Well, Hell froze over. K-Pax, which features Kevin Spacey in a “is he or isn’t he an alien?” conundrum film, made $17.5 million at the box-office, propelling it to the top of the cinematic heap this week. Also starring the critically under-appreciated Jeff Bridges, K-Pax was directed by Brit Iain Softley, who had previously directed “Wings of the Dove” which has also been known as the “last good movie Iain Softley directed.”
Spacey, who starred in Usual Suspects, American Beauty, L.A. Confidential and not much else, plays an individual who claims to be from another planet. Bridges stars as a psychologist attempting to establish the reliability of Spacey’s story. It cost $48 million to make, thus further evidencing that Vivendi Universal has plenty of money to throw around.
Taking second place, and the honors for most recent horror film released which probably won’t make a dent on the American popular conscious, Thirteen Ghosts took in $15.7 million. Starring Matthew Lillard and Tony Shalhoub (Anthonio Scarpacci from TV’s Wings), it is loosely based on a 1960 film of the same name. Which means Hollywood has twice spent money to produce a film about a mechanical house filled with ghosts. Twice.
Other new releases did, shall it be said, worse than expected this week. Snoop Dogg’s starring vehicle Bones finished in ninth place with $3 million, while N’Sync’s On the Line horrified audiences to the tune of an eleventh place finish and $2.3. Just last week, this column predicted terrible showings for both films, something Hollywood apparently ignored. Well read it again: movies starring pop-stars are doomed to failure, regardless of their diva star (Mariah Carrey’s Glitter), pseudo-hardcore-hip-hop star (Dogg’s Bones), or clinging to their last few seconds of fame stars (N’Sync’s Line).
Rounding out the top five? Last week’s garbage films. From Hell ($6.075 million), Riding in Cars with Boys ($6 million), and Training Day ($5.1 million) finished three, four and five. With the exception of Training Day, which has been extremely profitable despite starring the inept Ethan Hawke, Riding and From Hell will likely end up breaking even if they are lucky. And if the top-five depressed, the bottom half of the top-ten encouraged suicide.
– Bandits, a movie that cost $80 milllion to make, came in sixth with $5 million. Next time, why not just fly the money to northern Alaska, where it can be burned for precious heat in times of desperation?
– Serendipity plunged another stake in John Cusack’s sagging career, bringing in $3.9 million. Funny how Billy Bob Thornton, who starred in Bandits, and Cusack both starred in a straight-to-video film called Pushing Tin, and have subsequently not had a major film between them.
-The Last Castle with Robert Redford came in eighth with a woeful $3.7 million. Also starring James Gandolfini and Delroy Lindo, Castle reminds viewers that aging actors desperate for continued success (read: bills to pay) will make just about anything.
-Bones ripped off Candyman en extremis. The audience felt ripped off after seeing it. Coincidence?
-Corky Romano continued to make money! Is there no justice?
Art house fare was light this week, with only Kevin Kline’s modern angst-film Life as a House making a run at respectability, with $294,000 from 29 theaters. Also opening were Martin Scorcese’s My Voyage to Italy, and Jake Gyllenhaal’s Donnie Darko debuting, neither so well.
Next week, Hollywood visits its local church, praying to God almighty that audiences listen up when John Travolta comes calling in Domestic Disturbance. Jet Li debuts The One that had been previously released as The Matrix. In other words, a flagging Hollywood has only prayer left: that Pixar can again be creative, funny and appealing with Monsters Inc.
