'The Twilight: Breaking Dawn--Part 2' prepares for record weekend

The romantic saga of Bella, Edward, and Jacob concludes with The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn--Part 2 (4,070 theatres). Because fans know this will be the last movie, turnout should be particularly high. Many expect an opening of $150 million, higher than New Moon ($142 million opening) or Breaking Dawn--Part 1 ($138 million). Also, Summit scheduled screenings not only on
midnight Thursday, but also at 10pm, which should bring in additional early viewers. For a series like Twilight, fans want to see the movie right away, so the opening weekend will end up being around half of the total, making that time frame's results an important figure to track. Our thoughts go out to the theatre managers who will be dealing with long lines and crazed fans this weekend.

After posting a near-record per-screen average last week, Lincoln will expand to 1,775 theatres. The adult-leaning historical biopic will have some competition from Skyfall, which has also been drawing in an adult male audience. However, the James Bond film has already been out for two weeks, so at least some portion of potential moviegoers will have already seen Skyfall, making the "which-movie-do-we-see" decision at the box office a default one for Lincoln.

With Thanksgiving on Thursday, this weekend is popular for specialty releases to get a head start
on the holiday crowd. The Toronto Film Festival Audience Award winner Silver Linings Playbook will open in 16 theatres before expanding into 420 theatres next Friday. Two recent Audience Award winners, Slumdog Millionaire and The King's Speech, also went on to win the Best Picture Oscar, so hopes are high for the love story between two crazy, lost souls. Star Jennifer Lawrence's increased prominence in the wake of her starring role in The Hunger Games, as well as Bradley Cooper's roles in the Hangover comedies may give the "delightful romantic comedy with unusually dark underpinnings," as described by critic Kevin Lally, a broader appeal and awareness level. "The prospects couldn’t be
brighter for this immensely satisfying and surprising comedy," he predicts. A dance competition finale reminiscent of the one that was so crowd-pleasing in Little Miss Sunshine, as well as a football plotline, make this a comedy that should catch on beyond the arthouse crowd.

Much of the action in Anna Karenina (16 theatres) is set on a stage, "a statement on the highly artificial
world that the Russian aristocracy had entrapped itself in, circa
1874," and also "a device heightening the novel’s already potent
melodrama," muses critic Chris Barsanti. The unusual artistic choice may have some detractors, as indicated by the 64% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but others will be drawn in by director Joe Wright's bold choice. Keira Knightley shines in yet another costume drama, which will be angling for Oscar nominations.

On Monday, we'll see which of the 16-screen specialty releases posted the higher per-screen average, if Lincoln was able to get audiences to secede from Skyfall, and if The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2 posts the highest opening for the franchise yet.

'Expendables 2' sends its troupe of action stars up against 'Bourne Legacy'

Featuring the classic but "underemployed action heroes" of the past few decades, The Expendables 2 (3,316 theatres) creates a whole that's greater than the sum of its parts. Each star gets a chance to show off, and "ten minutes of Chuck Norris mocking his old screen persona is a lot more fun than actually sitting through an entire Norris vehicle," opines critic Daniel Eagan. The first action outing opened to $34 million two years ago, and the sequel should meet or top that. The "mindless, state-of-the art nonsense" should please nostalgia-seeking fans of the Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Jean-Claude Van Damme and their ilk.

Coraline studio LAIKA follows up that spooky picture with another creepy story using stop-motion animation, ParaNorman (3,429 theatres). Centering on a young boy whose ability to see ghosts makes him the only one able to save his town from a curse, the feature includes a topical anti-bullying message. But driving that message home means the movie is a "rollicking good time until its jarringly somber and earnest final act." Coraline opened to $18 million, so a similar figure would be a success for this 3D follow-up.

Whitney Houston makes her final film appearance in Sparkle (2,244 theatres), a remake of the 1976 musical about a trio of sisters trying to make it big as singers and performers. Jordin Sparks (a winner of "American Idol") stars as the most promising singer. Houston's dialogue can have a "bizarre, eerily predictive quality," notes critic Marsha McCreadie, who thought the film lacked soul. The movie is "like watching a 'highlights of' music special strung together by an afterthought-like storyline," she laments. An opening number in the mid-teens is expected for this Motown era feature.

The sentimental The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2,598 theatres) "mistakes cheesiness for charm," according to critic David Guzman. The story of an infertile couple whose dream child magically appears in their garden is "as goofy as it is soulless." Guzman predicts it will appeal to neither children nor their parents. Disney reports the movie is tracking best among women and families. It earned $2.3 million when it opened on Wednesday, so it should end up close to $20 million over the five-day period.

Twilight fans may get something a little different than they expect with Cosmopolis (2 theatres), which stars sometimes-vampire Robert Pattinson. The "serenely crazed view of the present," courtesy of director David Cronenberg, earns the accolades of critic Chris Barsanti. The Iranian filmmakers behind animated Persepolis turn to live action in Chicken with Plums (3 theatres), a "beautifully scored and well-acted" historically-based feature, according to critic Maria Garcia.

On Monday, we'll see if The Expendables 2 crashes through The Bourne Legacy's opening figure last weekend, and which movies broke away from the pack in this crowded, late-summer weekend.

Five things to know about 'Breaking Dawn' after watching the trailer

By Sarah Sluis

The first three Twilight movies have grossed roughly $1.8 billion worldwide. Not bad for a love triangle between a human, a vampire, and a werewolf. The fourth book has been split into two movies, and Summit recently released the second, more revealing trailer for Breaking Dawn Part I. The trailer does not disappoint. Here are five things to know about the latest installment to the Twilight franchise.

1. It's the most sexual Twilight movie yet. After Bella and Edward get married, the couple makes out underneath waterfalls, on their honeymoon bed, and pretty much everywhere else. Considering the first movie had no more than a chaste kiss, the contents of the trailer are pretty shocking. Author Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon, which has a strict no-sex-before-marriage policy. Now that Bella and Edward have tied the knot, it appears that the two will have no problem expressing their love on-screen.

2. Bella gets pregnant with a vampire fetus that breaks her bones and wants to eat her. While this is just alluded to in the first trailer, the second features lots of arguing about the bloodsucker growing inside her womb. Of course, Edward could always turn her into a vampire to make her live forever, something he just might be tempted to do if the vampire baby saps the life away from her... (plot hint). If you don't think the Twilight series is ridiculous enough already, just keep saying "vampire baby" to yourself over and over.

3. It will have a gory childbirth scene. People on the Internet are actually excited about this, and I'm at a loss to imagine how the filmmakers will translate the scene onto film. Spoiler alert: Bella has to give birth via emergency C-section and nearly dies, and word is the novel doesn't spare any details.

4. It uses the same child-adult romance technique that was so creepy in The Time Traveler's Wife. Poor werewolf Jacob never managed to land Bella. Why not go after her child? After seeing their daughter Renesmee (a portmanteau of Renee and Esme), he "imprints" on her. They will be friends until she reaches a mature age, when they will then become romantically involved. I guess Meyer was trying to wrap things up and needed to allude to what would happen to Renesmee and Jacob, so she created the imprinting thing to give the audience closure on the Jacob story. I still don't like it, and the choice alienated many of her fans, too.

5. Part I will probably be better than Part II. A lot of the big action points occur leading up to the birth of Edward and Bella's child. After that, the plot continues, but it's talkier and involves some weak, phantom threats. I wouldn't be surprised if the penultimate episode of the series becomes the most popular movie, the reverse of what happened with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, the highest grossing movie of that series.

Breaking Dawn Part I comes out November 18, 2011.

'Green Zone' leads this week's new releases

By Sarah Sluis

With four new movies competing for audiences' attention, this weekend will be a busy one at the box office. The number one film, however, is unlikely to change. After a hundred-million-plus opening weekend, Alice in Wonderland should stay in first place, earning at least $50 million in its second weekend.

Green Zone (3,003 theatres) appears to be the likely candidate for second place. Directed by Paul Greengrass and starring Matt Damon, the movie could be mistaken for a Bourne knockoff but ends up being far from it. What could have been the birth of the "action muckraker" genre, according to our critic Chris Barsanti, turns into a "bad drama" with a "time-compressed story that sacrifices believability." Close followers of the Iraq invasion and search for WMDs will be rewarded with characters strikingly similar to the original players.

The middling blue-collar comedy She's Out of My League (2,956 theatres) details a romance between a TSA employee (Jay Baruchel) and "a rich, nice, gorgeous law-school grad turned high-end party planner" (Alice Eve). While our critic Frank Lovece praised the movie's performances and male bonding, he felt the movie didn't gel, lacking that je ne sais quoi: chemistry.

The other comedy on the plate is a PG-13 tale of nuptial hijinks, Our Family Wedding (1,605 theatres). Starring the lovely America Ferrera from "Ugly Betty," along with Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia, the movie lacks the kind of comedic sparkle that would make it great, but according to THR critic Sheri Linden, "there's a sweetness to the silliness that's likely to find a warm welcome." With such a small release, and not much of a marketing campaign to speak of, this movie could either be a surprise performer or a theatrical release that serves primarily as a platform for DVD sales.

Romantic drama Remember Me (2,212 theatres) makes a play for the hearts of Twilight fans, to some success. Robert Pattinson and Emilie de Ravin ("Lost") co-star as NYU students and lovers who have both experienced the death of a family member. As they bond over their shared sense of loss, another historical tragedy steps in to finish up the plot. Hint: it's set in New York City during the summer of 2001. Whether this movie over- or under-performs at the box office will say a lot about Pattinson's star power.

On Monday we'll circle back to see where these four releases fell in the top ten (hopefully they all make it there), and grumble a little about our loss of one whole hour to Daylight Savings Time.

'New Moon' to bring fangirls to the box office

By Sarah Sluis

The Twilight Saga: New Moon will open in over 4,000 theatres at midnight, 600 more screens than the first Twilight. Movietickets.com reported that over 2,150 screenings of the vampire romance have sold out, and the film has surpassed franchise films like Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter to become their #1 advance seller of all time. The reviews are coming in, but it's doubtful the fan base will even care. This movie is all about reliving the book with the added visuals of Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, and the swoons and shrieks of your friends and fellow audience members. Plus, the sequel combines Vampire-mania with Werewolf-mania, throwing heroine Bella into a love triangle between the two man-creatures.

The Blind Side, which many have called Precious with a white, Republican savior (and thus appealing to that demographic) will open in 3,100 theatres. Sandra Bullock is in top form, but critic Michael Rechtshaffen wished that "Oher [the black homeless teen Bullock's character and her husband took in] had been presented as something other than essentially a large prop." Further separating itself from a movie like Precious, The Blind Side sticks to "proven inspirational sports-movie/fish-out-of-water

formulas while holding the inherent sociological issues to the

sidelines," despite the fact that "there also was room for more thought-provoking substance."

Planet 51 (2,600 theatres), a kind of E.T. in reverse, revolves around an astronaut who has landed in a suburban alien town. Grade-school joke: they think he's the one who's funny looking. The "Sci-Fi Lite" movie, according to critic Kirk Honeycutt, has "gentle jokes and cornball battles," and is geared more towards children than the adult-children mix more frequently seen in today's animated movies.

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans opens in 27 theatres, and if you are near one--you need to see it. Genre-wise, it's a story of a corrupt cop (Nicolas Cage) in love with a prostitute (Eva Mendes), but director Werner Herzog takes this story places you have never even imagined. The screening I was in prompted several moments where everyone broke out in shocked laughter--whether it was because Cage was so outrageously bad, mad-scientist crazy, or because the movie did things you just aren't supposed to do on film, including alligator point-of-view shots.

Also moving into theatres on Friday is Red Cliff. Directed by John Woo, the American version compresses the two-film arc into one historical epic critic Daniel Eagan called "teeming with characters and plot twists," but "told in such a direct and vigorous style that it is never confusing."

New Moon is the hands-down winner for this weekend, but its narrower fan base is always a liability. Everyone will be watching to see how much the film drops Saturday and Sunday after its Friday open. Precious and Fantastic Mr. Fox will be expanding this runs, and Planet 51 needs to bring in audiences before The Princess and the Frog opens over Thanksgiving (though, thankfully, in a limited run).

Glimpses of 'New Moon'

By Sarah Sluis

The most anticipated fantasy movie of the fall is undoubtedly New Moon. The official trailer recently appeared online, and there's also a featurette with additional clips circulating on the Internet. The footage of the second film, which releases November 20th, looks promising. Both the Twilight and New Moon trailers center on a moment where heartthrob vampire Edward saves his beloved Bella from danger, but in New Moon there's an additional "save" scene that reveals a big plot point of the second movie: Jake's a werewolf!! The trailer also shows off New Moon's bigger budget: there's sweeping helicopter shots, a CGI transformation that's quite impressive, and a glimpse of Dakota Fanning, whose star status certainly added to production costs. I'm willing to put some faith in director Chris Weitz, who basically ruined another fantasy franchise, The Golden Compass. The big-budget movie was stiff, failed to convey the uniqueness of the book's fantasy world, and nixed any chance for the sequels. Weitz is only directing, not writing, which might improve the odds of the film's success. Plus, he's working with a fantasy world that's already been architected in the first film, which leaves less to chance. I loved About a Boy, and I hope he can extract some of that charm from the actors in New Moon. While this is a movie for the fans, not the critics, New Moon also looks like a fun time for those that are interested in the franchise but find the books to be subliterate. To entice fans and get them excited about the release, Summit is putting on a roadshow convention, which will feature star appearances, exclusive footage, and a gamut of parties, trivia contests, panel discussions and more. Considering Twilight fans have created Beatlemania-type situations in their quest to catch a glimpse of star Robert Pattinson, which initially seemed to surprise Summit, this move is a complete 180 degrees into the right direction.

In the meantime, there's plenty of other fantasy literary adaptations in the works, though none with the romance that female viewers seem to crave. Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, which is helmed by Weitz's brother, Paul Weitz, hits theatres a month before New Moon, on October 23. The movie focuses on a restless young boy who sees an elaborate circus presentation. He befriends the leader (John C. Reilly) and becomes a vampire himself to star in the show--but in the process, breaks a truce between two warring factions of vampires. Also, Salma Hayek appears as a bearded lady. For Twilight fans that are old enough to see R-rated movies (and there's plenty of them) Jennifer's Body releases on September 18th. Seeing Megan Fox, a possessed soul, prey on her male classmates sounds like an empowering break from Bella's brushes with death that always seem to require rescue from her male companions. All of these movies appeal to wider audiences (namely, males) than Twilight, but they just might help scratch that Bella-Edward itch for fans.

'Twilight' draws teens, adults to a $70 million opening weekend

By Sarah Sluis

Surpassing both industry ($50-$60 million) and Summit Entertainment's ($40 million) expectations, Twilight earned $70.5 million this weekend.  The astounding figure makes my estimate of $100 million
in three weeks virtually guaranteed, even with this Wednesday's release of PG-13 spectacle Australia and comedy Four Christmases.  Twilight, which made $35.8 million on Friday alone (including midnight screenings from the evening before), dropped minimally on Saturday.  A cult film without crossover appeal usually dies on Saturday, but, like its undead hero, Twilight stayed alive.  The flurry of media around Twilight created a zero-to-sixty in awareness level among those unfamiliar with the source material, drawing out scores of curious viewers, especially mothers.  The film's Mormon connection siphoned away viewers from Disney's Bolt, which finished third at $27 million.  Utah, with its Mormon-heavy, family-oriented population, normally does above-average business with Disney films, but it appears those audiences chose Twilight over Bolt.  Disney expects audiences will turn out for Bolt in weeks to come, but Twilight's passionate fan base undoubtedly swayed groups of filmgoers towards the vampire romance.  Directed by Catherine Hardwicke, the film also turns out to be the biggest opening ever for a female-directed film.  More depressing than inspiring, only 6% of directors are female.  Betcha more than 6% of wannabe directors are female.

Beating out Bolt, Quantum of Solace finished at #2 with $27.4 million.  The best option for moviegoers not entranced by teen vampires or superstar dogs, the Bond film swiftly crossed the $100 million mark and brought its two-week total to $109.4 million.

Below the top three, kid-oriented pictures Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (#4, $16 million) and High School Musical 3 (#7, $2 million) experienced the biggest drops in business due to competition from Twilight and Bolt.  Each fell over 50% from last week, with HSM falling 64.5%.

Role Models ($7.2 million) and Changeling ($2.6 million) each dropped around 30% to finish at #5 and #6.  The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which expanded in its third week, made $1.6 million and grabbed the #9 spot.  Finishing just outside of the top ten, despite being exhibited in only 32 theatres, Slumdog Millionaire made $994,000, $31,000 per theatre.  Since its release, the film has received an uptick in Oscar buzz.  Unlike Changeling, which lost  Oscar momentum after people went out and saw the film, Slumdog Millionaire has played the underdog card successfully, making those who have seen the film feel as though they have discovered a gem.  If only a fraction of the viewers are like me--I've encouraged a number of friends and family to see the film--Slumdog will be a millionaire many times over.

Full box office results available here.

'Bolt' and 'Twilight' to satisfy the young (at heart)

By Sarah Sluis

Twilight (3,419 screens) debuted with sold-out midnight screenings last night, and finished at #5 among all-time pre-sold tickets (per Movietickets.com), right below The Dark Knight.  With the help of "Twilight Moms," the most obvious expansion of the teen girl demographic turning out for the film, the
vampire romance will continue to sell out screenings throughout the weekend.  Among non-Twilight-reading and Twilight-reading critics, the film has inspired polarized opinions.  A decent portion have acknowledged the film's ability to pull heartstrings despite some corny moments, but for others, like our critic Ethan Alter, those moments, combined with some trite camera setups and technical sloppiness, make the film unbearable.  A friend who accompanied the press screening called Twilight "teen fantasy reduced to its most basic form.   There is something so pure about a film that doesn't try to trick you into thinking it's clever, or appealing to anyone outside its demographic.  It's exactly the film for exactly its audience.  That's rare."

Bolt (3,651 screens) opens after a non buzz-generating sneak preview last weekend.  With a large portion of the screens exhibiting in 3D, the film will receive a boost in revenue from higher ticket prices
at those venues.  A solid film, our executive editor Kevin Lally called Bolt "an unpretentious, consistently entertaining romp...with plenty of heart".  As Lally notes, the breakout press story is that of Disney animator Mark Walton.  A hyperactive fanboy who naturally possesses hamster-like qualities, his scratch recording of the hamster Rhino was so good, it made it into the final film.  Coupled with the celebrity voices of Miley Cyrus, John Travola, and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"'s Susie Essman, the film should please adults and kids alike.

On the specialty side, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas expands to 406 screens, Muslim-lesbian romantic drama I Can't Think Straight opens on 3 screens, drug-induced superhero hallucination picture Special debuts on 1 screen, and Laotian immigrant documentary The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) opens at New York City's IFC Theatre.