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Coming soon, Hannibal horror
Four major Hollywood players in Red Dragon expected to storm US BO
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Arthur J Pais
The heart-pounding and psychologically riveting Red Dragon is expected to eat up a major chunk of box-office this coming weekend.
With powerful performances from four major players, Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes and Emily Watson, and a nerve-wracking climax, Red Dragon, could give director Brett Ratner yet another international hit, exceeding the $350 million gross of his last hit Rush Hour 2.
For Universal Pictures, Red Dragon could become one of the most profitable films in a long time.
Anthony Hopkins plays the devilish and smart psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter who is arrested by a tenacious and intuitive FBI agent called Will Graham, played with aplomb by Norton.
Fiennes is superb as the serial killer who admires Lecter but cannot bring himself to kill the blind woman played by Watson, because he has fallen in love with her. The most interesting and suspenseful moments in the film involve Lecter's plan to avenge his humiliating arrest at Will Graham's hand.
Many in Hollywood expect Red Dragon to grab $55 to $60 million over the weekend. Although according to experts, the film will not slay Sweet Home Alabama, which grossed about $42 million in its first six days.
The situation in this case is not anything like Spider-Man eating into the box-office of a Star Wars sequel they point out. Sweet Home Alabama, which has possibly catapulted Reese Witherspoon into the $20 million club, might lose about 35 percent of the box-office clout.
There could be a bigger fall for Jackie Chan's The Tuxedo. The film not only received negative reviews but also opened to mediocre numbers. With about $17 million grossed in the first six days, the film is not holding well. It might lose nearly 45 per cent of the BO.
The sentimental drama with comic overtones Moonlight Mile, starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon, grossed an impressive $330,000 last weekend from just about 22 theatres in a handful of major cities. Its real test comes this week as it adds around 400 screens this week. "It is the kind of film that depends a lot on the word of mouth," says Ashok Amritraj, one of the executive producers. "We have been more than pleased with the first weekend release. We are expecting the film to stay in the theatres right through the years."
Meanwhile, Shekhar Kapur's The Four Feathers is spiralling towards its exit, giving Paramount Pictures another setback following the disastrous business of the Harrison Ford film K-19. The Widowmaker. The Four Feathers will be lucky to gross $20 million. K-19 made just about $38 million in North America and sank without a trace abroad.
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Last week at the US BO