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Austin Powers does it again
The humourous flick is everyone's favourite
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Arthur J Pais
The shameless Austin Powers, whose vulgarity is unredeemable, has done it again. This weekend his newest spy spoof adventure not only grabbed the top position in North America but also wrote several records on the way. As Austin Powers would say, yeah baby! the movie shagged many records.
Millions out there clearly love the gross-out, overboard antics of Austin Powers.
With a $71.5 million haul in three days ($75 million if you add the preview grosses from Thursday), Austin Powers in Goldmember had a bigger gross than the next 14 films combined.
The previous edition in the series, The Spy Who Shagged Me, had taken about $51 million in three days, reaching a $205 million total in North America.
Goldmember, which includes wonderfully imaginative cameos by some of Hollywood's famous faces, is the best opening ever for a comedy. It is also the best opening for a Mike Meyers film. Meyers, who played the title role of buck-toothed, somewhat inept but ultimately successful secret agent in two other previous films, also co-wrote all three films.
Goldmember is the fifth film of the biggest weekend opening films. Spider-man, which opened with $114 million is ending its run with a $405 million gross; Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone began with $90 million and reached $320 million. Star Wars Episode captured $80 million on its way to $420 million while The Lost World, opening with $70 million, shuttered down with about $230 million.
Goldmember stands an excellent chance of exceeding its predecessor's gross, even if it loses 50 percent of its box-office next weekend. Films that open to huge numbers usually lose 50-55 percent the next weekend.
For New Line Pictures, which also produced all three Austin Powers flicks, the opening for the new edition is its highest gross ever.
While the other two Austin Powers did good business abroad, the foreign grosses were not significant compared to the domestic. In most cases, films abroad do one and half times the business they do in North America. But The Spy Who Shagged Me earned about $110 million abroad, about half of its American take. There are speculations, however, that the new Austin Powers film will do comparatively stronger business abroad, thanks to its expanded cast that includes the charming Michael Caine. And the cameo by several stars and moviemakers who are very big abroad should further boost its appeal.
Across the country, Goldmember was the most discussed movie this week, with most reviews including the one in The New York Times praising the vulgar but highly inventive flick. Only a handful of the significant publications including Hollywood Reporter panned the film.
Despite Goldmember monopolising the business, several other films did strong business. Critics' darling Road To Perdition, slid by about 29 percent to a healthy $11 million, with its screen count going up to 2250 with the addition of 90 screens, and its total reaching $65.6 million.
The expensive kid movie, Stuart Little 2, which opened weakly last week, held rather well with just about 30 percent erosion, and with a $10.7 million weekend gross, it is on its way to a $75 million gross --- a disappointment compared to the $140 million gross of its predecessor. But with a good run abroad and solid video and DVD sale, the film may still make a tiny profit for Sony.
One of the reasons why Stuart Little 2 did not hit dust in its second weekend is that the film, which was expected to humble the talking mouse movie, performed poorly. The Walt Disney kid film Country Bears ate a humble pie with a $5.2 million gross. Unless the film does good business in video and DVD sales, it will be a loser.
The box-office was upbeat this week not only because of Austin Powers In Goldmember but also due to the staying power of several other films including Men In Black II which psyched $8.7 million, with its total reaching $173.6 million. MIB 2 is expecting to quit with about $200 million in their pockets, an impressive gross but disappointing in the sense, the first MIB film grossed $250 million in North America. And unlike the current one, its stars (Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones) and director (Barry Sonnenfeld), who are also responsible for this film, were not entitled to hefty percentage of the box-office.
Despite the upbeat week, one big budget film does not seem to have a prayer.
The Cold War submarine drama K-19: The Widowmaker lost about 44 percent of its box-office clout, earning a tepid $7.3 million. The Harrison Ford disaster, which cost about $100 million, has earned a paltry $25 million in 10 days. With some luck, it may earn $45 million before it is finally sunk.