<i>Rules Of Engagement</i> Still Rules
April is traditionally a slow month at the movies. The Early Show's Laurie Hibberd reports that this past weekend was no exception.
It was a slow weekend at the box office, with a couple of good openers, but none were strong enough to bump the No. 1 film, Rules of Engagement, out of the top spot. It grossed $10.9 million, according to Hollywood.com. The film involves the court-martial of a Marine for having ordered troops to fire on civilians during an American embassy attack.
New film 28 Days came within a half million dollars of matching the top of the heap, with a weekend tally of $10.4 million. This turns out to be a more serious film than its marketing might suggest. A New York writer plays the party girl who gets drunk and ends up in court-ordered rehab. Sandra Bullock, known for her fun and romantic comedy roles, displays a different sort of performance here as the lead.
Keeping the Faith opened this weekend at the No. 3 spot, raking in $8.2 million at the box office. The plot's premise is the unusual combination of a priest (Ed Norton) and a rabbi (Ben Stiller) as good friends with an old (female) friend coming to town. The film marks actor Norton's directoral debut. While many are probably used to seeing him in scary movies, he shows his light side here.
In the fourth place spot is Erin Brockovich, Julia Roberts' latest film, which brought in $7 million this past weekend.
The Road to El Dorado has not met expectations, given DreamWorks' quest to rival Disney's animation cash cows. This past weekend the movie scored a meager $6.2 million, according to Hollywood.com, but it still made the No. 5 spot.
Perhaps the bomb of the week was the opening of Paul Newman's Where the Money Is, which placed at the paltry No. 11 spot, with a take of $2.7 million.
Some might say the marketing campaign fell short; there was not a lot press about it beforehand. And Newman's audience is aging along with him.
American Psycho, which also opened this weekend, only landed at the seventh spot with a take of $4.9 million. The movie, based on the ultra-violent novel, got plenty of advance publicity, much of it negative given its yuppie-serial-killer theme.