Universal Pictures, which has produced two duds so far this fall “Meet Joe Black” and “Babe: Pig in the City,” was so edgy about not letting any member of the news media see an advanced screening of “Psycho” that it posted guards at a recent screening for exhibitors.
No wonder. Critics wound up writing off the Alfred Hitchcock remake with the opt-repeated phrase, “Why bother?” Business reporters are also writing off the chiller’s premiere weekend, which drew $10.5 million, as a “moderate” opening.
But Robert Bucksbaum, whose Los Angeles-based Reel Source Inc. predicts box-office revenues, said Universal may wind up laughing all the way to the bank. The shot-by-shot remake of the Hitchcock classic, directed by Gus Van Sant, cost a mere $25 million to make, and Bucksbaum anticipates that domestic grosses alone will be $45 million.
“It should more than double this overseas,” he said. “A $10 million opening that weekend, which is one of the worst weekends to open a film, is not that bad. Money-wise, it’s going to be a lot more profitable than film analysts are saying.”
“Titanic” may have been last year’s box-office giant for Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox, but what the studios are really hunting for is a movie like Fox Searchlight Film’s “The Full Monty,” which cost around $5 million to make and reaped $46 million at the box office. So what’s the leading contender for sleeper of the year? Try Fox Searchlight’s “Waking Ned Devine,” a comedy about the hunt for the winner of a lottery in a small Irish town.
The modestly budgeted film made $650,000 in its first three weeks, considered an impressive number since it was only playing in nine theaters in L.A. and New York. “Ned Devine” opened wider last weekend and has been generating good word-of-mouth support. At a recent screening at the Laemmle Sunset 5 in Hollywood, audiences were cheering and applauding during the film and left with smiles on their faces.
“It’s definitely a film that will be an Oscar contender,” Bucksbaum said.
Movers & Shakers
Alex Ben Block, less than one month after quitting as editor of The Hollywood Reporter to join Morgan Creek Productions, is out as president of marketing for the Burbank-based movie company. Friends had warned Block about working for Morgan Creek, which has been a revolving door for executives during the past two years.
Is the Los Angeles Times going to replace New York gossip columnist Liz Smith? At least one gossip writer was approached for the job, which would be Los Angeles-based. Smith’s column originates at the New York Post, and only a fraction of it appears in the Times. If Smith did depart, fans of Elizabeth Taylor would be at a loss. Who would chart her career as resourcefully as Smith?
Talk about synergy. CNN recently carried a news story about “Winchell,” HBO’s biofilm about the late gossip columnist Walter Winchell, on a recent edition of its “Entertainment Weekly” TV magazine show. CNN, like HBO and the print magazine Entertainment Weekly, are all Time Warner entities.
Virgin Records America has bought Malibu-based Higher Octave Music, giving the British-based music company one-third of the New Age genre. Higher Octave has been one of the top independent labels for the past eight years.
