It comes as little surprise that “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” is the No. 1 movie in America–even when it set a new box-office record in its first weekend of release.
Flash back to 2003, and it’s a different story.
The original “Pirates of the Caribbean” began with modest expectations, then surprised nearly everyone involved by taking in $305 million in the U.S. and $654 million worldwide.
Every few years, the silver screen produces such a surprise hit. We picked a few of the highlights, from a variety of film genres:
– Miramax brilliantly marketed “The Crying Game” in 1992 as a word-of-mouth movie that no one could talk about. A plot shocker was too big to give away, and most critics and fans respected the secret, pushing the indie to $63 million in sales.
– “Rocky” cost less than $1 million, was the brainchild of then-nobody Sylvester Stallone and sported an underdog plot considered naive for a troubled year like 1976. It made $117 million and won the best-picture Oscar.
– A cute kid who sees dead people? Bruce Willis as a psychologist in a cardigan? Who woulda thunk 1999’s “The Sixth Sense” would bring in $294 million on a production budget of $40 million and make a career for M. Night Shyamalan?
– “The Blair Witch Project” was made for $60,000 on low-tech video equipment and went on to gross a stunning $141 million in 1999. Proving to be a one-off masterpiece of terror, the style hasn’t been repeated successfully since.
– Quentin Tarantino was known for “Reservoir Dogs” but not exactly bankable when “Pulp Fiction” hit in 1994. The quirky, violent masterwork won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and earned $108 million in the U.S. on a budget of $8 million.
– A documentary. About flightless birds. With two colors: snow white and gray feathers. A recipe for a hit? Turns out everybody loves a penguin, and “March of the Penguins” earned $77 million last year, trailing only “Fahrenheit 9/11” as the biggest documentary of all time.
Shhhhh … they’re sleeping
Do any of these low-budget movies–all of which open later this year–have the chance to be this year’s surprise smash hit? We’ll know a year from now.
“Little Miss Sunshine”: Indie comedy stars Steve Carell of “The Office.”
“Quinceanera”: Won Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
“Beerfest”: Comedy from director of “Super Troopers.”
“The Science of Sleep”: From director of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
“Fast Food Nation”: Story based loosely on the non-fiction book.
Britney and K-Fed: The duet?
Britney Spears, who is pregnant with her second child, said she’s not ready to retire from performing.
“I can’t wait to do that again,” Spears, 24, tells Harper’s Bazaar in its August issue, on newsstands July 25. “But I really have to take my time and do it right and be safe. Actually … not that safe. When you perform, you have to be dangerous.”
The pregnant pop princess also said she would “definitely” consider a musical collaboration with her husband, Kevin Federline, whose debut hip-hop album, “Playing With Fire,” is expected to be released next month.
Spears, who darkened her hair and posed naked for the Bazaar photos, said her first pregnancy made her feel “paranoid” because she was new at everything.
“This one, I was like, I just gotta wing it. It was weird for me at first because of who I am; wherever you go they expect you to look a certain way. I’m not supposed to be this huge pregnant superstar.”
Friends forever
Though they seem to be pursuing their own solo projects lately, Andre “3000” Benjamin said he and OutKast partner Antwan “Big Boi” Patton will always be friends. “At the end of the day, with no records, no movies, no nothing–we are friends, we are homeboys,” he said Billboard magazine. “We weren’t two guys that a record company put together.” They’ll star together in the upcoming movie “Idlewild.”
Sweet ‘Release’
Ludacris (below) has some things to get off his chest on his new album, “Release Therapy.” After all, one track on the disc–which is due out Sept. 26–is called “Tell It Like It Is.” But there’s a therapy side to the album, too, as the title implies. For example, Ludacris describes the song “Money Maker” as a “feel-good strip club song.”
Catty corner
It would seem that Chevy Chase isn’t familiar with fellow comedic actor Vince Vaughn’s work. Here’s what Chase reportedly had to say to Details magazine about seeing an ad for “The Break-Up”: “I saw a commercial with, is it Nicole Kidman? No, no–Jennifer what’s her name, from ‘Friends.’ And some guy. I had never seen him. … He looks like some refrigerator repairman,” Chase says, according to excerpts in the New York Post.
