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Road To Perdition zooms up US BO
Tom Hanks no match for Will and Tommy
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Arthur J Pais
The low-key, intensely psychological, gripping drama about a gangster family, The Road To Perdition, opened strong with a $22 million gross, but was not able to push Men In Black II from the top.
MIB--II, whose box-office gross declined by over 50 per cent from last week, was still formidable with a $25 million gross. With some luck, it may end up with $200 million in North America. The first MIB, released five years ago when tickets cost far less, had seized about $250 million in North America.
The first MIB was a big profit maker for Sony. With its DVD and video sale, and a variety of merchandise tied to it, the movie reportedly made about $200 million in profits.
Profit margins for the new movie will be quite low compared to its predecessor. For one thing, the new film cost about $140 million, nearly $40 million more than the first one. Second, this time director Barry Sonnenfeld and stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will participate in profit sharing.
Though the box-office take of Road is far from being spectacular compared to the likes of Mr Deeds, a comedy with a serious heart, it should be noted that the Sam Mendes-directed Road is not a typical shoot-from-the-hip gangster film.
Besides, it is playing in about 1,800 theatres while most summer films open in more than 2,500 theaters. MIB--2, for instance, is in 3,611 theatres.
Besides, analysts believe that Road, which has without an exception received superlative reviews, is here for a long haul and would be a strong Oscar nomination contender. In fact, DreamWorks which produced the film and released it domestically (with 20th Century Fox to release it abroad), plans to add more movie houses in the coming weeks.
Road To Perdition, the second film directed by Mendes, whose first American Beauty (also produced by DreamWorks) won the best movie Oscar for 1999, is set in 1930s depression-era Chicago.
Unlike most gangster films, the violence here is muted and you hardly see blood. The emphasis here is on family ties, and what parents do to keep their loved ones alive. It is also a film about faith and betrayal and about people who have some redeeming values, and the utterly amoral people. It is about wages of sins and fathers not wanting their children repeat their mistakes.
'It is a very simple (plot), but actually the themes of the movie are complicated and complex,' Mendes told Reuters last week, a comment he has repeated so often in the last week.
A fantasy thriller, Reign of Fire, with Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale, had an okay opening with about $16 million. The story starts with 12-year-old Quinn watching his mother, a construction engineer, accidentally wake up an enormous fire-breathing beast from years of slumber. The beast immediately begins ravaging the surrounding; soon its offspring join it in the destruction spree. Twenty years later, Quinn (Christian Bale) who has become a fire chief is fighting the beasts and is trying to keep a small community alive. Suddenly an American called Van Zan (Matthew McConaughey), who says he has a way to kill the beasts and save mankind appears in the community.
Reign of Fire, which received mostly negative reviews, is certainly not destined for a hit status. Its salvation lies in its overseas grosses, and video and DVD sales.
The Adam Sandler populist hit, Mr Deeds, is still hanging out with a $11 million gross and $94 million total. Though not as big a hit as his Big Daddy, Deeds is quite a profitable venture, and would have about $120 million in the bank before quitting first run movie houses.
The surprise hit of the season, Scooby-Doo, still has some more life left, as its $3.6 million weekend gross (cumulative: $145 million) shows.
The other kiddie movie hit, Lilo And Stitch, which too received excellent reviews grossed a healthy $7.6 million, its gross reaching $118 million, and might be able to reach $150 million mark .
Right behind it at the eight position was Minority Report, the critically acclaimed sci-fi drama starring Tom Cruise and directed by Steven Spielberg, which earned $7.4 million for a total of $110 million.
If there are no big erosions in the coming week, the dark and intriguing Minority Report could end its run with a healthy but not spectacular, $130 million
The pulse-quickening, enigmatic thriller The Bourne Identity still has strong legs. With a $5.8 million gross and a $99 million take, the Matt Damon film has several more weeks of run ahead. Based on a Robert Ludlum bestseller published 20 years ago, the movie's success is sure to spawn more films from Ludlum books. Already a new tagline for the film says: A New Action Hero Is Bourne.
A paperback edition of the Ludlum classic, released to mark the movie, has been on the bestseller list for more than 3 months.