'Dolphin Tale' swims ahead of new releases

By Sarah Sluis

Despite four new movies opening wide, the top three spots at the box office were taken by holdovers. Dolphin Tale rose to first place, dipping just 25% to $14.2 million. The PG-rated inspirational film attracted families and faith-based audiences. Since The Lion King was billed as just a two-week run, the animated 3D re-release dove 50% to $11 million as many family viewers opted for Dolphin Tale instead. The re-release of the animated classic has added nearly $80 million to the film's box office and will likely spawn more re-releases.

Moneyball finished in third with $12.5 million. As one of the few male-driven movies in the marketplace, the Brad Pitt/Jonah Hill sports stats drama should continue to hold well, as its 35% drop attests.

By a lone, un-radiated hair, the strongest new release of the bunch was 50/50, which underperformed with an $8.85 million opening. The cancer-themed comedy/drama is a tough sell, but the movie's A- CinemaScore could translate to positive word-of-mouth. Reluctant audiences may be persuaded by friends that seeing a movie about a deadly disease can actually be a touching, uplifting experience.

The fatih-based drama Courageous overperformed with $8.8 million. THR critic Frank Scheck praised the "growing expertise" of Alex and Stephen Kendrick, who together contribute to the directing, writing, acting, and producing credits. "These enterprising Baptist filmmakers clearly know their audience," he observed after seeing the movie in a theatre packed with faithful moviegoers. Sherwood Pictures (Fireproof, Facing the Giants) has been growing in profile with a number of successes aimed at underserved audiences. 2008's Fireproof grossed five times its opening weekend. A similar multiple could bring Courageous' cumulative total above $40 million.

If most horror movies are seen by teen girls, why would they see middle-aged Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz fear for their lives in Dream House? The ambitious film, budgeted at $50 million, finished with $8.2 million. For a horror movie, that's a particularly bad opening. Its 7% positive approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which confirms this movie is not The Shining, may have had something to do with it.

Anna Faris is a lovely star, but she must be disappointed after What's Your Number? debuted to a paltry $5.6 million. The movie seemed like a pretty typical romantic comedy, which audiences have been shunning in recent years. Perhaps the star can strut out her comedy skills to a broader audience when she appears opposite Sacha Baron Cohen in The Dictator next year.

Take Shelter boasted an $18,700 per-screen average at three locations. The Michael Shannon/Jessica Chastain movie could results in an Oscar nomination for Shannon. Years of delay didn't help Margaret, the post-9/11 pensive drama starring Anna Paquin. The movie's $3,700 per-screen average does not bode well for Fox Searchlight's planned expansion.

This Friday, the George Clooney/Ryan Gosling political ensemble drama The Ides of March will go up against the father-son-robot bonding movie Real Steel.

'50/50' has a chance at making the top spot

By Sarah Sluis

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a cancer patient in the dramedy 50/50 (2,458 theatres). The ads I've seen have gone for the stoner comedy angle, which has also been helped by the presence of dude actor Seth Rogen, who plays the man's friend. The casting and marketing should make the cancer-themed
movie an easier sell, and there's a chance a mid-teen millions opening will drive this picture to the top spot. 50/50 will have tough competition from The Lion King, which has reigned at the box office for the past two weeks, as well as Moneyball and feel-good family pic Dolphin Tale. These three titles should hold above $10 million.

Thanks to the "essential mystery of casting," the romantic comedy What's Your Number? (3,002 theatres) gets a thumbs-up from David Noh. Anna Faris, who's similarly enlivened stereotypical roles in movies like The House Bunny (a surprise hit), stars as a woman who decides she's slept with too many guys and tracks down her previous sexual partners in search of Mr. Right. Faris' "delectably quirky grace" should bring this movie above $10 million, but still lower than The House Bunny's $14.6 million summer debut.

Stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz met on the set of Dream House (2,660 theatres), later getting married. Considering that Dream House didn't screen for critics, it appears that Weisz and Craig were too busy giving each other googly eyes to widen their eyes in faux-fear and possibly save what looks to be a bad horror movie.

The faith-based production company behind Fireproof returns with Courageous (1,161 theatres), the tale of four police officers struggling with their religion. With over $2 million in advance ticket sales, this movie could surprise by driving infrequent moviegoers to the theatres.

On the specialty circuit, the fabulous character actor Michael Shannon stars in Take Shelter (3 theatres) as a man haunted by visions of an epic storm that may or may not be signs that he's delusional. The ever-present Jessica Chastain (The Help, The Debt, The Tree of Life) co-stars as his wife in the "eerie drama" critic Kevin Lally found "gripping." I reviewed Margaret (2 theatres), a drama I found imperfect in whole but composed of beautifully rendered scenes. The long-delayed movie is worth seeing for these moments of artistry, or as a cautionary tale of a film stuck for years due to lawsuits, indecision, and politics.

On Monday, we'll see where the half-dozen films in close competition land in the top ten.

Development news: Liam Hemsworth, Anna Faris grab starring roles

By Sarah Sluis

With the Oscar dust settling, Hollywood is getting back to developing new projects. Miley Cyrus' co-star in the upcoming teen movie The Last Song just snagged a big action role in upcoming 3D spectacle Arabian Nights. Liam Hemsworth will star as a young commander who teams up with Sinbad and Aladdin to rescue Princess Scheherazade. Inferno Entertainment, the production company, appears to have a distribution deal with Sony, though it is unclear if this film will be part of the pact. Liam's older brother is none other than Chris Hemsworth, who played Kirk in Star Trek and appears in upcoming Thor. Looks like a new Hollywood family is being born.

Hemsworth follows another teen hearthrob, Taylor Lautner, into 3D action territory. Lautner has just signed on to Stretch Armstrong, while his Twilight co-star, Robert Pattinson, has opted for a more dramatic route. This Friday, Pattinson's sromantic weepie Remember Me will open, par for the course in terms of his star image, but he is also appearing in Bel Ami, the period drama of a young French journalist who beds wealthy women. He's also on track to star alongside Reese Witherspoon and recent Oscar winner Christoph Waltz in Water for Elephants, a popular book club pick that is now being made into a movie. I wonder how the career choices of Hemsworth, Lautner, and Pattinson will pan out--is action or drama the best way to go?

On another note, an R-rated comedy starring Anna Faris called What's Your Number? is in the works. Faris will play a woman who discovers her number of lovers (twenty) is far above the Cosmo-dictated national average. With the help of a womanizing neighbor (Chris Evans), she revisits all of her lost loves with the hope of recycling one into the "forever" category. From a comedic standpoint, I like that the multiple exes will allow for many brief, funny moments as she reunites with each one. Plus, I think Faris is an incredibly talented comedian, stealing her scenes in Lost in Translation and Brokeback Mountain and turning The House Bunny into a sleeper hit. However, the drawback is--hello!--Faris and Evans will end up together in the end. Even the plot synopsis of the book the story is based on, 20 Times a Lady, mentions the predictability of the story and its stock characters. Knowing the ending at the beginning can be incredibly frustrating for the audience and will make the "funny" that much harder to accomplish, even with Faris in the lead.