Movie Audiences

Except for the remarkable "The Sixth Sense," the hottest summer on record is finally beginning to show some signs of cooling down. The weekend's three new films all opened on the mild side, with only the Mafia comedy "Mickey Blue Eyes," starring Hugh Grant, demonstrating any sparkle, mainly with older audiences. "Mickey" came in at an estimated $10.4 million in its 2,573-theater debut, placing third.

The day before Laemmle Theatres closed its Sunset 5 last month, patrons and filmmakers showed up at the West Hollywood movie house to share their memories of one of L.A.'s most popular art house cinemas. Since opening nearly 20 years ago, the Sunset 5 had been the go-to venue where indie directors such as Bill Condon ("Gods and Monsters") and Lisa Cholodenko ("High Art") screened their movies to sold-out crowds. Art house theaters used to have the indie cinema market to themselves.

The hyperactive Alcatraz film "The Rock" took the box-office lead over the weekend, giving Disney its biggest live-action opening ever with an estimated $23.5 million in ticket sales. Set on the historic prison island in San Francisco Bay, the film stars Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage and Ed Harris. In taking the top spot, "The Rock" had to lure audiences away from two blockbuster summer hits, Paramount's "Mission: Impossible" and Warner Bros.' "Twister."

Moviegoers in China enthusiastically see American films, yet the reverse is almost never true. But you'd think if there would be someone who might bridge the divide -- someone whose personal background, connections and professional expertise could help bring Chinese films more into the U.S. mainstream -- that person might look much like Wendi Murdoch. Born and raised in mainland China, educated at Cal State Northridge and then at Yale, employed at Star TV in Hong Kong, she married News Corp.

Despite the contention that adult-oriented drama has become the exclusive domain of cable and network television, movie patrons have braved long lines and winter storms in recent weeks to make hits of such diverse and non-formulaic films as "Cast Away," "Traffic," "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and, to a lesser degree, "Finding Forrester," "Thirteen Days" and "Chocolat" and art-house films such as "Before Night Falls." Dramas were the main contributing factor to a record Martin Luther King Jr.

Dee and Fulton Irving didn't know what to expect as they sat wide-eyed Wednesday afternoon in the darkened theater at the Universal City Cinemas. Fresh from a vacation in the Caribbean, they had come to catch the new John Singleton film, "Poetic Justice," starring Janet Jackson. But as friends had told them, justice was the last thing this new flick was getting from one prominent theater chain.

Hollywood is plenty nervous. And it's not just because the movie studios have a couple of billion dollars on the line with this summer's movies. Or because the first two weekends of the summer season at the box office haven't exactly created fireworks.

Hollywood wants its movie trailers to tickle, tease and dazzle you, not give you headaches. That's why even though previews of coming attractions are growing more visually innovative, the film industry is lowering their volume to stem a rising crescendo of complaints. Take the crowd one recent evening watching trailers at the AMC Promenade 16 in Woodland Hills. "They were shouting out . . , 'Turn the sound down! It's too loud!'

Mel Gibson's fans came out but Jack Nicholson's didn't. That's the conclusion many film industry analysts are drawing from the fact that the Mel Gibson action comedy "Air America," a movie that was largely panned by critics, did strong opening-weekend business, while the Jack Nicholson mystery, "The Two Jakes," which received mixed reviews, qualifies as a flop. Paramount Pictures' "The Two Jakes," the long-delayed sequel to 1974's revered "Chinatown," grossed $3.

There were guards at every door and invitations were scrutinized like passports at the Baghdad airport, but Francis Ford Coppola's final cut of "The Godfather, Part III" was finally shown to moviegoers Monday at a sneak preview in Seattle. The audience for "Godfather III," which opens nationally Christmas Day, was recruited by a marketing research company to see a film called "The Cutting Edge."

With critics and audiences agreeing that Peter Jackson's chilling drama "The Lovely Bones" is anything but lovely, Paramount Pictures has decided to focus all its energies on a Jan. 15 nationwide release aimed at young women. The movie, which opened this month at three theaters in Los Angeles and New York, had been previously slated for expanded release at more theaters on Christmas Day as part of a campaign to build its momentum into January. That momentum, however, has been virtually nonexistent.

After surmounting technological hurdles, and with an investment of about $430 million at stake, "Avatar" may have met an obstacle it can't overcome: snow. According to people following ticket sales, the highly anticipated 3-D science fiction epic film was on course to gross between $25 million and $30 million Friday alone. That would put the James Cameron-directed movie on a path to hit roughly $80 million in ticket sales by Sunday, which is in line with projections based on public surveys going into the weekend.

"The Lovely Bones" has all the adornments of a prestige drama aimed at adults. It was made by an Oscar-winning director, adapted from an acclaimed novel and features weighty subject matter. Given that pedigree, Paramount Pictures was stunned to discover that the film's most promising target audience is teen and college-aged girls. Directed by Peter Jackson and based on Alice Sebold's bestselling 2002 novel, "The Lovely Bones" tells the tale of a 14-year-old girl who is raped and murdered, then watches over her family and killer from the afterlife.

Sisters Ornella and Yolanda Schinazi don't eat out much anymore. They rarely go out drinking, and they have cut way back on shopping. Like many Americans, the Glendale residents are feeling the pain of the economic downturn. Ornella, 28, recently took a $25,000 pay cut at her job, and Yolanda, 25, has been frustrated all year in her search for work. But one thing the Schinazis haven't cut back on is movies. In fact, they're going to more of them than ever. "We don't really go out anymore.

The independent film "The Room" didn't exactly make a splash when it opened six years ago. Critics panned it -- the few who reviewed it, that is -- and moviegoers stayed away in droves. So why, on a Saturday night, are hundreds of people lined up around the second-floor space of Laemmle's Sunset 5 theater on Sunset Boulevard, waiting to see it? And why are many of them lugging bags full of plastic spoons? "The Room" has become the latest cult movie sensation, complete with its own rituals and rules of engagement.

It's 8 p.m. Friday and the historic Towne Theatre downtown is sold out. About 500 moviegoers have crowded into the three-screen movie house, paying up to $12 a ticket to watch not the latest Hollywood blockbuster but instead the premieres of three Indian movies that are opening simultaneously in India. Tonight's showcase feature: the Tamil action thriller "Aadhavan" starring hunk Surya Sivakumar, who enjoys rock-star status among fans known to break out in cheers when his image appears on screen.

"The Other Conquest," an epic about the 16th century Spanish invasion of Aztec Mexico, got off to an impressive start at the box office, bringing in both Latino and non-Latino audiences, a feat two other recent Hispanic-themed films couldn't accomplish. Mexico's highest-grossing drama, directed by first-timer Salvador Carrasco and released April 21, grossed nearly $400,000 in 74 theaters during its first five days.

Steven Spielberg's new World War II movie, "Saving Private Ryan," has been almost universally lauded for painting an unusually realistic portrait of war. Moviegoers not only see what combat looks like, but they hear it as well, from the plink of gunfire on a soldier's helmet to the boom of mortar shells to the cries of the wounded.

If the year's first four months defied all expectations for what Hollywood could do in a recession, this summer delivered some sobering reality. Through the end of April, domestic box-office receipts leaped 17% while admissions surged nearly 16% from the previous year, according to Hollywood.com. But as the weather turned hot, business cooled: From May 1 through Aug. 31, attendance was down 2.4% from 2008 and 6% from 2007. Summer box-office revenues rose 1.3%, not even enough to account for ticket price inflation, let alone the premiums charged in a growing number of 3-D theaters.

The mid-movie dash to the restroom can turn us into calculating Usain Bolt wannabes: Ah, this looks like a lull -- time to dash. When we return to our seats, we pray the answer to "What did I miss?" isn't "Darth Vader is really Luke's father" or "the girlfriend is really a guy." The website RunPee.com can help with such anxious guesswork. The site provides recommended opportunities to race to the restroom. It tells you when the action or romance wanes, and gives you a cue ("Baby O.J.