Success Is In The <i>Eye Of The Beholder</i>
The beauty of the box office is Eye Of The Beholder, reports CBS News Early Show contributor Gail O'Neill. Preliminary estimates give the Ashley Judd thriller the lead over second place rivals Hurricane and Next Friday.
Final figures aren't yet in, but estimates of the closely-fought war for first place at the box office put Eye Of The Beholder in first place. Historically, Super Bowl weekend is never great box office - and with this weekend's bad weather, numbers were even worse than expected. Let's take a look at the numbers according to Hollywood.com:
| The Top Five: 1. Eye of the Beholder $6.2 million 2. The Hurricane (tie) $6.0 million 2. Next Friday (tie) $6.0 million 4. Stuart Little $4.8 million 5. The Green Mile $4.06 million 5. Down To You $4.00 million |
Meanwhile, there's a tie for second place: The Hurricane and Next Friday. Both took in $6 million.
Stuart Little turned in some big numbers to take fourth place. And The Green Mile and Down To You share a virtual fifth-place finish at the box office.Hollywood finds it nearly impossible to compete with the bonanza of Super Bowl Sunday. But it had to stay in the game somehow.
"Sure, male movie-goers find Ashley Judd agreeable, but this weekend, women put her on top at the box office," said Premiere magazine staff writer Jill Bernstein.
"If you look at female stars, the big female stars - Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock - women make women stars," added Bernstein. Ashley Judd is beautiful, strong-minded. "Women tend to like her and will go see her."
Eye Of The Beholder is Judd's second top thriller in less than six months. The first?
Her breakout surprise hit, Double Jeopardy.
Double Jeopardy came out of nowhere. It surprised everyone, it surprised Paramount," said Bernstein. "The role that Ashley Judd played in the movie was originally intended for Jodie Foster, who got pregnant, and Paramount took a chance on Ashley Judd."
Bernstein calls Judd a bit of a throwback.
"She's glamorous. She's also very intelligent. She's a Phi Beta Kappa French major from the University of Kentucky," said Bernstein. "She's extremely articulate and very confident."
But it's more than intelligence.
"She's got the looks of Ava Gardner and the fortitude of Barbara Stanwyck," said Bernstein, "and she makes a great celebrity."
That fortitude will come in handy: Reviews for this film have not been good.
What was a surprise was the dismal finish for Bette Midler's Jacqueline Suzanne bio-pic, Isn't She Great, which came in around 17th in its first weekend out.
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