Weekend Boxoffice 03.01 - 03.03.2002

Two new films dealing with vastly different forms of sacrifice -- war and abstinence -- grabbed the top spots at the North American weekend box office, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday. The Mel Gibson Vietnam War saga "We Were Soldiers" (Paramount Pictures) opened at No. 1 with $20.2 million, which was at the lower end of the studio's expectations.

The sex comedy "40 Days and 40 Nights" (Miramax) bowed at No. 2 with $12.5 million, which a studio spokesman said was on target. Josh Hartnett plays a jilted lover who gives up sex for the titular period in order to get over his ex-girlfriend.

Last weekend's No. 1, the vampire thriller "Queen of the Damned," tumbled to No. 6 with $5.8 million, taking its 10-day total to $23.8 million

The top five was rounded out by the Denzel Washington hostage thriller "John Q." (New Line Cinema) at No. 3 with $8.4 million, followed by the Kevin Costner supernatural drama "Dragonfly" (Universal Pictures) with $6.8 million and the Peter Pan cartoon "Return to Never Land" (Walt Disney Pictures) with $6.5 million. Each fell one spot from last weekend.

The top 12 films grossed $81 million, according to box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, down 4 percent from last weekend, but up 8 percent from the year-ago period when "The Mexican" was tops with $20.1 million.

If estimates hold when final data are issued on Sunday, "We Were Soldiers" will beat "Mexican's" record for a film opening in the first weekend of March.

Wide new releases next weekend include "The Time Machine," based on the H.G. Wells sci-fi classic, and "All About the Benjamins," starring rapper Ice Cube, who co-produced and co-wrote the action-comedy.

WAR MAY BE HELL FOR MOVIEGOERS

"We Were Soldiers" stars Gibson as an officer who leads 400 men into the first major battle of the Vietnam War, at Ia Drang Valley in 1965. The $70 million film was based on the memoir "We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young," and was adapted, directed and produced by Randall Wallace, who wrote Gibson's "Braveheart."

Following "Behind Enemy Lines," "Black Hawk Down" and "Hart's War," "We Were Soldiers" could have suffered from moviegoer fatigue with war films, said Wayne Lewellen, president of distribution at Paramount. The Viacom Inc. -owned studio had targeted an opening of $20 million to $25 million, but he was still very pleased with the number.

Male viewers made up about 56 percent of the audience, but the film skewed older -- almost three-quarters of viewers were aged over 25. The studio hoped enthusiastic word of mouth would broaden the base in coming weekends.

"40 Days and 40 Nights" skewed female -- 60 percent -- and played strongest to viewers between 17 and 25, said Miramax Films marketing executive David Kaminow.

The Walt Disney Co. -owned studio hopes to benefit from the paucity of romantic pictures, and will also use some of the better reviews to remind older people that the film was made by the producers of upscale hits "Notting Hill" and "Bridget Jones's Diary" -- Britain's Working Title Films.

'QUEEN' MAKES PROFIT

"Queen of the Damned," starring late R&B singer Aaliyah as a 6,000-year-old Egyptian vampire bent on ruling the Earth, suffered the biggest drop in the top 10, losing 61 percent of its audience from last weekend.

The film was budgeted at a modest $30 million, and is expected to end up in the mid $30 million area -- a profitable entry once ancillary revenues such as video and TV rights -- start pouring in. It was released by Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc. .

Leading Academy Award nominee "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" (AOL's New Line) returned to the top 10 after a two-week absence, jumping two spots to the final rung with $3.1 million. After 11 weekends, the adventure fantasy has grossed $287.4 million. Its 10 percent fall was the slightest in the top 10. The film has 13 Oscar nominations.

The 17-day total for "John Q" stands at $51.1 million. "Dragonfly" has $19.4 million after 10 days. "Return to Never Land" has $35.3 million after 17 days.

Rounding out the top 10, "Big Fat Liar" and "A Beautiful Mind" each fell one place to Nos. 7 and 8, with $4.8 million and $4.4 million, respectively. Their totals rose to $38.8 million and $138.7 million. Both were released by Universal Pictures, a unit of Vivendi Universal SA. .

The Britney Spears road movie "Crossroads" (Paramount) fell four places to No. 9 with $4.0 million, taking its 17-day total to $31.2 million -- about 2-1/2 times its production budget.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "We Were Soldiers," $20.2 million.
   
2. "40 Days and 40 Nights," $12.5 million.
   
3. "John Q," $8.4 million.
   
4. "Dragonfly," $6.8 million.
   
5. "Return to Never Land," $6.5 million.
   
6. "Queen of the Damned," $5.8 million.
   
7. "Big Fat Liar," $4.8 million.
   
8. "A Beautiful Mind," $4.4 million.
   
9. "Crossroads," $4 million.
   
10. "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," $3.1 million.

Pop Star Will Young Has Made Quite A Debut.

Young, who rose from obscurity to fame after a reality television-based talent search, has sold more than a million copies of his first record in a week — the fastest-selling British debut single ever.

The 23-year-old singer's single "Anything Is Possible/Evergreen," started at No. 1 with 1,108,269 copies sold since it was released last week — around 385,000 copies on the first day.

When the figures came in Sunday, Young read the total out on a radio broadcast. Before Young, Britain's fastest-selling debut single of all time was "Pure and Simple" by Hear'Say, a group created in last year's TV series "Popstars." The single sold 550,000 copies in its first week.

"It's an amazing feeling to have a No. 1 hit," said Young. "Everything that I've experienced over the past couple of months is just beginning to sink in now. To have broken records with my debut single is incredible."

Sir Elton John's tribute to Princess Diana, a reworking of "Candle In The Wind," was the biggest-selling single in the world, with sales of more than 35 million.

On Feb. 10, Young won "Pop Idol," a reality-television quest for a new singing star. Almost 9 million people voted by telephone poll in the final. Young sang The Doors' "Light My Fire."

SAG Rerun Election Heats Up In Actors Union

A rerun of the Screen Actors Guild election pitting two TV stars against each other for president headed into its final week as political infighting in the fractious union reached a fevered pitch.

SAG, which represents some 98,000 performers, held an initial election last fall that was won by Melissa Gilbert, former child star of "Little House on the Prairie." But the outcome was contested by rival Valerie Harper, TV's "Rhoda," and her supporters over alleged balloting irregularities.

A SAG election committee in January ordered a rerun for the top three posts.

Over the past several weeks, the campaign vitriol has increased in both camps, climaxing last week when five former SAG presidents -- including Charlton Heston, Ed Asner and Dennis Weaver -- unleashed a tirade against Gilbert and the guild's chief executive, Bob Pisano, in an open letter to members.

The letter charges Gilbert and Pisano have ignored the authority of SAG's board of directors to advance their own agenda. It also accused them of "following the dictates" of the major studios, other unions and talent agents.

That followed charges by Gilbert supporters that the voting rerun is an attempt by Harper and her allies to hijack the election. They have filed a formal complaint against the new election with the U.S. Labor Department, sparking a federal investigation of the situation.

All this is occurring against a backdrop of political name-calling in which supporters of Gilbert and Harper have stooped to trading such epithets as "slug" and "hatchet man."

"I don't recall anything quite like this in the history of entertainment union elections," Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., said. "It's getting to the point where it's self-defeating."

Ballots mailed out last month in the repeat race for SAG president and two other national offices -- secretary and treasurer -- are due back March 8 for tabulation.

LETTER CHALLENGES SAG LEADERS

While Harper has insisted her challenge to the first election was not politically motivated, opponents claim she and supporters are seizing on minor infractions that would not have altered the outcome.

"It was a fair election, and they figured out a way to make it look unfair, so they'd have another shot at it," said SAG first vice president Mike Farrell, the "Providence" and "M*A*S*H" TV star who joined four others in seeking a Labor Department probe.

Farrell said the letter from five former SAG presidents appeared to have been instigated by Harper's camp in a bid to discredit her opponent. He suggested the letter's criticism of Gilbert and Pisano on the hot-button issue of Canadian subsidies for TV and film production was merely a smokescreen.

"They ... decided Pisano was going to be sacrificed to give them something else to grind their knives over," Farrell said.

The letter marks the first major challenge to the leadership of Pisano, a former studio executive who was hired by the board in September and had, until this week, remained largely above the fray of SAG politics.

At least four of the signatories are touted by Harper as endorsing her campaign -- Heston, Weaver, Asner (a onetime "Mary Tyler Moore Show" co-star) and Harper's political protege, Bill Daniels.

Gilbert and Pisano have not commented on the letter.

The mudslinging has extended beyond election politics to a landmark deal negotiated last week between SAG and U.S. talent agents. Harper immediately attacked provisions in the tentative accord that would for the first time permit talent agencies to buy stock in, and receive investments from, advertising firms.

Harper said such a change would diminish long-standing conflict-of-interest safeguards aimed at preventing talent agents from having an ownership interest in the companies their clients work for. "It is an absolute lie that agents won't become our employers," she said.

Seeking to sell the talent agency pact to the union's rank-and-file, SAG has hired high-powered political consultants Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane -- best known as the "Masters of Disaster" for former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore -- to promote the agreement.

Michael Kuhn To Raise 100M German-Based Media Investment Fund

With its first project "Sin Eater", now in production, Michael Kuhn’s German-based media investment fund N1 European Film Produktions-GmbH & Co KG (N1 EFP) is planning to raise Euros 100M by the end of 2002 to invest in the development and production of 10 English-language feature films over the next three years.

Amongst the projects on Kuhn's development slate, that are being considered for production are: romantic comedy Exes, by James Curtis, brother of Notting Hill author Richard Curtis; historical drama Georgiana - Duchess Of Devonshire by Jeremy Hatcher, based on the bestselling novel by Amanda Foreman; and the action film Skyboys written by Frederick Du Chau and Kirk DeMicco.

Structured by Kuhn and Geno Asset Finance (GAF), a joint venture between the DZ Bank, WGZ-Bank Westdeutsche Genossenschafts-Zentralbank eG, and Citigroup/Citibank, the equity is being raised from private German individuals each stumping at least Euros 10,000 each by Geno-Vermoegens-Anlage-Gesellschaft who has committed to guarantee the placement of at least Euros 33.3m by the end of March.

In total, the fund’s investment volume will amount to Euros 427m which includes Euros 375.4m committed to the production costs and a 50% commitment to the US P&A costs for each of the 10 films. In addition to the Euros 99m private equity (which might be extended to Euros 150m), the fund will finance the selected projects through the reinvestment of revenues and by opening credit lines.

According to the fund prospectus, four key criteria will guide the fund’s management in the selection of its supported projects: they must be internationally marketable features; have a running time between 80-180 minutes; be productions in English language; have planned budget between $3m-$50m; and be likely to receive a MPAA rating no higher than ‘R’.

In addition, the projects will have to be greenlighted before production by 20th Century Fox as part of the distribution framework agreement which guarantees distribution of up to 10 films in the so-called "Fox territories": North America, Central and South America, German-speaking countries, UK, Ireland and Italy. N1 EFP can offer a project to another US major studio in the eventuality that Fox should turn it down

Intermedia shares crash after merger cancellation

Shares in Intermedia plummeted to 7,03 euro or down 63,04% today 03/04 after it cancelled a merger with production firm Spyglass Entertainment and slashed its earnings forecast.

In an ad hoc disclosure to Frankfurt's Neuer Markt, the company said that Nigel Sinclair, Guy East and Moritz Borman will continue in their positions as co-chairmen of Intermedia. East and Sinclair had been expected to step down to make way for Spyglass co-chiefs Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, cashing in much of their shares in the process.

Intermedia now expects earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to be "slightly negative" when it reports annual results on March 14, compared to previous estimates of around Euros 25m. The company had hoped the Spyglass acquisition would boost its sales to more than Euros 1bn.

Trading on Intermedia's Neuer Markt-listed stock was suspended after news of the failure of the deal. It reopened with a 64.77% dive to Euros 6.7. Chief executive officer Florian Bollen offered his resignation from the management board in the initial announcement.

Merck Finck & Co declared that "sentiment for the stock will be negative for the next six months on the basis of this news... We therefore downgrade to sell".

The company, which is listed as Internationalmedia (IM), said that it agreed to terminate merger negotiations this weekend after it decided to internally reorganise. It confirmed it is relocating further operations from London to Los Angeles as part of its strategy to focus on high-profile event movies.

"The merger negotiations were mutually halted after IM's subsidiary Intermedia decided to internally reorganise," Intermedia said. "The chairmen of both companies reached unanimous agreement this weekend to terminate the transaction."

Intermedia had already made one profit warning in January when the company announced its nine month figures. Estimates put total 2001 sales at Euros 280m instead of the initially anticipated Euros 355m. Year-end EBIT had initially been predicted to be Euros 47.2m.

The company said that its EBIT loss was due to reorganisation and changes in accounting principles. Intermedia was due to publish its 2001 earnings last Thursday, but said a change of auditor and the need to consolidate the acquisition of Initial Entertainment Group and conclude the Spyglass deal had caused a delay. The company said it had dropped KPMG as its auditor in favour of PricewaterhouseCoopers because of the latter's experience in the film business

Kodak to Launch Digital Movie Projection

Eastman Kodak Co. on Monday said it will unveil a digital movie projection system at the ShoWest movie theater convention this week here, marking the photo giant's formal entry in the emerging market for digital cinema.

Rochester, New York-based Kodak, a leading maker of film and photographic equipment, has been testing digital movie projection equipment for a couple of years, but has only demonstrated prototypes to small groups.

For moviegoers, the new format promises better-quality pictures on-screen by eliminating film scratches, and Hollywood studios will be able to slash tens of millions of dollars in distribution costs by no longer shipping movies in heavy, bulky metal canisters.

Digital cinema is the projection of movies on theater screens, using digital copies of films instead of the traditional strips of film. The digital movies can be stored in a computer hard drive or on a disk, like a DVD.

With the launch of the Kodak Digital System at ShoWest, the company hopes to become a leading player in what has to date been a slowly developing arena. ShoWest is a trade show where vendors hawk everything from projection systems to popcorn to theater owners.

"We are poised to take a leadership role in this emerging market," said Robert Mayson, general manager of Cinema Operations for Kodak's entertainment imaging division.

Since the film industry's inception, Kodak has been one of the primary suppliers of raw film stock. Digital cinema represents a threat to the film business.

Kodak Digital Cinema will include a services unit to offer components, installation, training and support. Kodak said it hopes to ease the fears of theater owners over technological advances that make their equipment obsolete.

CUTTING DISTRIBUTION COSTS

The Kodak Digital Cinema System includes a high-quality projector and operating system to show digital movies distributed via DVD, satellite, or a fiber-optic network.

For studios and other content suppliers and distributors, Kodak plans to fashion agreements to include all aspects of digital print delivery to theaters .

"The goal of Kodak Digital Cinema Services," said Mayson, "is to combine Kodak's heritage in image science and our reputation for service with continuing developments in information technology, bringing digital cinema to our customers in the ways they expect of Kodak."

So far, most prototypes would either allow the studios to send digital copies of movies to theaters through satellite uplinks and downloads, or by shipping the movies on DVDs. Both ways are significantly less expensive than shipping thousands of film copies around the world in the large metal canisters .

The technology has been available, but the rollout of digital cinema was slow because nobody was willing to foot the entire bill for the systems at a cost of roughly $150,000 per screen.

Disney's Hyperion Settles Beardstown Suit

A once-heralded book by the Beardstown Ladies -- a self-proclaimed group of savvy stock pickers from small-town America -- has a final chapter that none of its authors could have predicted. The book's publisher, The Walt Disney Co.'s Hyperion Press, has settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit by disgruntled readers who say they were duped by promises of riches using the ladies' investing techniques.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs estimate as many as 1 million people purchased the ladies' books and tapes, which claimed to show how the women from Beardstown, Illinois, logged an impressive 23.4 percent average annual return on their investments.

The problem was an independent analysis later showed the return was closer to 9 percent, or far less than gains for major stock indexes over the same period.

Under terms of the settlement, Hyperion agreed to supply buyers of the books and tapes with certificates redeemable for a book of their choice, priced at $25 or less, from a list of about 300 titles.

Sources familiar with the case said the settlement will cost Hyperion between $17 million and $19 million, which includes an estimated $1.5 million in legal fees.

Final approval is expected at a hearing set for May 13 in California Superior Court in San Francisco.

People who purchased the books and tapes are being asked to visit the http://beardstownladiessettlement.com Web site to sign on to the settlement.

"The settlement was reached without any admission of wrongdoing by any party of by The Beardstown Ladies, who are also covered by the proposed settlement, though not named as defendants," both sides said in a statement.

FOUR LAWSUITS

The case dates back to 1998 and 1999, when four similar lawsuits -- two in New York and two in California -- were filed alleging false advertising for the books' claims of a level of returns that turned out to be wrong.

The cases were later consolidated into a single case, which was heard in San Francisco, said Daniel Osborn, a partner at the New York law firm of Beatie and Osborn LLP, which represented one of the two original cases in New York.

"We don't know how many plaintiffs are involved," he said. "We just launched the (settlement) Web site on Monday. ... We know that about 1 million people bought the various books and audiocassettes, but we won't know for a few months how many will sign on."

While plaintiffs will be compensated for their book and tape purchases, no such refunds will be available for money lost through bad investments using the ladies' advice, Osborn said.

"The nature of the suit was for misrepresentation on the cover, which constitutes false advertising," he said. "You can say just about whatever you want between the covers of the book and it's protected by the First Amendment."

Osborn said that any effort to recoup money lost by people who used the ladies' techniques would be much more cumbersome, requiring an individual court trial for each unlucky investor.

Blackground Records to Re-Release Timbaland and Magoo's Indecent Proposal

Blackground Records will re-release Timbaland and Magoo's sophomore album Indecent Proposal. The follow-up to the platinum selling Welcome To Our World, Indecent Proposal was originally released on November 27, 2001 by Blackground/Virgin Records.

Blackground Records signed a new distribution deal with Universal Records on November 27, 2001. This distribution arrangement enables Blackground to re-release Indecent Proposal as a Blackground/Universal Records album. ``We are excited about the opportunity to jump start our new relationship with Universal with one of our cornerstone acts. We also get the chance to get this project up near the top of the charts where it belongs,'' says Jomo Hankerson, President of Blackground Records.

Indecent Proposal will feature the original tracks as well as a bonus track and a Timbaland produced remix of the Aaliyah track ``I Am Music'' from the original album. Featured artists on the album include Petey Pablo, Jay-Z, Ludacris, Tweet and Fat Man Scoop.