Weekend, 28-29 October 2000

NEWS BY THE NUMBERS

10. The psychiatrist who helped Don Simpson medicate himself to death is out of business. Couldn't have happened to a more evil person. Too bad it took so long. Her name is Nomi Fredrick, and she made a career out of over-prescribing. When Simpson died, he had 21 different drugs in his bloodstream. Of course, Simpson was even more responsible for his downfall than this doctor was. But there is more than enough ugliness to go around. Bon jour, Ms. Fredrick. Might I suggest you see Little Nicky for a sneak peak at your future?

9. TURNABOUT/FAIR PLAY: About 24 hours after Andrew Hindes ran a story at Inside.com exposing the Cinemark theater chain's plan to disallow the playing of R-rated trailers before any and all PG-13–rated movies, Cinemark reversed itself. The exhibitor explained that it would "evaluate studio trailer requests on a case-by-case basis," focusing on "compatibility" between the trailers for R-rated films (approved for ALL audiences) and the PG-13 movies to which they are attached. The studios, in the form of an unnamed "distribution head," responded: "They were being ridiculous and they came to their senses. How can you not advertise a green-band trailer for an R-rated film on a PG-13 film?'' The answer: You can't.

8. YOUR DREAMS WERE YOUR TICKET OUT: Hmmm… Quentin Tarantino… hmmm… I saw him in Little Nicky… is he still directing? Uh, yes. He will knock out Kill Bill before the strike. The WWII epic will have to wait until Hollywood's World War is over. This one's being built for Uma Thurman, who needs one in the bank before the strike, after spending the last 18 months dealing with the one in (and now out of) the oven. Welcome back, QT.

7. MY KINGDOM FOR A STORY: I don't quite understand Variety's presentation of Andy Vanja and Mario Kassar's deal with Intermedia Films to finance Basic Instinct 2 and Terminator 3 as some sort of life-changing news. Was there an expectation that financing was coming from anywhere except a major non-American finance company? Was there some sense that the money wasn't coming through? Haven't seen that story. Variety didn't refer back to one. It's not even an interesting story because it is the independent-minded team of Vanja and Kassar, because virtually every other movie made these days is also financed this way.

6. MASOCHISM 101: Kim Masters of Inside.com turned the Town & Country debacle into a feature-length story… really her forte. Of course, the strength of the piece is Mike DeLuca's willingness to open his mouth and eat a whole lot of excrement. There is a bit of molehill conversion in the piece, but it's worth reading anyway. Click here.

5. AIN'T IT THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Frankly, this button is only here because I was short one. Do I really need to continue harping on the gross limitations of Tom King? Do I have to tell you that this weekend, he is concerning himself with actors having movies scheduled against other movies they star in, but then uses Helen Hunt as his example? See, she's in Cast Away and What Women Want. But avoiding the fact that she has never shown the power to sell even $1 million worth of tickets, Hunt is not the star of either movie. These two guys… what were their names… Hanks and Gibson…. They top-line both films and will be the real drawing cards. And you may notice that neither actor will have two movies they're starring in opening against each other. Why? Don't ask King. He seems to have missed the fact that major stars—you know, the kind that actually draws box office—have it in their contracts that they can't open against themselves. Do you remember a movie called The Birdcage? It was a March release because Robin Williams's contracts say that two of his movies can't open within three months of one another. The Birdcage moved. Jumanji stayed.

King also has De Niro's Meet the Parents up against Men of Honor… first, one is a comedy and the other is a drama. Second, De Niro doesn't do much publicity. Third, Men of Honor was moved to its new slot from an original August berth. Fourth, Fox had hoped to open Men of Honor in October, but pushed it back until November because of Meet the Parents. Did I miss something? King works for the Wall Street Journal, right? What do you want to bet that Bruce Orwall knows everything I just wrote without doing a minute of research? Why doesn't Rob Friedman care that Helen Hunt is so busy? Because she doesn't affect his box office on What Women Want by any measurable amount… period… exclamation point. If his movie opened like Pay It Forward, he's be slitting his wrists and looking for a new job. (Being dead isn't a disqualifying factor.) We are all susceptible to disagreement. But at least get the facts straight.

4. SONY ONE—THE PURGE BEGINS: As you have read earlier, there was a restructuring at Sony this week. John Calley moves to the penalty box. Amy Pascal becomes part of a three-headed monster with distribution chief Jeff Blake and video guy Ben Feingold (widely seen as "The Company Man" in this trio). And the future now begins. I have mused that Charlie's Angels would mark the end of the Calley regime, which has pretty much ended, though it still has some cut-off-lizard-tail life to it. I was wrong. It was, as usual, the quarterly numbers, not any specific movie event. In this case, it was a $66 million operating loss on flat sales of $1.05 billion. Sony also publicly acknowledged that that Loser and The Patriot were, indeed, box-office disappointments.

PAGE TWO: Top Three & ROTD