Dante's Peak, which set a February box office record during its opening weekend, has all the makings of a classic disaster movie. But if you're the type to put stock in omens or karma, it also has all the makings of a classic disaster.
Take the film's calamitous Feb. 5 premiere in L.A. First, the weather turned unseasonably cold, which kept most of Hollywood's brighter stars at bay, although Jennifer Aniston and James Woods braved the chill. Then the projector malfunctioned, which delayed the screening for 80 minutes and forced director Roger Donaldson to get on the loudspeaker and announce, ''The worst nightmare a director could have has occurred. I hope that this will get all the bad luck out of the way.'' Then halfway through the movie, the film stopped again when reels had to be manually changed.
Simple misfortune? Maybe. But consider this: Most of Peak's principal photography was done in Wallace, Idaho, a town that could charitably be described as disaster-prone. Over the years, Wallace has survived several floods, two major fires (including one in 1910 that burned down a quarter of the town and 3 million surrounding acres), a mining accident in 1972 that killed 91 people, and even that granddaddy of all catastrophes: Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, parts of which were filmed there in 1979.
''We just happen to live in a place where geographical and geological conditions make these things more likely,'' says John Amonson, executive director of the Wallace District Mining Museum. ''It's like having a house on Tornado Alley in Kansas.''
Of course, from Universal's point of view, the biggest cataclysm may have come from outer space. In the last two weeks, Fox's rerelease of Star Wars has obliterated all competition. ''Would I have preferred for [Wars] not to have been there? Of course,'' says Universal president of distribution Nikki Rocco. ''Dante's would have owned the marketplace.'' As it was, Peak opened to a strong $18.5 million but still a disappointing second to Wars' $24 million. And given Peak's monumental $115 million budget, that may truly be a disaster.
-- David Poland and Julie Fanselow
