The Cell Tops Weekend Box Office
Aug. 20, 2000 -- Audiences took a journey into the mind of a serial killer this weekend, helping The Cell command the box office with a $17.2 million take, according to industry estimates.
The solid open for the New Line release should come as especially good news to its cast, who are clearly no longer just up and comers. “Jennifer Lopez has proved she can open a picture now, the two Vinces, D’Onofrio and Vaughn, these guys are good in everything they do,” said New Line’s Distribution President David Tuckerman.
The other big open of the weekend is Spike Lee’s documentary, The Original Kings of Comedy, which took in $11.7 million to debut in second place. Lee filmed two nights of a comedy tour starring Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer and Bernie Mac.
Space Cowboys is holding steady in third place, with $9.9 million for the weekend. The Clint Eastwood hit has grossed $54.2 in its 17 day run. However, last week’s box office champ Hollow Man dropped to 7th place with $6.1 million.
Visual Head Trip
The Cell is the first feature film from Tarsem Singh, best known for directing music videos including R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion.” In The Cell he literally brings viewers into the mind of a serial killer played by D’Onofrio.
“He’s got a great visual style…he took a story and made it come to life both visually and with a great deal of inventiveness,” said Tuckerman.
Tuckerman was surprised by the particular audience which lined up this weekend, “the people that came skewed 35 and under but it’s interesting to see that we got couples. The men wanted to see a serial killer and Jennifer Lopez, and the women wanted to see Lopez in a strong role.”
Despite its leading position, The Cell drew fewer audiences per theater than Spike Lee’s documentary which is in just 847 cinemas. The Original Kings of Comedy posted a $13,813 per-theater average, compared with $7,134 at 2,411 locations for The Cell.
Lee’s $3 million film was shot in four days on digital video andblown up to 35mm. Such concert films normally are niche releases, but distributorParamount decided to open it more widely after it proved a hit withtest audiences, said Wayne Lewellen, head of distribution.
Sci Fi Summer
While this summer is expected to fall short of last year’s box office record $3 billion take, it has been a good season for movies with characters working in the sciences.
The Cell marks the 5th consecutive No. 1 film starring a scientist or professor. Hollow Man was preceded by Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, What Lies Beneath and X-Men.
DreamWorks’ Chicken Run passed the century mark on Mondayand its $101.9 million haul takes it past The Prince of Egypt ($101.2 million) to rank as the studio’s best performinganimated feature.
The only other opening this weekend was Japan’s favorite monster, Godzilla 2000. It opened at No. 11 with $4.6 million. The movie isa lower-budget Japanese film, not a sequel to the Hollywood versionfrom 1998.
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.