Weekend Box Office (October 10 - 12, 2003)

THIS WEEKEND The Columbus Day holiday frame sees four high profile candidates aim to recall Jack Black after his one term at the top of the box office. Overall voter turnout should surge versus last week's session due to the selection of different titles targeting separate audience groups. Miramax offers the latest Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill Vol. 1, MGM adds the family comedy Good Boy!, Universal releases the Coen brothers pic Intolerable Cruelty, and Artisan unleashes the horror film The House of the Dead.

Indie fave Quentin Tarantino shoots for his second number one opening with the first half of his fourth film Kill Bill Vol. 1. The ultra-violent R-rated pic stars Pulp Fiction alum Uma Thurman as an assassin who seeks revenge on those who tried to off her. Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah, and David Carradine also star. In an unorthodox move, Miramax has split the movie into two volumes with the concluding half scheduled for a February 20 bow next year. The distributor hopes that if hard-core fans of The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings can stand the wait between chapters, then Tarantino's loyal following can do the same for his entire three-hour-plus saga.

The marketing has emphasized the visual style and martial arts elements of Kill Bill rather than the dialogue and story which are the film's weaker elements. Plus Tarantino has been touted as the biggest star name as Miramax is banking on the drawing power of their favorite son. However, the quirky filmmaker is no longer the hip and trendsetting director he once was in the post-Pulp mid-90s and many fans of that Oscar-winning movie do not have the same excitement for a Quentin pic. The fact that he has delivered only one other movie, 1997's Jackie Brown, in the last nine years has made Miramax's challenge that much greater. But Kill Bill has been promoted in a very unique way and it does have event status to a large number of film fans. Opening in 2,860 theaters, Kill Bill Vol. 1 might debut with about $20M this weekend.

George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones go head-to-head in a battle of the sexes in the latest tale from Joel and Ethan Coen - Intolerable Cruelty. Universal is giving the brother team its widest release ever as the filmmakers have graduated from the world of platform openings and leggy runs to Hollywood's land of nationwide debuts and larger dropoffs. In Cruelty, Clooney stars as a divorce attorney who gets involved with the wife of one of his clients. The PG-13 film boasts plenty of starpower as Clooney and Zeta-Jones (two of today's most glamorous celebrities) are names that the public will spend money on. Universal's marketing has focused on the stars and on the gender feud hoping to capture much of the audience that made last February's How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days a $106M smash. Mature adults will make up the primary crowd, but Cruelty could also tap into the growing fan base of the Coens. Opening in 2,560 theaters, Intolerable Cruelty could gross around $14M this weekend.

With school kids getting extra time off for Columbus Day, MGM aims to capitalize on the holiday by saturating the marketplace with the family film Good Boy! from Jim Henson Pictures. The PG-rated film about a boy and his talking alien dog hopes to lure the lucrative family audience that has been so kind in recent weeks to films like Secondhand Lions, Freaky Friday, School of Rock, and even Dickie Roberts. Matthew Broderick, Kevin Nealon, and Brittany Murphy all lend their voices to Good Boy and John Hoffman makes his feature directing debut. Competition will be moderate, but with an aggressive 3,225-theater release, the MGM title is well-positioned to tap into the kids audience as a clean option for parents. A weekend debut of $12M may be in order.

With Halloween still three weeks away, Artisan gets an early start on fright season with The House of the Dead, a new horror entry based on the popular video game. The R-rated entry follows the no-stars philosophy of the genre by pushing concept and title over any recognizable names. Though no Resident Evil, Dead offers teens and young adults a pre-pumpkin scare with a brand name. Short-term sales should be solid, but not spectacular, as demand for scary movies always increases in the tenth month. Artisan is releasing the film in only 1,520 locations so a top-five bow may not even be possible, but DVD prospects are rosy. Plus competition from Kill Bill will prevent a big launch. An opening of around $6M could result.

Getting better reviews than any of the holiday weekend's four new wide releases is the Clint Eastwood-directed crime drama Mystic River which debuted Wednesday in limited release. Featuring an all-star cast including Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, and Laurence Fishburne, the R-rated film hits thirteen theaters this weekend and expands nationwide on October 17.

School of Rock reigned supreme last weekend, but will be knocked down the charts by the new kids on the block. A 35% decline to $13M could result giving the Paramount hit $37M in ten days. Denzel Washington's new thriller Out of Time bowed to a $5,262 average last weekend - good, but a bit below Denzel standards. Look for a 40% drop to $10M which would leave the MGM title with $30M after ten days.

Universal witnessed a large decline for The Rock's actioner The Rundown so another 45% fall would put the Amazon-set pic at $5.5M with a cume of $41M. The Diane Lane drama Under the Tuscan Sun may slip 30% to $5.5M as well for a total of $29M.

For reviews of School of Rock and Out of Time visit The Chief Report.


LAST YEAR Topping the box office for the second straight weekend was the Anthony Hopkins thriller Red Dragon with $17.7M for a decline of 52% from its debut. Sweet Home Alabama followed in second place again with $14.3M in its third weekend. Of the half-dozen new releases, the best performance came from the romantic drama Brown Sugar which opened in third place with $10.7M from only 1,372 theaters. Fourth place went to the new action entry The Transporter which had the most theaters of the new films with a $9.1M gross. Final takes were $27.4M for Sugar and $25.3M for Transporter. Rounding out the top five was My Big Fat Greek Wedding with $8.5M a half-year into its release. Debuting with modest results in the top ten were Michelle Pfeiffer's White Oleander with $5.6M, Tuck Everlasting with $5.3M, and Knockaround Guys with $5M. Final cumes hit $16.4M, $19.2M, and $11.7M. Opening outside of the top ten was The Rules of Attraction with $2.5M on its way to just $6.5M.

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LAST WEEKEND's TOP 20

Last Updated : October 9, 2003 at 10:00AM EDT

Gitesh Pandya can be seen each Friday on "The Biz" airing at 12:30pm and 9:30pm ET on CNNfn.