'The Net' looks like a slam dunk
By Dave McNary
LOS ANGELES (UPI): Very few movies are sure things, but The Net is shaping up as close to a certain hit as Hollywood can come.
Columbia probably will release the techno-thriller on July 28 in 1,800 theaters - a bold move since it will open opposite Universal's Waterworld, which has generated a huge buzz for itself by becoming the most expensive film ever made.
The Net will have the advantage of starring Sandra Bullock, Hollywood's hottest actress of the moment. It focuses on one of hottest trends of the day, the Internet, and contains a dose of paranoia.
Bullock portrays a computer analyst who has become isolated amid a seemingly endless assortment of on-line chat groups. The trailer for the film starts with her at the beach with a laptop computer, then veers off into the movies' villains erasing her identity by using Internet access to government files.
Some of the movie was shot at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco at a booth set up at the MacWorld convention.
The project comes attached with the name of Hollywood heavyweight Irwin Winkler, who directed, co-wrote the script and is a co-producer with Rob Cowan. Winkler's films, including They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, the Rocky series, Raging Bull and The Right Stuff, have won 12 Oscars and been nominated for 45. As for Bullock, there are few actresses in recent memory who have managed to become a star so quickly in projects that did not look to have much potential. She first appeared in Sylvester Stallone's Demolition Man for Warner Bros. in 1993, which managed an impressive d60 million domestic gross.
Bullock then helped 20th Century Fox score a stunning success in last summer's Speed, getting third billing after Keanu Reaves and Dennis Hopper as a passenger forced to drive a bus with a bomb set to go off.
Finally, in her first foray in carrying a movie, Bullock's performance as a subway clerk in Disney's romantic comedy While You Were Sleeping was the major reason for it reaching US$70 million. Fox's French Kiss and Columbia's Forget Paris went up against Sleeping and managed to take in less than $60 million combined.
The Net could be particularly well-timed, particularly if Waterworld turns out to be the flop some are expecting. Most of the season's major releases -- Warner's Batman Forever, Disney's Pocahontas, Universal's Apollo 13 and TriStar's First Knight -- will have started running out of steam by then.
Late summer was once thought of as a period for releasing second-tier projects with not as much potential as early summer releases. But in recent years, with the competition for screen space growing tighter as studios rachet up production, the season has seen plenty of success -- Unforgiven, The Fugitive, Clear and Present Danger, The Mask and The Client.
The Net should keep that trend going this summer and turn Sandra Bullock into a household name.