Boxoffice-March.2000

'/)
APRIL
TRAILERS
Spring fever
industry gets over the winter blues and is traditionally
fertile in the month of April, giving birth to a whopping
40 flicks this year, almost matching the 47 titles covered
in BOXOFFICE a year ago. The boxoffice last year at this
time was likewise lucrative, with the modest hits "Never
Been Kissed" and "Life" eventually grossing $55.5 million
and $63.8 million respectively and the breakout hit
"Entrapment'' raking in $87.7 million. The timeframe also
delivered critical hits that didn't fare so well at the boxoffice:
Both "Go" and "Election" earned right around $15 million.
And then there were the bombs that neither the critics
nor the public liked: "The Out-of-Towners" fared the best at
$28.5 million, but "Goodbye Lover," "Lost & Found,"
"Pushing Tin" and "Idle Hands" all garnered less than $10
million.
April 2000 opens with
James Toback's gritty "Black
and White," "Return to Me"
and "Head Over Heels," the
latter two romantic comedies
from MGM and Universal,
respectively. Heavy-hitting
independents Lions Gate,
Paramount Classics and USA
also bow "American
Psycho," "The Virgin
Suicides" and "Joe Gould's
Secret" respectively, this
weekend.
A week later on April 14,
Edward Norton makes his
directorial debut in "Keeping
the Faith," Sandra Bullock
stars "28 Days,"
in
Paramount does double duty
with "Bless the Child" and "Rules of Engagement" and professional
wrestling busts onto the bigscreen in "Ready to
Rumble." Lions Gate throws its hat into the ring with "The Big
Kahuna," as does USA with "Where the Money Is."
The third week of the month is a bit lighter than the previous
two. Columbia bows its dance movie "Center Stage,"
New Line scores with "Love and Basketball" and Universal
sneaks in "U-571."
Finally this month, April 28 is
ladies' night. Fox's "Home Is
Where the Heart Is" (pictured), MCM's "Things You Can Tell
Just by Looking at Her" and Miramax's "Committed" all premiere
this weekend. Other pics include New Line's
"Frequency," Universale "The Skulls" (held from February)
and Warner Bros.' long-delayed "Gossip." Also watch for
"Texas Rangers," "The Yards" and "In Crowd" this month.
^ Continuing our monthly filmmaker profiles, this month
"""(OFFICE talked to Mary Harron, who directed "American
ycho," Sophia Coppola, who directed "The Virgin Suicides'
andd Angela Bettis, who stars in "Bless the Child."
—Annlee Ellingsi
Black and White
In his follow-up to the controversial
"Two Girls and a Guy," writerdirector
James Toback has gathered
an impressive ensemble—including
Robert Downey Jr.
("Bowfinger"), Gaby Hoffman
("200 Cigarettes"), New York Nicks
star Allan Houston, Jared Leto
("Fight Club"), supermodel Claudia
Schiffer, Brooke Shields ("The
Bachelor"), Ben Stiller ("Mystery
Men"), boxer Mike Tyson and Elijah
Wood ("Deep Impact")—for his
story about privileged white teens
who have a reckless fascination
with hip-hop culture. "Two Girls
and a Guy" executive producers
Mike Mailer and Daniel Bigel produce
with Ron Rotholz ("American
Psycho"). (Columbia, 4/5)
Exploitips: Forced to edit "Two
Girls and a Guy" to receive an R
rating, Toback suffered the same
fate here, trimming his opening
scene to cut down on sexual
explicitness. "Black and White"
was nascent Palm Pictures first film
production, though the company
has already released films such as
"Six-String Samurai" and the reissue
of the Talking Heads documentary
"Stop Making Sense."
Envisioning a wider release for this
pic, the indie teamed up with
Columbia's Screen Gems in an
unusual deal that calls for both
companies to distribute and market
"Black and White, " splitting the
profits according to an undisclosed
formula. BOXOFFICE reviewed the
pic in Toronto, giving it 3.5 stars in
the November 1999 issue: "'Black
and White' is surely James
Toback's 'Nashville' wannabe. The
curious film doesn't quite work on
that level, but it does offer its own
compelling bleak vision of
America in the late 1 990s.
distances himself from the supernatural
in this romance as a veterinarian
who falls in love with the woman
who, unbeknownst to him,
received
his deceased wife's heart.
Minnie Driver ("An Ideal Husband")
co-stars. Actress Bonnie Hunt directs
a script she wrote with Samantha
Goodman, Don Lake ('The Extreme
Adventures of Super Dave") and
Andrew Stern; lennie Lew Tugend
("Free Willy") produces. (MGM, 4/7)
Exploitips: Enormously popular as
Fox Mulder on TV's "The X-Files,"
Duchovny filmography varies widely,
from the skin tiick "Rapture, " serial
killing spree "Kalifornia " and mobster
movie "Playing God," which
also starred Timothy Hutton and
Angelina lolie and grossed only a Utile
over $4 million at the lx>xoffice.
Driver's had better luck, voicing Jane
last summer's "Tarzan" and starring
in the indie hit "Good Will
Hunting." Still, though she has
romantic experience onscreen,
Driver's never carried a movie,
either. Tap into the film's plot
device by coordinating with a local
hospital to recruit organ donors and
sponsor a blood drive.
Head Over Heels
Monica Porter ("Patch Adams")
and Freddie Prinze Jr. ("She's All
That") star in this romantic comedy
about a New York art restorer
who falls in love with her neighbor,
despite the fact that she
thinks she saw him murder someone,
a la "Rear Window." China
Chow ("The Big Hit") and models
Shalom Harlow, Ivana Milicevic,
Sarah O'Hare and Tomiko Fraser
co-star. Mark Waters ("The House
of Yes") directs a script by "There's
Something About Mary's" Ed
Decter and John J. Strauss and
Ron Burch and David Kidd;
Robert Simonds ("The Waterboy")
produces. (Universal, 4/7)
Exploitips:
Potter dropped out
of Disney's "Mission to Mars" to
pick up this role after Claire
Danes amicably parted from the
project when both she and the
filmmakers determined that the
part was not suitable for her. Both
Potter and Prinze have seen success
in the romantic realm before,
and their experience will give
David Duchovny and Minnie
Driver's "Return to Me" a run for
its money this weekend, especially
among younger viewers who
will appreciate the film's associations
with "The House of Yes,"
"There's Something About Mary"
and "The Waterboy. " For a clever
double billing, consider Alfred
Hitchcock's
Buddy Boy
Return to Me
"X-Files" star David Duchovny
"Rear Window," rereleased
by Universal associate
USA Films in January.
In this thriller, Brit Aidan Gillen
("Some Mother's Son") stars as an
introvert who escapes the tedium
of caring for his slovenly invalid
mother by spying on his beautiful
neighbor, played by
Frenchwoman Emmanuelle
Seigner ("The Ninth Gate").
Writer-director Mark Hanlon
makes his debut; Cary Woods
("Copland") and Gina Mingacci
produce. (Fine Line, 4/7 NY/LA)
Exploitips: "Buddy Boy,"
which played at both the Venice
and Toronto Film Festivals, could
be another candidate for double
billing with "Rear Window"
because of its voyeuristic themes.
American Psycho
Christian Bale ("Velvet
Goldmine") stars in this controversial
satire about the '80s
yuppie lifestyle as a Wall
Streeter who leads a double life
16 boxoffice