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Mouse Has A Roaring Time In US

Arthur J Pais

The mouse roared mightily at the North American box-office this weekend but this mouse did not belong to Disney.

The talking mouse, created by M Night Shyamalan in the script adaptation of E B White's classic story, chewed up $ 16 million worth in tickets. In just 17 days, Stuart Little has devoured $ 80 million.

Box-office pundits expect the movie, which cost about $ 110 million, to run away with at least $ 125 million in America. To break even, the film should seize at least $ 225 million. The film is expected to be a big hit abroad, and Sony wants Shyamalan to write a sequel.

Last weekend saw a 10 per cent jump over the movie's first weekend gross.

Meanwhile, The Sixth Sense, which Shyamalan wrote and directed and which cost about $ 40 million, is winding its American run with about $ 275 million in the bank. The film has been nominated in the best screenplay and best supporting actor Golden Globe categories.

The Golden Globes often indicate Oscar nominations.

If it garners a handful of Oscar nominations, Disney has plans to re-release it. The film has either just opened or about to open in several key foreign territories, including France, Germany and Spain. In America, it was the year's second most popular film after George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode I, which has won $ 430 million. The Lucas opus was, of course, a very expensive film. It cost more than $ 120 million.

In a hat-trick record for distributor Eros, Hum Saath-Saath Hain became the third Hindi-language film to reach the $ 2 million benchmark in North America. Eros was also responsible for the other two $ 2 million hits -- Taal and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun?

With a limp $ 30,000 grossed last week, Hum Saath... has almost ended its run in North America. It is still behind Hum Aapke... which made about $ 2.2 million. But the performance of the latter was impressive for one more reason. It did not get the 60-plus screen release like Hum Saath... and played on for months on a far less number of screens.

In the United Kingdom, too, Hum Saath... is coming to its end, having grossed about $ 800,000.

Meanwhile, East is East, starring Om Puri, is headed for a $ 12.5million-$ 13 million run across United Kingdom.

Despite given its subject -- of a dysfunctional multiracial family led by a Pakistani immigrant -- the movie had a decent run in Italy where it made about $ 80,000 in its opening week on a handful of screens.

In the United States, it opens soon through Miramax, the distributors of some of the most successful offbeat films.

Last year, Miramax distributed My Son the Fanatic, also toplining Om Puri. Despite many glowing reviews and raves for Puri's performance as an anguished, confused immigrant looking for a meaningful life, the film sank at the box-office. The south Asian audiences hardly supported it, and for the arty mainstream crowd, the film would simply not connect. It could not even gross $ 100,000 and was yanked out of movie houses in three or four weeks.

Miramax also did not hold screenings of the film for the Oscar or Golden Globe nominating bodies.

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