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Quaid Campaigns For Patients' Rights
16 May 2008 (WENN)
Actor Dennis Quaid is calling on the U.S. government to preserve patients' rights to sue drug makers for injuries. The Smart People actor's twin babies had to fight for their lives last year when they were mistakenly given a near-fatal overdose of blood thinner Heparin, and Quaid insists the mishap could have been avoided if there was a better system of marking medicines. California regulators fined hospital bosses $25,000 after concluding the failure of staff at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to follow their own procedures resulted in incorrect doses of the drug being administered to Quaid's infants and other children. Quaid and his wife Kimberly Buffington have sued Baxter International Inc, the maker of the blood-thinning drug given to his twins On Wednesday, Quaid said victims of harm from medicines should be able to seek damages from manufacturers in state courts. He says, "I believe if preemption of lawsuits is allowed to prevail, it will basically make all of us, the public, uninformed and uncompensated lab rats."

'Prom Night' Slashes Box Office
15 April 2008 (StudioBriefing)
After a series of horrible performances at the box office by horror flicks, Sony's Prom Night graduated with honors over the weekend as it took in $20.8 million, far more than the studio said that it expected -- and about what it cost to produce. It beat the Keanu Reeves cop drama Street Kings, which opened with $12.5 million, by a wide margin. Overall, the box office grossed $95 million down from $118 million for the comparable weekend a year ago -- a drop of 19.6 percent. Through the first 15 weeks of the year, ticket sales are off 3.5 percent and attendance, 6.6 percent from last year.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Prom Night, Sony, $20,804,941, (New); 2. Street Kings, Fox Searchlight, $12,469,631, (New); 3. 21, Sony/Col, $10,470,173, 3 Wks. ($61,738,420); 4. Nim's Island, 20th Century Fox, $9,111,667, 2 Wks. ($25,391,566); 5. Leatherheads, Universal, $6,276,665, 2 Wks. ($21,976,580); 6. Horton Hears a Who!, 20th Century Fox, $5,920,566, 4 Wks. ($139,548,920); 7. Smart People, Miramax, $4,092,465, (New); 8. The Ruins, Paramount, $3,385,395, 2 Wks. ($13,548,871); 9. Superhero Movie, MGM, $3,216,247, 3 Wks. ($21,304,164); 10. Drillbit Taylor, Paramount, $2,044,988, 4 Wks. ($28,436,029).

Theaters Celebrate 'Prom Night'
14 April 2008 (StudioBriefing)
After months of frightful box-office performances by horror flicks, Sony/Screen Gems's Prom Night debuted with $22.7 million over the weekend at the high end of analysts' predictions. It was the best debut for a horror film this year. In second place was Fox Searchlight's R-rated Street Kings, starring Keanu Reeves and Forest Whitaker, which brought in an estimated $12 million. In its third week, 21 was still showing a strong hand as it took in $11 million. Everything else on the theater marquees looked weak, however, as the box office wound up with less revenue than it did a year ago for the fourth straight weekend. The top 12 films earned $82.6 million, more than 19 percent below what it took in during the comparable weekend last year. The fourth-ranked film, Fox's Nim's Island, brought in $9 million, while the George Clooney comedy Leatherheads rounded out the top five with $6.2 million. The only other film to open wide this weekend, Miramax's Smart People, wound up with $4.2 million, to place seventh.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Media by Numbers: 1. Prom Night, $22.7 million; 2. Street Kings, $12 million; 3. 21, $11 million; 4. Nim's Island, $9 million; 5. Leatherheads, $6.2 million; 6. Horton Hears a Who!, $6 million; 7. Smart People, $4.2 million; 8. The Ruins, $3.3 million; 9. Superhero Movie, $3.1 million; 10. Drillbit Taylor, $2.1 million.

Critics Not Invited To 'Prom Night'
11 April 2008 (StudioBriefing)
You won't be reading any reviews for it, but Sony Screen Gems's horror flick Prom Night is the favorite among box-office analysts to win this weekend's movie competition. Today's (Friday) Los Angeles Times reported that tracking surveys indicate that the film will take in $18-22 million, about the same as it cost to produce. The likely No. 2 film, according to the analysts, is the Keanu Reeves-Forest Whitaker drama Street Kings, which analysts figure will bring in $10-12 million. But Daily Variety pointed out that, with the exception of Cloverfield, horror films have performed weakly this year. It suggests that Street Kings could best it. Also opening this weekend, but in only about 1,100 theaters, is Miramax's Smart People, with Ellen Page of Juno, Dennis Quaid and Sarah Jessica Parker. In limited release, France's controversial award winner Persepolis, an animated film -- it now has an English soundtrack -- about a girl's experiences growing up in Iran at the time of the Islamic revolution, is due to open in 136 theaters.

Movie Reviews: 'Smart People'
11 April 2008 (StudioBriefing)
Smart People, about, well, smart people in academia, is opening with quite a mixture of critical reaction. "It passes the IQ test with flying colors. And intelligence plus genuine wit aren't its only distinctions," comments Joe Morgenstern in the Wall Street Journal. Carina Chocano in the Los Angeles Times concludes her review by remarking, "It's the kind of observational comedy, that'll be hard to find come summertime and should be enjoyed while there's still a chance." Michael Sragow awards it a B-, describing the film as "sometimes droll but often just pleasantly literate." Claudia Puig in USA TODAY grades it only a C+, writing, "Though it features witty dialogue and good performances, the plot contrivances keep it from being an altogether winning enterprise." Joe Neumaier in the New York Daily News isn't even sure about that "witty dialogue," writing, "Its idea of 'smart' is to simply put multisyllabic words into its characters' mouths, ignoring how empty-headed the people saying them are." And Peter Howell in the Toronto Star dismisses the movie as "terminally dull."

Quaid Upset by Twins Movie Ending
28 January 2008 (WENN)
Actor Dennis Quaid finds it tough to watch the climax of his new movie Smart People because it reminds him of his newborn twins who nearly died after a drug overdose. At the end of the film the star, who plays an English professor struggling to get over the death of his wife, is seen cradling baby twins. And the star admits it is hard to watch the footage now after the near-death experience of his own children. He says, "It actually really gets me when I see this. I'm a little verklempt. Kimberly (Quaid's wife) and I weren't even pregnant when we shot (the movie). We'd been trying for three years. When I read the script a couple years ago, the end scene always got me emotionally. It made me well up. And of course having our own twins now, it really gets me verklempt. It's a wonderful thing. For me, it's just life imitating art." Quaid's twins Thomas Boone and Zoe Grace were left fighting for their lives when they were mistakenly given 1,000 times the normal 10-unit dose of blood-thinning drug Heparin by staff at Los Angeles' Cedars-Sinai Medical Center shortly after they were born to a surrogate mother in November. The babies were eventually discharged after doctors gave them the all-clear.

Quaid To Be a Dad Again
22 May 2007 (WENN)
In Good Company star Dennis Quaid is set to become a dad again. The actor and his wife Kimberly are expecting twins through a surrogate, according to U.S. reports. Quaid, who has a teenage son by ex-wife Meg Ryan, and his wife are using a gestational carrier - that means the twins will be their biological children, carried by another woman. Quaid wed Kimberly wed in July, 2004. The Yours, Mine and Ours actor is next set to be seen in thriller Vantage Point and drama Smart People