I am shocked, appalled and amazed that this movie made this much money...the people pushing this bible themed films are doing a great job of marketing to their key demograph...



By DAVID GERMAIN

(AP) Rap artist Ice Cube, who stars in the hit movie "Barbershop," poses for a portrait Sept. 5 in Los...
Full Image


LOS ANGELES (AP) - Hannibal the Cannibal took a smaller bite of the box office this time.

"Red Dragon," Anthony Hopkins' third stab at serial killer Hannibal Lecter, debuted as the No. 1 film with $37.5 million, a healthy return but well below the $58 million "Hannibal" took in over opening weekend last year, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Still, "Red Dragon" had the best October debut ever, beating the $28.6 million opening of "Meet the Parents" in 2000.

Last weekend's top film, "Sweet Home Alabama," slipped to second place with $21.6 million, raising its 10-day total to $65.6 million.


The weekend's only other new wide release, "Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie," opened solidly at No. 6 with $6.5 million. It was the first theatrical installment based on the series of home-video releases that use talking vegetables to retell Bible stories, in this case the tale of Jonah and the whale.

In its second weekend after a limited debut, the comic drama "Moonlight Mile" expanded to more theaters and broke into the top 10, grossing $2 million to hit No. 9. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon in the story of a prospective bridegroom who finds new romance after his fiance is murdered.

"Bloody Sunday," a dramatization of a 1972 massacre in Northern Ireland, opened strongly in limited release, taking in $32,000 at two New York City theaters. "Heaven," starring Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi in a dreamlike drama set in Italy's drug underworld, premiered with a healthy $54,000 at four theaters. "Welcome to Collinwood," a crime caper whose ensemble cast includes George Clooney, debuted with $82,000 at 16 theaters.

The overall box office rose for the fourth straight weekend after a two-month slump. The top 12 movies took in $103.2 million, up 24 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Training Day" opened.

Hollywood revenues are running 12.5 percent ahead of last year's, when the industry took in a record $8.35 billion.

A prequel to "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Hannibal,""Red Dragon" tells the story of the FBI agent (Edward Norton) who captured Lecter and later enlists the madman's help to track a new serial killer (Ralph Fiennes).

Directed by Brett Ratner ("Rush Hour,""Rush Hour 2"), "Red Dragon" earned better reviews than "Hannibal," whose explicit butchery - co-star Ray Liotta munches bits of his own brain in one scene - enticed horror fans but grossed out many critics.

"Red Dragon" has drawn favorable comparisons to the subtler chills of "Silence of the Lambs."

"'Hannibal' was huge when it opened but wasn't everyone's cup of tea, or slice of brain, whatever you want to say," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "But people are going to talk up 'Red Dragon.' It may be one of those movies that really hangs in there."

Distributor Universal hopes "Red Dragon" will have more staying power than "Hannibal," whose revenues tumbled in subsequent weekends after its huge debut. "Hannibal" grossed $165.1 million domestically, doing well more than a third of its business in opening weekend.

"The word of mouth on 'Hannibal' was you're going to get lots of blood and guts," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, which released "Red Dragon" and co-produced "Hannibal.""'Red Dragon' is a very different story for a more sophisticated audience."

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

1. "Red Dragon," $37.5 million.

2. "Sweet Home Alabama," $21.6 million.

3. "The Tuxedo," $10.1 million.

4. "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," $8.5 million.

5. "Barbershop," $6.8 million.

6. "Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie," $6.5 million.

7. "The Banger Sisters," $3.6 million.

8. "The Four Feathers," $2.1 million.

9. "Moonlight Mile," $2 million.

10. "One Hour Photo," $1.7 million.











edit the edit
---
[This message was edited Sun Oct 6 11:44:34 PDT 2002 by SkletonKee]

Veggie Tales should fuck off and rot.

Fuck Veggie Tales...

IceNine said:

bitter much?

i had never even heard of these creaters till i read the above article...i take it your kid isnt a fan either?

come on...take him/her to the biggest cartoon movie around...dont let your athiest biases get in the way of a good ole bible story..

By the way... I saw "Red Dragon" last night and it was very good... at least 4.563 billion times better than that piece of shit called "Hannibal."

Not as good as "The Silence of the Lambs," but it was a solid effort and I liked it better than "Manhunter."

IceNine said:

damn damn damn!! i was gonna create a forum asking people if they had seen this...that good huh?? i guess ill have to check it out...


but still, you cant deny the power that is a VeggieTale..

SkletonKee said:

I saw trailers for that fucking "Veggie Tales" shit... the animation was total shit and the movie looked like a CHEAP television cartoon.

My son said that he absolutely did not want to go to see that...

"Daddy, I don't want to see that movie... I hate Veggie Tales." That was about what was said.

I love my son!!!

god damn i hate veggie tales. insufferable tripe. even if it wasn't all christ-y.

Yeah, I saw Red Dragon as well.

It's still fresh in my head, which might be the reason, but I think I liked it better than Silence of the Lambs. It was a really awesome movie. Ralph Fiennes and Edward Norton have always been two of my favorites.

As for Hannibal, well... it was over the top, I agree. But that's Ridley Scott's way. He takes movies such as Hannibal, Black Hawk Down, and Gladiator, uses epic shots, epic sounding music, and creates movies that are dripping with style. That's kind of how I felt about Hannibal. I actually did quite like it, but it wasn't much more than a Hollywood gore-fest that disguised itself as a film that verged on art.

EVERYONE SEE RED DRAGON. Very awesome!

I agree, veggie tales are crap, but there really aren't very many appropriate movies released very often for the under 6 set!!! It probably just did so well for lack of choice!

purplelu said:

Then how come "The Iron Giant" tanked? People complain about the choices of quality kids movies, and when something truly brilliant like TIG comes out, no one goes to see it. But tripe like the Veggie Tales rakes it in hand over fist.

AaronForever said:

thats because this bible movie company knows how to market...arent these the same people that made an armageddon/religious action film a hit a couple years back??

SkletonKee said:

Oh brilliant!

I just want to see Red Dragon because of Ralph Fiennes. I didn't see Hannibal and don't think they should have gone beyond the initial Silence Of The Lambs to sequal-land. Just like I didn't see Godfather III but don't think they should have gone beyond part II. That's my beef.

SkletonKee said:

the Iron Gian was a Warner Bros. movie, i believe. i can't imagine that some bible company is better at marketing a movie than one of the large production studios.

though Veggie Tales did already have some name recognition before it became a movie. fooey!

The Omega Code was the movie that hit it big last year...It was distributed by Trinity Broadcasting Network.

No affiliation to this veggiefilm...

but here is a good story on how the movies are being marketed:

Christian Film 'Omega Code' to be Touted in Churches
Wed, Aug 29, 2001, 11:08 AM PT


HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) - "Megiddo: The Omega Code II,'' which opens Sept. 21 in more than 400 theaters, is using churches as it's primary marketing tactic in promoting the film, Variety reports.

"Megiddo" is the sequel to the high-profile Christian film "The Omega Code," which was budgeted at about $8 million and took in more than $13 million at the box office, which made it the third-highest grossing indie film of 1999. More than 1 million "Omega Code" videos were sold as well.

The film was shown to more than 5,000 church pastors during a 19-city tour around the country and was also promoted at music festivals. Producers hope that those members of the clergy who saw it will talk about the film and its 25-minute trailer while addressing their followers. In addition, up to 10,000 volunteers will initiate a grass-roots ticket-buying campaign.

The picture will be released by GoodTimes Entertainment and independent distributor Gener8Xion Entertainment. Matthew Crouch, president of Gener8Xion, said that the movie has broader multidenominational support than any other Christian film to date.

"Megiddo" will also be plugged on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, which is run by Mathew Crouch's father Paul.

"Megiddo," which cost more that twice that of "Omega Code" at $20 million, stars Michael York, Diane Venora, Michael Biehn, David Hedison and Kent McCord.

SkletonKee said:

never heard of it

more scary news: VeggieTales actually earned a "fresh" rating approval of 69% from rottentomatoes.com and an 80% approval from the "cream" or most famous reviewers...

this compared to a 96% for IronGiant (95% cream)...

and while IronGiant cost $48mil it only grossed 23mil...

Veggies cost $14mil to make...

SkletonKee said:

That is a damned shame... "The Iron Giant" is a great movie.

I reiterate, FUCK VEGGIE TALES!!!

IceNine said:

I'm really looking forward to seeing this when it comes out here.