'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' shocks and awes with $40 million weekend

G.I. Joe: Retaliation is having the last laugh.
After Paramount moved the release date from last summer to this March, many in
the industry suspected they were trying to salvage a stinker. Instead, G.I. Joe:
Retaliation earned $41.2 million over the weekend, and
$51.7 million since its
Thursday opening. The budget for the follow-up feature
was slightly lower, yet including the overseas totals, the movie is already
pacing ahead of the 2009 original. The studio's decision to convert the feature
to 3D also paid off: 45% of tickets sold were for 3D showings, which is better
than many other recent films, including The Croods.

The Easter weekend was also kind to Tyler Perry. His film Temptation:
Confessions of a Marriage Counselor opened to $22.3 million
and received high marks from its older female, African-American viewers. The
general critical community, however, was not impressed. Perry is definitely a
workhorse, and though he's never had the kind of massive hits of Steven
Spielberg or Robert Zemeckis, he joins their ranks by having nine films open
over $20 million. Perry's mix of romance, drama, and humor has thrived with little variation at the box office--talk about evergreen returns.

If only young adult sci-fi romances were so predictable. The Host,
which came courtesy of none other than fantasy-romance queen bee Stephenie
Meyer, who wrote the Twilight series and produced this adaptation of
her book, showed that teen girls are picky--and fickle. It's the latest twist
on the genre to be greeted by a tepid reaction at the box office. That's what
happened to Beautiful Creatures, which recently opened to $7.5
million. The
Host did slightly better, debuting to $11 million,
but that's still nowhere near the original Twilight's $70 million opening. It's time for studios to look at other content that appeals to teen girls that doesn't recycle the same elements. That's what worked for The Hunger Games, and coming up with the next idea like that is what will lead to a billion-dollar franchise.

The Place Beyond the Pines averaged $67,000 per screen in four locations in NYC and LA. While critics found flaws in the movie, it does star Ryan Gosling, who has turned into a sort of tongue-in-cheek feminist icon and blog meme. There was also a spontaneous Ryan Gosling-themed Easter egg hunt that undoubtedly turned a few eyes near his work. Another specialty feature, The Shining documentary Room 237, got a good start with $18,000 per screen in two locations.

This Friday, the horror classic Evil Dead gets a reboot and the original Jurassic Park returns to theatres in 3D.

'G.I. Joe: Retaliation' trades release dates for a happy ending this Easter

In Wednesday night screenings, G.I. Joe: Retaliation tallied up $2.2 million, a good sign for the sequel, which is expected to earn in the $40-45 million range over the weekend. This Sunday is Easter, and many kids have either this week or the next one off, meaning that the PG-13 picture will be able to pick up weekday audiences. That's one reason Paramount decided to move the release forward to
Thursday instead of Friday.

In another respect, the release moved way back. Originally, the follow-up to the 2009 G.I. Joe: Rise of COBRA was scheduled for a summer 2012 release. Then, as the star power of Channing Tatum rose, the studio scrambled to rework a plot that had Tatum dying at the end, which could have also could have spelled the end for the franchise's star power.

As people emerge from the churches on Good Friday or Holy Saturday, they could head right to the theatres for Temptation, which seems to be the preferred abbreviation for Tyler Perry's Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor. The slightly darker turn for Perry includes a supporting performance by Kim
Kardashian. While that seemed like a bad idea back when she announced her divorce after a very short marriage, things change fast in the celebrity landscape. Pregnant and attached to new boyfriend Kanye West, her presence will likely add interest to the picture, which will have the strongest attendance among women and African-Americans.

Temptation will likely perform on par with The Host, with each earning around $20 million. Twilight author Stephenie Meyer
produced the sci-fi romance starring Saoirse Ronan, which is based on her book. However,  Twilight fans don't go gaga for just anything, and these are different characters and different romances. More modest returns are expected for this feature.

As the box office heats up again, there are also a couple of offerings for arthouse lovers. The documentary Room 237 offers hilarious and mind-boggling theories about Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Ryan Gosling stars in the ambitious work from director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine), The Place Beyond the Pines. Although the movie has been receiving mixed reviews, its ambition may still impress many viewers, even if the result doesn't quite reach those imagined heights.

How over-the-top can a movie trailer be? Check out the one for 'Alex Cross'

Actor/writer/director/producer Tyler Perry is best known for his funny grandma character, Madea, but has opted for something more serious by taking on the titular role in Alex Cross, an adaptation of James Patterson's crime novel series about an FBI profiler who tracks down serial and other demented killers. Morgan Freeman played Alex Cross in 1997's Kiss the Girls and 2001's Along Came a Spider. A decade later, Perry has stepped into the role, acting in a project he neither wrote nor directed--something he hasn't done outside of a small role in 2009's Star Trek.

The trailer for the October release from Summit Entertainment just hit the Internet. To say the movie is pulpy is an understatement. The often over-the-top dialogue sounds ripped from the pages of the source material, Patterson's Cross (the twelfth book in the series). Perry's character tries to parse a serial killer's motives, leading to ominously-delivered gems such as "He's ex-military. Special forces judging by his tactics. Trying to make someone hurt. Wants somebody to pay, wants the world to suffer." This is "Law & Order" kicked up several notches.

 

 

A nice pulpy crime thriller can be exactly what people need, especially during an off month like October. It's possible Alex Cross could have the success of Taken. In that film, Liam Neeson's daughter was kidnapped. In this film, Cross' wife becomes a target for the serial killer. The Lincoln Lawyer, a legal thriller starring Matthew McConaughey, crossed the $50 million mark last year with a similarly pulpy tête-à-tête between the good guy and the bad guy. These movies are generally in that "dead zone" of budgeting, $25-75 million. They need some effects, but no monsters destroying bridges or epic car chases. They're the kind of movies that some people save for an evening in rather than an evening out. As the trailer makes perfectly clear, by giving up twists that have to be in the third act (wife may be a target! killer uses scuba gear to get into building through pipes!), you'll know exactly what you're getting when you buy your ticket to Alex Cross. For a lot of people, that's a good thing.

 

'I Can Do Bad' makes good with $24 million opening

By Sarah Sluis

"Part musical, part love story, part family melodrama, part inspirational treacle," Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself won over the box office with a $24 million weekend take. With a targeted release of 2,255 screens, each auditorium brought in $10,656. While the opening weekend comes in below Perry's February release Madea Goes to Jail, it was 37% higher than The Family that Preys, which opened the same weekend last year. The pace at which Perry releases his films, as well as their popularity, continues to astound me. He's currently filming Why Did I Get Married Too, and will take on a non-Madea project in the fall when he starts filming poetry-play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Not Enuf, which is rumored to have an all-star cast.

Focus Features' 9 brought in $10.8 million, and because it opened on Wednesday, it already boasts a cumulative gross of $15.2 million. The early opening date likely appealed to the primarily male, 12-34 audience, which is known for turning out opening day for event films.

Neither of the genre offerings of the weekend brought in hefty audiences. Sorority Row narrowly beat Whiteout, coming in at number six with $5.2 million to Whiteout's $5.1 million.

On the specialty circuit, two environmentally themed pictures made the biggest impact. No Impact Man, a documentary of a man's attempt to

minimize his environmental impact, brought in a serviceable $7,600 per

theatre at its two locations. The bigger winner was Crude, a documentary about the environmental catastrophe caused by Chevron, which has spawned an ongoing court case and the nickname "Amazon Chernobyl." Its one-screen release brought in $16,595, and $21,823 since its Wednesday open.

This Friday, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs opens in 3D, including an IMAX release, along with Jennifer Aniston-Aaron Eckhart romantic comedy Love Happens, feminist-horror movie Jennifer's Body, and Steven Soderbergh-directed The Informant!

Weekend moviegoers to get �Fired Up' for ...'Madea'

By Sarah Sluis

In an exceptionally meager weekend at the box office, only two movies open in wide release today. The frontrunner is Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail (2,032 screens), which shows all signs of winning the

weekend. While the Madea character has appeared in several of Perry's films, this will be the first since his dbut film to center the story on his most popular creation (played by Perry himself). The comedy puts the grandma-with-attitude in jail, where presumably she will be able to run down even the toughest of the prisoners. Based on a time-tested play written by Perry, the material has already made an appearance on the small screen via a DVD of the production. I am consistently amazed by Perry's business savvy. Hollywood Reporter profiled him here, including the incredible terms he was able to finagle from Lionsgate, based on his willingness to front risky projects that ultimately pay off in a big way. He's also been on the radar recently for adding his support to Lionsgate's Sundance acquisition Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire. Under his 34th Street Films label, he plans to pick up and develop additional projects that he will oversee without directing or starring.

Eye-rolling teen flick Fired Up (1,810 screens) follows two football jocks who decide to switch to cheerleading for the male-female ratio at cheer camp. One of those "going to extreme measures to

achieve something they could probably do from the comfort of their football uniforms" movies, I am sure they will learn not only to love a fellow cheerleader, but also gain newfound respect for the sport itself. Yawn. Apparently, even teenagers aren't fired up about this comedy.

With the Oscars this Sunday evening, many contenders will likely see a boost in box office as people try to evaluate pictures in their Oscar pool, but the biggest jump among Oscar films will likely be the following week, especially if there are any dramatic upsets or overwhelming victories.

Among holdovers, last week's winner Friday the 13th will surely have a top ten presence, but might drop significantly as audiences drawn to the Friday the 13th release date wane. Coraline has maintained its business through strong word-of-mouth, and even won the box office on the President's Day holiday, so it will probably continue its finish in the top ten. He's Just Not That Into You has also held up well, and in fact won the Wednesday box office, so the ensemble romance will probably hold steady as other titles (like Taken) drop lower.

For specialty film lovers, theo Bollywood release Delhi-6 opens on 89 screens. Katyn, director Andrzej Wajda's dramatization of a Polish massacre by Soviet soldiers during WWII, that not only killed his father, but also was forbidden to be discussed by the post-war government, opened at IFC Theatre in New York this Wednesday. As New York's fashion week is cresting, documentary Eleven Minutes (4 screens), about "Project Runway" winner Jay McCarroll's attempt to launch a fashion label, opens on four screens. Pieced together through family home movies, Must Read After My Death documents an unhappy family's struggles, revealing "not only dark, painful personal truths, but also something profound and disturbing about American society in the recent past." Think about that the next time someone records a family event.