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Sweet smell of success
Sweet Home Alabama holds its own at the US BO
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Arthur J Pais
Reese Witherspoon surprised the film industry last year with her newly emerging star power making Legally Blonde one of the big hits of the year with a $96 million gross in North America. It was a sizeable hit abroad, too.
This year she offered two more surprises. Her art-house film The Importance Of Being Earnest opposite Rupert Everett grossed a healthy $8 million in North America, and is emerging as a success abroad.
Now, the 26-year-old actress is enjoying the sweetest success of her career as year. The medium budgeted Sweet Home Alabama, a romantic comedy about a woman trying to put her past, including a redneck husband, behind her so that she could have a new life with the most eligible bachelor in New York, has grossed about $37 million in its first weekend.
The other big new film, The Tuxedo, starring Jackie Chan was at second spot with a not-so-delicious $15 million gross. Chan plays a man who suddenly becomes a super spy because of a high-tech tuxedo he gets to wear.
With the fantastic opening of Sweet Home Alabama and a promise of a $120 million-plus gross, Witherspoon might get $18 million for her next film. She has already signed for a sequel to Legally Blonde for $15 million, doubling her fee. Witherspoon has joined the list of top female stars including Angelina Jolie and Drew Barrymore. Julia Roberts, who gets $20 million per film, leads the list.
Since Sweet Home Alabama has no other big star, Witherspoon who carries the film on her own shoulders, can rightly claim her star power and performance played a major role in its success. The film set a record for the biggest September opening since Rush Hour grossed $33 million in 1998.
Though Sweet Home Alabama received mixed reviews, with the Chicago Tribune calling it 'phony, phony, phony', many critics raved about Witherspoon. "….Unbearable were Witherspoon not such a genuinely attractive performer," wrote Lisa Schwarzbaum in Entertainment Weekly while giving the film a C.
Disney officials said the film was playing to a wide spectrum of audiences and had strong legs to remain in the market for several months. Despite its honeyed opening and a good debut for Jackie Chan’s The Tuxedo, several other films performed very well over the weekend.
Barbershop, which had the top chair for two weeks, had millions of visitors earning about $10.1 million and taking its cume to $51 million. The film, with a $12-$15 million price tag, is expected to end up with $80 million, making it the highest grosser for rap artist Ice Cube. His biggest success as yet is Next Friday, which collected about $51 million two years ago. On November 22, he will have Friday After Next in thousands of movie houses. The third installment in the Friday series, it is expected to be another strong performer.
There is no point anymore using words like 'astounding' or 'amazing' to describe the continuing success of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
The film, in its 24th week, grossed a few thousands more than in the previous week, taking its total to $137 million. If the pattern of depletion (or no depletion, as was the case this weekend) it has displayed in the last three weeks continues, the film might reach $200 million in America. It has just started its foreign run, grossing $3 million in United Kingdom in its first week.
In America, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is dancing in just about 1,800 theatres while the likes of Sweet Home Alabama are having a ball in more than 3,200 theatres. Even smaller films like The Banger Sisters are showing in more than 2500 theatres.
The low-budget female bonding comedy The Banger Sisters starring Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn is on its way to become a minor success. With a $5.4 weekend, it could earn about $30 million.
Hawn's daughter Kate Hudson was not even half lucky. Her film The Four Feathers, directed by Shekhar Kapur, lost the altitude fast, after a disappointing opening. It took a paltry $3.6 million and may end up with just about $20 million in North America.
The dark, psychological drama One Hour Photo starring Robin Williams earned $3 million, its gross reaching $26 million.
Perhaps this is the last weekend that M Night Shyamalan’s Signs will be on the top 10 list. With a $2.3 million gross, the film has accumulated $221 million. It was No 9 film of the week, followed by low-budgeter Swimfan, which had a good splash with $1.5 million and a $26 million gross.
Signs, which opened in many key territories in Europe last week took the top pole in many countries and has grossed $110 million. Disney executives expect the film to gross north of $200 million abroad and its worldwide gross to reach $450 million.
In a limited release, the Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon comedy drama Moonlight Mile, which Ashok Amritraj co-executive produced, grossed an encouraging $350,000 from 22 theatres in five major cities. It expands to 425 theatres on Friday, with several more expansions on the horizon.