Posted: Sun., Dec. 31, 2000, 11:00pm PT

Film Report Card: MGM

By Variety Staff

MGM finished 2000 at the back of the studio pact, but don't count the Lion out. Last year was more about rebuilding MGM than seeing the fruits of those labors.

On the distribution side, the studio exited UIP and struck a new international distribution pact with Fox. Meanwhile, MGM's specialty label, United Artists, inked a 10-pic pact with Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope.

At the top of MGM's new year is the much-anticipated "The Silence of the Lambs" sequel, "Hannibal," helmed by Ridley Scott and starring Anthony Hopkins.Vice chairman and chief operating officer Chris McGurk called "Return to Me" and "Autumn in New York" very profitable investments for MGM, noting that you don't need to make $50 million a pic to succeed. (For "Autumn," MGM put in only about $14 million of the $45 million-budgeted Lakeshore pic).

"We are going to be a major player next year," said McGurk, whose studio's slate includes "Rollerball" (in co-production with Atlas) and the John Woo-helmed "Windtalkers," starring Nicolas Cage. "We are comfortable with our position if a strike happens."

MGM Domestic box office
Film	Release date	2000 gross*
The Thomas Crown Affair	1999	0.02
Stigmata	1999	0.03
The World Is Not Enough	1999	9.1
Flawless	1999	0.1
Supernova	Jan. 14	14.2
3 Strikes	March 1	9.8
Return to Me	April 7	32.7
Autumn in New York	Aug. 11	37.8
This Is Spinal Tap**	Sept. 8	0.2
Crime and Punishment in Suburbia	Sept. 15	0.03
The Fantasticks	Sept. 22	0.05
TOTAL		104.0
** reissue * - figures in millions

2001 slate
Film	Release date
Antitrust	Jan. 12
Hannibal	Feb. 9
Original Sin	Feb. 23
Deuce's Wild	March
Heartbreakers	April
Ghost World	spring
Born Romantic	spring
Legally Blonde	summer
What's the Worst That Could Happen	summer
Rollerball	summer
Bandits	summer
Jeepers Creepers	fall
City of Ghosts	fall
CQ	fall
Monster	fall
Pumpkin	fall
Windtalkers	Thanksgiving
Hart's War	Christmas