FREE-RANGE 'CHICKEN': Hollywood served up a bucket of
Chicken Little as a holiday-season appetizer, and moviegoers
spent the weekend lickin' fingers. The fowl 'toon flapped above
expectations with a $40 million weekend, the biggest opening in four
months. But it wasn't enough to pull the movie business out of the deep
fryer. Thanks to the $70 million debut of The Incredibles, last
weekend trailed last year by $15 mil.
THE UPSIDE: With Disney behind it, the rise of Chicken Little
was no surprise. What is a jolt is the powerful pull of Jarhead
. An ambiguous war movie in the middle of another war is traditionally a
tough sell, but director Sam Mendes pulled it off to the tune of $27.8
mil. Mr. Mendes and star Jake Gyllenhaal have sterling pedigrees, but
the betting here is that freshly Oscared Jamie Foxx and the Kanye West
song in the trailer were the real reasons for the big weekend.
BOMB SQUAD: Scoot over, Super Mario Bros. Make room on the
Squad for the latest video-game smash turned movie crash. It's Doom
. And, yes, it's doomed. After an OK $16 million debut, the Rock has jumped
off the high dive, with a 72.7 percent drop in weekend 2. That's the
second-biggest percentage drop for a big movie ever. With $26 mil
in the bank, this bad boy won't come close to its $60 million cost. Awww
...
SWAMI SEZ: Remember, it's not the numbers that count, it's the
rankings ... (he writes in desperation).
Prediction: Chicken Little takes wing at No. 1 with
$24 mil. Result: Guess the Swami wasn't quite as hungry for wings
as America was. No. 1 with $40 mil.
Prediction: A respectable, but not decisive, No. 2 for
Jarhead at $18 mil. Result: Shock and awe. No. 2 with
almost $28 mil.
Results so far: 7.5 out of 12.
RICH WHIRL: 50 Cent and Jim Sheridan. The man behind "In
Da Club" hooks up with the man behind In the Name of the Father
. Get Rich or Die Tryin' should be quite a cross-cultural
adventure. Swami sez: A five-day, $30 million surprise at No. 2.
ZA-WHATTA? Yeah, yeah, it's a beloved kids book by beloved kids
author Chris Van Allsburg. But face it: Zathura is a
seriously stinky title. Swami sez: Despite the hype, this one
won't come close to Chicken Little. A $17 mil. No. 4.
Rick Holter
