Ben Affleck conquers BO Attack Of The Clones makes way for The Sum Of All Fears

Arthur J Pais

New York Post critic Lou Lumenick was wrong when he declared The Sum Of All Fears, based on a Tom Clancy novel, to be a disaster.

"The Sum Of All Fears, a moribund attempt to exhume the Jack Ryan techno-thriller franchise with a severely miscast Ben Affleck, is truly the 20-megaton bomb among this summer's blockbusters," he wrote.

Last weekend the 'bomb' denoted an impressive $31 million in North America ignoring mixed reviews and shoving Attack Of The Clones to the second position.

This is the second hit Affleck has handed to Paramount Pictures in two months. He shared top billing with Samuel Jackson in the better reviewed psychological revenge drama Changing Lanes, which is headed for a medium range hit status ($70 million).

Next week, another big budget action-packed flick Bad Company, with Chris Rock and Anthony Hopkins may knock off The Sum Of All Fears from top spot but even then, the film is expected to race to the $100 million mark in four weeks.

It has opened with a bigger bang than the other three Jack Ryan thrillers: The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games and Clear And Present Danger. The last two films starred Harrison Ford. The former opened with $18 million in 1992 and the latter with $21 million two years later. At that time, tickets cost about 60 per cent of today's $8 - $10.

In The Sum Of All Fears, Affleck plays a Russian expert at CIA who is caught in the middle of a fast rising conflict between America and Russia after a group of neo-Nazis detonate a nuclear bomb in Baltimore.

Attack Of The Clones, which is slipping at the box office, attacked a strong $20 million, taking its 18-day total to $230 million, with a final tally of $300 million. The previous Star Wars film The Phantom Menace spooked $430 million in North America and about $500 million abroad.

Meanwhile Spider-Man continues to show strong legs. With a $15 million gross this week, it has reached $354 million in North America, the first film to reach that figure in just 31 days. It is a huge money earner outside America too. With a $425 million projected gross, it will be the film to beat this year.

The psychological drama Insomnia, which has been raved for its atmospheric drama and strong performances by Al Pacino and Robin Williams, woke up to a decent $9 million and a total of $41 million in ten days. Insomnia is expected to earn a healthy $65 million.

The surprise hit of the season is an ethnic comedy My Big Fat Greek Wedding about a young Greek woman who falls in love with a non-Greek. She devises ways to get him accepted by her orthodox family. Made for less than $2 million, the film has grossed about $9 million in seven weeks. Given its $1 million gross last weekend, it could overtake Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding ($11.7 million in 14 weeks) which is on its last legs.

Meanwhile, Ismail Merchant's The Mystic Masseur was not on the tracking list this week, having grossed an anemic $40,000 in two weeks in New York and Los Angeles. The film was a non-event in Britain too.

Adrian Lyne's well-reviewed erotic thriller Unfaithful about a New York couple whose marriage goes awry leading to a murder, continues to seduce audiences in its fourth week. Though far less successful than Lyne’s Fatal Attraction, Unfaithful has grossed an encouraging $45.6 million and is headed for a $60 million run in North America. 20th Century Fox, which produced the film, is expecting a strong run for it abroad --- particularly in Europe and Japan --- where the audiences are not as squeamish as the Americans in dealing with sex and violence.