Boxoffice-January.2000

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The Carriers Are Waiting
Benoit Mariage directs and scripts this
dark comedy set in the poorest region of
Belgium, once a wealthy area due to mining
and metallurgy. A local newspaperman
decides his family deserves better, determining
that breaking a Guinness world
record is the only way to do it. The record?
Opening a door 40,000 times in 24 hours.
Benoit Poelvoorde ("Man Bites Dog") stars.
Emmanuelle Bada scripts; Dominique
Janne produces. (Samuel Coldwyn, 2/11)
Exploitips: Picked up at Cannes, Mariage
won the First Film Special Distinction
award at Montreal.
Bossa Nova
Bruno Barreto ("Four Days in September")
directs this Portuguese-language romance
about a struggling Brazilian lawyer and an
American English teacher living and working
in Rio de laneiro while she recovers from the
loss of her husband, who died two years
before. Sad and alone, both have resigned
themselves to
lifelong soul
never finding their respective
mates. Amy Irving ("The Rage:
Carrie 2") and Alexandre Borges star.
Alexandre Machado and Fernanda Young
script based on Sergio Santana's novel; Lucy
Barreto ("Four Days in September") produces.
(Sony Classics, 2/11 NY/LA)
Exploitips: After "Four Days in
September" was nominated tor a best foreign
film Oscar in 1 998, Barreto went on to make
"One Fough Cop" starring Stephen Baldwin,
which grossed a measly $1.2 million at the
boxoffice. Barreto returns to his roots for this
pic, making it a family affair: Irving is his
wife, and Lucy Barreto is his mom.
Held Up
"Any Given Sunday's" Jamie Foxx and
"The Best Man's" Nia Long star in this comedy
as an engaged couple having a hard
time getting along until the groom-to-be
becomes involved in a hostage situation at a
local convenience store. His life in danger,
he reflects on his relationship with his bride
and how it went wrong. Meanwhile, he
befriends the robber and helps him outsmart
the sheriff. Steve Rash ("Eddie") directs a
script by Jeff Eastin; "I Still Know What You
Did Last Summer's" Stokely Chaffin and
Neal H. Moritz produce. (Trimark, 2/11)
Exploitips: Five years in production,
"Held Up," previously known as
"Inconvenienced," began shooting three
years ago, only to be abandoned.
Production picked up again two years later
after the script was completely redeveloped
and envisioned as a starring vehicle for
Foxx, a more likely prospect now that he's
sharing the screen with Al Pacino in Oliver
Stone's football flick "Any Given Sunday.
Pitch Black
In this sci-fi drama, Vin Diesel ("Saving
Private Ryan"), Radha Mitchell ("High Art")
and Cole Hauser ("Good Will Hunting")
make up a motley crew who find themselves
stranded after their spacecraft crash lands on
a distant planet. Scorching hot during the
day, the apparently lifeless planet becomes
dangerous at night, when it
plunges into total
darkness and its inhabitants emerge to hunt.
David Twohy ("The Arrival") directs a script
by Ken and Jim Wheat ("A Nightmare on Elm
Street 4: The Dream Master"); Tom Engelman
("Terminal Velocity") produces. (USA, 2/11)
Exploitips: Like "Ride with the Devil,"
"Pitch Black" is a Universal picture that
USA Films is releasing.
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Boiler Room
Giovanni Ribisi ("Saving Private Ryan")
stars in this drama as a college dropout who
gets greedy and corrupt when he takes a job
as a broker making cold calls in a stock
house known as the "boiler room." "Saving
Private Ryan" buddy Vin Diesel, Ben Affleck
("Deception"), Jamie Kennedy ("Three
Kings"), Nia Long ("The Best Man") and
Tom Everett Scott ("Dead Man on Campus")
co-star. Tyro filmmaker Ben Younger writes
and directs; "Austin Powers: The Spy Who
Shagged Me's" Suzanne and Jennifer Todd
produce. (New Line, 2/18)
Exploitips: Originally set up at Artisan,
New Line picked up this $6 million pic when
it went into turnaround for Feam Fodd, who
had a first-look deal with the studio.
The Whole Nine Yards
This black comedy stars Bruce Willis
('The Sixth Sense") as a hit man hiding out
in the witness protection program from the
mobsters who want him dead. His suburban
neighbors, seduced by the glamour of
organized crime life, turn him in to his enemies
but find themselves in over their
heads. Matthew Perry ("Three to Tango"),
Rosanna Arquette ("Sugar Town") and
Natasha Henstridge ("Dog Park") co-star.
Jonathan Lynn ("My Cousin Vinny") directs
a script by Mitchell Kapner ("Romeo Must
Die"); Allan Kaufman and Bruce's brother
18 Boxoiiki