Boxoffice-April.2001

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Strictly Sinatra
Ian Hart ("The Closer You I
Get") stars in this British
thriller as Scottish-Italian
crooner Tony Cocozza, who
dreams of hitting the big time
like his idol Frank Sinatra. He
pacts with an aging underworld
mobster who doles out favors
to advance Tony's career, but
there's a high price to pay.
Eventually, Tony must choose
between his girlfriend and the
lifestyle he's always dreamed
of. Brian Cox, Kelly Macdonald
("Two Family House") and Tom
Flanagan ("Gladiator") co-star.
Peter Capaldi writes and
directs; Duncan Kenworthy
and Andrew MacDonald, who
"Beautiful Creatures" together, produce with Ruth Kenley-
, Letts. (Universal Focus, July undated)
Jason X N
i
The 10th installment in the
"Friday the 1 3th" franchise,
"Jason X" is set in the year
2455 on the pjanet Earth,
which, prone to violent storms
consisting of toxic landand
poisonous seas, has
long been abandoned. A professor
and his students visit the
on a field trip and discover
a cryogenically frozen
young woman and a man in a
hockey mask. The team takes
the bodies back to the ship
with them, where they thaw,
up and wreak havoc in
space. Kane Hodder reprises
his role as Jason Voorhees;
David Cronenberg
("eXistenZ") co-stars. James
Isaac (the visual and special
"eXistenZ") directs; Todd Farmer
supervisor on
Noel Cunningham, son of franchise creator Sean,
scripts;
produces. (New Line, 8/17) >
relegated by his mother to living in a plastic bubble. Now a young
man, he finds out that the girl next door is marrying another man
and sets out on a transcontinental journey to Niagara Falls in a
mobile bubble suit to profess his love for her before ifs too late.
Swoosie Kurtz ("Get Over It"), Marley Shelton ("Valentine"),
Danny Trejo ("Spy Kids") and character actor John Carroll Lynch
co-star. Commercial director Blair Hayes (the "Austin Powers"
"Star Wars" spoof) makes his feature film debut; Cinco Paul, Ken
Daurio and Michael Kalesniko ("Private Parts") script; Beau
Flynn ("Tigerland") produces. (Buena Vista, 8/3)
Greenwald ("The Ballad of Little
Jo") writes and directs; Ellen
Rigas Venetis and Richard Millei
("Heavy") produce. (Lions Gate,
June undated)
Whatever Happened to
Harold Smith?
In this British comedy, set in
the 1 970s, a lowly clerk at a legal
firm spends his evenings at a
disco club, until he meets a cute
punk chick and switches his
musical tastes to hers.
Meanwhile, his father starts
demonstrating his telekinetic
abilities. Tom Courtenay, Michael
Legge ("Angela's Ashes") and
Jjn-Roh
A
Set in the near-future, this
Japanese anime imagines that
heavily armored soldiers called the
Wolf Brigade have been trained to
snuff out civil
unrest, but post-\
their skills are only useful to the
regular police force, which doesn't
look kindly on the unit's black ops
In this midst of this, a love story
develops that alludes to the "Little
Red Riding Hood" fairy tale
Hiroyuki Okiura, the charactei
designer for "Ghost in the Shell,'
directs his debut; Mamoru Oshii
who directed "Ghost in the Shell,'
scripts; Tsutomu Sugita anc
Hidekazu Terakawa produce
(Viz/Tidepoint, June undated)
' 40 Days and 40 Nights
Josh Hartnett ("Pearl Habor") stars in this romantic comedy
about a young man who, after a brutal break-up, vows to remain
celibate for the 40 days and 40 nights of Lent. In the meantime,
he meets the girl of his dreams.
Shannyn Sossaman ("A Knight's
Tale"), Vinessa Shaw ("Corky
Romano") and Griffin Dunne
("Famous") co-star. Michael
Lehmann ("The Truth About Cats
and Dogs") directs a script by
Rob Perez; Michael London pro-
. duces. (Miramax, 8/24)
Ghosts of Mars
In this sci-fi actioner set in 2025, Natasha Henstridge ("The
Whole Nine Yards"), in a role that rocker-actress Courtney
Love exited due to an ankle injury, stars as a police lieutenant
on Earth's Mars colony. Ice Cube ("Next Friday") is the notorious
criminal whom she's bringing to justice, but her efforts
are thwarted by the warriors of a long-dormant Martian civilization
that are systematically taking over the bodies of the
human intruders, and the battle between cop and criminal
segues into a struggle for simple survival. Jason Statham
("Snatch"), Pam Grier ("Pluto Nash") and Clea Duvall ("Girl,
Interrupted") co-star. John Carpenter ("Vampires") writes
and directs; Larry Sulkis scripts; Carpenter's partner Sandy
V King produces. (Columbia, 8/24)
Laura Fraser ("A Knight's Tale")
star. Peter Hewitt ("The
Borrowers") directs a script by
Ben Steiner; Ruth Jackson ("Blow
Dry") and David Brown (a coproducer
on "Up at the Villa")
produce. (USA, June undated)
Dead or Alive
In this Japanese-language
actioner, Takeuchi Riki plays a
gang leader who attempts to take
over his city's underworld.
Aikawa Sho i o stars as the poli< e
detective assigned to root him
oul. lakashi Miike iIikm Is; Ichiro
Ryu scripts; Makoto Okada and
Katsumi Ono produce
(Viz/Tidepoint, June undated)
America's Sweethearts
Julia Roberts ("The Mexican]
stars in tins romantic: comedy a
kiki, the personal assistant I
( iwen l>\ ( played atherine Zeq
lones i
"i one hall <
America's favorite A-list couple
Used to being pushed into th
background U hei glamorajj
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