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'Rush' Buddies Spank Monkeys
submitted by: Lisa D.
source: Reuters/Variety
Date: August 6, 2001
By Carl DiOrio
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - "Apes'' slipped on a banana peel tossed by Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan over the weekend.
New Line's "Rush Hour 2,'' which reteams the frenetic duo as pan-Pacific cops equally prone to slapstick and chopsocky, rode the diamond lane to box office supremacy this weekend with a $66.8 million opening. As a result, 20th Century Fox's "Planet of the Apes'' fell a steep 58% to finish No. 2 with $28.5 million.
The action comedy's boffo bow was New Line's best ever and the biggest August opening in history. The performance follows ''Rush Hour 2'' paydays of $20 million and $15 million for Tucker and Chan, respectively, which substantially padded sequel's production costs.
The budget ran well more than twice that of the original's estimated $35 million negative cost at an estimated $90 million. But the sequel's estimated opening was also more than twice that of the original "Rush Hour,'' which bowed in September 1998 at $33 million, and virtually guaranteed a third installment.
"I hope this will translate into No. 3,'' producer Arthur Sarkissian said Sunday. "I'm sure it will.'' As for whether Tucker, Chan and helmer Brett Ratner can be secured for another sequel, he added, "I'm hoping -- you don't break up a winning team.''
Industrywide, the weekend's $170 million in total box office -- a 32% boost over the same weekend a year ago -- represents the best-grossing three days ever for a nonholiday weekend, according to data from box office tracker ACNielsen EDI.
Year-to-date, 2001 is 7% ahead of last year. EDI president Tom Borys said the boffo session also makes it more likely the current summer will surpass 1999 as the best summer ever.
"I think there's enough momentum in the business now that -- unless the wheels just fall off -- we should stand a chance of exceeding 1999,'' Borys said.
The industrywide box office totals $2.2 billion so far this summer, compared with $2.11 billion for the same period in '99, when the season's total sales reached $2.79 billion through Labor Day.
Disney's "The Princess Diaries,'' a G-rated adventure starring Julie Andrews, finished No. 3 on the weekend with an estimated $23.2 million, exceeding expectations. Disney hopes the overachiever -- an estimated $26 million production -- will display sturdier legs than other summer releases to date.
The frame's other wide opener -- the MGM period melodrama ''Original Sin'' -- was roughly on target with modest pre-release hopes, grossing an estimated $6.4 million over the weekend for sixth place. The Antonio Banderas/Angelina Jolie starrer was delayed from a planned first-quarter bow to draft off Jolie's ''Tomb Raider'' success but then was excoriated by reviewers for creative misdeeds.
With the "Rush Hour 2'' bow, New Line has grossed more with the action comedy than it has managed with any of its 25 releases since 1999's "Austin Powers 2."
"We knew we had a successful picture, but we were hoping it would be successful as a date movie,'' said New Line theatrical marketing president Russell Schwartz.
The picture seems to have succeeded in that quest, Schwartz said, as its biggest grosses came on Saturday -- date night. Audiences were 52% male and 55% under 25. "Basically, everything went right,'' distribution president David Tuckerman said.
Universal's youth-oriented "American Pie 2'' will likely bite into "Rush Hour 2'' audiences next weekend. But New Line executives hope "Rush Hour 2'' still will manage a decent hold by playing younger and older than "American Pie 2,'' an R-rated gross-out laffer.
Other wide releases for the upcoming frame include Warner Bros.' animated/live-action laffer "Osmosis Jones'' and Miramax's psycho-thriller "The Others.''
"Apes,'' a Tim Burton-helmed update of the sci-fi classic, suffered from audience overlap with the similarly PG-13 rated ''Rush Hour 2.'' Its big sophomore-session drop and its failure to repeat as No. 1 continues a revolving door trend atop this summer's weekend box office rankings.
Fox execs were philosophical in discussing the big "Apes'' drop, noting that no picture since "Pearl Harbor'' has managed a repeat No. 1 performance despite several big openings this summer.
"We're getting the same grosses we've been getting for years -- we're just getting them in the first 20 minutes,'' quipped Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder. "It's got to have something to do with how big we're releasing pictures these days.''
Both "Rush Hour 2'' and "Apes'' followed the recent super-saturation trend that's seen distributors release pictures in more than 3,000 theaters with unprecedented frequency. In the case of "Apes,'' booking on two or more screens in many venues has seen Fox actually distributing almost 6,000 prints.
On the other hand, "Princess Diaries'' managed to overachieve this weekend without going the super-saturation route -- though at 2,537 engagements the release well qualifies as saturation level.
Disney distribution president Chuck Viane said pre-release promotion contributions by helmer Garry Marshall and star Andrews helped broaden family-picture demos. The distributor was particularly pleased to see 25% of the picture's patrons were teens, as the picture drew 60% family attendance and 65% femmes.
Wider-than-expected demos could bode well for playability, Viane said.
"That's the dream -- that this will be one of those movies that don't get one of those big (second-week) hits,'' he said.
In a limited bow this weekend, Miramax opened its ''Apocalypse Now Redux,'' an extended cut of the Vietnam War epic, on single screens in L.A. and Gotham plus a one-show-a-day second venue in Manhattan. The combo produced a $96,000 estimated gross.
The Francis Ford Coppola classic expands to exclusives in 10 additional cities on Friday and another 10-15 markets the following frame.
United Artists' black comedy "Ghost World'' added 15 theaters for a total 23 this weekend in scaring up $352,000, or an impressive $15,290 per-location.
Fine Line's transsexual musical "Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' added 35 engagements for a total 46 and grossed $295,000, or $6,413 per venue.
Artisan's mob comedy "Made'' rubbed out $615,000 in 117 locations -- a dozen more than last weekend -- for a $5,256 average.
The Fireworks/Goldwyn laffer "Greenfingers'' added 23 theaters for a total 32 in grabbing $129,900, or $4,028 per venue, a week before adding three markets.
And First Look's "Bread and Tulips'' Italian romance cooked up $33,000 in a single Gotham venue a week before adding three markets.
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