COMEDY CUTS SHORT MGM SKID 'BARBERSHOP' HITS BIG.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

SANTA MONICA - It turns out that Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer didn't have to count on the heroics of James Bond to break the struggling studio's yearlong box-office free-fall.

Instead, the ensemble comedy ``Barbershop'' stunned industry experts and surpassed MGM's own expectations by posting the fourth-best September opening ever, landing atop the box-office charts with a gross of $20.6 million in its debut weekend, according to final figures released Monday.

``This was very much a surprise,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. ``You can't predict it. Something like this just comes along and surprises everybody.''

MGM had been the only major movie studio that was without a No. 1 film in 2002. The last time the studio had a film debut in the top spot was ``Jeepers Creepers'' more than a year ago.

Most had expected ``Die Another Day,'' the latest James Bond movie to star Pierce Brosnan as Agent 007, to end the losing streak when it bowed Nov. 22. But it was ``Barbershop'' that gave MGM its biggest opening since the $58 million bow of ``Hannibal'' in February 2001.

``We knew we had a very, very strong movie that audiences loved when we tested it,'' said Chris McGurk, MGM's vice chairman and chief operating officer. ``We thought it was going to be successful but, no, we didn't think it would do over $20 million.''

Could this be the beginning of a comeback for Hollywood's last-place major studio? It still has ``Die Another Day'' on tap and is slowly rolling out what might be another surprise hit: the quirky dark comedy ``Igby Goes Down,'' which scored hefty per-screen grosses in limited release over the weekend.

``Igby,'' released under MGM's United Artists specialty arm, opened on just 10 screens in Los Angeles and New York and grossed a whopping $306,705. The film will expand to about 100 screens this weekend with more screens planned if the film continues to perform so strongly.

``With 'Barbershop,' 'Igby' and Bond coming up, we feel very, very good about the balance of this year and into 2003,'' McGurk said. ``The most important thing is to find good material and associate yourself with good filmmakers.''

The timing of ``Barbershop'' could not have been better for MGM following a year of major flops including the expensive ($100 million-plus budget) WWII drama ``Windtalkers'' starring Nicolas Cage, which was overshadowed in a crowded summer marketplace and grossed only $40.8 million.

Even worse were the studio's two February releases, ``Rollerball'' and ``Hart's War.'' Both were high-profile releases that were abysmal failures with openings of $9 million and $8.9 million, respectively. Neither film could manage to reach the $20 million mark even during a less-competitive time of the year at the box office.

The studio's fortunes began to change a bit with the modest success of its July release ``Crocodile Hunter'' which grossed $28.2 million but will be profitable for the studio because it had a production budget of just $12 million.

``We had a tough first half of the year with 'Windtalkers,' 'Hart's War' and 'Rollerball,''' McGurk said. ``But the second half of the year has been quite different.''

The performance of ``Barbershop'' and the continued popularity of the independent comedy ``My Big Fat Greek Wedding'' helped to end an eight-week-long box-office slump in which business was below last year's levels. ``Wedding'' has been the sleeper hit of the year benefiting from tremendous word-of-mouth buzz. It became the 15th film in 2002 to cross the $100 million mark last weekend.

``They are both ethnic ensemble cast movies, both have a family appeal about them and that communal feeling that comes from shared experiences of a similar cultural background,'' Dergarabedian said. ``Both of these movies celebrate that.''