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Could (shithead magna cum laude) Matt Drudge's headline actually be spinning this opening as a bit of a disappointment?

(On a different note, I just got done with "Paradise Now" on DVD. This is the most important film of the past two years easy and the most fascinating and complex portayal of terrorism I've ever seen. They moral values at play here make Munich look like Juwanna Man. I feel compelled to watch it again later this evening. Glorious.)

Paradise Now is a very good film.

It does not condone the act but does put it in a context that is rarely seen.

It is sad that a generation of young men are being lost to this.

It is made worse by the victims they take with them.

I feel bad for Tom Cruise.

I liked MI 3 but regardless, I think he is getting a bit of a shit stick by a public and media too willing to buy into negative PR.

Should he have been a bit more discreet perhaps...sure.

But the film got better reviews than Da Vinci and most likely would please more people who saw it.

Pretty much agree with everything you said, David. For a long time, I thought that Cars would be an issue for Over the Hedge, but now I think it will only be an issue that one weekend (6/9) because in general, I feel that Hedge has more of the elements that gets kids wanting to see it again and again.. just fun characters and situations... I'm not sure Cars will have as much enthusiasm and Hedge might be able to take advantage of that if DreamWorks holds their ground.

MI:3 is a sequel to a sequel that no one cared for or wanted more of. Da Vinci Code is based on the most popular nonfiction book of our era. I don't think you can blame the performance of both films on Cruise's behavior or their critical acceptance.

I don't think that was what Nicol was doing.

And I think that "no one cared for or want more of" is what he was commenting on. A bit over the top, no?

Oh, sorry, one more thing... I can see a way that Hedge can hit $100 million by Memorial Day ($8 mil M-Th and $48 mil Fr - M), and another $30-35 million before Cars opens, so I guess we'll have to see where it goes from there once Cars opens.

I'm not entirely sure Cars will hurt Over The Edge that much. Pixar is Pixar but this movie doesn't interest me the least bit and I know I'm not the only one to think that. If Pixar ever makes a flop, this could very well be this one.

The Da Vinci Code is a fiction book.

I thought you should know that.

Here's a fun question: What has been your most memorable summer at the movies?

For me, I think it's a draw between 1986 and 1993. I was 7 going on 8 in 1986. You had: Top Gun, Hard Choices, Raw Deal (a guilty pleasure), Invaders From Mars, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Mona Lisa, The Manhattan Project, Back to School, The Karate Kid, Part II (another guilty pleasure), Ruthless People, Runniing Scared, Labyrinth, About Last Night..., Psycho III (an underrated movie), Big Trouble in Little China, Great Mouse Detective,
Aliens, Stand by Me, She's Gotta Have It, Manhunter, The Fly, and Night of the Creeps. You also had so-bad-its-good stuff like Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Maximum Overdrive, Cobra, and Transformers: The Movie.

In 1993 I was 14 going on 15. That summer saw the release of: Much Ado About Nothing, American Heart, Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story, Dave, Hot Shots! Part Deux, Carnosaur, Menace II Society, Cliffhanger, The Long Day Closes, The Music of Chance, What's Love got To Do With It, Jurassic Park, Sleepless in Seattle, Jaquot, The firm, Rookie of the Year (a great baseball movie), In the Line of Fire, Poetic Justice (an uderrated movie), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (an underrated late-career Brooks with an early glimpse at Chappelle), So I Married an Axe Murderer (early Fat Bastard sighting), The Fugitive, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Heart and Souls (a great Downey performance), The Secret Garden, Manhattan Murder Mystery (a great Allen, a great portrait of marriage, and one of the lovliest showcases for NYC), King of the Hill, The Ballad of Little Jo, and Man Without a Face (a fascinating movie to examine in light of Gibson's later directorial work).

Who's next?

BTW: I saw all those movies in the theater.

Probably my most memorable summer was 1996, becuase I had relatively few responsibilities and worked at a movie theater. The summer began with Twister and Mission: Impossible, with Fargo still playing at the theater I worked at. It continued on with The Rock, Welcome to the Dollhouse, The Cable Guy, Lone Star, Independence Day on July 3, The Frighteners, Trainspotting, Kingpin, Escape from L.A., and the grand finale was The Island of Dr. Moreau.

1994... just finished my senior year in high school. Started dating Ashley M., who was the coolest sexiest girl I have ever met. She wore this perfume... every now and then I still smell on another women... it's like a time machine.

The Crow, Maverick, The Mask (starring a really cute chick named Cameron Diaz), Lion King (we took Ashley's kid brother and sister along). There was Speed, True Lies, Forrest Gump and Clear and Present Danger. I dragged that chick to all of them, and she must have have been crazy about me because she happily went along and even insisted on buying the popcorn. (I got my first "Mickey Rourke" during When A Man Loves A Woman that year)

It didn't last past August (Pauly Shore's In The Army Now was the punctuation) but goddamn was that a great summer. I wonder what happened to that girl.

I don't really have a favourite "summer" because the movies get spread all over winter/spring here and I'm only 20 so I don't really remember Summers from that many years ago. Plus, i've never had the money to see that many movies until the last few years.

Oh, i completely forgot about the other stuff being discussed.

Hedge could easily gross over $40mil going by the numbers at other websites ($11.1mil). And it should perform decently during the week (are y'all on school holidays yet?)

I say "pfft" to Mission Impossible 3. I despised the second one so it serves 'em right.

"Mickey Rourke"? Is that a 9 1/2 Weeks reference or is it something else entirely?

My comments with regards to Cruise are that he seems to be in a cycle that many stars find themselves in at a point in their career.

Most super-stars have a shelf life on top of a little over a decade.

Cruise has been much longer. But at some point, when the foundation begins to creak, the fall takes a life of its own and everyone starts to bang the same drum and the public will fall in line.

Cruise seems to be at that point. His next film could empirically be a four star film but he will still be seen as 'wacky Tom'. It is now almost out of his control whether he makes a good film or not.

He's the whipping boy of the moment and even though the public has loved his work for years, now they just use him as the butt of a joke, even if his work output is still fairly consistent.

Opening weekend of "Da Vinci", US/Canada 3-day estimate: $77 million.

Klady had "Over the Hedge" on the button; its 3-day estimate is ~$37.3 million.

"The Da Vinci Code is a fiction book.

I thought you should know that."

Were I able to edit my posts you wouldn't have noticed my mistake.

The worldwide number is staggering! 224 mil worldwide in 3 days! WOW! Oh by the way, the movies stinks! Good number for Over The Hedge though, 38mil isn't that bad. Oh by the way that movie is good and word of mouth will help that. With nothing out for little ones for the next two weeks, OTH should be at 125mil by the time Cars revs in. Did I already say that DaVinci stunk!

Is it just me, or is this shaping up as an extremely brutal season for indie movies? In recent weeks, films such as The Notorious Bettie Page, Don't Come Knocking (one of my favorites of the year so far, I must admit) and The White Countess have come and gone (in Houston, at least) at what appears to be warp speed. And, mind you, these are just the better-known titles with name talent attached. What's going on?

"I wonder what happened to that girl."

If you could find out, would you want to?

It's been a brutal two years for indies... outside of horror. The only real non-exploitive success this year has been Searchlight with Thank You For Smoking.

And even with Brokeback, Crash, and Sin City, last year was way down vs 2004 with Passion of The Christ. Without the Oscar indie/dependents, that segment last year would have been off by well over 50%.

This might be another question to toss out to the masses: What recent indie film flop(s) have you enjoyed? Or, to put it another way: Which indie flop actually surprsied you because it flopped? Once again: I am very disappointed by the response to "Don't Come Knocking." I think it may be the most accessible movie Wim Wenders has ever made -- funny and affecting, wistful and wrenching. The actors are excellent. (I loved Oscar winner George Kennedy's cameo as a film director.) And the cinematography (by Franz Lusting) is extraordinary – the gaudy casinos of Elko and the dreary cityscapes of Butte look almost magical. And T-Bone Burnett (“Walk the Line,” “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”) does the music!

Or what indie hit did you not enjoy? Because mine would be "Thank You For Smoking," which wishes really hard it was "Election" but comes up short.

"If you could find out, would you want to?"

I Googled her earlier today. She's a microbiologist in Harvard Medical school. There's even a photo. LOL

I swear to god.

Crow: And she's now married, with five children, right?

You're mistaking Crow's girl with yourself, Joe.

I don't have five children. At least, not that I know of...

3-day actuals: "Da Vinci" $77,073,388 (per projection), "Hedge" $38,457,003 (above projection).

A New Jersey megaplex that's heavy on arty fare opened 3 prints of "Da Vinci". I was there Saturday to see an arty pic ("Down in the Valley"). Plenty of distractions that day -- nice weather, interleague baseball, the Preakness. "Da Vinci" sold out 1 matinee and at least 2 evening shows, all in the largest halls. Sony's decision to play "Da Vinci" mainstream/upmarket worked.

No children. But if evidence is what you want...

(LOL -- I am so going to hell for this)

This is off topic but I thought it was sort of strange and worth mentioning. I just saw a preview for The Lake House (yikes) on TV and at the end of it the narrator said, "Now playing." He's wrong right? Is that a slip that happens often? Not a big deal obviously but I thought it was odd.

They probably just sent out the "now playing" commercial instead of the "coming soon" or "starts whenever/opens Friday" one by mistake.

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