Date: Fri 18-Sep-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: DONNAM

Quick Words:

Playing-Alexander-Avengers

Full Text:

NOW PLAYING: Summer's Film Festival: Near-Hits & Big Misses

By Trey Paul Alexander III

With Labor Day last weekend came the final gasp of summer: the last weekend

before students truly had a "back to school" mind set; the last weekend for

all-out neighborhood cookouts and gatherings around the volleyball net; and

the closing weekend of what Hollywood deems its "summer season," the most

profitable time of year for Tinseltown studios. Now that Labor Day has come

and gone, let's look back on the summer of '98, a record-breaking four months

that saw attendance at the nation's theaters rise ten percent over last

summer.

Now wait a minute, you may be saying, summer is only three months! Not this

year. Paramount, eager to get its asteroid/comet disaster pic out before

Disney's Armageddon , jumped the gun and released Deep Impact on May 8, thus

signalling the start of the summer and the opening barrage of a slate of over

50 films to come.

Serious Fun In The Summer Sun

The summer months are usually given over to mindless, mega-budgeted films

designed to appeal to the masses. This year, however, the success of The

Truman Show , coupled with the current box office triumph of Saving Private

Ryan , proved that high quality can survive and thrive between May and August.

Of course, having big names like Jim Carrey ( The Truman Show ), and Tom Hanks

and Steven Spielberg ( Saving Private Ryan ) attached to them didn't hurt.

Either way, two Oscar-worthy films arrived before we hit the dog days of

August.

Hype Matters?

Mindless, mega-budgeted films, however, did not go away. They just didn't make

as much noise. Godzilla vowed to prove that size does matter, but ended up

only the fifth highest grossing film of the summer. Armageddon nabbed the top

spot, but failed to live up to the numbers of past winners Men in Black and

Independence Day .

Despite under-achieving, neither film was by any means a flop, but factored in

with the success of more modest fare, maybe we'll see less sound and fury

signifying nothing. (Who am I kidding?)

Not Too Big, Not Too Small

With no one film dominating the market, plenty of movies were able to grab a

piece of the pie. Dr Dolittle , Lethal Weapon 4 and Mulan each grossed over

$100 million, while The Mask of Zorro , Six Days, Seven Nights , The Horse

Whisperer , Hope Floats and The Parent Trap all proved to be profitable. The

most notable aspect of these films is their diversity and the range of

audiences they were targeting. No moviegoer should have felt left out this

summer.

The Little Film That Could

Probably the biggest surprise this summer was There's Something About Mary ,

which has grossed over $130 million so far and after eight weeks was the most

popular film over Labor Day weekend. This gross-out comedy from the creators

of Dumb and Dumber has captured fantastic word-of-mouth and is still

generating buzz months after its initial release.

TV or Not TV

Since Star Trek made it big on the big screen back in 1979, the tube has been

the source for Hollywood's next wannabe franchise. The Addams Family became

two successful movies. Mission: Impossible soared in 1996. This year saw "The

X-Files" strive for cinematic stardom with its entry, Fight the Future . It

did well ($83 million), but wasn't an unabashed hit. However, it was

gangbusters compared to the lackluster, near-intolerable mess that was The

Avengers . Who could have imagined that a film with Sean Connery, Uma Thurman

and Ralph Fiennes could be that bad? Fans would do well to stick with the

reruns with Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee.