Show B4 — The Herald Journal Logan Utah Tuesday' August 13 2002 SHERMANS LAGOON Kid movie mmtmiooM LIMITS JUST mnio omy vimeas ABOUT stars hurry films as puberty looms off between filming which gives them time to go to regular school and escape the pressure of Hollywood said Paul Petersen president of the LOS ANGELES (AP) —The makers of the “Spy Kids" and “Harry Potter” movies have found themselves in a race against puberty to put sequels into theaters while their young stars CATHY ms HWE (W HOUSE TOWN X CAN BUT X CHM HHilE D' ITTPOHW?) COWIETEK XT CODES UNASSEMBLED HWE onus (T HMHESOURSEW to SOU BUT ICON TDOMCr IT HAVE child-act- or are still baby-face- d With hundreds of millions of dollars at stake the hurried pace for those follow-up- s is a bid to dodge the kind of downtime that stifled the “Home Alone” series as Macaulay Culkin sprouted into adolescence It was only last summer when Alexa Vega now almost 14 and Daryl Sahara 10 first appeared as quarreling sibling spies in the children’s comedy “Spy Kids” Now they’re back in “Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams” and preparing to start a third film for release next July That will be the end according to the stars and directorcreator Robert Rodriguez “I think if we keep on going we’ll be too old” said Vega who added that sequel-coscious producers were initially resistant to giving her the part of superspy Carmen EACH BCK HAS 86 PIECES IMEICrHS MO POUNDS AND TAKES TWO MEN TO LIFT “I don’t think they’re working too much The work is usually fun They just need to focus on their education and have an exit strategy so that they have other options when they get older” said Petersen 56 who appeared as Jeff Stone on the 1950s TV series “The Donna ' Reed Show” Early child stars like Shirley Temple and Jackie Coogan worked much more grueling schedules Coogan who was 6 when he starred with Charlie Chaplin in 192 l’s “The Kid” appeared in 20 film projects by the time he was 18 and Temple who started her screen career at 3 did 50 shorts and features by 18 Many child actors of the past were ered expendable by studios even if they were the main stars of lucrative serials The “Our Gang” series later known as “The Little Rascals” survived for more than two decades because the original casting process in 1922 emphasized body type over acting prowess side-kic- k There was the fat kid the freckle-face- d the black boy and the cherubic little girl among other stereotypical ragamuffins As actors grew out of the roles they were replaced by younger performers who fit the type — h process that resulted in more than 220 short films over 22 years Contemporary audiences tend to become more attached to particular child celebrities making the actors harder to replace After 1990’s “Home Alone” featuring ‘ Culkin as an abandoned little boy who foils two clownish robbers broke comedy records with $286 million at die domestic box office the boy actor returned two years later in “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” That film grossed $173 million and the stu- dio considered starting “Home Alone 3” immediately after shooting wrapped on the second one said Columbus who also directed the first two “Home Alone” films But the plan was dropped until five years later By then Culkin was 16 and too Did to' reprise the role Audiences showed little interunknown est in his replacement Alex D: Linz and the film collected only $31 million Although Vega aind Sahara said they enjoy appearing in the “Spy Kids” movies they expressed relief Jhat their advancing age has placed a limit on the series ' “I want to be able to move pn and be good and be able to do different things” Vega said a sentiment echoed by Sahara “I don’t want to be known as 'the spy kid’ forever” n- BEETLE BAILEY big-sist- er Cortez “I was 10 and I think all the other girls auditioning were 8” Vega said “They didn’t want it to turn into ’Spy Teens’ which it’s kind of doing so that’s why we just tried to blow one movie out of the way and do the next one and the other one coming up” If “Spy Kids” continues past the third film Rodriguez said it will be as a cartoon series not live action The yearly chronology of author JK Rowling’s “Harry Potter" books demanded shooting schedules for the film adaptations said Chris Columbus director of last November's “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and the upcoming “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” Both films star the now Daniel Radcliffe as Harry and Rupert Grint 13 and Emma Watson 1 2 as his pals Ron and back-to-ba- ck HAGAR THE HORRIBLE T&LP IP I WAMTED IAWAS AAAOPIASS SUCCePUL I'P HAVE TO WOPK AT IT Hermione “The drawback is you can’t stop the aging process so there's no chance of a big break between films” Columbus said “And you can’t shoot all the films simultaneously like ' ’The Lord of the Rings’ because you need the kids to look a little older each time” The children are signed through the third installment “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” but with three of the planned seven books in the series still unpublished it’s unlikely the same cast can be maintained until the final movie adaptation Columbus added ' He opted out of the third film saying behind- work on the first two “Harry Potter” projects has kept him going practically nonstop for two years The child stars of both “Harry Potter” and “Spy Kids” however have up to a half-ye- PEANUTS NW6RAMPA HAD ANOTHER BIRTH DAft' ‘(E5TERDAY “rr HE SAID I HAVE TO AWAIT THAT THE YEARS HAVE BEEN the-scen- es GOOPTOME" ar ‘XXX’ leads way at box office LOS ANGELES (AP)'7- - In a big weekend for espionage a tattooed secret agent two underage spies and a shagadelic sleuth from the past took three of the top five spots at the MOTHER GOOSE AND GRIMM Helping the strong showing for “XXX" was rating and the fact that it was an original film in a summer full of sequels said Tom Sherak a partner at Revolution Studios which released the film in conjunction with Sony Pictures One sequel “Spy Kids 2” did especially well considering that most tickets were sold at reduced prices for children Dergarabedian said The film Was drawing positive reviews and strong audience response While the numbers for “Bloodwork” were relatively low the film is aimed at an older audience that doesn’t always turn out on opening weekend Dergarabedian said Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters according to Exhibitor Relations Co Inc ' its PG-1- 3 box office “XXX” an extreme reworking of the Bond ' genre istarring Vin Diesel finished on top with $46 million according to studio estimates Sunday ' “Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams’’ was third with $17 million and “Austin Powers in Goldmember” remained groovy with audiences finishing fourth with an estimated k total of $1678 $13 million for a million “Signs ” the Mel Gibson frightener about aliens and crop circles dropped into second k total of place with $30 million for a $118 million The new Clint Eastwood film “Bloodwork” opened in fifth place with a modest $72 milthree-wee- two-wee- FOXTROT lion Despite big numbers for the top films over- all box office numbers remained lower than the same weekend a year ago said Paul Der-garabedian president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations “This is the fourth down weekend in a row” he said “We’re still on track to surpass last year’s summer box office but it’s going to be tighter than we thought" REAL UFE ADVENTURES By Phillip Alder SAY WITH THIS PKTVR-jN-- A Pisrvue THH6 1 cue cam both Be HAPPY 7t WATCH MY SHOW N TH 6P“AT BGPtcTUM and Yoo 'SHOW People occasionally say 'really bizarre things For ' example: “Success to me is ‘ haying 10 honey dew melons and eating only the top half of each one” Who said that? Success in four hearts is having 10 tricks And even it you appear to have four losers victory is sometimes possible Hide the Easiest hands in the diagram thenplan the play in four hearts West leads the diamond king You Win with the ace and cash the A-of hearts but West discards a ' diamond on the second round How would you continue? 7' rt North’s rebid is debatable He decided to go with the known eight-car- d major-su-it fit However with such a flat hand perhaps he should have settled for three p (which cam be nude - I ST eer ie watch you N THe T$eNY TINY PtcTVBe : t i vi f : I" V V four-hea- In KM divorce settlement the husband was allowed to keep the remote : v y '’ 1 $ ' v ' rf ' t v And than there's that Rttta Chihuahua MNzl What a tramp I First aha was running around wtth 1hatufctoflCOsthsnoflwbi no-trum- i &- - “XXX” 2 “Signs” $30 million 1 ' $46-millio- n 3 “Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams” $17 million 4 “Austin Powers in Goldmember” $13 million 5 “Bloodwork” $72 million 6 “The Master of Disguise" $51 million 7 “The Road to Perdition” $4 million 8 “Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat” - $317 million ' ’ 9 “My Greek Wedding” $315 million 10 “Stuart Little 2” $27 million at bridge Win CLOSE TO HOME activist group A Minor Considera- tion f ' but might fail) 'Mitt You seem destined to lose Barbra Streisand wastes two heart and two diamond honey dew melons tricks But if you count win- 02002 NEA7 nets there might be 10 Play a North J club to your king return a 4 AQ2 ' club to dummy's ace and ruff V K9 6 a club in hand Then collect 9 74’ " three spade tricks ending ik A 9 7 4 : 'the WeM: dpmmy (If East ruffs you had no chance) You have nine J 10 7 86 fe tricks in the bank: three J ' Q 10 8 2 K Q J 10 3 6 5 r spades two hekts one dia-Q 10 8 5 mond two clubs ana one club 443 South ruff In hand you have left : two trumps and two dia- 4K9 3 Va7 5 4 monds East has a spade two A 8 2 and diamond a high trumps k2 Now you lead dummy’s last ' Deafen South y club What can East do? 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