Next best thing to the footy?

By BBC News Online's Megan Lane

While the footy's on telly, there's nothing us girls like more than slipping off to watch the latest romantic comedy - at least, that's what film distributors are hoping.

With three weeks of Euro 2000 matches about to kick off, a raft of cinema romances and historical dramas are set to be screened.

US box office

Next Best Thing: $14.9m in three months

Eye of the Beholder: $16.5m in two months

Return to Me: $30.9m in two months

Gladiator: $138.9m in a month

Mission Impossible 2: $130.7m in first two weeks

But sceptics say the surge in "chick flicks" is also a calculated move to delay blockbusters until after the soccer tournament. Insiders say the industry fears football would steal the limelight from mega-buck spectaculars such as Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible 2 (MI2).

Among the 12 films to be released in June are Eye of the Beholder, starring Ashley Judd and Scottish eye-candy Ewan McGregor, and the Minnie Driver-David Duchovny body-part romance Return to Me.

But the biggest gun in the distributor's arsenal is Madonna's The Next Best Thing, in which the diva plays a yoga instructor pregnant to her gay friend, Rupert Everett.

But will this ploy fire blanks at the box office?

Damage limitation

Robert Mitchell, handling the UK distribution of The Next Best Thing, hopes the film will do well in the UK, despite bombing in the United States.

"We are boosting the film's chances by releasing during the contest. We know there will be many women who will jump at the chance to watch anything but soccer."

Sliding Doors cashed in on anti-football fever in 1998

A similar tactic was employed during the 1998 World Cup, when Sliding Doors star Gwyneth Paltrow beamed from thousands of posters clutching a referee's red card.

Patronising campaign or not, the film did blinding business.

Stuart Boreman, film-buying director for United Cinemas International, says Euro 2000 is seen as the ideal time to release smaller films aimed at the women in the audience.

"I think it is significant that Gladiator and U-571 were both released two to three weeks before the tournament.

"When England play on Monday, about 10 million people will be watching the game - they won't be at the cinema. If you went with too many male-orientated films, they wouldn't do as well."

Rupert Everett and Madonna: On screen during Euro 2000

Catherine Hanly, the editor of film website Empire Online, says films with wider appeal are being held back.

"Just look at the release date list during and after the tournament. Mission Impossible 2, The Patriot and Perfect Storm - all big blockbuster movies - aren't coming out until after it's over.

"MI2 would transcend even football, but The Patriot - Mel Gibson doing the Braveheart thing in America - hasn't had as much hype. It wouldn't do as well during Euro 2000."