July 4 weekend bonanza Will Smith and Tom Cruise tussle for top spot

Arthur J Pais

If you have not got enough of the likes of the dark sci-fi movie, Minority Report or the populist comedy, Mr Deeds, a raft of new movies that opened Wednesday are promising to turn the four-day holiday weekend into a huge bonanza.

Leading the pack is Sony's sci-fi sequel Men In Black II, which bowed on 6,000 screens in about 3,500 theatres.

Sony, which hardly had a hit last year, is the leader of Hollywood pack this year, with Spider-Man expected to reach $402 million tally by Monday, and last week's champ Mr Deeds pocketing a hefty $70 million at the end of the holiday period.

The 1997 Men In Black, with its quirky humour, eye-popping special effects and pulsating action, went on to psyche $585 million worldwide. Unlike in the case of the sequel, Steven Spielberg was one of the producers of the first movie.

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The sequel, made at $120 million, has the same star team and director of the first film. It picks up where the original left off with a special effects-filled plot that has the two secretive agents --- Jay (Smith) and Kay (Jones) --- policing aliens on earth. 'It's sort of like the first one,' director Barry Sonnenfeld, who recently suffered a debacle with Big Trouble that look less than $20 million in America, told reporters. 'It is smart and funny and short (87 minutes).'

Sony expects the original's box-office to be topped by the sequel, particularly since the admission prices have shot up by about 20 percent in America.

Many sequels, including Mission Impossible II have earned more than their predecessors. So Sony's expectations are entirely well placed. Reviews have not been very positive but in the case of a movie like MIB II, audiences often listen to their racing hearts. The movie has opened in more than 1,000 theatres than its predecessor.

Jeff Blake, Sony's marketing and distribution president told reporters that the studio decided against launching the film at midnight --- unlike in the case of the first Men In Black --- because the movie is playing on thousands of screens.

While MIB II could fly past $120 million in five days, decent numbers are expected are for Twentieth Century Fox's basketball fantasy, Like Mike. And though the market is full of movies meant for the young, Warner Bros' zesty tooner The Powerpuff Girls Movie could dance to significant numbers.

The two films, each made for less than $20 million, are hopeful of overtaking Mr Deeds.

Mike, the hoop-themed pic featuring teenage hip-hop artist Lil' Bow Wow is playing in nearly 2,400 screens. Fox expects it to be among the top three movies this week. 'I've got to think that some people will go to more than one movie over that five-day holiday,' Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder told the trade publication, Variety.