Dodgeball Proves Terminal For Spielberg Flick

It shows how far the US box office scene has come in just a couple of years when a June weekend that is capped by a $30 million opener can be described as 'disappointing'. But that's unfair to Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, the Ben Stiller-Vince Vaughn comedy which Empire wants to see like now because it looks like the funniest thing this side of Zoolander and it's got Gary Cole in it, so what more do you want? Anyway, the Ben Stiller-Vince Vaughn comedy (oh, we've done that bit) was never intended to be a blockbuster. But, armed with an hilarious trailer and an American audience starved for laughs (it's been weeks since Shrek 2 opened, for instance), the slapstick comedy opened to an estimated - and far from disappointing - $30 million. 'Disappointing' is an adjective best applied to the performance of the second-placed film. Steven Spielberg's The Terminal was badly bruised by Dodgeball's surprise attack, picking up an estimated $18.7 million. Although its per-theatre average of $6,652 was decent, it's not a performance of distinction for the airport-based comedy. First up, it's Spielberg's worst opening since Amistad's $4.5 million in 1997, and worst opening for a wide release since Hook's $13.5 million. And that was in 1991. What's more, it's a second misfire in a row for star Tom Hanks, whose Coen Brothers film, The Ladykillers, failed to set the box office alight earlier in the year. That was perceived as an arthouse film that simply happened to star Hanks, and from that p.o.v its $40 million total could be excused. The Terminal - which was well-reviewed, suggesting that audiences just weren't turned on by the movie's premise, which sees Hanks stranded in an airport - is a different matter. It was positioned in summer by a confident DreamWorks, hopeful of a large gross and early Oscar buzz. After all, the last two Spielberg-Hanks team-ups, ** and Catch Me If You Can worked box office wonders. Now, though, unless it picks up astounding word-of-mouth, it won't hit $100 million and suddenly Hanks - whose upcoming Robert Zemeckis animated flick, The Polar Express, is looking more and more like a huge gamble - is in danger of losing his magic touch. And that sound you can hear is the Jackie Chan-Steve Coogan kids flick, Around The World in 80 Days, crashing, burning and returning to earth with an almightily sickening, bone-crunching thump. The 'reimagining' of Jules Verne's classic globe-trotting tale opened on Wednesday for an expected large-ish five-day gross... and by close of play Sunday had limped to a catastrophic estimated $9.6 million. Ouch. Just as well, then, that we're not interviewing the director and cast tomorrow, 'cos chances are they could really be pissed off. Oh. Elsewhere in the chart, last week's entries all suffered big falls, with Garfield picking up $11 million, The Stepford Wives nabbing around $9 million, and Vin Diesel's new flick suffering a hefty 66% fall, pretty much ensuring that The Chronicles of Riddick won't have a concluding chapter. Oh, and Shrek 2 continued its inexorable climb towards $400 million and beyond, banking $13 million for an astonishing $378.3 million so far. Which, if you ask us, is just plain greedy. Next week might give The Terminal and Dodgeball a chance to breathe, though as, Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 aside, there's no real event movie on the schedules with studios running scared of Spider-Man 2, which opens on June 30. And, frankly, who can blame 'em? **