News for 1/11/2003


Eve has designs on UPN comedy for Edmonds Ent.


LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- After getting attention on the big screen with supporting roles in "Barbershop" and "XXX," Grammy-winning hip-hop artist Eve is making her first foray into television with a development deal at UPN.

Under the terms of the pact, Eve will star as a fashion designer in a comedy project produced by Edmonds Entertainment. Based on her idea, the show will explore the New York fashion scene and will feature a multiethnic cast.

Bentley Evans, whose writer-producer credits include "The Jamie Foxx Show" and "Martin," has been tapped to write the script. He will executive produce with Tracey Edmonds, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Eve's manager, Troy Carter, with Eve serving as a producer.

"She's one of those unique artists; she's a huge star in the music world, but she also really stands out as an actress," UPN entertainment president Dawn Ostroff said. "When we saw her in 'Barbershop,' we said, 'Wow, there's really something there.' "

The deal extends Eve's relationship with UPN. This fall, the singer helped kick off the network's signature Monday night comedy block Sept. 23 by hosting "Monday Night Premiere Party," on which she introduced the season premieres of "The Parkers," "One on One" and "Girlfriends" and the series premiere of "Half and Half." She also performed her hit single "Gangsta Lovin'."

UPN has had success with turning music divas into sitcom leading ladies. R&B star Moesha's eponymous sitcom had a solid four-year run and spawned a hit spinoff, "The Parkers."

Eve won a Grammy for last year's hit "Let Me Blow Ya Mind," featuring No Doubt's Gwen Stefani. This year, she is nominated for the track "Satisfaction."

Her feature film debut in this summer's sleeper hit "Barbershop" earned the actress an Image Award nomination.

Eve is repped by WMA and attorney Matt Johnson.



News for 1/6/2003


Weekend Boxoffice


'Lord of the Rings' Is Box-Office King


LOS ANGELES –– "The Two Towers" has scored a triple. "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" was the top film for a third weekend, taking in $25.65 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The middle chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy epic, "The Two Towers" pushed its 19-day total to $261.7 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

With no big new films, box-office rankings shaped up much the same as last weekend. Steven Spielberg's "Catch Me If You Can," starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks in a cat-and-mouse chase between a con man and an FBI agent, remained in second place with $21.3 million, lifting its 12-day total to $97.6 million.

Romantic comedies again held the No. 3 and 4 spots, with "Two Weeks Notice" grossing $11.6 million and "Maid in Manhattan" taking in $9 million.

In its first weekend of wide release after debuting in a handful of theaters last month, Jack Nicholson's acclaimed black comedy "About Schmidt" climbed to No. 5 with $8.75 million. Nicholson plays a retired insurance actuary reassessing his life after his wife dies.

Also expanding was the musical "Chicago," with Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere, which came in at No. 9 with $5 million.

Playing in relatively narrow release at 816 theaters, "About Schmidt" averaged a healthy $10,723, while "Chicago" averaged $16,500 in 304 theaters. "The Two Towers" averaged $7,082 in 3,622 theaters, while "Catch Me If You Can" averaged $6,719 in 3,170 theaters.

"The Two Towers" has passed "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," which came out a month earlier and has reached a total gross of $252 million.

Worldwide, "Two Towers" has hit $560 million, and distributor New Line hopes it will top $1 billion and become the No. 2 film behind "Titanic," which climbed to $1.8 billion.

"Two Towers" picks up where "Fellowship of the Ring" left off and leaves viewers hanging, awaiting the conclusion next December with "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

"This is a movie without a beginning and an end. It's not a sequel but a continuation of a story," said David Tuckerman, New Line head of distribution.

Several films that opened over the holidays to qualify for the Academy Awards continued to do well in limited release. "The Hours," starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman and Julianne Moore, grossed $326,000 in 11 theaters for a $29,636 average.

Spike Lee's "The 25th Hour," starring Edward Norton as a drug dealer on his last day of freedom before going to prison, earned $131,000 at five theaters to average $26,281.

George Clooney's directing debut, "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," with Sam Rockwell as game-show host Chuck Barris in a fictionalized thriller, took in $91,789 at four theaters for a $22,947 average.

1. "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," $25.65 million.

2. "Catch Me If You Can," $21.3 million.

3. "Two Weeks Notice," $11.6 million.

4. "Maid in Manhattan," $9 million.

5. "About Schmidt," $8.75 million.

6. "Gangs of New York," $7.4 million.

7. "Drumline," $5.6 million.

8. "The Wild Thornberrys Movie," $5.5 million.

9. "Chicago," $5 million.

10. "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," $4.5 million.



News for 12/30/2002


From the New York Times

A Big Fat Box Office Increase

By RICK LYMAN


LOS ANGELES, Dec. 29 — An awesome achievement! Enormously enriching! The biggest box-office year of all time!

Sometime in the next few days, when the final figures dribble in from the farthest-flung theaters in the back end of nowhere, the crowing will begin in Hollywood about yet another record-shattering year at the movies.

More than $9 billion worth of tickets were sold in North America in 2002, up about 10 percent over last year's record. Even with higher prices, actual attendance was up at least 5 percent, reaching levels not seen since Eisenhower was in the White House.

But let's not pop those Champagne corks just yet. There are plenty of reasons for concern and doubt amid the hype and hyperventilating.

This was the year of both "Spider-Man" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," when the major studios embraced franchise series for dear life — the sequels, prequels, remakes, spinoffs and comic-book blockbusters that offer the path of least risk — and then declared themselves puzzled that audiences adopted an inexpensive, sentimental, starless comedy that at least offered something light, comforting and family friendly.

It was also, by general consent in Hollywood, an unusually strong year for movies, spurred by well-regarded spring and summer fare like "About a Boy," "Insomnia," "Minority Report" and "Road to Perdition" and then bolstered by the best holiday movie season in years: critically acclaimed efforts like "Chicago," "The Hours," "About Schmidt," "Adaptation," "Far From Heaven," "Talk to Her," "Nicholas Nickleby," "Gangs of New York" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers."

But it was also a year in which many of those films either struggled to find an audience or performed more weakly than expected, some of them threatening to get lost altogether in a late-year gush of Oscar contenders. One of the most ambitious and expensive of the holiday epics, for instance, Martin Scorsese's "Gangs of New York," looks unlikely to come anywhere near its estimated $110 million production costs in United States ticket sales.

Yes, "Spider-Man" led the 2002 box office, its $404 million gross nearly a third larger than the $310 million earned by second-place "Star Wars: Episode 2 — Attack of the Clones." And yes, whether the year's final tally turns out to be $9.2 billion or only $9.1 billion, it is a significant increase that comes at a time when almost all other forms of popular entertainment are suffering shrinking revenues and dwindling audiences.

But it does not mean, as some may interpret it, that movies are more central to American life than ever.

"It's a totally different world, and people have a lot of options other than movies," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, a Los Angeles-based company that monitors box-office results. "In a sense it's intriguing that as relatively old-fashioned a medium as movies are still one of the top entertainment choices for Americans."

In 1929, when the annual box office was $720 million, the average person in the United States (including everyone, infants and all) went to the movies 40 times a year. There were 4.9 billion tickets sold that year.

This year an estimated 1.5 billion tickets were sold, the highest since 1.8 billion in 1959. But because of population growth, the average person saw only about 5 movies this year, compared with 10 in 1959.

Even this is a little misleading, because the 2002 audience is actually made up of a small core of people — mostly under the age of 25 — who go to the movies regularly, and a smaller group that goes only once or twice in a year.

"The situation is that 20 percent of the audience represents 80 percent of the box office," said Robert Bucksbaum, president of ReelSource, a company that monitors the box office. "So you have a lot of movies that are geared towards that same audience."

Even the "Spider-Man" millions seem a tad less impressive when measured against blockbusters from years past, once the grosses are adjusted for inflation.

The $159 million that "The Sound of Music" made in 1965 becomes, in today's dollars, an eye-popping $905 million. The $260 million that "Jaws" earned after its 1975 release is suddenly $866 million.

And the $323 million that "Star Wars" made in its initial round of releases in 1977, followed by an additional $138 million for a 1997 rerelease, becomes $1.1 billion in today's dollars. Take that, web-slinger.

"The movie business is all about hype and buzz," said David Davis, an entertainment analyst for Houlihan, Lokey, Howard & Zukin, an investment banking firm. "And inflation really works to their advantage."

In the mid-1980's, when newspapers and magazines first began publishing weekend box-office figures, the studios resisted the trend. But soon, when they saw a way to use the lists to help market films, the process was gradually co-opted and controlled by the studios, which can simply ride the inflation rocket and release their movies in more and more theaters to create record after record. Producers of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," for instance, have been promoting it as the No. 1 romantic comedy of all time, which is true, to a degree. It has made about $218 million since its release in April, beating the previous record of $178 million set by "Pretty Woman" in 1990. But adjust those 1990 dollars for inflation, and "Pretty Woman" made $244 million in today's economy.

And in terms of the actual attendance, about 37 million tickets were sold for "Greek Wedding" compared with 42 million for "Pretty Woman."

Studio by studio, there is no question: this was the year for Sony Pictures Entertainment and its Columbia TriStar Pictures banner. The studio is expected to have sold $1.55 billion worth of tickets in North American theaters by year's end, a record not only for Sony but also for any studio. Its $1.3 billion in international sales creates a $2.85 billion worldwide gross that beats 20th Century Fox's $2.7 billion record in 1998, the year it had "Titanic" in theaters.

"We're ahead by an obscene amount," Jeff Blake, vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said happily. "We had the good fortune to have some good franchise pictures that really delivered."

Still, even Sony had its flops. "I Spy," a comic thriller loosely based on the 60's television drama, was a substantial dud in October. And "Stuart Little 2" earned less than half of what the first film made two years ago.

A certain amount of franchise fatigue was in evidence elsewhere, too. Warner Brothers offered several clunkers (the sequel "Analyze That" was the most recent) but also kick-started a new franchise with last summer's "Scooby-Doo." It's biggest year-end film, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," looks to top out at about $250 million, compared with $318 million the first "Harry Potter" film generated last year.

New Line Cinema, a ministudio that is also owned by AOL Time Warner, had no such problems with its year-end sequel, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers." It looks likely to earn considerably more than the $313 million the first installment, "The Fellowship of the Ring," made last year.

Universal Pictures, which had strong showings the last two years, claimed a profitable 2002 but had no mega-hit. And two of its franchises — "Red Dragon," a prequel to its Hannibal Lecter series, and "The Scorpion King," a spinoff from the recent "Mummy" films — both earned far less than previous movies in those series. Is franchise fatigue to be the trend of the future?

Universal, which is owned by Vivendi, a French conglomerate, had (like AOL Time Warner) its share of executive squabbling. Its former chairman, Jean-Marie Messier, was ousted, and rumors grew that the company, a former water utility, intended to sell off its entertainment assets, including the movie studio. "I know this studio is very focused on what we have to deliver," said Nikki Rocco, Universal's president of distribution. "We are a stable management, despite what is going on internally at the top of the corporation."

MGM, meanwhile, had a perfectly dreadful first half of the year, with a string of high-priced flops, only to be saved at year's end by its own stalwart hero, James Bond, in "Die Another Day."

The case of Viacom's Paramount Pictures was particularly perplexing. With the most stable management in Hollywood and a corporate strategy that has reliably produced a steady steam of profitable fare, the studio had one miss after another in 2002, culminating with "Star Trek: Nemesis," a box-office fizzle that has all but buried one of the studio's most durable franchises.

Disney, which looks to end the year in second place, had a huge hit with M. Night Shyamalan's "Signs," and some relatively smaller hits like "Santa Clause 2" and "Lilo & Stitch." But the failure of "Treasure Planet," from the studio's legendary animation team, was a distressing sour note at Thanksgiving.

And then there was Miramax, the upstart ministudio that is part of the Disney empire; it had not a single breakout hit all year long. But Miramax, as is its practice, has flooded the last weeks of the year with more than a half-dozen Oscar-bait films, including the struggling "Gangs of New York" and "Chicago," a critically acclaimed adaptation of the Broadway musical that has emerged as the early Oscar front-runner.

"Without question, the two movies that exemplified the year were `Spider-Man' and `Greek Wedding,' " Mr. Dergarabedian said. "They couldn't be more different in terms of budgeting, marketing, everything. But they were both mega-blockbusters. It just says that moviegoers are open to anything. As long as it's a good movie of course."





News for 12/29/2002


Weekend Boxoffice


"Towers" Tops Record Xmas Weekend


Not even the combined powers of Leo, Tom and Steven could catch The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers over the best ever Xmas weekend at the box office.

Frodo, Aragorn and Legolas (or if you prefer Elijah, Viggo and Orlando) continued on through their hugely successfull Middle Earth road trip, ringing up another $48.9 million from Friday through Sunday. If estimates hold, New Line movie will have notched a two-week gross of $200.1 million domestically (it has reportedly earned close to $400 million worldwide). The flick also gave a hefty contribution to the record $157.1 million earned by the top 12 movies, to cap off a record-setting year for ticket sales.

Although this second movie in J.R.R. Tolkien's fable dropped 21 percent in its second weekend, it still averaged $13,508 at 3,622 sites. It's also doing much better business than the first segment of the epic, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which in its second weekend this time last year averaged $11,520 at 3,359 sites for $38.6 million for a total of $174.1 million. (However, that 53rd weekend of 2001 was over the New Year's holiday, which doesn't traditionally gross as much as the Christmas period.)

Running well in second place was Catch Me If You Can, the con man fable starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks and directed by Steven Spielberg. The PG-13 DreamWorks release earned $30 million at 3,156 theaters Friday to Sunday. Its $9,506 average remained consistent with its Christmas day opening statistic. In five days, the film has totaled $48.6 million.

All other movies in the top 10--whether they remained in the same number of theaters, gained or dropped screens--saw an upturn in business.

DiCaprio's other movie, Martin Scorsese's historical mean streets tale Gangs of New York, costarring critics' awards favorite Daniel Day-Lewis, added 686 screens to register an 18 percent upturn in attendance for $11.2 million, bringing its two-week gross to $30.1 million.

Nevertheless, it dropped from fourth to fifth place, trailing a pair of romantic comedies: Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant's Two Weeks Notice, which pinned down $16.1 million in third place; and Jennifer Lopez and Ralph Fiennes' Maid in Manhattan, which swept up $13 million in fourth place.

Meanwhile, the beat went on for Drumline, which, despite losing 169 locations and dropping one slot to sixth place, gained 17 percent to tap up $8.3 million. The modesty budgeted Fox release has now earned $36.6 million in three weeks.

The other wizard sequel, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, gained 49 percent despite dropping 245 sites. In its seventh week of release, the Warners moneymaker earned another $6.5 million in eighth place to bring its current gross to $240.3 million.

Opening Friday in limited release were several movies already racking up pre-Oscar awards and nominations.

The Hours, the Virginia Woolf homage starring an overload of talent (not just Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, but also Ed Harris, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, Miranda Richardson and Claire Danes), proved the most popular with discerning audiences, particularly women. The PG-13 Paramount/Miramax joint, which has already won awards from critics' groups and scored seven Golden Globe nominations, had a seat-filling $30,636 average at 11 sites for $337,000.

Close behind in audience appeal was the jazzy musical Chicago, the screen adaptation of the late Bob Fosse's crime-and-show-biz stage hit, starring a very mobile Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renιe Zellweger and Richard Gere, all Golden Globe nominees. At 77 sites, the PG-13 Miramax release averaged a high-kicking $27,299 to gross an estimated $2.1 million.

The Pianist, Roman Polanski's Holocaust tale starring Golden Globe nominee Adrien Brody (which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes) opened at six sites. The Focus Features R-rated release averaged $17,342 to earn $135,987.

Less successful, despite its Best Musical/Comedy Golden Globe nomination, was Nicholas Nickleby. MGM's PG-rated take on Charles Dickens' classic story starring Charlie Hunnam in the title role and a bunch of British talent--including Oscar winner Jim Broadbent, as well as Jamie Bell, Charles Dance and Timothy Spall--debuted at just five sites with a $8,600 average for $43,000.

Denzel Washington's Antwone Fisher added 176 theaters in its second weekend. Its business jumped 764 percent to $1.8 million from a very solid $9,503 at just 191 screens.

No such good news for Pinocchio, which continued to be dead wood. At 1,195 sites the G-rated Miramax release of the live-action version of the fairy story, starring scene-hogger Roberto Benigni only averaged $954 for $1.1 million. The film opened on Christmas Day to virtually no ticket sales.

According to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations, the combined top 12 gross is 7 percent higher than this time last year, and up 18 percent from last weekend.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, $48.9 million
2. Catch Me If You Can, $30 million
3. Two Weeks Notice, $16.1 million
4. Maid in Manhattan, $13 million
5. Gangs of New York, $11.2 million
6. Drumline, $8.3 million
7. The Wild Thornberry's Movie, $7.4 million
8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, $6.5 million
9. The Hot Chick, $4.8 million
10. Die Another Day, $4.4 million





News for 12/23/2002


Weekend Boxoffice


"Towers" Still Box-Office Lord


It was Frodo all the way.


The Hobbit hero made life hairy for Hugh and Sandra, Leo and his gang, and Eliza Thornberry and her talking chimp as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers trampled all new competition to dominate the weekend box office, earning an estimated $61.5 million.

The second stage in the J.R.R. Tolkien epic journey to Mordor continues to lord it over the first movie. The weekend haul, following up on the $26 million opening day, was 25 percent higher than the $47.2 million earned last year by The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring's first Friday to Sunday.

The sequel has now reached $101.5 million since its Wednesday opening, besting by more than 30 percent the first movie's five-day take. Although business dropped down to $14 million Thursday, it picked up to $20 million Friday, rose to $23 million Saturday and only fell to $18 million Sunday. Released at 3,622 sites (compared to 3,359 for the original movie) the per-screen average was a tightly packed $16,980. (Additionally the movie has already racked up another $85 million overseas.)

With more than 46 percent of the cineplex crowds opting to follow Frodo, Samwise, Legolas, Gimli and Aragon as they battled the evil wizards and Orcs, the debuting movies were literally thrown to the Wargs.

Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock's romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice ticketed up $14.4 million in second place.

However, the $5,229 screen average at 2,755 sites for the PG-13 Warners release was lower than the $6,064 average at 1,504 sites for Leonardo DiCaprio's brawling epic Gangs of New York. Despite all the best promotional efforts of the star and director, Martin Scorsese's long-anticipated tale of Irish feuds in last century Manhattan debuted in fourth place with just $9.1 million.

The cartoon Thornberry family's big-screen trek to Africa also wasn't so hot. The PG-rated Paramount kiddie film, based on the Nickelodeon series and simply titled The Wild Thornberry's Movie, was left in the dust, opening in sixth place with $6.1 million. Its per-screen average was $2,025 from 3,012 sites.

Studio executives claimed that these films' openings were as expected, due to the expected mania for Hobbits, but with Gangs of New York costing north of $100 million to produce, it's hard to believe the Miramax folks were stoked. And next weekend, as Gangs widens to more screens, DiCaprio will not only still be up against Frodo and his chums but also have himself to compete with as his Catch Me If You Can, directed by Steven Spielberg, opens Christmas Day.

In limited release, Spike Lee's character study of a drug pusher's pre-poky day 25th Hour--starring Edward Norton (news), Philip Seymour Hoffman, Brian Cox, Rosario Dawson and Anna Paquin--scored a high $21,962 average at just five sites. That earned the R-rated Buena Vista release $109,811 to push its gross to $131,778 since opening Thursday.

Also opening Thursday was Denzel Washington's directorial debut, Antwone Fisher, the inspirational true-life drama about a young sailor, in which the Oscar winner stars alongside newcomer Derek Luke. The PG-13 Fox Searchlight release averaged $14,500 at 15 screens for $217,5000 to bring its current total to $226,135.

Narc, the gritty cop drama starring Jason Patric and Ray Liotta, debuted at six theaters over the weekend. The R-rated Paramount release took in $66,000.

Overall box office was up a lordly 46 percent over last weekend, but the $132.4 million taken in by the top 12 movies was just a smidgen--3 percent, to be exact--down over the same time last year.

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, $61.5 million
2. Two Weeks Notice, $14.4 million
3. Maid in Manhattan, $11 million
4. Gangs of New York, $9.1 million
5. Drumline, $7.6 million
6. The Wild Thornberry's Movie, $6.1 million
7. The Hot Chick, $4.5 million
8. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, $4.45 million
9. Star Trek: Nemesis, $4.4 million
10. Die Another Day, $4 million





News for 12/18/2002


Black Actors Make Gains in Hollywood


By DAVID GERMAIN
AP Movie Writer


LOS ANGELES - Halle Berry's tearful acceptance speech and Denzel Washington's nod to Sidney Poitier were just the beginning.

Nine months after their twin Oscars — the first time black actors swept the lead-role Academy Awards — 2002 has proved a year of gains for black actors in an industry perpetually rebuked for its lack of racial diversity.

Although one year does not necessarily signify long-term change — and the surge in better roles and breakout movies did not extend to black actresses — critics and performers say 2002 was a clear improvement.

After the awards and commercial success of Washington's "Training Day" and Berry's "Monster's Ball," the year saw high-profile films starring Ice Cube, Samuel L. Jackson, Morgan Freeman, Wesley Snipes and Will Smith, who along with Washington had earned a best-actor nomination, for "Ali."

Smaller films with black themes also clicked with audiences, among them the smart romance "Brown Sugar," the "blaxploitation" spoof "Undercover Brother" and "Drumline," the tale of a Harlem drummer competing in a Southern marching band, which opened to solid receipts last weekend.

"It's a huge sign that diversity is here," Berry said in an interview to promote her latest film, "Die Another Day," in which she plays an ally to super-spy James Bond. "The cynical ones will say it hasn't arrived fast enough, but it is here. Real evolution and real change is slow. If it were to happen quickly, I don't think I'd feel that sure of it, because we could lose it as fast as we got it."

Washington began the year by following "Training Day" with another success, "John Q." And he's finishing it with his directing debut, "Antwone Fisher," based on the true story of a violent black sailor trying to work through the trauma he experienced as an abused child.

Newcomer Derek Luke gives a memorable performance in the title role, and Washington co-stars as his Navy psychiatrist.

Many black-themed films play largely in areas with large black populations, but Washington figures "Antwone Fisher" has a good shot everywhere.

"It's a universal story. It doesn't have to be about a black family. This could be about anybody. Pick your race, it doesn't matter. Abuse is color blind," Washington said. "I think we need to give audiences a little more credit. That they're not looking for black or not looking for white, but they're looking for good movies."

Cuba Gooding Jr., one of only six black actors to win an Oscar before Washington and Berry, scored a crossover success early this year with the family flick "Snow Dogs."

Ice Cube did the same with "Barbershop," and had two other films, "All About the Benjamins" and "Friday After Next," the third in his series of "Friday" comedies. All three movies were developed through Ice Cube's production company, which the rapper-turned-actor started to broaden his roles.

Except for "Barbershop," Ice Cube's films mainly have drawn black audiences. But more black actors, such as "Ali" star Smith, Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence, have developed mainstream followings.

"It's still a pretty select group. But having this select group getting more exposure now, it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next couple of years," said Matt Alvarez, Ice Cube's producing partner. "Could the next Brad Pitt be somebody who's black? Will Hollywood be willing to accept that?"

That select group of black headliners was well represented in 2002. Snipes returned with "Blade 2." Smith had "Men in Black II." Lawrence delivered a hit concert film, "Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat," while Murphy was in three movies, though all bombed ("Showtime," "The Adventures of Pluto Nash" and "I Spy.")

Chris Rock had a turkey in "Bad Company," but Jackson co-starred in two hits, "Changing Lanes" and "XXX." Freeman co-starred in "The Sum of All Fears" and "High Crimes."

"I think I could say this has been a promising year but also a year of caution," said Sandra Evers-Manly, president of the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center. "For black women, it's not been that great of a year."

There were notable turns by Sanaa Lathan in "Brown Sugar" and Angela Bassett and Mary Alice in "Sunshine State," but black women were scarce on film beyond that.

Critics have a wait-and-see attitude about whether Hollywood will sustain the advances of 2002.

"Hollywood is so unpredictable. I might be sitting around next August going where's my `Barbershop,' where's my `Antwone Fisher'?" said Kamal Larsuel, one of the authors of the film guide "3 Black Chicks Review Flicks." "I'd like to see this go on a couple years in a row before I get excited."