WEEKEND BOXOFFICE ADVANCE: Does Tom 'Freddy' Green Have Enough Cheese to Out-Gross 'Spy Kids' for No. 1?

20 Apr, 2001 By: Ed Ochs

Considering this weekend’s two dubious debuts, Spy Kids has an even shot at holding No. 1 hostage for the fourth consecutive weekend. But first Spy Kids will have to deal with bothersome comedian Tom Green and his tour de farce, and, to a lesser extent, the return of Paul Hogan and his crock of croc.

Fox’s R-rated Freddy Got Fingered, starring Tom Green (Road Trip), has locked up the MTV crowd, which has been barraged with the quirky Canadian comedian and his crackpot routines -- and that alone should be good enough to nab No. 1.

But reaction to extending his sometimes limited act on the big screen is as unpredictable as Green himself, and Freddy could wind up with a big opening and rapid descent, much like a horror movie. How well this Freddy fares this weekend will determine how far Green, who also co-wrote and directed, has to go before he can put down a deposit on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In the meantime, this test of loyalty will require the full support of Green’s fans to capture the top spot from a Spy Kids in decline.

In another foreign-bred comedy foray, Aussie comedian Paul Hogan has decided to return to the States almost 15 years after the debut of his Crocodile Dundee crusade to throw another shrimp on the barbie. This time he’s Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, co-starring Linda Kozlowski and directed by Simon Wincer (Free Willy, Lightning Jack), and you can almost imagine the movie without having to go see it.

The PG Paramount comedy’s main attraction is that Hogan is not Green, and should draw from mainstream family audiences, from parents warmly familiar with Dundee in the ‘80s and kids who have seen Hogan’s movies on TV and think wrestling alligators is the next new extreme sport following skateboarding. Hogan’s fight with the Writer’s Guild for screen credit would probably make a more interesting plot for Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, certainly one more worthy of the big screen, but this will have to do for now, that is until Crocodile Dundee on the Rings of Saturn arrives in 2016.

Paramount’s Along Came a Spider continues to hold its place as the reigning adult thriller, and Miramax’s Bridget Jones’s Diary plans to add a few hundred more theaters, which should keep the Renee Zellweger com-dram solidly among the spotlight choices this weekend.