MAY 3, 2001

Stallone's movie massacres the opposition

SYLVESTER STALLONE's racing movie "Driven" took nearly twice as much money as its nearest rival at the US Box Office last weekend. The movie took $13.1m while "Bridget Jones's Diary" took only $7.5m. Third-placed "Spy Kids" took only $5.7m but has already collected $93.6m in the last few months. Despite the success of Stallone the weekend was a disappointing one for all the film companies with viewing figures down 20% over last year.

If the film continues to pull in big money, Formula 1 will be kicking itself that it let the opportunity of a movie slip away. Originally Stallone wanted to make a film about Formula 1 but he decided on CART in the end, saying that the F1 authorities were not being serious about his project.