'Warm Bodies' heats up a cool weekend

At least teens had a good movie to go to this weekend. Viewers under the age of 18 gave an "A" CinemaScore rating to Warm Bodies, which debuted in line with expectations, to the tune of $19.5 million. People over the age of 18 lowered the overall score to a "B+." Much of the success of this zombie love story is owed to Summit, which has had plenty of experiencing marketing
supernatural romances to teens thanks to the runaway success of the Twilight series. They even did late-night Thursday screenings, which inched the movie's cumulative total to $20.03 million.

For a while, aging action stars were officially a thing (see: Taken, Red, The Expendables), but it could be that the market for these pictures has cooled off, especially when the stars are playing it straight. That could explain the poor debut of Sylvester Stallone in  Bullet to the Head, which came up with just $4.5 million. Sure, there were fewer audiences on Sunday because of the Super Bowl, but this also comes just weeks after Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Last Stand also had an opening in the single
millions, $6.3 million.

Still, Bullet to the Head did just fine compared to the opening of Stand Up Guys, which had a below-top-ten debt of $1.5 million. The limited release did have a higher per-screen average ($2,200) than Bullet to the Head, ($1,800 per screen), but that's not that big of a difference. Since Stand Up Guys went a more limited route, it has more of a chance to build an audience in coming weeks, however.

The Oscar nominee box office award of the week is a...tie. Silver Linings Playbook
showed a remarkable hold, rising from fourth to third place with $8.1 million, just 15% off from last week. Argo added 300 screens and went up 16% from last week for an additional $2.1 million.

Oscar-nominated documentary The Gatekeepers got off to a decent start, averaging $22,000 per screen in two locations. Koch, the documentary about Ed Koch, the former New York City mayor who died on Friday opening day, finished with a $20,000 per screen average on two screens.

On Friday, Bridesmaids breakout star Melissa McCarthy gets a whole movie to have fun in, Identity Thief, Steven Soderbergh directs the pharmaceutical thriller Side Effects, and Top Gun unleashes those fighter jets in 3D.

'Warm Bodies' should lead during Super Bowl weekend

The Super Bowl weekend isn't as big of a movie dead zone as it used to be. Not only is there a picture targeted at female teenagers, the usual counter-programming for the football weekend, but there are also two movies aimed at adult males, though business will likely be best for those on Friday and Saturday.

Warm Bodies (3,009 theatres) follows the path tread by Twilight: a creature that should be in a horror film (vampire, zombie) is actually kind, and ends up falling in love with a teen girl. But this iteration is not just a romance, but also incorporates elements of apocalypse movies, horror/action
films, and comedies. "If Twilight were funnier, had a more
proactive heroine and an uglier hero, it might be Warm
Bodies," I sum up in my review. While marketing a zombie movie that combines so many genres might have been a challenge, it appears that Summit has done a good job explaining the film and revving up interest. The Nicholas Hoult-led picture should approach the $20 million mark, a great start, especially with Valentine's Day coming up in a couple of weeks.

Sylvester Stallone "plays to his base" in a "gratifying return to the action genre," Bullet to the Head (2,404 theatres). With Sunday returns likely to be dampened by the Super Bowl, a finish in the $8-10 million range is
expected. Critic Daniel Eagan predicts fans will be happy, but younger viewers may find themselves alienated as Stallone delivers on the action checklist with an "efficiency that borders on
the impersonal."

Competing for the adult male audience, Stand Up Guys (659 theatres) stars Oscar winners Al Pacino, Christopher Walken and Alan
Arkin. The mobster comedy offers "an entertaining yet sobering portrayal of
not-so-wise guys who do not go gently into a no-good night. THR's Duane Byrge predicts it
"should play well with older audiences with a feel for the actors
and this flavor of humor." Without a lot of support and with another film angling for the same demographic, Stand Up Guys may only round up a few million.

There will also be some new Oscar-nominated films to check out. The Gatekeepers (2 theatres) an Oscar-nominated documentary that features interviews with former leaders of Israel's secret service, Shin Bet, offers a "complicated cocktail of a film sure to send audience members out of the theatre with heads abuzz and arguments a-popping," reports FJI's Chris Barsanti. All of the Oscar-nominated shorts will play at New York City's IFC Center, including the Animated Short Films 2013, Documentary Shorts 2013, and Live Action Shorts 2013. Queue up for a marathon viewing session!

Former New York City mayor Ed Koch just passed away, and the documentary Koch (2 theatres) offers an opportunity to remember and reflect on the leader. This "comprehensive" doc is no hagiography. "Made with the former mayor's cooperation," reports THR's John DeFore, it still gives "ample screen
time to those with harsh things to say about him" Sounds like as fair a shake as a politician can get.

On Monday, we'll find out which films scored the most points with fans over the weekend (and either celebrate or commiserate on the outcome of the Ravens vs. the 49ers).

Theatres battle against Super Bowl with 'Big Miracle,' 'Chronicle,' and 'Woman in Black'

Apparently, Super Bowl weekend isn't the box-office ghetto it used to be. This weekend three films are vying for the top spot, and only one of them, Big Miracle, falls into the typical female/family counterprogramming slot.

Betting on big grosses Friday and Saturday, Fox is releasing the found-footage picture Chronicle (2,907 theatres). It centers on teen boys who have an encounter with an unknown thing that gives them superpowers. Since found-footage films usually correlate with the horror genre, this marks a creative departure. Critics have responded, giving the movie an 84% positive Rotten Tomatoes rating. Many estimate the superhero flick could earn up to $15 million this weekend.

Daniel Radcliffe plays a widowed lawyer who is closing up a household's estate in The Woman in Black (2,855 theatres), which is also expected to cross the seven-figure mark this weekend. Critic David Noh laments that the haunted house picture is "lacking in the essential element of surprise." I'll agree with that one. I'm a horror wimp but I didn't even jump once.  It's surprising the movie isn't that good given it's based on a book that has spawned a TV series, play, and radio show. While the adaptation is very cinematic, there were points when Radcliffe's character pored through long-forgotten files that I wish I could have spent time reading. I imagine the book devotes more time to unraveling the mystery through the papers left by the deceased's family.

The whale-saving, feel-good Big Miracle (2,128 theatres) is much better than the commercials suggest. Based on a 1988 news story about whales trapped under an expanse of ice in Barrow, Alaska, its Walkmans and retro costuming feel nostalgic, giving viewers a "not-so-distant look back at an era when three network anchors set the news agenda.” The PG-rated tale is a "family film adults will enjoy as much as their animal-loving kids," critic Kevin Lally concludes. On Sunday, the movie should do big business among non-football lovers, but I suspect the film won't open nearly as strongly as Dolphin Tale ($19 million) because of its muddled marketing. Its best hope will be if it can pull off something like Soul Surfer, which opened to $10 million and grossed four times that figure--though Soul Surfer had the added benefit of the faith-based audience.

Madonna's performing in the Super Bowl halftime show this weekend, and whaddayaknow, her second directorial effort, W.E. (4 theatres), is also making its debut. Noh was one of the few advocates of the historical romance, which he declares an "entertainingly fancy bauble of an ultimate chick flick." The story centers on the romance between Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII, who abdicated the British throne so he could marry the American divorcee.

On Monday, we'll find out if the Giants beat the Patriots and how much the Super Bowl made a dent in the Sunday grosses of Chronicle and its ilk.

'Dear John,' 'From Paris with Love' provide alternatives to the Super Bowl

By Sarah Sluis

Take out your seven-layer dip, it's Super Bowl weekend, when people forgo popcorn for hot wings around a 60-inch screen. On Sunday, movie ticket sales drop precipitously as TV ratings go sky-high. Replicating a formula from last year, studios are releasing both a female-oriented romance expected to play through the weekend, as well as an action movie to catch males Friday and Saturday before most settle in for the big game.

Dear John (2,969 theatres) "falls in the upper middle range" of Nicolas Sparks adaptations, according to New York Times critic A.O. Scott. Amanda Seyfried plays a goody-two-shoes who falls for a rough solider (Channing Tatum). They correspond for his year-long deployment, but then 9/11 happens, he re-enlists, and the romance suffers. Slate critic Dana Stevens, who wrote her review in the form of a Dear John letter, voices one of Seyfried's Little Ms. Perfect dilemnas: "Would I be able to organize enough fundraisers to keep him alive and one day realize my dream of opening a horseback-riding camp for autistic children?" With a built-in fan base of Nicolas Sparks readers, Dear John should make a sizeable sum at the box office this weekend.

From Paris with Love (2,722 theatres) releases exactly a year after director Pierre Morel's smash hit Taken. Though the movie tries to replicate the successful elements of the first movie, it doesn't quite work, according to FJI critic Daniel Eagan. Using that familiar veteran/rookie pair-up (played by John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, respectively), "the Travolta part...is played for laughs, while the rest pretends to deal seriously with matters of love and trust," leading to an inconsistent tone.

Not to be confused with District 9, District 13: Ultimatum, the sequel to District B13, will open in nine theatres. Director Luc Besson's action thriller "aims to please and nails its targets with more speed and style than most of its higher-priced competition," according to Eagan.

Taking advantage of the buzz generated at its Sundance debut, Frozen will open in 106 theatres. The Open Water-esque premise has three skiers stranded on a ski lift for a weekend. Unfortunately, the thriller is unable to "create a self-enclosed world that allows the audience to suspend disbelief," according to critic James Greenberg. Horror movies really need to solve that cell phone problem.

With the Oscar nominations released this Tuesday, four of the nominated films will expand their runs. The Hurt Locker, which is already out on DVD, will move onto 110 screens. Precious will go from 222 to 669 theatres. Crazy Heart will ramp up its release, going from 239 theatres to 819. An Education, which had dwindled to just a four-theatre run from 200 screens, will expand to 760 theatres this weekend. Adding something new to the mix, Oscar-nominated documentary The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers will debut on two screens.

Of course, despite all these new offerings and Oscar-related expansions, Avatar is expected to win the box office for the eighth week in a row, with added interest due to its nine Oscar nominations.