Top bunk goes to 'The Roommate'

By Sarah Sluis

You have to hand it to The Roommate, which earned $15.6 million from gullible young audiences who hadn't been around for Single White Female. Dismal reviews, like that from The Hollywood Reporter, described the movie as a "made-for-television thriller that will appeal only to younger audiences." But though these high schoolers' ticket purchases may have been an act of youthful inexperience, they knew better than to pay attention. "In the theater where I saw it," Movieline critic Elvis Mitchell comments,"the tedium was broken only by the sound of Angry Birds being played on iPhones."

The Super Bowl caused most films to drop in the 60-70% range from Saturday to Sunday, and Sanctum, which fell 71%, was one of the sporting event's victims. The trapped-in-a-cave movie tallied up just $9.2 million, even with ticket surcharges for 3D and IMAX. Ouch. With a reported budget of $30 million, this is one film that's going to be in the hole for awhile.

The films that fell the least during Super Bowl Sunday were The King's Speech (50% drop) and Yogi Bear (44.9% drop). Though films targeted towards young females have dominated Super Bowl counterprogramming, it appears that families and those seeking specialty fare were more inclined to catch a movie instead of the game. After all, The Roommate fell 65% on Sunday, in line with most of the other top ten films.

Portland-set mumblecore crime thriller (really) Cold Weather brought in $15,000 for IFC Films, a decent one-screen debut. Waiting For Forever, however, earned just $3,000 per screen on three screens. At one point, leading lady Rachel Bilson ("The O.C.") had the cachet of Roommate star Leighton Meester ("Gossip Girl"), but this movie's lackluster performance shows how quickly one can rise and fall.

This Friday will be a crowded one, with four wide releases hitting theatres: Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, romantic comedy Just Go With It, 3D animated pick Gnomeo and Juliet, and historic action film The Eagle.

'The Tourist' sets out against 'Dawn Treader'

By Sarah Sluis

Just two weeks after Disney's Tangled hit theatres, another family-friendly film joins the slate of end-of-the-year films. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader will open in 3,555 theatres. 56% of them (1,989 theatres) will screen the picture in 3D, a fairly low percentage that reflects the crowded 3D marketplace right now (Tangled and Megamind are still commanding a sizeable percentage of 3D screens). Given the price of 3D tickets, however, it's expected that many families will be happy saving money and catching the 2D version. The third film in the Narnia series is the first to be produced by Fox. Disney abandoned the series after the second film underperformed, but not flopped, at the box office. But don't get your hopes up. "The magic is over, folks," critic Ethan Alter proclaims. The unimaginative sequel "feels like the last gasp of a franchise rather than a creative rebirth" and the movie's reduced budget gives the generic feeling of a "Renaissance fair" rather than Narnia.

Can a movie succeed solely based on the charged pairing of Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp? Signs point to no. Just 16% of Rotten Tomato critics gave The Tourist (2,756 theatres) their stamp of approval. "Angelina Jolie glides serenely through her scenes, confident in her ability to ignore obstacles like dialogue and plotting," critic Daniel Eagan snipes. The talented director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) devotes his attention in the film to such "material details" as clothing and makeup, as he revealed in a New York Times article. "We spent a few days just doing camera tests on different types of lipstick and white silk to be sure we could find the right combination and see how it would translate onto film," he said. "Even filmgoers expecting a bit more plot and action can't help but be seduced by so polished an entertainment," Eagan concedes.

Boston accents and dated, teased hairstyles are just comedic accessories in The Fighter (4 theatres), which stars Mark Wahlberg as an up-and-coming boxers and Christian Bale as his older brother and trainer, a former boxer and crack addict. Both Amy Adams (Wahlberg's girlfriend) and Melissa Leo (the mother) turn in dynamo performances, but "it's not a total knockout," according to Alter. Still, it's a "loud, rowdy and often very funny movie," and one that has critics talking about Oscar nominations.

Director Julie Taymor has been in the news in recent weeks mostly for the accidents and other travails of her Spider-Man Broadway musical, but she has a film coming out too--her adaptation of the Shakespeare play The Tempest (5 theatres). Critic David Noh called it a "singular disappointment," and given her colorful work on other projects, "surprisingly uninteresting visually." This movie is a bit of an orphan, a Miramax project now being released by "Disney-Touchstone-Miramax," and I doubt it will receive a concerted marketing effort or awards campaign.

On Monday, we'll see if Chronicles of the Dawn Treader earned its expected $30 million, and if The Tourist was able to open above $20 million. Last week's per-screen average winner, Black Swan, expands to 80 theatres, and many eyes will be watching the opening weekend of The Fighter.

'Tangled' climbs to the top

By Sarah Sluis

As predicted, Disney's Tangled rose from second place to first in its second week. The Rapunzel retelling dipped 55% to $21.5 million, a strong hold given that last weekend had higher-than-average traffic because of post-Thanksgiving crowds. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I took a steeper dive, falling 65% to $16.7 million. Many Harry Potter fans presumably saw the film shortly after its release, while Tangled should play well to families throughout the holiday season.

The Warrior's Way, a hybrid of the Asian action and Western genres, with some supernatural enemies as a bonus, eked out $3 million its opening weekend, below an estimated $5 million opening. The genre amalgamation follows this summer's sci-fi/comic book/Western flop Jonah Hex, and the (critical, sort of commercial) failure a decade before of another Western hybrid, Wild Wild West. Let it be known: The Western does not take kindly to genre mixing.

Just outside of the top ten, 127 Hours dipped 6% to $1.6 million as it increased the number of theatres showing the film by a third. Love and Other Drugs ($5.7 million) and Burlesque ($6.1 million), which both opened over the Thanksgiving holiday, fell in the 40% range. Thanks to the added holiday receipts, each of these films has each crossed the $20 million mark.

As prestige, awards-seeking movies make their end-of-the-year debuts, per-screen averages of specialty films have skyrocketed. Multiple films posted averages in the tens of thousands. Leading the pack with the highest average of the week, Black Swan opened in 18 locations to a stunning $77,000 per-screen average. Another Oscar frontrunner, The King's Speech, in its second week, made a comfortable slide into a $55,000 per-screen average as it went from four to six theatres. All Good Things, the true-crime drama, tallied up $20,000 per screen at two locations, just ahead of I Love You, Phillip Morris, which averaged $18,000 per screen at six locations.

This Friday, Tangled will have some competition from The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, a former Disney franchise that has been passed to Fox. The Angelina Jolie-Johnny Depp smoldering thriller The Tourist will offer adults some fresh intrigue set in an exotic location, and another Oscar contender, The Fighter, will hit select theatres.

'Warrior's Way,' 'Black Swan' open in field of strong returnees

By Sarah Sluis

During the week after Thanksgiving, the box office usually takes a dip. This week sees just one new wide release and a tempting heap of leftovers.

The kung-fu western Warrior's Way (1,622 theatres) has all the makings of a flop: a $42 million production budget against a projected $5 million gross, and no advance reviews--a bad sign. The film centers on an Asian warrior who uproots himself and moves to the American badlands. The Korean star Jang Dong Dun toplines alongside Kate Bosworth and Geoffrey Rush, but this East-West hybrid shows little sign of catching on.

The returning films Tangled and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I shouldgrab the two top spots for a second week. Harry Potter has been slightly ahead of Tangled during this week's box office race, but Tangled's family-friendly appeal may put it in first place, especially since many Potter fans insisted on seeing the film opening weekend.

Director Darren Aronofsky's follow-up to The Wrestler, Black Swan (18 theatres), features Natalie Portman as a dancer undergoing a similar brutalization of the body as she's pushed to her psychological limit during a production of Swan Lake. Critic David Noh called the drama "more horror than ballet film." For a self-proclaimed lover of dance films, the "cheap" choreography and star Natalie Portman's hard-to-watch transformation results in "an over-the-top mess whose mounting absurdity and violence become a thorough audience punishment." This very brutalization has Oscar prognosticators betting that Portman will receive a nomination for the tough role.

The much-delayed I Love You, Phillip Morris (6 theatres) finally opens in theatres. Jim Carrey stars as a gay con man in love, "his bravest performance yet," according to Noh. All Good Things (2 theatres) based on the true story of a real estate tycoon who probably murdered his wife, stars Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst and received critic Doris Toumarkine's approval: she called it a "terrific fact-based drama." Rounding out the bunch of specialty releases, the period drama Night Catches Us (4 theatres) stars Anthony Mackie as a former Black Panther suspected of talking to the cops. When he returns to Philadelphia, he sparks a romance with an old friend (Kerry Washington).

On Monday, we'll circle back to see if audiences found room for more films in the post-Thanksgiving pile of leftovers and tantalizing new indies.

Friendly competition between 'The Social Network,' 'Let Me In'

By Sarah Sluis

Led by a press barrage and endless speculation on the film's awards prospects and accuracy, The Social Network will hit 2,771 theatres and, some say, earn in the high $20 million range. The semi-biographical movie follows the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), from his Harvard days to his

company's growth in Silicon Valley. Critic Dana Stevens at Slate exclaimed, "What a joy to sit in a theater and be engaged, surprised, challenged, amused." Under the direction of David Fincher and with the verbal stylings of Aaron Sorkin, the movie is a "social satire, a miniaturist comedy of manners, and a Greek tragedy; it bites off a lot, at times more than it can chew. But even the unmasticated morsels are pretty tasty."

A remake of the Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In, Let Me In will bow in 2,020 theatres. While many Hollywood remakes of foreign films aren't treated very kindly by critics,

this vampire horror film has gotten props from reviewers who applauded its consistency, if not its originality. "Not only does it refrain from softening or dumbing down the story of a persecuted youngster who finds his soul mate in a vampire," critic Maitland McDonagh praises, "it incorporates additional material taken from John Ajvide Lindqvist's deeply disturbing source novel." It seems director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) borrowed something good and, harder, kept it good.

The much-delayed Case 39 (2,211 theatres) starring Renee Zellweger will go head-to-head with Let Me In. Both films have been tracking in the $10 million range, and with slightly different

audiences--Case 39 has been attracting Hispanic audiences while arthouse lovers want to catch the foreign vampire film remake. Interestingly, the two films center on innocent/violent girls. In Let Me In, a boy befriends a vampire girl, while in Case 39 Zellweger adopts a girl who turns out to be evil.

After being available on iTunes for almost a month, Freakonomics will hit 20 theatres. If the documentary performs well, it will quell fears that opening multiple windows diminishes, not intensifies, box-office returns. Critic Ethan Alter found the film uneven, with some segments stronger than others.

Two of next week's films, romantic comedy Life as We Know It and feel-good horse racing film Secretariat, will offer sneak peeks on Saturday in roughly 800 theatres, hoping to get a leg up on positive word-of-mouth. Studios don't always release the earnings from these sneaks, but they could tip the scales during their openings next Friday.

On Monday, I'll circle back to see The Social Network's impact on returning films such as Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and The Town, and see which horror-thriller, Case 39 or Let Me In, lured more audiences.

Green weekend for 'Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps'

By Sarah Sluis

Almost a quarter-century after the 1987 original, Oliver Stone and his creation Gordon Gekko returned for Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. Finishing up the weekend with $19 million, the financial drama saw a

nice appreciation from its $4 million debut way back in the 80's. Audiences over thirty came out in force, since they were most likely to be familiar with the initial film.

Debuting in second place, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole racked up $16.3 million, including $1.7 million from IMAX screens. Director Zack Snyder's switch from R-rated movies like Watchmen and 300 to a PG, animated movie was deemed too violent by many

critics, but that didn't stop the owl adventure from finishing within expectations.

You Again opened in fifth place with $8.3 million. The addition of stars such as Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis and Betty White succeeded in drawing in an older audience. Though younger audiences in the Kristen Bell age range did turn out, they represented just 25% of

the total. A sub-$10 million opening isn't that great, but Disney should be able to rouse up some good post-theatrical returns. The chick flick's older audience also suggests it will play well in coming weeks.

The 700-screen release of The Virginity Hit did not go well for Sony, which hoped to use a limited release to launch a larger one in coming weeks. With just a $429 per-screen average, the teen sex comedy finished with $300,000.

Director Davis Guggenheim's documentary about America's failing public schools, Waiting for "Superman," had an A+ debut. It's $35,250 per-screen average was the highest of the year. The movie will expand into ten markets next week and Paramount plans to tie in the film's marketing to the midterm elections in November.

Woody Allen's latest, You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, did exceptionally well its opening weekend, with a $27,000 per-screen average on six screens. His last film, Whatever Works, however, opened slightly better and finished with $5 million, so the outsize opening will likely be followed up by a more modest, but successful, run.

Enter the Void had the third-highest per-screen average, $14,000, along with some good buzz, which should help the psychedelic, experimental movie out in coming weeks. Ryan Reynolds' turn in Buried piled up $9,500 per screen at eleven locations, and James Franco's performance in Howl accrued $9,000 per screen at six locations. Among returning specialty releases, Never Let Me Go went from 4 to 26 locations and increased 119% from last week. Catfish upped its take 82%, expanding from 12 to 57 theatres.

This Friday, the much-hyped The Social Network will enter theatres along with horror remake Let Me In and the thriller Case 39, starring Renee Zellweger.

'Money Never Sleeps,' 'You Again' and 'Owls' enter crowded weekend

By Sarah Sluis

Corporate raider Gordon Gekko is back in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (3,565 theatres). Oliver Stone's sequel to his 1987 film centers on young financial analyst Shia La Beouf and includes many

references to the current economic crisis. Critic Doris Toumarkine praised the movie's "snappy script," "fantastic performances all around," and "unblinking look at the high-stakes financial players�the greedy, sneaky bankers and traders and their enablers." Though the movie will have tough competition from its 3D-animated owls (see below), it's a contender for the top spot.

Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole (3,575 theatres) sounds like it will appeal mainly to kids who have already seen their fair share of age-inappropriate movies to build their scare tolerance. If I put my kid shoes on, I see a movie that's very darkly lit (one of my childhood pet peeves, I hated it when characters were

obscured by shadows), scary, and confusing--kind of like the spooky animated film The Secret of NIMH, only worse. Critic Frank Lovece points out that the movie includes such "nightmare-inducers" as "genocidal ambitions, medieval slashing tools, child slavery, [and] child soldiers," all of which lead him to question the movie's PG rating. Based on a series of young adult books, the adventure centers on a group of young owls caught up in a fight of good vs. evil. The comparatively more cheerful Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs opened last year to $30 million, and Owls should come close to that figure, landing somewhere in the mid-$20 million range.

Despite the snappy premise 'my brother is marrying my high school enemy,' You Again (2,548 theatres) plays like "one more promising idea ground into bland, tasteless Hollywood sausage," according to critic Maitland McDonagh. For the under-25 females expected to turn out for the movie, however, I can't think of a more appealing premise. Everyone has a little bit of an inner geek and would love to show up the mean girl, so the idea of watching a successful Kristen Bell spar with her former torturer (Odette Yustman) should be enough catnip to put the movie in the teen-million range.

Sneaking into 700 theatres, The Virginity Hit adds a twist to the typical teen sex comedy--webcams and YouTube. But wait! 1999's American Pie also included a webcam sequence in the plot, but the teens seeing The Virginity Hit were learning their A-B-C's when that movie came out. By releasing under the radar, this comedy is aiming for a viral success fueled by word-of-mouth.

Five prominent specialty releases enter the fray today, many of them buoyed up by positive receptions on the festival circuit.

Woody Allen makes his annual directing appearance in You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (4 theatres, NY/LA). The movie, which explores aging, infidelity, and faith, stirred up this observation from critic Kevin Lally: "Perhaps someday Woody Allen will again appear onscreen in a truly satisfying movie. For now, it's comforting to know this prolific writer-director can still deliver good, insightful material for the many actors who keep lining up to work with him."

James Franco stars as Allen Ginsberg in Howl (6 theatres, NY/LA/SF), a movie that melds an animated reading of the titular poem, Ginsberg's obscenity court case, and his life--each element better on its own than as part of the whole, according to Toumarkine. A murdered drug junkie comes back to life in the graphic and psychedelic Enter the Void (4 theatres, NY/LA/Chicago), directed by Gaspar No. In Buried (11 theatres), Ryan Reynolds plays a man trapped in a coffin in Iraq with a cell phone as his only tool for escape.

A moving documentary about America's failing public schools, Waiting for "Superman" (4 theatres), makes its debut. Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) directed the polemic, which inspired Shirely Sealy to speculate "if it [will succeed] in reshaping the national debate about how to fix our broken educational system."

On Monday, stay tuned for a recap of which small releases distinguished themselves, and the winners in the battle of Wall Street vs. owls vs. revenge-seeking women.

Trio of 'Easy A,' 'The Town,' and 'Devil' vie for the box-office crown

By Sarah Sluis

Following up a quiet week at the box office, four wide releases and two hyped small releases enter the fray.

A snappy teen sex comedy with a chance at the top spot, Easy A (2,856 theatres) stars Emma Stone as a high school student who gets mistakenly slapped with a reputation for being "easy." Despite such misses as the "age-blind casting" noted by critic David Noh (the leads are in their early twenties), this movie has drawn comparisons to Mean Girls and Clueless. Screen Gems ran hundreds of advance screenings for the movie, a sure sign this comedy is expected to generate "oohs" and "aahs" from its teen and college base.

Ben Affleck stars in and directs The Town (2,861 theatres), the story of working-class bank robbers who wear chilling Halloween masks while on a job. Rebecca Hall makes a departure from her plain-Jane appearance in Please Give as a "toonie" (yuppie) bank professional Affleck sparks to after holding her

hostage during a robbery. While the movie doesn't break much new ground, "[t]he robbery and chase sequences are fast-paced, tense but not overly graphic, and crisply choreographed," according to critic Kevin Lally, and "the film is so well-cast, you happily go along with the genre ride."

What's worse than being stuck in an elevator? Being stuck in an elevator with the devil! M. Night Shyamalan's Devil (2,810 theatres) serves

up shaky elevators alongside some accidental shrieks.

Horror aficionados should turn out in force for its opening weekend,

putting it on similar footing with The Town and Easy A. But could an elevator really plummet to the ground? Have no fear: According to this unintentionally hilarious interview with a buttoned-up Otis executive and New York Magazine, elevators are very, very safe.

A B-list 3D animated film, Alpha and Omega (2,625 theatres), is expected to be the box-office loser this weekend. The cute premise centers on star-crossed lovers, one an alpha female wolf and the other a bottom-of-the-pack omega male. However, "the flat picture-book quality of its backgrounds has an old-fashioned appeal but might disappoint viewers used to more pop and dazzle," according to critic Sheri Linden, and the first third of the movie is "devoid of charm." Woof.

What the New York Times cleverly called "the other Facebook movie," Catfish (23 theatres in NY, LA, San Francisco and Austin) may be the first of its kind to document how the Internet, specifically Facebook, facilitates deception. After Nev Schulman meets a young girl and her family on the Internet, he develops a romance with her older sister. Like a true thriller, your imagination runs away with all the possible outcomes, but the truth is weirder and more painful than anything you can dream up as a viewer.

The spare and sad Never Let Me Go (4 theatres) opened on Wednesday to a $6,000 per-screen average,

and is poised to ring up additional business over the weekend. Featuring a "unique comingling of genres," the movie centers on three students (Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightly and Andrew Garfield) who have been raised to serve as organ donors in an alternate history version of Britain circa the 1970s. According to critic Rex Robets, it may just be the rare movie that is better than the book. Showing impeccable restraint, "the moral question at the heart of the story is unspoken�but loudly heard."

On Monday, we'll see which film landed as the box-office topper and if Catfish and Never Let Me Go wowed general audiences as much as festival crowds.

Debut of 'Resident Evil: Afterlife' marks new high for franchise

By Sarah Sluis

The franchise responsible for Resident Evil: Afterlife is alive and well. The fourth installment of the video game adaptation debuted higher than all three previous movies, finishing the weekend with a robust $27.7 million. Consistent with many action/horror/sci-fi genre films, the movie had its biggest night on Friday, to

the tune of $10.8 million, before slowly declining over Saturday and Sunday. Afterlife inched out the last Resident Evil film by $4 million. The reason for Afterlife's stunning performance, however, may not be the health of the franchise but the profitability of 3D. The 141 IMAX screens (compared to 3,000 regular screens) contributed $2.6 million to the box office, and over two-thirds of the screens were shown in 3D theatres charging premiums for seats.

The race for second place between holdovers Takers and The American ended with Takers on top with $6.1 million. Though the slick heist movie finished below The American last week, it declined just 43% to The American's 55% fall. The latter film, starring George Clooney, was expected to have a more leggy run due to its appeal among older audiences, so its second-week slump to $5.8 million could be telling.

Joaquin Phoenix's sorta-documentary I'm Still Here just surpassed $100,000 over the weekend, playing at 19 locations with a $5,500 per-screen average. Phoenix is expected on "Letterman" Sept. 22, a

year after his bizarre interview with the late-night host that circulated virally, so that added publicity could be a boon to its box-office take two weeks from now.

The all-star cast of The Romantics helped earned the film a stellar $22,200 per-screen average during its opening weekend at two screens in New York and Los Angeles. Leading lady Katie Holmes hasn't been seen much on screen lately, but if that wasn't a draw, "True Blood" star Anna Paquin, Elijah Wood, Josh Duhamel and Malin Akerman gave this movie an above-average roster.

The re-release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse failed to do much--including to push the movie over the $300 million vanity mark. Its $745,000 was far below the low single-digit millions predicted, but represented a 71% boost from the previous week. That's right, this "re-release" is actually still playing in select theatres.

Specialty releases showing big increases included director Rob Reiner's Flipped, which went from 28 to 442 screens and boosted its gross 863% to $490,000. Its $1,000 per-screen average is a less promising figure, but positive reviews from critics like Roger Ebert and its family-friendly reputation could propel this film further.

In its fourteenth week, Winter's Bone rose 21% to $143,000, adding to its over $5 million gross. When I saw the movie, I was surprised by the representation of Ozark life, sensing the authenticity of its realism; apparently the movie has played quite well in the Ozark region, where audiences have responded to its mirror-like realism and thriller feeling.

Another mover-and-shaker in the specialty market is Animal Kingdom, which has amassed almost $750,000 in five weeks. The Australian crime drama rose 9% this week, and the 61-screen release accumulated another $122,000.

This Friday, four wide releases enter the mix: Warner Bros.' Boston crime drama The Town, the 3D animated Alpha and Omega, teen sex comedy Easy A, and horror picture Devil. The much-buzzed documentary Catfish and the spare but heart-wrenching Never Let Me Go will also make their debut on specialty screens.

Will 'Resident Evil 3D' scare away the competition?

By Sarah Sluis

The sole wide release this weekend is Resident Evil: Afterlife (3,203 theatres), the fourth in the series and the first to take advantage of the 3D trend. Since The Hollywood Reporter has pronounced zombies the new vampires, maybe the creatures will attract new audiences. Though most critics have yet to see the movie, the first dozen reviews have been mostly negative, prematurely burying the video game

adaptation with an 11% positive rating. Shot in bona-fide 3D using technology pioneered by James Cameron himself--the film appears to have no plot to back up the stunning visuals. According to Bloody-Disgusting (a website that specializes in movies that are just that), director Paul W.S. Anderson "fails to build a story; there's absolutely nothing at stake, and even less for any of the characters to lose." Worse, the site goes on to note, Anderson creates a movie that takes itself too seriously. Despite its dismal reviews, the movie could top $20 million this weekend, especially once you factor in the 3D revenue and 141 IMAX screens.

Twi-hards can see Bella and Jacob on the big screen once more in a re-release of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (1,187 theatres) intended to promote sales of the upcoming DVD. The next Twilight (Breaking Dawn Part I) comes out over a year from now, so this will be the last chance to see the vampire romance on the big screen for some time. The re-release should average out in the single-digit millions.

Among holdovers, The American is expected to play strongest, given the appeal of the thriller genre and star George Clooney to older audiences.

Joaquin Phoenix's kind-of documentary I'm Still Here (20 theatres) may benefit from a bit of a rubber-

necking, according to FJI critic David Noh, who called it a "cinematic car accident you can't take your eyes from." Filled with drugs, prostitution, a misguided attempt at a rapping career, and nudity, the movie is a bit sad when viewed in context. "Much of the film plays like an extended, wholly misguided cry for help," Noh says, pointing out that Phoenix's real-life experience: His brother died of a drug overdose in front of him, and the 911 tape was replayed constantly, a sick reminder of the tragedy.

Lush Ivy Leaguers contemplate love in The Romantics (NY/LA), which Noh also disliked, dubbing it a "'mumblecore'-style movie gotten up in preppy drag." Those who have been intrigued by Aboriginal culture since seeing Rabbit-Proof Fence can check out a more upbeat, musical celebration in Bran Nue Dae (16 theatres), which "has so much feel-good fizz that you can almost overlook its rickety construction," according to critic Megan Lehmann.

On Monday, it's time for Resident Evil: Afterlife to count its chips from opening weekend, and the specialty films to set their sights on expanding crowds in advance of the numerous year-end awards contenders that will roll in quicker than the fall weather.

'Sex and the City 2' poised for blockbuster weekend

By Sarah Sluis

Midnight screenings of Sex and the City 2 grossed $3 million on Thursday, 20% more than the first

installment. This puts the femme-driven movie in position to earn at least $60 million this weekend. The first SATC earned $62.6 million over the four-day weekend, so the sequel should do just as well--if not better--in its 3,445 theatres. The sex 'n fashion comedy is unlikely to win any awards among critics, but it's sure to please the hordes of fans arriving to the theatres in stilettos. Who knows, maybe there will be a Sex and the City 3 in our future.

Going up against the girls' trek to Abu Dhabi, the competing release this week also features a Middle Eastern setting. Based on a popular video game, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (3,646

theatres) will play in a couple hundred more theatres but is unlikely to match SATC2's performance. In its favor, the PG-13 film is fairly tame and should attract family audiences. But it's unlikely to expand beyond its fan base, unless it attracts positive word-of-mouth. According to critic Daniel Eagan "this effects-laden spectacle delivers just what it promises and no more," and is "well-crafted but not especially original."

Those delighted by Amelie and Delicatessen will be thrilled to catch Micmacs (5 theatres in NYC), the latest from director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. "A love

story that blossoms in an underground junkyard inhabited by eccentric, slightly roguish characters with kind hearts and pure souls," according to critic Rex Roberts, the movie also includes a few scenes in the Middle Eastern desert (a trend of the week). With a liberal political message (anti-guns) along with deft use of YouTube, this movie will be a winner for Jeunet fans and other adventurous moviegoers.

Rounding out the mix, George A. Romero's Survival of the Dead will open in 21 theatres. The movie centers on a minor character from Diary of the Dead, rewarding loyal fans. Critic Maitland McDonagh called the movie a "shaggy dog tale," but noted that "if anyone has earned the right to trifle with the cannibal dead, it's the guy who unleashed them on us in the first place."

On Tuesday, Screener will circle back to count the spoils of the four-day weekend.

Holiday movies to bring joy to end-of-year revelers

By Sarah Sluis

Moviegoing during the holidays is more than just a way to pass time off from school and work: it's a tradition. What better way to break up family tension than seeing a movie together--especially at a multiplex, where disagreeing groups can choose different movies? This year the usual mix of popcorn and awards fare will swoop into theatres tomorrow and again on Christmas Day, adding to the already heaping offerings, including mega-budget Avatar.

Tomorrow, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel will roll out in 3,700 theatres. The original opened a couple weeks before Christmas to a $44 million weekend, and did big business through the holidays. With animated competitor The Princess and the Frog fading, and a media campaign that includes a hilarious chipmunk rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies," the comedy is sure to appeal to adults (perhaps the ones that create YouTube videos of their children dancing to the song).

The other big crowd pleaser is Sherlock Holmes, which targets a big chunk of Avatar's audience. Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law play "action heroes in a tale stripped of modulations, intelligence and finesse." Having seen the movie a few weeks ago, my memory of the film is not aging well. The action set pieces feel worn and unoriginal, including a cliched standoff on an unfinished bridge. Much of the set design is filled in with CG, and the movie lacks the satisfying details that fill out our understanding of Holmes' world and character. Nevertheless, marrying action sensibilities to a historical character will make Holmes and Watson fresh with no chance of being mistaken for "Masterpiece Theatre." The comic-action movie will draw action-hungry crowds when it debuts in 3,600 theatres.

Adult romantic comedy It's Complicated will open on the small side on Christmas Day, 2,800 theatres. The movie has received heavy media coverage, including a director profile in the New York Times Magazine

about making movies for women. With its erudite interest, the movie

could be a mainstream choice for audiences normally drawn to awards and

specialty fare.

The holiday season is also time for specialty releases to open wide to take advantage of the increased attendance. Awards favorite Up In the Air will expand to 1,800 theatres, and Nine to 1,500. Up in the Air has been steadily climbing in the rankings, breaking into the top ten for the past two weeks, so its expansion should lead to an uptick in its box office and ranking. Nine, only out for one week, will be more of a wild card. Will female audiences choose It's Complicated over Nine?

Also sneaking into the holiday schedule will be the debut of "cinematically sophisticated but slow-moving police procedural," Police, Adjective, in IFC theatres. The Young Victoria will expand to 134 theatres. The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which features a performance from Heath Ledger, will also debut on Christmas Day. The Lovely Bones and A Single Man will also add theatres to their run. With a crowded slate of film delicacies, one hopes that people will have the time to sample more than one holiday offering.

Screener is off to drink some eggnog, so we'll see you back on December 28th with a recap of holiday box office performance.

'Zombieland' to take over theatres

By Sarah Sluis

Zombieland (3,036 theatres) is the top pick for #1 this weekend, since its blanket release puts it in nearly twice as many theatres as the other wide releases. The horror comedy "has its tongue planted

firmly in its rancid cheek while still delivering the visceral

goodies," and its twist on the horror genre should attract die-hard and sometimes horror fans alike.

The other three wide releases of the week are each opening in around 1,700 theatres, smaller-scale releases that match each of the movie's strategies.

Roller derby tale Whip It, which is already benefiting from positive word-of-mouth, will open in 1,720 theatres after sneaking in half that number last week. Women seem to love the movie, and opening smaller will put emphasis on its subsequent weekends rather than its opening weekend. Those that love the film (myself included) are struck by how it breathes life into the familiar coming-of-age genre. Critic Peter Brunette called it "familiar yet simultaneously different...loaded with clichs...but somehow writer Shauna Cross...manages to continually inflect the story with fresh twists."

Prepping for the release of Toy Story 3 in June, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will be released as a 3D double feature in 1,745 theatres. The run is planned for two weeks, but will be extended based on performance. Industry insiders are pegging the film's opening in the $10 million range, but a re-release like this is so rare I wouldn't be surprised if normal tracking measures fail. The movie's biggest competitor is 3D animated Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, which is going into its third week. The re-release will undoubtedly bump Cloudy from some of its 3D venues, which could affect both of the films' standing.

Ricky Gervais-Jennifer Garner comedy The Invention of Lying is also opening small (1,707 theatres), but perhaps that's indicative of its quality: low. Critic Rex Roberts called it a "self-indulgent, ultimately unsatisfying skit-that-won't-quit." Ouch.

On the specialty circuit, Capitalism: A Love Story expands to 962 theatres, its first wide expansion. LeBron James documentary More Than a Game, a "superb, slam-dunk documentary " that follows a quartet of talented basketball players, including James, through high school and beyond will also open in New York, Los Angeles, and Cleveland.

The Coen Brothers' A Serious Man, sure to appeal fans of the writer/director/producers, opens in New York, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis this weekend. Our critic Ethan Alter praised the "subtle, humorous way the film tackles such complex subjects as morality, faith and family," calling this personal, "darkly comic" film one of the Coens' best.

On Monday, we'll circle back to see how many viewers Zombieland infected, if audience members took the bait for The Invention of Lying, and how well word-of-mouth was built up for Whip It.