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Bruce Went 'The Whole Nine Yards'

Despite the downbeat performance in terms of ticket sales, there were some very big surprises at the box office over the weekend. There was an overperformance, an underperformance and a gem of a film that, sadly, was overlooked. The Early Show Contributor Gail O'Neill reports.


The Whole Nine Yards scored the No. 1 spot for the second weekend in a row, even though critics gave it a bad review. But what is a bad review to fans after Willis has refused to Die Hard survived Armageddon and was not even spooked by a small boy who could see dead people?

"It did get slammed by critics when it first came out, but it has a combination of Bruce Willis and Matthew Perry that's a real audience favorite, especially the two together. Plus, the comedic plot line. It involves a regular guy that gets mixed up with the mob. A real straight-ahead idea that's been proven before with Analyze This and The Sopranos," explains Entertainment Weekly writer Dave Karger.

"I think the fact that he's had two hits - one that's a thriller, one that's a comedy - in such a short time frame really proves he deserves his $20 million paycheck," adds Karger about Willis.

With school days suspended for the midwinter break, Snow Day staged a comeback, it moved up from the No. 3 to the No. 2 spot and shoveled in $8.5 million.

There were no red noses in Reindeer Games, but plenty of red faces over its disappointing third place finish especially because Ben Affleck and Charlize Theron star in it and there was a lot of publicity and advertising.

"They have to be disappointed with a third place finish. Ben Affleck was on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and he hosted Saturday Night Live. He also had Boiler Room out there, which raised his profile as well," notes Karger.

What Ben Affleck really fell victim to was the ridiculous plot at the heart of Reindeer Games. Ironically, the film that is worthy of his talent, Boiler Room, fell to No. 12 on the charts this week.

Audiences began to disconnect with Hanging Up, and the comedy fell from grace to No. 4. And Pitch Black orbited the top five for the second week in a row, slipping a notch to number five.

Finally, there was another overlooked jewel of a film, Wonder Boys, starring Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire. That came in seventh.

The following are some of the movies that made the top of the charts, according to Hollywood.com:



WEEKEND BOX OFFICE RETURNS
1. The Whole Nine Yards$9.6 million
2. Snow Day$8.5 million
3. Reindeer Games$8.0 million
4. Hanging Up$7.5 million
5. Pitch Black$7.1 million
6. The Tigger Movie $6.3 million
7. Wonder Boys$5.85 million
8. Scream 3$5.0 million
9. American Beauty$4.7 million
10. The Cider House Rules $4.1 million

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