Boxoffice-July.1999

through,
having been dumped by the Lakers
after showing up late for practices and refusing
to reenter a couple of games. His feature film
debut (where he didn't play himself) was
"Double Team" with jean-Claude Van
Damme, which only raked in $11.3 million
domestic.
Brokedown Palace
Along the lines of last summer's "Return to
Paradise," this drama pairs Claire Danes with
British sweetie Kate Beckinsale ("The Last
Days of Disco") as a couple of recent high
school grads who get arrested for drug trafficking
while vacationing in Thailand. Bill
Pullman ("Lake Placid") co-stars as their attorney.
Jonathan Kaplan ("Bad Girls") directs;
David Arata makes his scripting debut; Adam
Fields ("Ravenous") produces. (Fox, August
undated)
Exploitips: Although Danes is hot at the
moment, even she was unable to pull MGM's
"The Mod Squad" above a measly $12.9 million,
and Beckinsale's stateside recognition
isn't quite what it's destined to be, at least not
yet. Polygram tried this same concept with
"Return to Paradise," only from a male point
of view, and raked in just $8.3 million. Maybe
Fox will have better luck by appealing to a
female demo.
Dudley Do-Right
Brendan Fraser ("The Mummy") headlines
another Universal release in this live-action
comedy based on the 1969 animated television
series produced by Jay Ward. A dedicated
but hapless young Mountie, Dudley Do-Right
(Fraser) discovers a scheme to swindle all the
Semi-Happy Valley citizens out of their land.
Sarah Jessica Parker (HBO's "Sex in the City")
and Alfred Molina (Broadway's "Art") co-star.
Hugh Wilson ("Blast from the Past") scripts
and directs; "Dr. Dolittle's" John Davis and
Joseph Singer produce with J. Todd Harris.
(Universal, August undated)
Exploitips: Eraser's appeared in a number of
films in the past year or so— the Oscar-winning
"Gods and Monsters," "Blast from the
Past" and the record-breaking "The
Mummy"— in a number of different kinds of
roles, ranging from dramatic to comic to
action. "Dudley" has the advantage of falling
into the thesp's most successful genre, as evidenced
by a little family film from Disney
called "George of the jungle." Depending
where it falls, "Dudley" will only see competition
from Warner Bros. ' animated "Iron Giant"
(a genre in which the studio's not particularly
successful) and Columbia's "Hoofbeats."
Illumlnata
See our January 1999 issue Trailers.
(Artisan, August undated)
Untitled Irish Comedy
Uberto Pasolini, the producer of "The Full
Monty," presents this romantic comedy about
a village of Irish men who, frustrated with the
lack of eligible and interested women in their
community, scheme to attract American
women to their annual dance. Romance
comes from an unexpected source, however
right under their noses. Niamh Cusack, Sean
McGinley ("The General") and Ian Hart
("Monument Ave.") star. Aileen Ritchie directs
a script by William Ivory. (Fox Searchlight,
August undated ltd)
Exploitips: This pic was one of Pasolini's
first projects under the multi-year production
deal he signed with Fox Searchlight last spring.
Under his guidance, it has the potential charm
to achieve the same success that "The Full
Monty" did.
White Boys
Writer-director Marc Levin follows up his
award-winning feature "Slam" with this dramatic
comedy about a working-class white
boy from Iowa who dreams of writing milliondollar
rap hits while living on the mean streets
of Chicago. Danny Hoch ("The Thin Red
Line") writes and stars. Richard Stratton and
Garth Belcon also script; "Slam's" Stratton and
Henri Kessler produce with Ezra Swerdiow
"CopLand." (Fox Searchlight, August undated)
Exploitips: Fox Searchlight president
Lindsay Law paired Levin with this script after
seeing "Slam," which won the Grand jury
Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the
Camera d'Or at the 1998 Cannes Film
Festival. The pic was a disappointment at the
boxoffice for distributor Trimark, however.
Sex: The Annabel Chong Story
Starring the porn star who broke the record
for the world's largest gang bang (251 men in
10 hours) in 1995, this documentary attempts
to reconcile the fact that a USC gender-studies
theorist could slit her wrists when her record is
broken. Gough Lewis directs. (Greycat, August
or September undated)
Exploitips: Despite causing quite a stir at
Sundance (Ms. Chong's photograph graced
many a festival roundup), this little pic had a
hard time finding distribution. Curiosity will
take care of most of the marketing, but keep in
mind what that did to the cat
All the Little Animals
Christian Bale ("The Velvet Goldmine") and
John Hurt ("Love and Death on Long Island")
make an unlikely pair in this British
drama/thriller as a mentally slow young man
and an old stranger who bury roadkill and
generally appreciate the animal kingdom.
Jeremy Thomas produces and directs a script
by Eski Thomas based on the novel by Walker
Hamilton. (Lions Gate, August undated)
Exploitips: Lion's Gate has seen a string of
critical successes as of late, including blurt's
"Love and Death on Long Island" and culminating
with Oscar winners "Gods and
Monsters" and "Affliction." This pedigree
combined with these stars should make this an
art-house powerhouse. Potential party poopers,
depending on when it comes out, could
be "The Ninth Gate" or "The Acid hlouse."
The Powder Keg
Veteran Yugoslavian director Goran
Paskaljevic ("Someone Else's America") directs
this black comedy set in Belgrade on the eve
of the Dayton Peace Accord in 1995. In a 24-
hour period, friends and strangers interact in a
series of events that begins with road rage and
ends in murder. "Someone Else's America's"
Sergei Trifunovic stars with "Underground's"
Miki Manojiovic, Mirjana Jokovic and Lazar
Ristovski. Based on a play by Dejan Dukovski,
this pic is produced by Antoine de Clermont-
Tonnerre ("Cinema Paradiso"). (Paramount
Classics, August undated)
Exploitips: The first foreign-language acquisition
for Paramount's specialty arm, "The
Powder Keg" has been overshadowed by Emir
Kusturica's higher profile "Black Cat, White
Cat" because of Paskaljevic's public criticism
of the country's political elite. This pic managed
to walk away with the Yugoslavian entry
for the foreign-language Academy Award,
however.
Better than Chocolate
In this romantic comedy, Maggie (Karyn
Dwyer) meets the woman of her dreams just
before her divorcing mother and brother move
in with her. The four end up living together,
but the lesbian lovers still feel the need to keep
their relationship a secret. Christina Cox (TV's
"Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict")
and Wendy Crewson ("Air Force One") costar.
Anne Wheeler directs a script by Peggy
Thompson; Sharon McGowen produces.
(Trimark, August undated)
Exploitips: Winner of the People's Choice^
Award at the 1999 London Gay and Lesbiart
Film Festival, this pic features a soundtrack
including songs by Sarah MacLachlan and Ani
DeFranco. It should be popular among the gay
demo.
LATE MOVIE MOVES
Lake Placid
Lake Placid is anything but in this
horror/comedy penned and produced by TV's
golden-boy-of-the-moment David E. Kelley
("Ally McBeal," "The Practice"). Bridget Fonda
stars as a New York paleontologist who travels
to Maine to investigate a mysterious death
near the remote lake. Bill Pullman ("Zero
Effect") co-stars. Steve Miner ("Halloween
H20") directs; Michael Pressman (TV's
"Chicago Hope") and Peter Bogart also produce.
(Fox, 7/1 6)
Exploitips: Pullman's pulling double duty at
Fox this summer, also starring in this month's
"Brokedown Palace," which is most likely
why this release got pushed up to July.
Depending on where "Palace" falls, the two
probably won't collide at the boxoffice.
Without giving too much away about the plot,
you might want to set up an alligator-wrestling
ring in your lobby, the opponent being 35 feet
long and man-eating.
The Wood
A coming-of-ager told through flashbacks,
"The Wood" stars "Go's" Taye Diggs, "In Too
Deep's" Omar Epps and "Event Horizon's"
Richard T. Jones as pals who get together to
reminisce about growing up in '80s
Inglewood, Calif., on the day one of them is
headed down the aisle. Rick Famuyiwa
("Blacktop Lingo") writes and directs;
"Election's" Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa and
David Gale produce. (Paramount, 7/16)
Exploitips: An MTV Films production, "The
Wood" was announced as a vehicle for Jamie
Foxx. Scheduling conflicts may have arisen,
however, and Diggs got the part. MTV movies
are hit or miss, ranging from the unexpectedly
successful ("Beavis and Butt-head Do
America," "Varsity Blues") to the disappointedly
lackluster ("joe's Aparment, " "Dead Man
On Campus," "200 Cigarettes"). This pic shifted
its original August release date this spring,
probably so as to not interfere with Miramax's
"In Too Deep, " also starring Epps.
^
Rosie
Belgian Patrice Toye writes and directs this
Dutch-language debut about a bright 1 3-yearold
girl who's desperate for attention from her
mother. When she doesn't get it, however, she
creates a world of fantasy where her only
friend is also her Prince Charming come to
rescue her. Aranka Coppens stars. Antonio
Lombardo (co-producer on "Antonia's Line")
produces. (New Yorker, July undated NY/LA,
August exp)
Exploitips: Belgium's Foreign Language
Film entry to this year's Academy Awards,
"Rosie" should be popular at the art-house
with the distaff set.
WM
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