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'The shipwreck you expected it to be,' declared Miami Herald, referring to the pre-release negative publicity the movie had gathered. 'It blows,' said Rolling Stone while the New York Post said, 'it fails on every conceiveable level.'
Even then, it performed far worse than expected. With Screen Gems, an arm of Sony, announcing it has no plans to expand the movie to more theatres in the coming weeks, the $10 million movie could end its North American run with just about $1 million. Two years ago, Madonna's romantic comedy The Next Best Thing had grossed about $20 million worldwide, making it a breakeven success, when the DVD and video sales kicked in.
The new film is quite a debacle for Ritchie, known for quirky hits such as Lock Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch. Madonna had a role in his previous film, Star, which too wasn't a success. Ritchie's Snatch and Barrels have had modest success in America, but have enjoyed excellent business in England and the rest of Europe.
Madonna's film was among half a dozen new ventures released Friday. As expected, none of them ate into Hannibal Lecter in Red Dragon or evicted Reese Witherspoon in Sweet Home Alabama.
Though Dragon took a healthy $17.5 million, its 52 per cent decline from the previous week indicated it may not go beyond $120 million. It could also end its run with a gross substantially less than the $180 million than the previous Lecter movie Hannibal had earned over a year ago.
Last week, Universal Pictures said it had expected Red Dragon to have sturdier legs than its predecessor. But that hope has not materialised. The ten-day total for Dragon reached $63.2 million.
In the second place, Sweet Home Alabama made merry with $14 million and its 17-day total rose to $85 million, with a final $130 to $140 million gross looking feasible..
White Oleander, a sentimental drama revolving around a teenage daughter and her murderer mother, met with a cold reception despite upbeat notices for its performances. It grossed a paltry $5.6 million. Heavily promoted by Michelle Pfeiffer who plays the mother, the film was expected to open strong when it received positive buzz at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. But last week, several box-office trackers, including Gitesh Pandya of BoxOfficeGuru.com were not hopeful of a strong opening for the film.
The healthiest run among newcomers was enjoyed by Brown Sugar which played well in mostly African-American audiences. With a $11 million gross, the modestly budgeted movie could become profitable in just about two weeks. The other movie aimed mostly at African-Americans, Barbershop, earned $4 million, taking its gross to $65 million, with a final $75 million take in sight.
While Dragon and Alabama each played in over 3,200 theatres, Brown Sugar opened on just about 1,374 movie houses. A date movie, it told the story of two old friends who go through several problems, some funny and some not-so-funny as they finally fall in love.
While Brown Sugar, at No 3 on the box-office list, was released by Fox Searchlight, the next movie on the list The Transporter, an action thriller, was distributed by sister studio Fox. The film collected about $9 million on its way to a modest $25 million gross --- and perhaps a profit through DVD and video sales.
The honeymoon for My Big Fat Greek Wedding is far from over. Despite the glut of new movies, it held steady at fifth position, with a $7.8 million weekend take and $158 million cumulated gross. Though the $200 million landmark gross now seems distant, the movie which cost $3.5 to $5 million, could reach $185 million.
Also showing some durability is the Jackie Chan film, The Tuxedo. Critics slammed the comedy but with a $7 million gross in its third weekend, it could party on for several weeks, turning into a modest hit with about $55 million in pocket. It has already proved a sizeable hit in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong. Possibly, its worldwide gross will eclipse its North American collection.
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