Boxoffice-April.2001

HOLLYWOOD
HOT SET
"Cosmic" Encounter
"War" Story
"COSMIC BANDITOS" John
Cusack will play an American
involved with a drug-smuggling
ring in Colombia who, while on
the lam in the jungle with his
cohorts, has a revelation concerning
the impact of quantum
physics on everyday lives.
(Shooting Gallery)
"THE WAR MAGICIAN" Tom
Cruise ("Mission: Impossible 2")
will star in this World War ll-set
film based on the true account of
a professional magician who
strove to apply his tricks toward
defeating the Germans, to
astoundingly successful effect.
(Paramount)
"PEOPLE I KNOW" Al Pacino
("Any Given Sunday") is in talks
to play a press agent who's loosely
based on Bobby Zarem, a publicist
reputed to have come up
with the famed "I Love New York"
campaign. In this film, the PR
agent becomes entangled in a
mystery involving politics and
celebrities when his famous client
("Zero Effect's" Ryan O'Neal) is
embroiled in scandal. "The
Family Man's" Tea Leoni plays a
ruthless starlet, and "Bless the
Child's" Kim Basinger co-stars as
Pacino's character's love interest.
(Distribution is
to be set)
"ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS"
"Next Friday's" Ice Cube and
Mike Epps re-team for this
action-comedy about a bounty
hunter (Ice Cube) who pursues a
bailjumper (Epps) into a warehouse,
only to interrupt a diamond
heist drop-off. The adversaries
must team up to evade the
criminals. (New Line)
"DOUBLE DOWN" An aging
gangster ("The Golden Bowl's"
Nick Nolte) plans one last heist,
machine that stops time, and he
his target being a casino in a
French seaside resort, in this Neil
Jordan ("The End of the Affair")-
and his friends must find a way
to reverse the process. Jonathan
helmed remake of the 1955 Frakes ("Star Trek: Insurrection")
French film "Bob le Flambeur." helms this action thriller;
to be set)
Michael Biehn ("The Art of
(Distribution is
"THE MAN WHO SUED GOD"
A fisherman ("Mrs. Brown's"
Billy Connolly) tries to take the
Holy Father to court when his
insurance company refuses to
reimburse him for a boat
destroyed by an "act of God."
ludy Davis ("Celebrity") co-stars;
"The Matchmaker's" Mark Joffe
directs. (Distribution is
to be set)
"LOVERS, LIARS AND THIEVES"
This romantic comedy, based on
the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa,
will star Robin Williams ("One
Hour Photo") and Renee
Zellweger ("Bridget Jones' Diary")
as con artists who convince a
Louvre carpenter ("Original Sin's"
Antonio Banderas ) to help them
in their scheme. (Miramax)
"ORANGE COUNTY" "Chuck & "BLACK SHEEP" When a secrel
Buck" scripter Mike White pens
this comedy about an ambitious
agent ("Dogma's"
involved in a CIA
Chris
operation
Rock;
is
killed, the mission's leadei
high school senior (Colin Hanks
of TV's "Roswell") whose plans to ("Hannibal's" Anthony Hopkins!
leave the titular California city to
attend Stanford University go
awry when a flaky guidance
counselor ("The Kid's" Lily
Tomlin) mixes up his transcripts
with those of an academically
and socially unacceptable student.
He tenaciously tries on
repeated occasions to be admitted,
with some mishap thwarting
him each time. Catherine
O'Hara ("Best in Show") plays
the would-be collegian's alcoholic
mother, and Jack Black
("High Fidelity") his slacker
"WELCOME TO COLLINWOOD"
After the fashion of "The Full
Monty," a group of working-class
Cleveland misfits, headed by
"Romeo Must Die's" Isaiah
Washington, scheme to rob a
pawn snop. Vincent D'Onofrio
("The Cell"), Courtney Love
("Man on the Moon"), Jennifer
Esposito ("Dracula 2000") and
Luis Guzman ("Traffic") co-star.
(Distribution is
to be set)
scientist accidentally sets off a
War"), Julia Sweeney ("God Said,
'Ha!'"), French Stewart (TV's
"3rd Rock From the Sun") and
Paula Garces ("Dangerous
Minds") co-star. (Paramount)
"BLACK HAWK DOWN" Josh
Hartnett ("Pearl Harbor"), Ewan
McGregor ("Moulin Rouge"),
Tom Sizemore ("Saving Private
Ryan"), Eric Bana ("Chopper")
and Ben Foster ("Liberty
Heights") star in this Ridley
Scott ("Hannibal")-helmed war
drama based on Mark Bowden's
book about a troop of elite U.S.
soldiers that storm Somalia to
capture two high-ranking
deputies of a renegade warlord,
only to find themselves surrounded
by the enemy.
(Distribution is
to be set)
calls upon the operative's underqualified
twin brother (alsc
played by Rock) to take hie
place. Joel Schumacher ("Tigerland")
is
Vista)
in talks to helm. (Buena
"ON THE LINE" Two members
of the boy band phenomenon
'N Sync, Lance Bass and Joey
Fatone, will star in this romantic
comedy about a young man
(Bass) who meets the girl of his
dreams on a train but neglects
to get her number. He canvass-
brother. (Paramount)
es the city with posters in the
hopes of tracking her down,
"THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE" only to find himself becoming
George Clooney ("The Perfect something of a celebrity in the
Storm") and Nicolas Cage process. (Miramax)
("Family Man") are in talks to star
"BABY'S IN BLACK" Brad
for director Alan Parker
("Angela's Ashes") in this drama Silberling ("City of Angels") will
about an anti-capital punishment script and direct this romantic
protestor who's accused of murdering
drama about a man ("October
a fellow activist and, iron-
Sky's" Jake Gyllenhaal) whose
inlaws ("Sphere's" Dustin
ically enough, is put on death
Hoffman and "Anywhere But
row. (Universal)
Here's" Susan Sarandon) take
him in after the murder of his
wife. His emotional duress is
further
complicated when he falls
for a woman who is in denial
about the presumed death of her
boyfriend. (Buena Vista)
"THE HOURS" This Stephen
Daldry ("Billy Elliot")-helmed
adaptation of Michael Cunningham's
novel, focusing on three
women from different — periods in
the 20th century '20s-era
"CLOCKSTOPPERS" A teen author Virginia Woolf, a pregnant
Los Angeles housewife in
("Bring It On's" Jesse Bradford)
whose father ("The Contender's" 1949 and a young woman in
Robin Thomas) is an eccentric 1 990s New York planning a party
for a former lover afflicted with
AIDS—will star Meryl Streep
("Music of the Heart"), Julianne
Moore ("Hannibal"), Nicole
Kidman ("Birthday Girl"), Ed
Harris ("Pollock"), Toni Collette
("The Sixth Sense"), Claire Danes
("Brokedown Palace") and
Allison Janney ("Nurse Betty").
(Paramount)
ET CETERA: Rowan Atkinson
("Bean") is in talks to play the
villain in Warner Bros.' liveaction
"Scooby Doo" feature.
..Devon Sawa ("Final
Destination") will star in Lions
Gate's coming-of-age drama
i
"Christmas With J.D," scripted
by "Karate Kid Ill's" Sea
Kanan..."The Claim's" Milla
Jovovich and "Girlfight'i
Michelle Rodriguez star
director Paul Anderson ("Mortal
Kombat'Ts feature adaptation of
the popular video game
"Resident Evil," in which a mil
itary unit combats carnivorous
zombie scientists.
12 Boxouki