July 22, 2002 |
KO'D
Harrison Ford is probably grumpier than usual this morning. His new submarine drama K-19: The Widowmaker was torpedoed at the box office over the weekend, debuting in fourth place with a meager $13.1 million. Adding insult to injury, Ford got crushed by a talking mouse. Yes, Stuart Little 2 debuted at No. 1 with $15.6 million, just a whisker ahead of Road to Perdition (No. 2 with $15.57 million). Benefitting from positive word-of-mouth, the acclaimed gangster epic — starring Oscar shoo-ins Tom Hanks and Paul Newman — slipped just 29 percent in its second weekend. And after two weeks at No. 1, Men in Black II fell to third place with $15 million; its 19-day total stands at $158.6 million. Meanwhile, audiences experienced a severe case of arachnophobia when it came to David Arquette's Eight Legged Freaks. The campy spider flick opened in seventh place with $6.7 million. |
A NEW DAY HAS COME
The second season premiere of Fox's Emmy-nominated serial thriller 24 will air Tuesday, Oct. 29 without commercial interruption, the network announced Sunday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif. The ad-free installment will be brought to you by the Ford Motor Company, which will likely run spots before and after the episode. For scoop on 24's second day, click here. |
BUFFY HEADS ABROAD
Buffy the Vampire Slayer star Sarah Michelle Gellar is attached to star in the big-screen comedy A Semester Abroad, about a tough Queens girl who enrolls in an elite London university. According to Variety, Gellar will shoot the film during her next Buffy hiatus. |
EVERYBODY LOVES ACTION
Ray Romano will make his live-action feature film debut in the comedy Action Abramowitz, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Everybody Loves Raymond funnyman will play an accountant who — after getting hit on the head — thinks he is his favorite action star. |
BERNIE BATTLE
Fox is defending its decision to pit The Bernie Mac Show opposite ABC's My Wife and Kids on Wednesdays this fall. Despite protests by Kids star Damon Wayans, who complained that the move would hurt TV's two most popular black comedies, Fox says Bernie and Kids attract vastly different audiences. "I think 86 percent or 87 percent of the audience that watches Bernie Mac doesn't watch My Wife and Kids," Fox chairman Sandy Grushow said at the TCA press tour. "We really don't feel we're under any obligation to ensure the success of any of our competitors' shows... So whether casts are black, white, green, yellow, purple, we're in a business here." |
Y HARRY TAMBIEN
It's official: Indie filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón, who directed this year's Spanish-language hit Y Tu Mama También, has been tapped to direct Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third movie in the Potter franchise. Cuarón succeeds Chris Columbus, who helmed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and the upcoming sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. |
HE'S SERIOUS THIS TIME
Robert Downey Jr.'s recovery got a major boost on Friday when drug charges and probation were dismissed against the 37-year-old actor. A judge determined the the onetime Ally McBeal star had stayed clean and sober for 14 months. |
WEEKEND UPDATE
Saturday Night Live newsman Jimmy Fallon will host the 19th annual MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 29. Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band are among the acts expected to perform. |
SHORT CUTS
USA Network has renewed The Dead Zone for a second season... Jennifer Aniston, Bernie Mac, Pamela Anderson, Kid Rock, Lucy Liu, Michael Keaton and George Foreman are among the celebs lending their voices to Fox's King of the Hill this season... Today weatherman Al Roker is a daddy again: His wife, 20/20's Deborah Roberts, gave birth to the couple's second child, Nicholas Albert Roker, on Thursday. |
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