Natl  Film Title                Weekend Gross
Rank  LDS/Mormon Filmmaker/Star   Total Gross Theaters Days
---  ----------------------------- -----------  -----  ----
 5   We Were Soldiers                8,488,331  3,143    17
     Keri Russell (actress)         53,326,665

32   Ocean's Eleven                   $267,623    311   101
     LDS characters: Malloy twins  182,337,490

37   Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure  196,251     23   402
     Scott Swofford (producer)       8,906,017
     Reed Smoot (cinematographer)
     Sam Cardon (composer)
     Stephen L. Johnson (film editor)

48   The Other Side of Heaven           60,088     34    94
     Mitch Davis (writer/director)   1,784,587
     John H. Groberg (author/character)
     Gerald Molen, John Garbett (producers)
     Steven Ramirez (film editor)

52   Mulholland Drive                   35,095     30   161
     Joyce Eliason (producer/writer) 7,077,663

53   The Singles Ward                   31,958     12    45
     Kurt Hale (writer/director)       343,083
     John E. Moyer (writer)
     Dave Hunter (producer)
     Cody Hale (composer)
     Ryan Little (cinematographer)
     Wynn Hougaard (film editor)
     Actors: Will Swenson, Connie Young,
        Daryn Tufts, Kirby Heyborne,
        Michael Birkeland, Robert Swenson,
        Lincoln Hoppe, Gretchen Whalley,
        Sedra Santos, etc.

54   Behind Enemy Lines                 30,657     72   108
     David Veloz (screenwriter)     58,821,129

84   Galapagos                           5,604      3   871
     Reed Smoot (cinematographer)   12,401,869
     
92   China: The Panda Adventure          4,557      5   234
     Reed Smoot (cinematographer)    2,003,812

98   Cirque du Soleil: Journey of Man    3,459      2   682
     Reed Smoot (cinematographer)   13,119,264

107  Mark Twain's America 3D             2,674      1  1354
     Alan Williams (composer)        2,173,898

119  Island of the Sharks                1,296      2  1053
     Alan Williams (composer)       10,654,745

HEAVEN OPENS WIDE: Excel Entertainment, the distributors of "The Other Side of Heaven," made headlines by announcing that Mitch Davis' movie about Elder John H. Groberg's mission to Tonga would open nationwide on April 12th, 2002. This marks the first time that an LDS-themed movie made by Latter-day Saints will be in wide release. Dutcher's "God's Army" and "Brigham City" (also distributed by Excel) were given a platform release -- only playing in select regions on a limited number of screens at any one time.

The highest number of theaters showing "God's Army" concurrently was 49. For "Brigham City", the number was 51. So far, the highest number of theaters showing "The Other Side of Heaven" has been 43. But with a nationwide release, the figure could easily be in the hundreds. If the movie does even moderately well in wide release, it could easily earn more than $1 million in additional ticket sales, in addition to its $1.74 million so far. This would put it ahead of the $2.6 million total box office revenue earned by "God's Army." The budget for "God's Army" was $300,000; the budget for "Heaven" was $7 million. So unless "Heaven" far exceeds expectations, "God's Army" will still remain the ROI (return on investment) champ.

In other "Other Side of Heaven" news, a half-hour special about the making of the movie, featuring interviews with the stars and filmmakers and behind-the-scenes footage, aired on KBYU this week. Let's hope they include this on the DVD.

FINAL CUT FILM FESTIVAL AT BYU: The annual student film festival was held March 12 - 16 at Brigham Young University. The awards went to:

Best Art Direction
Andrew Black and Anne Black for Avernus

Best Supporting Actor
Hubbel Palmer for Logjammin'

Best Sound
Blair Larsen for Free

Best Supporting Actress
Allyson Everitt in Avernus

Best Original Score
James Stevens for Me Nsu Bio

Best Screenwriter
Maria Perez for Roots and Wings

Best Actress
Jessica Mockett for Barren Earth

Best Editing
Alexander Vance for Avernus

Best Actor
German Contreras for Roots and Wings

Best Cinematography in a body of work
Travis Cline

Best Director
Andrew Black for Avernus

Best Commercial
No Other Solution, Jason Faller and Susan Teh

Best Animation
Signal Strength, Travis Deming and Randall Day

Best Documentary
Me Nsu Bio, Christopher Rawson and Tressa Lynn Halcrow

Best Narrative
Barren Earth, Bryan Lefler and Tawnya Cazier

Judges Award
Final Cut 2002 trailer, Andrew Black, Jason Faller, Travis Cline, Kynan Griffin, Alexander Vance

Audience Choice
Roots and Wings, Christian Vuissa and Maria Perez

SATURN AWARD NOMINATIONS: Saturn award nominations were announced this week, honoring the year's top achievements in genre television and film. "Joy Ride" (starring Mormon actor Paul Walker), and "Mulholland Drive" (co-written and co-produced by Joyce Eliason), were both nominated for Best Action/Adventure/Thriller Film. ("Mulholland Drive" also picked up nominations in the Best Actress category for Naomi Watts, Best Director category for David Lynch, Best Music and Best DVD Special Edition Release.) "Shrek" (originally produced by John Garbett, the Latter-day Saint producer of "The Other Side of Heaven") was nominated for Best Fantasy Film. ("Shrek" also received nominations for Best Supporting Actor for Eddie Murphy, and Best Music.) "Jack and the Beanstalk - The Real Story", which starred Mormon actor Matthew Modine as "Jack," was nominated for Best Single Television Presentation. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was nominated for Best DVD Classic Film Release. ("Snow White" stars Mormon actor Moroni Olsen as the voice of the Magic Mirror and features an Academy Award-nominated musical score by Mormon composer Leigh Harline).

NELEH WATCH: The 3rd episode of "Survivor: Marquesas" did not feature Layton, Utah resident Neleh Dennis as prominently as last week's unforgettable fish-fest. But Neleh's team "Rotu" won both its challenges this week, making its total challenge record 5 wins, and zero losses. Host Jeff Probst informed Maraamu that it had the biggest losing streak in "Survivor" history. Maybe it has something to do with all the infighting and back-stabbing going on in the Maraamu camp, while the Rotu atmosphere is as harmonious as a seminary video.