Movie Article

'Antz' tops the hill while 'Holy Man' hasn't got a prayer

In its second week of release, "Antz" continued to be king of the hill at the box office this weekend, thanks in part to an extra 364 screens, bringing the total to 2,813. DreamWorks' computer-animated bug film has made $36.3 million so far, but it's still too early to know if it will reach the $100 million mark. "It's tough to tell," DreamWorks' distribution head Jim Tharp told CNN movie analyst Martin Grove. "We think it will continue to play the next few weeks (and perform well) because at this time it doesn't have any competition [from other animated films]." New Line's "Rush Hour" continued to surprise Hollywood with its strong showing, rising one step to second place. The Jackie Chan-Chris Tucker action comedy has now grossed $98.7 million.

The most interesting story this weekend, though, involved the only major movie to debut, "Holy Man." The Eddie Murphy comedy stumbled out of the gate in fifth place with a disappointing gross of $5.2 million. Just when it seemed that Murphy had left box office bombs like "Vampire in Brooklyn" behind him (his last movie, "Dr. Dolittle" was a success from the start, grossing $29 million in its opening weekend), "Holy Man" looks as if it doesn't have a prayer of making back its reported cost of $60 million. Rounding out the top five, Robin Williams' "What Dreams May Come" dropped one slot to third place with $11.03 million, and "A Night at the Roxbury" opened in more theaters in its second week, placing fourth with a gross of $6.1 million.

Originally posted Oct 12, 1998

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