ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT TALL GEISHA

A sharp-eyed reader has pointed out that MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA is already giving off all the signs that it's going to be a 900 lb monster this Christmas Season (the movie opens Dec. 9). There's been word of a very positive second test screening and taking that as a sign that they could have an Oscar gobbling monster on their hands, Columbia and Sony Pictures have cleared the deck. Their other big movie, ALL THE KING'S MEN, with Sean Penn, has been unceremoniously punted from a Dec. release to a 2006 date, effectively scuttling its Oscar ambitions. Which either means it's a real stinker, or they want to commit their resources to GEISHA, or both.

I didn't see this coming, but it looks like pretty soon everyone's going to be talking about heading down to the mall and checking out that Koji Yakusho/Gong Li/Michelle Yeoh flick.

GEISHA has been rated PG-13.