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Kapur bested by Ice Cube
For the first time, US marquee sees movies of two India-born filmmakers
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Arthur J Pais
Despite heavy publicity and buzz that it was destined for Oscar nominations, Shekhar Kapur's historical drama The Four Feathers was gunned down by the opposition, with last week's sentimental comedy hit Barbershop retaining the top slot.
The lavishly produced The Four Feathers, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival early this month to a polite response, was mauled by a majority of critics. Some found its drama and narration not compelling. Others said it is not the kind of hard look at imperialism that Kapur had promised. And a few said that Kapur did not know which way to take the film and ended up showing the British Empire of the 19th century in good light. It opened Friday on about 1,700 screens --- half the number of screens allotted for major releases --- and grossed $7 million.
The film took fifth place on the box-office ladder.
Paramount Pictures, which distributed the film in North America, had plans to add more screens depending on strong reviews and word of mouth. But given the tepid opening, the strategy seems unlikely to work out.
Unless there is a major movie miracle, the film is expected to end its North American run with just $20 million. Kapur's previous film, Elizabeth, had earned about $38 million. Carrying a negative cost of about $40 million --- with prints, publicity and marketing costs costing almost as much --- The Four Feathers could ultimately break even if it makes pots of money abroad, and has an excellent video and DVD sale worldwide. But right now, it looks jinxed.
The big budget action film, Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever starring Antonio Banderas, reportedly earned a few thousand dollars more than The Four Feathers. The position may change when the actual figures are released on the evening of September 23. But even if The Four Feathers is placed in the fourth slot, its gross is not going to be substantially high to make a difference.
While The Four Feathers had a disappointing opening, it set a record with M Night Shyamalan's Signs for India-born filmmakers working in the mainstream. It is the first time two such filmmakers have their films listed on the top 10 chart the same week. The raft of new movies failed to push Signs out of the top 10. With a $3.5 million gross and a $218 million cume, it tied with Stealing Harvard for the seventh position.
Meanwhile, the ten-day old, low-budget Barbershop with a $13 million gross (cume: $38 million) has successfully clipped the opposition, pushing the newcomer The Banger Sisters ($10.3 million) to the second place. The latter, a low budget buddy comedy about groupies Goldie Hawn and Susan Sarandon, is on its way to a profitable run.
The film is about two best friends reunited after about two decades to discover that while one of them is still rocking out, the other one has seemingly become 'proper'. Though many reviewers complained the film was either too long or uneven or cloying in its attempts to be poignant, audiences warmed up to it in reasonably encouraging numbers. This is the second Sarandon film to be released in two weeks, the other one being the art house hit, Igby Goes Down.
In a couple of weeks she will be seen in another emotional film, Moonlight Mile opposite Dustin Hoffman. The Touchstone film is executive produced by Ashok Amritraj.
This is perhaps the first time a film starring a mother and daughter is released in the same week. Kate Hudson, Hawn's daughter, plays one of the leads in The Four Feathers.
The perennially popular My Big Fat Greek Wedding was pushed to the third place with $10 million gross but it hardly declined from last week. Its gross reached $124 million. Two weeks ago, box-office experts predicted that the film would end its run with about $150 million, Now, they expect the film, one of the most profitable films ever made (keeping in mind the $3.5-$5 million budget), to earn about $170 million.
The dark, psychological drama One Hour Photo with Robin Williams, which released two weeks ago and shot to the third position with a strong $ 8 million, plunged by about 42 per cent this weekend to sixth spot. Even then, the low budget film, which has grossed about $22 million could end its North American run with a decent $32-$34 million grossing run. It has opened in a few foreign territories, including Spain, where it is drawing appreciable art house crowds.