deity of your choice), fall short of $100 million. Meanwhile, in a market that has become completely devoid of kid's product less than a month old, Inspector Gadget scared up an estimated $22 million. Ironically, I got hoisted on my own predicting petard by not listening to my own earlier comments that the marketing on this film kicked butt. This film reminded me, oddly, of James L. Brooks' I'll Do Anything, the film that had its musical numbers removed when everyone seemed to agree that they didn't really work. Reports on Gadget are that there was a lot of cutting, and it shows up in the film by way of a bunch of thought balloons that seem to show now-missing scenes completely out of place or time. I would have liked to see the original cut because this film could not have been much worse. Maybe there was something there in the longer version. Anything. Please!

As it turned out, what has to be overall bad word of mouth on Eyes Wide Shut hit harder than I think anyone really expected. With an estimated $9.9 million this weekend, the drop is 54 percent. Not pretty. $100 million domestic is no longer an option. The film will probably hit green ink thanks to the European box office, but just barely. So what happened? I would suggest that this film became the first art house Godzilla. And what I mean by that is, Warner Bros., presumably according to Kubrick's wishes, hid the film for so long and so completely that when this dense, troubling, hard-to-read movie got to review day, there wasn't even a critical consensus to build on. Of course many critics reviewed the film as a disappointment! They didn't get it, and there was no time to go back and watch it again. No time for perspective. The "disappointing monster" in this film was the density of Kubrick's dream. Add to that a pissy attitude caused by a distinct sense of being unincluded in the Tom and Nic party and you had critics more concerned with Pat Kingsley's activities than about figuring out this movie. We have had only three true masterworks (that is to say, films made by masters at the top of their game) in the last two years and all three have been discarded, in no small part due to the critics who always whine (thanks to Jack Valenti for that word) about a lack of original visions in Hollywood. Kundun, The Thin Red Line and Eyes Wide Shut. There have been other excellent films. But these three are a cut above. EWS may push the domestic gross of all three combined to just over $100 million. We should stop spending so much time pointing fingers at Adam Sandler and take a moment to be ashamed of ourselves.

THE GOOD : The Blair Witch Project should prove to be the most interesting story next weekend. The film had another powerful weekend, though Artisan Films actually has its first question mark to deal with on this project. The movie actually went down on Saturday, despite an increase in venues and screens and all the massive media excitement hyping the film. One of the best parts of this story is that Artisan has been able to get away with spending very little advertising money (meaning: expensive TV ads) and has focused almost exclusively on promotion, which costs, but is a lot less expensive. So much so, that the film is probably near to being a money maker on the books with just $4.5 million and change so far. That said, in this weekend's expansion to 800-plus screens, word-of-mouth is not likely to fill theaters in smaller markets that are not as Net and art-film savvy. Remember, a big art house hit is somewhere around $10 million total domestic. Obviously, Blair Witch will shatter that mark. But how much does Artisan gamble on TV and print ads in the growing list of markets and how good will their return on that investment turn out to be? You can be sure that this discussion has been going on all week at Artisan after the massive opening at just 27 venues expanded their ambitions for this film. It would be very easy to drop a quick $5 -$10 million this week. That still wouldn't keep the film from making a profit, but it would eat up as much as $20 million of the box office revenue in a hurry. In other words, with success, they now are stuck with a major studio-type dilemma. Flip it for a second and you see that the studios, on at least a couple of films a year, can save themselves millions by investing a bigger percentage of their marketing dollars on promo and the Internet. Yes, The Internet: The Best Buy For Your Marketing Dollar!

THE BAD : Have you torn into your MPAA ratings system today? Come on! It's fun! Today, let's all take a look at the new ratings that just came out, shall we? Not a PG-13 or G in sight. Phew! Now, let's get to those pesky Rs! Those of you who like to believe that pornography doesn't get NC-17s, well, maybe you're right! All that great HBO/Showtime softcore porn is getting R ratings! The Alien Files -- for strong sexual content. The Awakening of Gabriella -- for strong sexual content. Game Day -- for strong sexuality, pervasive language, drug use and a scene of violence. Soft Fruit -- for sexuality/nudity, language and drug content. Sparkler -- for sexual content and language. Suits -- for language and sexual content. And Word of Mouth -- for strong sexuality including dialogue, and for language. That last one sounds almost presidential! There were four studio movies rated this week too. Only one is coming soon to a theater near you, Outside Providence, which got the R for pervasive teen drug use and strong language, including sexual references. Sounds like some "Fs," some "Ss" and some pot smoking. Better keep that coming of age movie away from the teens! I bet Warner Bros, recuts Chill Factor rather than release it as an R. The film, rated R for violence and language, was already knocked out of its originally intended summer slot and probably needs all the help it can get finding an audience for its Speed on an Ice Cream truck story starring Cuba Gooding Jr. and Skeet Ulrich. Warners also got early ratings for The Hurricane, a biopic about the redemption of a man who seriously lost his way and Three Kings, for graphic war violence, language and some sexuality. Three Kings, which is one of the films I am most anticipating for the fall, probably earned the rating, given that writer/director David O. Russell always likes to add some kink. But I bet The Hurricane will be a movie you'll want kids to see. Not a lot of true redemption to be found among those who never sin.

THE UGLY : Big Daddy is getting ready to pass Tarzan as the summer's biggest movie about a little kid and a big monkey who learns to love. And it's not even among the best three of Sandler's short list of movies. Meanwhile, DreamWorks must have shown a movie other than The Haunting to Chicago critcs Roger Ebert and Michael Wilmington. I already wrote about Ebert's scenery review, but then a reader (thanks, M&P) let me know that Michael Wilmington gave the film a positive review also! Maybe it's the water in downtown Chicago. Wilmington reviews the house instead of the movie too. In fact, he takes 5 paragraphs to gush about the house before he even gets to the story or the actors, none of which he seems to have liked at all! He even ends his review, "Why couldn't this movie's script be constructed as artfully as its haunted house?" Un-f'ing-beliveable! And Wilmington is no soft touch. This guy has as deep a knowledge of cinema as any critic this side of Andrew Sarris working today. (And no, I'm not calling Roger a soft touch.) You know, sometimes, what the studio is selling you is worth buying. There is some beautiful design in this film and DreamWorks has been focused on that from early on in its promotion. Personally, I think the failure of the design is that it doesn't actually tell the story. A room that looks at you should be looking at you without a giant CG effect. The hallways of The Haunting are more ornate than the hallways of Alien and Aliens, but there was never as much danger in any of the hallways of The Haunting as in either of those films. Not for a second. When a bed comes to life, what is the psychology there? I mean, this was a movie all about Lili Taylor's character's sexuality, wasn't it? A repressed, lost soul who finds her power through her long-dormant sexuality, by way of a lesbian encounter, after which she has the power to overcome dark forces that are attached somehow to her past. That was it, right? I mean, they cut out the lesbian scene, but it is kind of the only way the movie makes any sense. Of course, that would mean when her bed attacks her, it is trying to repress her, right? No, it's just some scary wood. That would mean that the undead guy who lost his mind because he couldn't have children would be enraged by her because by choosing an all-estrogen sex life, she wouldn't be having kids either. Oops. Missing. So what is all the rage at Hill House? And what's the point of a deadly fireplace that never gets lit? And why were they using the grand hall that we already saw in Steven Spielberg's Casper? And what was the point of that great mirror room if they never really did anything with it? And on and on. I like great design as much as the next guy, but it has to serve the movie if I'm going to value it as much (much less, more) than story, character or execution. Thumbs down, way down, to the Kings of Chicago this week. As much as you guys got Eyes Wide Shut, it's hard to imagine you both supporting this abomination.

JUST WONDERING: Do y'all think that maybe it's time that all these newspapers that have turned opening weekend grosses into a major form of free advertising actually compare these massive openings to the massive ad buys that spawned them? Obviously buying an opening weekend doesn't always work. But opening The Haunting, for instance, cost more than it made in rentals (the return to the studio) this weekend. What kind of success should we consider that?

BAD AD WATCH: Sometimes it's tough to be a quote whore. Warner Bros., who rode Omar Lugones to a "the hippest, funniest action movie of the summer" quote, is using the guy again for early quotes for The Iron Giant. Except his "An animation classic," is now from Omar Linares. Either this guy is schizophrenic or someone at Warner Bros. knows that the spelling of his name has almost as much importance as the opinions he holds.

READER OF THE DAY: From Ryan: There ha(ve) only been two films that have really, really scared me. The first was Halloween. I was a kid and seeing it on video and television scared the poop outta me. The second film is The Blair Witch Project and it has me turning on lights all over my house, and cranking The Carl Stalling Project Volume 2 on my stereo (that'd be Looney Tunes music!). I've seen a lot of movies in between Halloween and TBWP, and most have tried to be scary. Most have never achieved the level of pure fright that TBWP achieves in the last 7 minutes. A friend of mine is a horror movie buff like myself (heroes being Ash from Evil Dead 2, Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kreuger and The Klopek's from The 'Burbs) and he has never been so ecstatic about being as scared as he was tonight.

I was surprised by the amount of humor in the first two reels. The whole audience were really laughing. My only problem with the film would be Heather Donahue. Her performance is the film's center yet it is a bit soft. I never really believed her and found that a lot of the "footage" was more for the film's sake and felt unauthentic. I can't believe that someone would continue to film in the dark like she did during the film's climax. I'm almost certain anyone would have dropped the camera and headed for the hills. I suppose I was too focused on the technical side of the film, only being completely absorbed during a few parts. Also, I'm thrilled to have seen the film ahead of time in an audience of like minded movie goers. There were no yelps and screams from the teen girls who were dragged by their hooligan boyfriends. If anyone has a chance to see this film in a major urban area before its major release, do so. This sort of experience is ruined by suburban audiences!"

And this about The Blair Witch Project from Sammy Fibs: "Talk about your emperor having no clothes. I have never seen such a hostile audience as the one leaving the 12:30 showing today. I think the guy in front of me put it best: "I've been fleeced!". Hardly anything of interest throughout. All it seemed to be were these 3 kids screaming in the woods. Not once was I scared either. When it almost started to get interesting, it ended.

E ME: What do you think?