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The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)

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5 articles from 1997

24 November 1997 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

In second place was 20th's animated Anastasia (1997), which pulled in about $15 million, which analysts called "respectable." (It was the best opening ever for a non-Disney animated feature.) The studio had expected most of the competition to come from Disney's re-release of Little Mermaid, The (1989). However, it seemed clear that girls were being drawn to the two animated films and boys, to Kombat. 20th Century Fox marketing chief Bob Harper in an interview with today's (Monday) USA Today, acknowledged, "At this point, we're driven by Mom a little bit more than by Dad." Tom Sherak, chairman of 20th Century Fox Domestic Film Group, told today's (Monday) Los Angeles Times: "The bottom line is that Fox is looking to build a foundation for animation, to enter into that genre's marketplace. Anastasia has taken hold, and the public has said, 'Let's go see it.'" The weekend top-ten:1. Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), New Line, $17.5 million; 2. Anastasia, Fox, $15 million; 3. John Grisham's The Rainmaker (1997), Paramount, $11 million; 4. Jackal, The (1997), Universal, $9 million; 5. Little Mermaid, The (1989), Disney, $5.8 million; 6. Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), Warner Bros., $5.2 million; 7. Starship Troopers (1997), Sony, $5 million; 8. Bean (1997), Gramercy, $4 million; 9. Man Who Knew Too Little, The (1997), Warner Bros. $3 million; 10. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Sony, $2.8 million.

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20 November 1997 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

With Clint Eastwood's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997) expected to perform poorly this weekend, Time Warner is rumored to be considering bringing in former Sony chief Mark Canton as head of production at Warner Bros., New York Post columnist Neal Travis reported today (Thursday). The studio has already seen two November releases bow disappointingly, Mad City (1997), starring Dustin Hoffman and John Travolta, and Man Who Knew Too Little, The (1997), starring Bill Murray. Canton's cachet has soared recently as productions that he greenlighted at Sony have produced the most successful year for any studio in history.

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18 November 1997 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Final weekend results showed the box office performing well below the record level it set during the comparable weekend last year when Space Jam (1996) headed the top-ten list with $27.5 million and the second weekend of Ransom (1996) followed with $22.4 million. By contrast, Universal's Jackal, The (1997) garnered only $15.2 million, while Starship Troopers (1997) took in just $10 million. Disney's reissue of Little Mermaid, The (1989) was in third place with $9.8 million, followed by Gramercy's Bean (1997) with $7.9 million. Warner's Man Who Knew Too Little, The (1997) opened in fifth place with a disappointing $4.6 million.

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17 November 1997 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Call it "The Weekend of The Jackal, " as the Universal film -- "suggested" by the 1993 Fred Zinnemann classic Day of the Jackal, The (1973) -- topped the box office with $15.6 million, according to estimates by Exhibitor Relations. The movie, which was generally drubbed by critics, bested last weekend's top-ranked Starship Troopers (1997), which dropped 54 percent from last weekend to tie a reissue of Disney's Little Mermaid, The (1989) with about $10.2 million. In fourth place was Gramercy's Rowan Atkinson comedy Bean (1997), which took in about $8 million. But Bill Murray's new comedy for Warner's, Man Who Knew Too Little, The (1997), realized too little as well, earning only $4.7 million. Estimated results for the top-ten films:1. Jackal, The (1997), Universal, $15.6 million; 2 (tie). Starship Troopers (1997), TriStar, $10.2 million; Little Mermaid, The (1989), Disney, $10.2 million; 4. Bean (1997), Gramercy, $8 million; 5. Man Who Knew Too Little, The (1997), Warner Bros. $4.7 million; 6. I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), Columbia, $4.1 million; 7. Devil's Advocate, The (1997), Warner Bros. $3.6 million; 8. Red Corner (1997), MGM, $2.6 million; 9. Eve's Bayou (1997), Trimark, $2.55 million; 9. Boogie Nights (1997), New Line, $2.55 million.

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14 November 1997 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Bill Murray's Man Who Knew Too Little, The (1997) is receiving too little praise from the critics, it would seem, to help it much at the box office. A "stale and hopelessly contrived comedy, " is the way the Los Angeles Times' Kevin Thomas describes it. Carrie Rickey in the Philadelphia Inquirer says that the film "rarely sparks a chortle." Jay Carr in the Boston Globe calls the film "a feeble one-joke comedy that runs out of power pretty quickly." But veteran AP writer Bob Thomas clearly loved it. "This may seem like a one-joke plot, " Thomas writes, "but it plays out beautifully."

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5 articles from 1997