M2M tops the box office

M2M scored big at the box office last weekend with a total gross of over $23 million dollars. In fact. M2M had the third biggest opening of a movie in the second week of March right behind LIAR, LIAR and TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES. From YAHOO.com. 3.14.00

By Dean Goodman

The cast of M2M at the premiere party

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - In Hollywood, the formula for box office success is simple. Imperiled humans in outer space equals big audiences.

The latest beneficiary of this math is "Mission to Mars," which blasted off in the top spot at the North American weekend box office with ticket sales of $23.1 million, according to studio estimates issued Sunday.

With an ensemble featuring Gary Sinise, Don Cheadle, Tim Robbins and a kindly Martian, director Brian De Palma's sci-fi extravaganza about a rescue attempt on the Red Planet pulled in audiences just as recent films such as "Armageddon," "Deep Impact," "Independence Day" and "Apollo 13" have done.

"The reviews were not favorable, but the public saw something in this movie and voted with their pocketbooks," said Chuck Viane, president of distribution at Buena Vista Pictures, the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS - news) arm that released the movie.

Among the negative reviews, Entertainment Weekly described the film as "profoundly shallow." An audience at a preview screening last week hooted during scenes that were supposed to be serious.

Still, "Mission to Mars" earned more than the next four films combined, and accounted for about 38 percent of the total top 10 gross. It also marks the third highest March opener ever, after 1997's "Liar Liar" ($31 million) and 1990's "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" ($25 million). Its screen average of $7,564 was the highest in the top 10.

The only other new entry in the top 10 was director Roman Polanski's "The Ninth Gate" which opened at No. 2 with $6.7 million. The supernatural thriller stars Johnny Depp as an antiquarian book seller who has to track down two tomes with satanic powers...