best-selling crime novel by James Elroy; an A-level production package put together by Richard and Lili Fini Zanuck (Feld 4-5). Given what the Hollywood Reporter designates a "major studio push" and a "very wide" release - more than 1,500 screens nationwide (Cels 10) - one would imagine that this Name project had every MGM/UA executive's stamp of approval. All of the factors were there: Name, Name and Name. Sure it was expensive, with up-front Name salaries running into the two-digit millions before the cameras shot a millimeter of film. Still, the Name(s) were insurance. Mulholland Falls opened the weekend of April 26th with great expectations.
Result? After seeing Van Damme's The Quest take top honors, Mulholland Falls placed fourth and barely scraped together $4 million (cels 10). Surprisingly, second place for the weekend - and $6.8 million box office grosses (Cels 10) - went to a modestly-budgeted romantic comedy with virtually no "box office Names": The Truth About Cats & Dogs.
It would be false to say that the leads of Cats & Dogs were complete unknowns. Top-billed Uma Thurman was, of course, the recognized female lead in the runaway hit of two years ago, Pulp Fiction. Still, Thurman has a
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