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Stephen Gaghan has won numerous awards for his writing skills, including Golden Globe and Academy awards for the movie Traffic. This time, he takes on the additional duties of director in this psychological thriller based on the novel Adam's Fall by Sean Desmond.

Katie Holmes stars as Katie Burke, a college senior who is under a lot of stress. She is trying to complete her thesis and get a job at a high-powered consulting firm. Suddenly, she starts experiencing some troubling visions. Her first love, who mysteriously disappeared two years ago, is starting to show up again. And not physically. Detective Wade Handler (Benjamin Bratt) has been investigating the disappearance and has uncovered some worrisome facts about the case. Handler has also just started a life of sobriety, which doesn't help matters any. Burke and Handler are both at a fragile time in their lives and are relying on each other's strengths to get them through.

Early reviews of the script haven't been very positive. Take that with a grain of salt. Many times script re-writes and the masterful touch of a director and/or editor can do wonders. (Marty Doskins/BOP)

October 18, 2002
With a marketing campaign that is hitting stations such as the WB and MTV, Abandon is positioning itself as a thriller for the teen market. The cast, including Holmes, Bratt and Heath Ledger-lookalike Charlie Hunnam, is very pretty but that's certainly not going to be enough to draw people to theaters. The commercials and trailers won't be either, as they appear to give away far too much - and what they show really doesn't look good at all.

The film is set to debut on a middling number of screens - approximately 2,300 - but other than a script from Academy Award-winner Stephen Gaghan (Traffic), there's really not much going for this film. Katie Holmes saw fellow cast-mate James Van Der Beek crash and burn last weekend as Rules of Attraction opened poorly. If Abandon has a similarly poor showing, perhaps we can declare the Dawson's Creek era officially over. (Kim Hollis/BOP)

Vital statistics for Abandon Main Cast Katie Holmes, Benjamin Bratt Supporting Cast Charlie Hunnam, Zooey Deschanel, Malanie Lynskey, Gabrielle Union Director Stephen Gaghan Screenwriter Stephen Gaghan Distributor Paramount Trailer Click Here for Trailer Talent in red has entry in The Big Picture

Comparison films for Abandon
Title	Date	Opening	Adjusted Opening	Screens	PSA	Adj PSA	Total BO	Adjusted Total	Mult
Final Destination 2	1/31/03	16.02	16.02	2834	5652.00	5652.0	46.90	46.90	2.93
Traffic	1/5/01	15.52	16.56	1510	10277.00	10549.8	124.11	132.46	7.96
Final Destination	3/17/00	10.02	11.20	2585	3876.00	4170.8	53.30	59.62	5.32
Frequency	4/28/00	9.03	10.10	2621	3445.00	3707.1	44.98	50.31	4.98
Gift, The	1/19/01	3.46	3.69	805	4299.00	4413.1	11.95	12.75	3.44