It's the first weekend in June, and it's crowded with a month-long buildup of blockbuster releases. Snow White and the Huntsman (3,772 theatres) will have to compete against last week's Men in Black 3 and the behemoth The Avengers, which is still drawing in plenty of people thanks to its great word-of-mouth. Universal is giving a cautious low-to-mid $30 millions prediction for opening weekend, an estimate the Kristen Stewart-Chris Hemsworth-Charlize Theron picture will likely hit. Thankfully, Snow White and the Huntsman is clear of at least one liability. Mirror Mirror, the comedic Snow White picture that released this spring, took a completely different angle and was also not much of a success. The studio won't be battling fairy tale princess fatigue. As for the movie itself? FJI critic Daniel Eagan was not impressed, called it "both bloated and empty," and "grim, mostly humorless, and exhausting." I found myself wishing I were watching an episode of "Game of Thrones," and was less awed by the special effects than distracted by their encroaching ubiquity.
Aiming at Hispanic audiences, who are frequent moviegoers, For Greater Glory (757 theatres) is a sweeping Mexican historical war epic that will strongly appeal to this niche audience. Critic Shirley Sealy deems it "admirable but flawed," and sheepishly revealed she found the Wikipedia entry about the Cristeros War more interesting than the movie itself.
A tribute to B-movie horror, Piranha 3DD (86 theatres), will open in theatres and on-demand this weekend. The small theatrical release indicates this movie is eyeing the home market more than the theatre crowd, but the small release could yield a high per-screen average.
A few smaller movies will join the indie circuit this weekend. Pink Ribbons Inc. (3 theatres) explores the dark side and commercialization of breast cancer fundraising. Paul Williams Still Alive documents a filmmaker's search for his favorite minor celebrity, and Wish Me Away (2 theatres) follows country star Chely Wright as she comes out as gay.
On Monday, we'll see if Snow White intrigued both female and male audiences, and if Hispanic audiences turned out for For Greater Glory.
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