Slow movie box office weekend
The top five movies in the national were: 1) RV ($16.4 million); 2) United 93 ($11.61 million); 3) Stick It ($11.26 million); 4) Silent Hill ($9.3 million) and 5) Scary Movie 4 ($7.8 million).
Around here, once the Saturday midafternoon monsoon past, it seemed like a good day for a movie. Indoors, as it turned out for us: we rewatched "Best in Show" for the 100th time, then watched a screener for "Lonesome Jim," of which you'll read a review in this week's issue.
Channel 7 had Rusty Jackson and a camera crew interviewing Deena Burnett, wife of Tom Burnett, one of the passengers on United 93 that attempted to retake the cockpit of the ill-fated jet on 9-11 (the graphics department misspelled her last name on the 10 p.m. news). They also interviewed moviegoers at the Rave who had gone to see Friday night's opening of "United 93," and apparently may have gone back again Saturday. One moviegoing male broke down during his interview and walked away from the camera.
Amateur and expert reviews coming in give "United 93" high marks despite its tragic premise. Obviously from the money spent nationally, though, nobody's really taking to seeing a plane taken over by hijackers and then crashed. They'd much rather see Robin Williams play Chevy Chase in a new version of National Lampoon's "Vacation."
Deena Burnett told Channel 7 that "United 93" was accurate and gave it high marks as well, and said she was able to see it (Tuesday, before it opened) without getting too emotional.
