Boxing tale, drama to arrive in theaters
A boxing tale (“Million Dollar Baby”), a factual drama (“Hotel Rwanda”) and a winter chiller (“White Noise”) are the top titles arriving on this first full weekend of 2005. The new motion pictures (with release dates subject to change) opening at a theater near you include:
– “Hotel Rwanda” with Don Cheadle (“Ocean’s Twelve”), Nick Nolte (“Affliction”), Joaquin Phoenix (“The Village”) and British actress Sophia Okonedo (“Dirty Pretty Things”). In this intense fact-based picture, the gifted Cheadle plays hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, a caring and quick-thinking man who saved more than 1,200 people by keeping them safe in a four-star hotel during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. Irish filmmaker Terry George directed the PG-13 picture.
– “Million Dollar Baby” with Clint Eastwood (“Unforgiven”), Morgan Freeman (“Bruce Almighty”) and Hilary Swank (“Boys Don’t Cry”). At an age when most people are giving up their jobs, retiring and working on their golf scores, 74-year-old Eastwood, who also directed, is at the top of his game. With this striking PG-13 picture, Eastwood uses his no-nonsense filmmaking style to tell the story of a poor young woman who dreams of going the distance in the boxing ring. Film fans, however, shouldn’t expect a simplistic “Rocky”-like approach. Thanks to terrific performances by Freeman, Eastwood and Swank and a realistic plot twist that raises issues about love, dignity and fate, the 133-minute film becomes something quite extraordinary.
– “White Noise” with Michael Keaton (“Batman”), Deborah Kara Unger (“Crash”) and Chandra West (TV’s “NYPD Blue”). A widowed architect experiments with electronic voice phenomenon to communicate through sound and image with his deceased wife, who was murdered by a psychopath. Their exchanges provide the husband with enough information to hunt for the killer.
At the buck$ office
Plenty of people wanted to “Meet the Fockers” over the New Year weekend.
According to the Associated press, the PG-13 comedy – starring Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Blythe Danner, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand – grossed more than $42 million between Dec. 31 and Jan. 2. The 10 top-grossing films last weekend were:
1. “Meet the Fockers” ($42.8 million)
2. “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” ($14.7 million)
3. “The Aviator” ($11.2 million)
4. “Fat Albert” ($10.7 million)
5. “Ocean’s Twelve” ($9.2 million)
6. “National Treasure” ($7 million)
7. “Spanglish” ($6.3 million)
8. “The Polar Express” ($5.7 million)
9. “The Phantom of the Opera” ($4.8 million)
10. “Darkness” ($4.5 million)
Films scheduled to open Jan. 14 include: “Coach Carter” (a fact-based picture with Samuel L. Jackson), “In Good Company” (a workplace comedy with Dennis Quaid) and “The Woodsman” (a disturbing drama with Kevin Bacon).