‘Ride Along’ to pull up ahead of ‘Jack Ryan’

Buddy cop comedy Ride Along, starring Ice Cube and comedian Kevin Hart, whose documentary Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain was one of the most successful docs of 2013, is poised to cut in front of the other guys and finish first this weekend. Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit will likely be Ride’s fiercest competitor, although the spy reboot isn’t expected to put up much of a fight.

Ride Along follows a seasoned cop who tries to scare away his sister’s boyfriend by taking the wannabe policeman on a faux ride-along – which soon turns very and hilariously real. Pundits believe the film’s dual plots involving a romantic relationship and a budding bromance should appeal to audiences of both genders and help the film score big at the box-office. Expectations are hovering about $30 million for the long weekend. Interestingly, if Ride Along does earn the most money, this will be the third consecutive year a Universal film has come out on top over the MLK holiday.

Chris Pine is now the fourth actor to tackle the popular Tom Clancy character Jack Ryan. Alec Baldwin played him once and Harrison Ford played him twice in the ‘90s, while Ben Affleck made the most recent attempt to establish a Jack Ryan franchise with 2002’s The Sum of All Fears. Is Chris Pine finally the guy to make a Bourne-like success of Ryan? Unclear. The film has gotten mixed though not terrible reviews, with many critics adopting an ambivalent attitude: Competent enough, but we’ve seen it before. Shadow Recruit opens in 3,387 theatres to Ride Along’s 2,662, but even with a potentially larger audience base, the movie is only expected to gross somewhere in the high-teens.

2013 saw a number of high returns for horror films, and Devil’s Due may be looking to continue that momentum. Unfortunately, the movie’s found-footage conceit, once a popular device, seems to be wearing thin with viewers. Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones also featured spooky video and yet it failed to match the figures of past Paranormal Activity movies, opening to just $18 million, a new franchise low. Devil’s Due doesn’t have a similarly recognizable name, or cast (although fans of TV show “Friday Night Lights” will be excited to see Matt Saracen up on the big screen), in which case, the film will likely clock in between $10 and $15 million.

Animated kids’ comedy The Nut Job is the last new release opening wide this weekend. Comparisons to Disney’s winter behemoth Frozen are inevitable, although the latter continues to hold remarkably strong. The nutty squirrel caper may have novelty on its side, but Frozen has the enduring appeal of Idina Menzel. The princess musical will likely out-earn Job, which isn’t expected to gross more than $20 million or so.

Lastly, several Academy Award nominees are getting their pre-Oscars re-release this weekend, to the delight of those intent on seeing each of the nine Best Picture contenders before the March 2 telecast. Technically, Captain Phillips is already two days into its theatrical return, having opened in 903 theatres on Wednesday. Favorites Gravity and 12 Years a Slave will screen in 944 and 761 locations, respectively.

Kaufman carves out piece of film history

Situated in the “suburbs of New York City,” as one member of the press put it, The Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens, New York, is now the proud home to the city's very first backlot. The space made its official debut earlier today at a well-attended ribbon-cutting ceremony. Though the weather was mild, sunny, and cooperatively ripe for the public display of an outdoor facility, the attenuating press conference was held inside Kaufman studios itself. Journalists and the city’s cultural movers and shakers schmoozed by the set of Amazon’s hit Web series “Alpha House,” though they were cordoned off from the show’s important, breakable items (facades of painted-brick houses and a long, imposing hallway with the look of sterile governmental officiousness about it provided the backdrop for what was really a congenial photo-op for the event’s politician speakers).

After getting off to a late start – not that many of the attendees minded, given the dark chocolate and peanut-butter cupcakes available – several important personages, figureheads and influential personalities alike, discussed the benefits of the new Kaufman Studios backlot. Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer was the day’s master of ceremonies, providing the opening remarks and setting the excited and hopeful, if often self-congratulatory, tone. “We like to think of it as Hollywood East,” he said of the studio space. “What [Head of Kaufman Studios] George Kaufman started here has produced billions – literally billions – of dollars in revenue,” and countless jobs.

Photo credit: Jill Lotenberg

Subsequent speakers, including Senator Charles Schumer, George Kaufman’s right-hand man Hal Rosenbluth, Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, Senator Michael Gianaris, Assembly Member Aravella Simotas, and Senior Vice President of Film, Arts and Culture Development for New York State Rhoda Glickman, each echoed Van Bramer’s sentiments in turn. George Kaufman’s achievement – renovating the studio space after it fell into disrepair around 1980, subsequently revamping New York City’s film industry – was universally lauded, as were the benefits of the city’s film tax exemptions.

“The breaks come back to us – so much money comes back to us,” said Senator Schumer. The reinvigorated movie business has “created hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs – not tens of thousands,” he was quick to emphasize.

Rosenbluth sounded, “Today is the celebration of a vision coming true,” while Senator Gianaris challenged the haters (none of whom were in attendance). He asked that “for all those who want to be critical, to rewind 10 years… It’s not just the talent, Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford, that’re making money off these productions.” He ticked off carpenters, electricians, and caterers as examples of those who benefit from a healthy entertainment business. Later, Rosenbluth cited the end credits of a film. “Each name [you see] is a job,” he said, “and each company is many jobs.”

George Kaufman, the man of the hour and its least loquacious, spoke briefly of how proud he felt and of his hopes for the future development and success of those projects that utilize the lot.

The conference moved along at a nice clip. Afterwards, the press was invited outside for more officially staged photos, including those that included the cutting of the ribbon. The speakers grouped together before the lot’s gates and beneath an outdoor catwalk, accessible via a broad spiral staircase and headed by large metal letters spelling out “Kaufman.”

Photo credit: Jill Lotenberg

Though she didn’t speak during the press conference, “Orange is the New Black” actress Dascha Polanco was on hand to discuss her experience filming Netflix’s popular series on the Kaufman property. As someone living on the border of Brooklyn and Queens, she said, she felt “proud” when she first got wind of a Kaufman backlot. “It’s a great representation of how things [here] keep getting better and improve. I’m witnessing history, and that’s an honor.” Not to mention a memorable way to kick off your 30th birthday.

Polanco’s reference to history is apt. Back when it was known as Famous Players Lasky, the studio officially opened for show-business in 1920. It later went on to house Paramount Studios, and, for many years, was the largest film stage outside of Hollywood. Early luminaries like Gloria Swanson, Claudette Colbert and W.C. Fields all starred in productions filmed in the space. More recently, Kaufman studios continues to play host to TV series “Nurse Jackie” and "Sesame Street," as well as “Alpha House” and “Orange is the New Black.” The Bourne Legacy filmed there, as did the upcoming Ben Stiller drama The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.

“This is a game-changer for New York,” Schumer stated. We have the talent, he said, as so many people would rather live here than in California. In other words, and in sum:  “Hollywood, watch out!”

'Morning Glory' ready to blossom, 'Butter' churning

By Sarah Sluis

J.J. Abrams has been busy, recently re-upping his production company's contract with Paramount and signing on for a Star Trek sequel. Next on his plate, however, is producing the workplace comedy

Morning Glory. In a film packed with stars spanning multiple generations, Harrison Ford will lead the cast, portraying a past-his-prime anchorman who switches to a morning news show. There, he butts heads with the other host, Diane Keaton. Rachel McAdams plays the young producer trying to corral the stars in order to score recognition with her boss, Jeff Goldblum. Keaton and McAdams worked together on family-themed romantic comedy The Family Stone, but Keaton and Ford, aged 63 and 66, respectively, have yet to work with each other during the careers--maybe they'll have a nice chemistry onscreen. Director Roger Michell (Venus, Notting Hill) and writer Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses, Laws of Attraction) have an impressive amount of comedy and romance experience between them, making me suspect that Keaton and Ford's dislike of each other might turn into romance. Of course, there's also the possibility the movie emphasize the workplace over the romance, like beloved films Network or maybe even Working Girl. In these films, a job is more than simply a profession for the character to have as they carry on a romance out of the workplace (i.e. Katherine Heigl being an "E!" host in Knocked Up), but their true "love." I also adore behind-the-scenes movies, so I know I'll really relish watching what goes on at a "Today"-type show. Production starts this June in New York, so if the characters aren't spending too much time in the studio, I'll look for them filming on the streets of the city.

Another project that just got off the ground is Butter, a "Best in Show meets Election" that will star (and be produced by) Jennifer Garner. The screenplay by Jason Micallef landed him on the unofficial Black

Book of 2008, a list of unproduced screenplays that executives like best. Garner would lend her dimpled, endearing persona to the Midwestern tale, playing an adopted outsider who discovers a hidden talent for butter carving (an actual farm country endeavor, thus the screenwriter's inspiration). She proves an unlikely source of competition, earning the ire of the overachieving wife of the retired butter-carving champion, who is intent on winning the prize for herself. It sounds like a wacky role that I imagine Garner, who is both likeable and tough (as an action star in "Alias") excelling in. I also sincerely hope there is a hint of Drop Dead Gorgeous in the film, the mockumentary about a Southern beauty pageant that took regional stereotyping to hilarious extremes. Garner's project is being developed with Mandate, which produced Juno, another film Garner played a role in.