'Final Destination' for 3D horror movie: #1

By Sarah Sluis

The 3D format proved to be a big winner for The Final Destination, which earned $28.3 million thanks to the 50% of its locations that released the movie in the pop-out dimension. The release mirrors the success of January horror release My Bloody Valentine 3D, which earned $24.1 million over the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday.

In third place, Halloween II lured in audiences to the tune of $17.4 million, a solid performance that nevertheless convinced the Weinstein Co. that the next movie in the franchise would be filmed in 3D to take advantage of the higher ticket prices and novel scares.

In its second week, Inglourious Basterds dropped 47% to $20 million, a strong showing that brought its cumulative gross to $73.7 million.

The big winner among specialty releases was The September Issue, which grossed $40,000 per theatre. The fashion documentary received a tremendous amount of publicity for a six-theatre run, so I expect the distributors to expand the release pronto--even to audiences outside of New York City, many of whom surely subscribe to Vogue, have heard of Anna Wintour, or know her as the inspiration for The Devil Wears Prada.

Focus Features gave Taking Woodstock a wider release of 1,393 theatres, hoping to attract crowds of followers, but the box office results fell below expectations (the reverse of the Woodstock concert itself). The based-on-a-true-story film brought in $3.7 million and a modest $2,600 per location, a per-theatre gross that still managed to exceed many of the other top ten films.

Among returning movies, Julie & Julia had the most holding power, dropping just 15% in its fourth week to earn $7.4 million and bring its cumulative gross to $70.9 million. The results are below Meryl Streep's past two summer films, Mamma Mia! and The Devil Wears Prada, but have spiked Julia Child cookbook sales to bestseller status and renewed interest in the famed chef. District 9 also put in a strong performance, bringing in another $10.7 million. Now that the Peter Jackson production has earned $90 million in three weeks, the rumored sequel, District 10, may just come to fruition.

This Friday, the comedy Extract from Mike Judge (cult hit Office Space) will release along with All About Steve, a stalker romance starring Sandra Bullock with a really bad haircut. Rounding out the Labor Day offerings will be sci-fi thriller Gamer, which stars Gerard Butler.

Love, Peace and Horror: Two horror franchises go up against 'Taking Woodstock'

By Sarah Sluis

Where better to put a "solid but minor film from Ang Lee" (according to Kirk Honeycutt) than the last week of summer, when it's the most enticing offering of the bunch? Taking Woodstock, which opened on Wednesday in New York and L.A., expands to 1,393 theatres today. The "low-wattage film about a high-wattage event" is episodic and behind-the-scenes, and focuses on the small, peripheral moments over the big, iconic ones. Fascination with hippie culture has yet to wane, so the subject matter is certain to entice both the original hippies and the younger generations that have adopted some of their core values.

In the horror realm, it's death by serial killer or death by fate Neither Halloween 2 nor The Final Destination screened for critics, though a Variety reviewer did manage to see The Final Destination and pronounce it "as developed as a text message," which should cement its appeal among the text-messaging crowd. The Final Destination will release in 3,121 theatres, including 1,678 3D screens, so the premium ticket prices at half its venues should give the horror flick an edge over Halloween 2. Directed by Rob Zombie, Halloween 2 (3,025 screens) is a remake of the 1981 horror flick--after Halloween 8 or so, they decided to start back at the beginning. Zombie has a legion of fans and is renowned for his mastery of the grindhouse aesthetic, so the movie has a good chance to draw in horror aficionados. However, its off-holiday release date isn't ideal, though it's tough to say how much people will care.

Six screens in the fashion capital, New York City, will show The September Issue, a behind-the-scenes look at the woman who inspired The Devil Wears Prada: Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour. The documentary follows Wintour and her staffers as they create the 2008 September issue of Vogue, traditionally the biggest and most filled with advertising. Like the editors the filmmakers documented, the film itself (and specifically the editor Azin Samari) "stylishly distills hundreds of hours of footage into a vibrantly energetic narrative."

On Monday we'll circle back and see who won the weekend: Will the Nazi killers in Inglourious Basterds have a second week of glory? Will the hippies rise above? And how will horror fans choose between The Final Destination and Halloween 2?

TV stars flock to the big screen

By Sarah Sluis

Where better to draw supporting cast members from than some of the hottest televisions shows? Christina Hendricks, known as the voluptuous head secretary Joan Holloway in AMC's "Mad Men," signed on to Life as We Know It, a romance-drama that will start filming this fall. Katherine Heigl (who herself rose to fame through "Grey's Anatomy") will star with Josh Duhamel. The movie follows a romance that develops between Heigl and Duhamel when they are named caregivers of their friends' children when the couple dies in a car accident. Because Hendricks is playing the mutual best friend of Heigl and Duhamel, chances are she'll be playing the dead wife, which means we'll mainly be seeing her before or in flashbacks.

Blake Lively from "Gossip Girl" is joining actor/director Ben Affleck's production The Town. The crime thriller, an adaptation of the novel Prince of Thieves, will center on Affleck but has assembled a big supporting cast, including another actor from "Mad Men," Jon Hamm, a.k.a. Don Draper. Lively will play Affleck's ex-girlfriend, who is also the sister of a member of his gang (Jeremy Renner). The production also starts filming this fall, so both of these projects should appear on the silver screen sometime in 2010.

I remember seeing Blake Lively in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and thinking, this girl is jumping off the screen. Within the ensemble cast, which included already established stars like Alexis Bledel ("Gilmore Girls") and America Ferrera (Real Women Have Curves), she stood out with effortless charisma. There was no doubt in my mind she was going to be cast in some big project. She made a few lackluster films, and has since achieved fame as the star of "Gossip Girls." I'm pleased that she has been cast in this role, as I suspect she has some deeper acting talent that's just waiting for the right role. Likewise, Christina Hendricks has worked almost exclusively--and regularly--in television for the past decade, including roles in niche favorites like "Firefly" and "Undressed." While both of these women are A-listers in (my) television world, these supporting roles could lead to a starring project that I'd happily buy a ticket to.

Top Ten Summer Movies by the numbers

By Sarah Sluis

Sure, it's not Labor Day yet, but all the movie moneymakers of the summer have already been released. So far, the top ten grossing movies of the summer (from May 1st on) are as follows:

1. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
3. Up
4. The Hangover
5. Star Trek
6. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
7. X-Men Origins: Wolverine
8. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
9. The Proposal
10. Angels & Demons

By the numbers:

• 7 of the 10 are sequels or franchise relaunches



• 2 are animated



• 1 comedy and 1 romantic comedy made the list



• 9 have a rating of PG-13 or lower



• the #1 movie made 3 times as much as the #10 movie ($400 million vs. $133 million)



• 4 of the 10 have colons in the title



• 7 of the 10 involve creatures with human properties (talking animals, machines, aliens...)



• The average score on Rotten Tomatoes was 57.6%; 4 of the 10 had approval ratings above this number

I love this information. From one perspective, you could look at the statistics and decide that if you want to make the next blockbuster, you need to find a franchise with human-like creatures, include a lot of action but not enough that it reads as a comedy, make it PG-13 or under, and use a colon in the title if necessary. And don't really worry too much about the critics. Just your audience.

The other way involves looking at all the ways these titles don't fit into the mold. The Hangover is the biggest outcast of the bunch, an R-rated comedy that came out of nowhere, with no franchise, pre-sold title, or even A-list stars.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was the #1 movie, but an absolute bomb (19% on Rotten Tomatoes) among critics. I know I still haven't fully figured that one out. Pixar's Up is an incredibly original movie, but it actually fits into the mold of a "top ten" film: it's rated PG, involves (ingeniously) talking creatures, and is an animated kid-to-adult movie. It's also part of a franchise, not one defined by repeating characters or plotlines, but by its studio, Pixar, which has cultivated a must-see reputation among its films.

There's still a chance for movies to rise into the ranks of the summer top ten, but right now the mix seems about right: a few CGI/animated movies that appeal to kids, action and action franchises, and at least one dark horse (in 2008, it was Mamma Mia!). The past few years, six of the movies in the top ten were released in the summer, three or so in the November-December holiday season, and a fourth in March, during the Spring Break holidays. At least six of these movies are going to hang around with Monsters vs. Aliens in the 2009 top ten. With summer movie season coming to a close, my eyes are on the three or so movies that will make their way into the top ten: New Moon? Avatar?

Surprise! Only 7% of mainstream movies directed by women

By Sarah Sluis

Put film directors in the category of dead presidents: most are white males, and their average age is 45, when most of them are mid-career. It's the kind of information that gets rehashed occasionally with an aura of outrage, as it was in a New York Times article yesterday. Some blogs, like Women & Hollywood, offer dedicated, consistent commentary on female filmmakers, and consistently point out their absence.

Certainly directors in this "dead president" demographic are capable of directing movies that appeal to audiences beyond themselves, just as directors like Kathryn Bigelow can direct war and action movies (though her gender turned some heads and became the focus of many of her publicity interviews and articles). Many female directors work in designated genres, like movies appealing to kids and teens, or romance and comedy. Not one has won an Oscar for "Best Director." When the female demographic is directing only 7% of the films, and working on less prestigious, non-award-seeking projects, the gap seems even worse.

It's easy to forget about the dearth of women in the film industry because women do work in virtually every area of the business, and most of the "firsts" in female filmmaking have already been taken (the Academy Award for Best Director notwithstanding). Some suspect that the lifestyle required by a director turns many women off to the position, but I don't buy that. There's also evidence that people react more negatively to certain types of female leadership, leaving women a narrow range in which to discipline and delegate without being called that B-word. Finally, with so few female directors out there, they simply don't look the part, and are more likely to be called into question or sent back to central casting.

By drawing their talent from such a narrow range of people, studios are selling themselves short. As the article puts it, "Directors who are overwhelmingly of the same sex and ethnicity can hardly be expected to tap all of the cinematic potential in a rich and roiling humanity."

Hollywood seems to be stuck in a feedback loop, where the young male, first-weekend audience is considered the ultimate prize, and in turn many movies (e.g., Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) are created with them in mind. Female-oriented successes are still considered aberrations. Who do you think were the majority of people that saw Titanic again, and again, again? All the girls in my middle school. Twilight? Check. Sex and the City? Check. Today, Women & Hollywood posted the news that The Proposal (directed by a woman) had quietly surpassed the theatrical gross of Sex and the City, which many had touted as the movie that proved women existed at the box office. It's clear to me that conventional wisdom about female moviegoers contains some serious errors. Perhaps some female directors could help the studios get back on track.

Glorious opening for 'Basterds'

By Sarah Sluis

Brad Pitt, the Nazis, and Quentin Tarantino? The combination proved to be a box-office success, as Inglourious Basterds racked up $37.5 million over the weekend. The movie played steadily throughout the time period, dropping just 10% on Saturday and an additional 20% on Sunday. Some attributed the performance to strong word-of-mouth, as documented by Twitter.

Live action/CGI hybrid Shorts debuted at number six, earning $6.6 million. Coming in at the tail end of a summer filled with the usual CGI sequels and an exemplary Pixar film, the movie drew in a tiny audience, a fraction of those who saw director Robert Rodriguez's Spy Kids franchise.

Post Grad also attracted a small, niche audience, and suffered from being a Fox Atomic release that was moved to Fox Searchlight after Atomic shuttered. It squeaked into the top ten with a $2.6 million gross. With a target audience of girls under the age of star Alexis Bledel, it just couldn't attract enough attention at the box office.

Julie & Julia leveled its fall, dropping the least out of the movies in the top ten. Its take went down by 25% (compared to 38% in its second week), allowing it to cook up another $9 million. Fending off competition from Inglourious Basterds, District 9 dropped 49% to come in at number two with $18.9 million. Even as it dropped screens, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince brought in another $3.5 million, with a total of $290 million over six weeks.

Among specialty releases, X Games 3D: The Movie wiped out, badly. It brought in $572 per theatre at 1,399 locations. Reviews were lackluster, and the adrenaline-seeking fan base either didn't know about the movie, or didn't find it worthy of the big-screen treatment.

Next week will be particularly light on movie offerings, with just two horror movies coming out. The casual moviegoer will have the chance to catch up on movies they missed--and kids will start heading back to school and away from weekday matinees.

Weinstein Co.'s 'Inglourious Basterds' aim to conquer box office

By Sarah Sluis

Inglourious Basterds, which opens today in 3,165 theatres stateside, already has enjoyed auspicious results abroad. While the movie received a mixed reception at the Cannes Film Festival, it opened in France to the best numbers ever for a Tarantino-directed film. Basterds' toughest competition may be District 9, a sci-fi pic that's been embraced by fans, critics, and general audiences: exactly the breakdown that Basterds is looking for. A.O. Scott from the New York Times wryly notes that "Mr. Tarantino gives you a lot to chew on, though there's plenty to gag on as well." Its length, episodic structure and relative talkiness compared to its action-packed marketing could surprise viewers--in a good way, or a bad way.

The latest kid adventure from Robert Rodriguez, Shorts, is opening in 3,105 theatres. Unlike his Spy Kids franchise, which "found favor among most family members, Shorts directly aims at the shorter members of the family," possibly limiting its box office. For those in the pre-teen demographic, however, there's plenty of kids-are-smarter-than-adults plot points, magical powers, and even a Booger Monster wreaking havoc.

Post Grad (1,958 theatres) stars Alexis Bledel as a smart, quirky, confused young person. No, it's not a sequel of the "Gilmore Girls." Critic Kirk Honeycutt explains it best: "This essentially is a 13-year-old's fantasy of what it's like to be 22. Naturally, it gets just about everything wrong, but its audience probably will lap it up." Post Grad sounds like a chance to spend an hour and a half with your friend's cool older sister who never talks to you, but who you desperately aspire to be. Alas, it's exactly the kind of movie that cool older sister would eschew.

For one week only, sports aficionados will get a kick out of X Games 3D: The Movie. Its smaller-scale release at just 1,399 locations will ensure that selected theatres will be packed with extreme sports lovers. But its X Games 3D's big-screen worthiness has been questioned by critic Honeycutt, who pointed out that "even with 3D, the events themselves, which come with ESPN commentary, still feel like a TV event." For the true enthusiast, however, that information is unlikely to dampen interest.

On Monday, we'll see if Inglourious Basterds is the box office behemoth it needs to be in order to bolster up the Weinstein Co., and if Shorts, Post Grad, and X Games were able to connect with their respective niche audiences.

'Avatar' trailer igniting fans

By Sarah Sluis

Fox released the trailer for Avatar this morning, and it's confirming that this movie will be the must-see event in the holiday movie season. Since 25 minutes of the film were released at Comic-Con, and 15 minutes

of footage will be previewed tomorrow to those who received their IMAX

tickets, awareness and twittered first impressions are already rising, a good four months before its release.

The trailer opens with a technically stunning image of a space station and plane (a more polished version of Star Wars), and then segues into a series of aerial shots over the Na'vi planet, covered in acacia trees. Then we see Sam Worthington, who plays a paralyzed ex-Marine, rolling out of a ship in a wheelchair. In a laboratory, he sees his animated avatar floating in liquid before undergoing a process by which he inhabits the form. The rest of the trailer is a build-up montage of battles and hints of Worthington's relationship with a Na'vi woman (Zoe Saldana). Cameron claims to have had the idea for over fourteen years, but held back from making the movie until he could create a believable alien that audiences could identify with. The blue aliens in the trailer are tinged with the patina of CGI, but those who have seen the 3D images at Comic-Con, on a big screen say they look more realistic in a theatrical setting.

Cribbing from an Internet-supplied plot synopsis (potential spoilers included), the story of Avatar is strikingly similar to that of Pocahontas: a man befriends the natives (or, in this case, becomes one), and is won over to their viewpoint as he also becomes romantically involved with one of them. When the two sides enter into a conflict, he's forced to make a decision.

The story of a mole who changes his sympathies is a familiar one, and can be found in every genre, from spy movies to romantic comedies. There's a reason it sticks around: beneath a superficial premise there's an opportunity to make deep, thought-provoking commentary on the groups involved. Sci-fi movie District 9, which opened last week, also involves a human who becomes alien, and in the process starts to advocate for the "others."

James Cameron is working off an incredibly strong template, and this focus on story and action should broaden the appeal of Avatar to a wide range of viewers. Fox is marketing the movie with the tagline "by the director of Titanic," which

alludes not only to his most successful film, but also its

similarity to the new one. After all, Titanic, is as much an action film as a historical romance, just as Avatar seems to be not just a sci-fi action film, but a story about the perils of technology and colonialism.

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.

James McAvoy 'With Cancer'

By Sarah Sluis

Serious illnesses are rarely the focal point of movies. They often seem to occur in the third act; offering us a deus ex machina revenge for a particularly evil person, or blighting an otherwise saintly person so we can feel the tragedy of it all. A movie like Philadelphia was as much a political film and courtroom drama as a movie about a man dying of AIDS. My Sister's Keeper, while moving, drew in a niche audience in search of a "weepie."

When illness blends with comedy, it's a trickier road. Patch Adams, which starred Robin Williams, was a comedy that also made you cry. Most recently, Funny People drew mixed reviews from both critics and mass audiences. While some people loved the film, others were more resistant. Regardless, it was a difficult movie to pull off, with 2 1/2 hours of tonal changes. Plus, when you're gathering up some friends for a movie night, a downer in the logline is one of the surest ways for someone to suggest another film.

Into this environment, the project formerly titled I'm With Cancer has managed to move forward, and production is scheduled to start in January. James McAvoy just signed on to star in the movie, and Seth Rogen (who also appeared in Funny People) will co-star and produce along with Evan Goldberg and writer-producer Ben Karlin. Nicole Holofcener (Friends with Money) will direct. McAvoy will play a 25-year-old who is diagnosed with cancer, and treats his illness with a good dose of humor. The story is based on the real-life experience of screenwriter Will Reiser, which I imagine will make the script more compelling and filled with realistic details and humor instead of sweeping insensitivities.

The production company, Mandate, has produced a number of films that have straddled cute and serious, namely teen pregnancy escapade Juno (a movie in which I also laughed and cried), but also upcoming The Baster, in which a sabotaged artificial insemination takes center stage. While seeing a movie about cancer isn't number one on my to-do list, I'm curious about how the screenplay reads and the exact tone of the movie. If the title change and marketing campaign strike the right note, people could be lining up for a movie about one of the worst things you could ever hear. And Reiser survived, so at least this comedy will have a happy ending.

'District 9' takes over box office

By Sarah Sluis

Surpassing industry expectations, District 9 earned a stellar $37 million this weekend, thanks to strong showings from men and an intriguing viral campaign that deemed spaces "humans only" and drew attention to the movie's documentary feel. With only $30 million in production costs, and an international setting of South Africa, this movie appears poised to make a tidy profit in the U.S. and abroad.

In its second week, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra dropped 59% to $22.5 million, but its profitable summer weekdays (it earned $21.5 million from Monday through Thursday) have already brought its cumulative gross to $98.7 million. The toy movie's success, the second this summer after Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, will ensure that plenty more toy and game-based movies receive the greenlight.

Opening at number three, The Time Traveler's Wife netted $19.2 million. With two female-oriented competitors in the top ten, its performance was solid and in line with expectations. Butter-heavy Julie & Julia dropped a light 38% to bring in $12.4 million. At number eight, The Ugly Truth eked out another $4.5 million, a 33% drop, in its fourth week at the box office.

Of the remaining three movies opening wide during the weekend, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard brought in the most business, $5.3 million, enough to warrant a number six spot in the rankings. Ponyo opened even smaller, at number nine, earning $3.5 million. Since the animated feature only debuted on 927 screens, it boasted a higher per-screen average than The Goods and other movies higher up in the rankings. Bandslam, well-reviewed but little-seen, opened outside of the top ten, at number thirteen, with a paltry $2.2 million gross.

The other musical opener of the week, documentary It Might Get Loud, drummed up $14,400 per screen at seven locations. Featuring Jimmy Page, Jack White, and The Edge jamming together and talking about their music, this is an auspicious start for a film that already has a planned expansion across the U.S. from now up through October.

This Friday, all eyes will be on Weinstein Co.'s Inglourious Basterds, which has been tweaked since its so-so reception at the Cannes Film Festival, and whose success is critical to the company's future. It will be joined by Fox Searchlight's Post-Grad and kid-oriented Shorts, a fantastical mix of CGI and live-action.

'District 9' and 'Time Traveler's Wife' challenge 'G.I. Joe'

By Sarah Sluis

This week, five films are opening wide, offering audiences a diverse variety to choose from. District 9 and The Time Traveler's Wife are expected to be the two top earners this weekend, with Ponyo, Bandslam, and The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard coming in somewhere behind. With no film expected to pull in more than $20-25 million, G.I. Joe could grab the top spot if it falls roughly 50%, which would put it at $27 million. However, its middling reviews could easily send it plunging to number three, behind District 9 and The Time Traveler's Wife.

District 9 (3,049 screens) frames its tale of aliens through the lens of South African apartheid. Years ago, an alien ship stopped over Johannesburg, filled with sick, weak extraterrestrials. They were set up in refugee camps, which quickly turned into shantytowns, and acquired the status of second-class citizens, complete with their own derogatory slur, "prawn." District 9 "flirts with greatness," but it never quite gets there. Still, it's worth seeing for the first half alone, which combines documentary footage and interviews with people alluding to "the event" that makes you insatiably curious for what is to come.

People who managed not only to get through Audrey Niffenegger's book, but to list it as one of their favorites on Facebook will undoubtedly enjoy The Time Traveler's Wife (2,988 screens). Everyone else, steer clear. The movie suffers from the same faults of the book, and fails to deliver anything beyond its novel premise. Manohla Dargis from the NY Times points out what everyone else is afraid to say--the movie is "creepy" and the scenes with a six-year-old Claire and a forty-something man don't quite work on-screen. The movie is too heavy on fate and light on characterization: the characters just fall in love without any real courtship of explanation, assuming that perhaps you, too, would instantly fall in love with a naked time traveler from the future if he arrived in your backyard. While audience members sniffled at the end of my screening, I think it's a problem when the biggest emotional scenes in the movie--like the wedding--elicit laughs, instead of the longing or fulfillment experienced by the characters.

Releasing on a tight 927 screens, Ponyo should charm audiences who are fans of director Hayao Miyazaki, as well as those interested in a change from the U.S. style of feature-length animation. With the amount of kid's television programming out there featuring dubbed anime, it may be parents who are more surprised by the "gorgeous 2D animation" and Miyazaki's use of the unexpected, like "rising waves sprouting ominous eyes" Overall, our Executive Editor Kevin Lally deems this "artist's unceasing sense of wonder...something every parent should encourage their children to experience."

Reviews for Bandslam (2,121 screens) came out shortly after John Hughes' death, leading reviewer Michael Rechtshaffen to speculate that if "Cameron Crowe and the late John Hughes collaborated on a movie populated by Disney Channel superstars, the result might have looked and sounded a lot like Todd Graff's Bandslam." The movie sounds a little like the "let's put on a show" movies so popular in the earlier days of Hollywood, but with a believable modern update. It's expected to open low, perhaps due to not enough marketing, but "there's plenty to keep post-tween audiences amused."

Jeremy Piven makes "Entourage," but it appears he can't rescue The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard (1,838 screens) from its wacky jokes that go all over the place but fail to cohere into a story or consistent comedy. Instead, they end up "pounding the viewer into submission but not in a particularly amused way." This comedy will likely appeal to fans of Piven or Will Ferrell, who executive produced the film and appears in a cameo.

Monday, we'll see how these five new movies fared this weekend, and which films they knocked down or out of the top ten.

IMAX showing a 16-minute first-look at 'Avatar'

By Sarah Sluis

In an unusual but not unprecedented move, a 16-minute sizzle reel of Avatar footage will be shown in over 100 IMAX theatres next Friday, August 21. A similar, slightly longer reel was recently shown at Comic-Con in San Diego. While originally 20th Century Fox's plan was "Show up, and we'll show you the clips," they have wised up to the potential crowds, and opted for an Internet-based clicking contest. Tickets will be given away at 3pm EST Monday, August 17th to the fastest clickers.

Why would a studio give away so much footage? From one perspective, it clearly shows they're confident about Avatar. I also suspect that this is a move to combat studio fears about having a big-budget movie that's not based on a "pre-sold" title. There was no Avatar comic book, best-selling novel, historical event, or television show. The idea is unproven, and people often don't want to risk the unfamiliar. Teased with sixteen minutes of Avatar, people will start talking more about the premise. Maybe part of the surprise will fade, but more people will be interested in seeing the film. It's a double-edged sword. I love the buzz and anticipation that comes before seeing a much-hyped movie, but when it fails to deliver, I'm more disappointed at seeing a "good" movie that was supposed to have been "great." Going into a film assuming it will be horrible, or a straight-up genre picture, can often make you appreciate the ways it has gone above and beyond your minimal expectations. While I hope to catch a glimpse of some Avatar footage before its release, for me, the pre-sold aspect of this movie is writer/director/producer James Cameron. I loved Terminator, Aliens and Titanic. Cameron's movies have connected with fans, who see them again and again, and most people in America have seen these films, no small feat. That he was able to achieve success with both a historic romance/disaster and sci-fi action films makes me respect him even more. 20th Century Fox will release the film during the winter movie season, December 18, 2009, so hopes are high that Cameron can deliver an unforgettable film that will become part of our cultural shorthand.

Natalie Portman to produce teen comedy 'Booksmart'

By Sarah Sluis

Sometimes movie projects just get better and better. Natalie Portman has signed on to produce teen comedy Booksmart via her Handsomecharlie productions. The project first came to my attention because of co-screenwriter Sarah Haskins, who has distinguished herself on web-based Current TV through a short called "Target Women." The popular segment makes fun of advertising targeting women, noting the popularity of gray hooded sweatshirts among moms in yogurt commercials, for example, and the hilarious ways hair products, laundry cleaners, cars and Swiffer mops are marketed to women. More intriguingly, she has skewered chick flicks, dating advice, and wedding shows. While she's sold a script before (Lunch Lady, which has Amy Poehler attached as a cafeteria worker by day, secret agent by night), Booksmart seems to fit more with what Haskins has been doing on "Target Women." In the screenplay, two "booksmart" high school girls decide to get boyfriends in time for prom. While at first glance this sounds like a PG-13 version of American Pie, this seems like the perfect plot template for Haskins' skewering of stereotypes, including the fact that all teen movies seem to be hagiographies for Senior Prom (please don't make the prom scene the third act). What I'm looking forward to are scenes where the girls pore over dating books and women's magazines (subjects Haskins has already done segments on), and take the advice to literal, and hilarious, results. Portman, who will be producing along with Annette Savich, has a track record of choosing more challenging projects (she's never starred in a "typical" romantic comedy), and, of course, she took time from her acting career to attend Yale.

The problem with chick flicks (including, who knows, this one) is that they have become so tied to genre and ancient formulas that they can't even deliver on their main appeal: to provide a protagonist that can be reasonably substituted for oneself (a fact that Haskins jokes about in her "chick flicks" segment, photoshopping her head onto a number of movie posters). A movie about two smart, funny best friends who (hopefully) are well-adjusted and need to do more than take off their glasses to find a guy (She's All That) sounds like a step in the right direction. I'm a twentysomething person working in media in New York City (the standard chick-flick set-up) and even I find 99.9% of these set-ups detestable, something I continually bemoan on this site. Perhaps Haskins, with her eye towards stereotype and convention, will be able to provide a much-needed respite from the chick-flick rut in Hollywood.

Fans turn to the Internet to memorialize John Hughes

By Sarah Sluis

It's been almost a week since John Hughes died, and the Internet has been filled with memorializing: he's currently one of the most-discussed people on the Web. Hughes' films are intimately linked to traumas and joys of adolescence. They took teen life seriously, but with a sense of humor and optimism. They were the answer to the dumb teen movies released every year because 'teens don't care and will come anyway.' Well, the films they bothered to see more than once were Hughes'. Millions watched his films in theatres, and the next generation rented his films at sleepovers and caught them on weekend and summer afternoons in syndication.

His most blogged-about movie, according to a Nielsen research report, was The Breakfast Club. I had a screenwriting professor use the first few minutes of the film (in which each person is dropped off--or not--by his/her parents) to show us an extremely economic form of characterization. With so little, Hughes was able to establish these students as the jock, princess, outcast, rebel, and nerd, and set them up for their later transformation.

Besides The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, and Home Alone were the most-buzzed films after his death. If you look at Hughes' full IMDB resume, however, you're likely to find another gem outside of the teen genre he was known for. My eight-year-old self distinctly remembers watching Curly Sue, the tale of father-daughter

scammers, with my own father while my four-year-old brother and mom

were in the hospital after acquiring giardia on a family trip. I don't think I would have remembered the movie, amidst everything else going on, were it not for the personal connection it made with me. Hughes wrote, directed and produced that movie, one of 39 titles attached to his name.

In his later life, Hughes turned to more kid-oriented fare, and eventually withdrew from Hollywood entirely. It was a personal decision, never fully explained, though the recent acquisition of the documentary Don't You Forget About Me, in which a quartet of filmmakers attempted to track down Hughes in his hometown, might shed some light on the subject. Starting with Beethoven in 1992 (when he left the Hollywood scene), he's often credited as Edmond Dants. The literary character was the protagonist in Alexander Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo. Dants has everything he could ever dream of, but is wrongly imprisoned for 19 years. Finally freed, he hunts down treasure hidden by a fellow prisoner, dubs himself a Count, and uses the money to seek his revenge. Could this be an allegory for how Hughes felt about Hollywood?

In an interview with Film Journal in December 1994, Hughes revealed his feelings about his sudden box-office prominence:

"The more privilege that I have been afforded in my life, the less privilege I want, because it can just destroy you. The greatest threat to a creative career is success. It's just horrible. You know, Home Alone was this big unexpected hit and it just completely derailed me. I can't get an honest opinion about my writing anymore. I turn a script into the studio, and �Yes, it's great, it's great!' And man, I know this thing's full of holes! And the minute I say I'm better than Joe Blow in the car there, I'm out of business. All I'm doing is staying close to the people I'm writing about."

Highlights from the coverage of Hughes' passing include a blogger's account of being John Hughes' pen pal, which became the most-linked to story after his death. The New York Times one-upped YouTube searches for Hughes' clips by compiling some of the most memorable scenes of Hughes' movies and linking to the newspaper's original reviews. Also, today in the WSJ, a writer who lived next door to Molly Ringwald's house in Sixteen Candles reveals his regrets about the experience. To memorialize Hughes, I, for, one, plan to check out some of his smaller, less successful films, and search my cable listings for the next screening of Sixteen Candles.

Audiences savor 'Julie & Julia'; 'Joe' muscles into top spot

By Sarah Sluis

This week's box-office winner was no surprise. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra made $56.2 million and packed its 4,002 theatres with an average of $14,000 per screen, despite the fact (or perhaps because?) film critics didn't have a chance to weigh in on the film. While not nearly as successful as Transformers, another Hasbro toy adaptation, the movie is on its way to being profitable thanks to strong overseas performance, and, of course, the expected resurgence of the action figures. Toy sales, of course, are proof that the intended audience for the movie is a pre-teen boy (or one in spirit).

In a smaller wide release of just 2,354 screens, Julie & Julia brought in $20.1 million, a promising start for a film that cost just $40 million to make. Many of my family, friends, and relatives have seen (or are planning to see) the movie, and have spoken warmly of the viewing experience, even cracking out some Julia Child cookbooks afterward. By virtue of its intergenerational protagonists, biography, and culinary history, I anticipate Julie & Julia will become a word-of-mouth hit, or at the least become part of the summer movie zeitgeist. Within the weekend, its Saturday gross spiked 16% over Friday, and its Sunday gross is estimated to be only slightly under Friday, a performance that bodes well for its longevity week-over-week.

The more forgettable A Perfect Getaway opened at number seven with $5.6 million. For a low-budget horror movie, however, the numbers are only slightly below target.

Judd Apatow's Funny People dropped heavily in its second weekend. The 65% was the steepest fall of any film in the top ten, and its $7.8 million gross brings its total to a lackluster $40.4 million. Still, with his three-picture deal signed with Universal, Apatow will have plenty of chances to pitch another box-office and critical home run.

Specialty film (500) Days of Summer finally cracked the top ten. It brought in $3.7 million, more than doubling the theatres in its release, from 266 to 817 locations. Cold Souls, which debuted in 7 theatres, had the second-highest per-screen average of the weekend, $9,000. Opening in a more robust 38-location release, Paper Heart brought in $5,400 per theatre for a cumulative gross of $206,000. While normally specialty releases aim for a $10k+ per-screen average, this week has been quiet, and only major release G.I. Joe made it past this threshold, a sign the summer is winding down.

This Friday, six films will open in wide release. The Time Traveler's Wife, Bandslam, District 9, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, Taking Woodstock, and Ponyo are all planned to hit theatres and grab the last of the summer box office.

'G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra' keeping its mission secret

By Sarah Sluis

Paramount undoubtedly felt burned by the terrible reviews Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen received, though it had the last laugh when the movie turned out to be a tremendous box-office success. For G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, the studio simply decided to forgo screening the movie for critics--though a few select members of the online media have seen it. Saturating the market with 4,007 screens, it's expected to pull in at least $50 million. Its plot, which involves a super-secret elite force of soldiers who battle with a similarly elite group of terrorists, should please those looking for fight scenes and weapons launches, and not those looking for the plot motivating the battle.

The delightful Julie & Julia, opening in 2,975 theatres, should earn somewhere in the high teens to early twenties. Because its main quadrant is older females, this film's run is less defined by its opening weekend, and more by its longevity. As a food-lover myself, I found the film went down quite easily. Nora Ephron's "gift for endearing female characters," whom she portrays as "uniquely creative individuals" overcoming obstacles, makes this movie great for an uplifting afternoon. As our critic Maria Garcia notes, "Julie Powell was in her late 20s when she began the blog that sparked her writing career, and Julia Child was nearly 40 when she finally graduated from Le Cordon Bleu. We're reminded in this film of the ways in which older women inspire young women, and the vitality which young women like Julie Powell offer women Ephron's age." This is exactly the kind of movie grandmothers, mothers, and daughters would go to and enjoy together.

Horror fans will have yet another option to get their scares this weekend when A Perfect Getaway opens in 2,129 theatres. "A genuinely unexpected twist," along with a self-referential set of main characters who are wannabe screenwriters should set this horror movie apart from the rest.

Comedy-romance Paper Heart opens in 38 theatres. The mockumentary has a definite hipster feel to it, with its self-consciousness and subtle mockery of rural and suburban values. Charlyne Yi carries the film with her endearing awkwardness, and the interviews with people about their experiences in love are a modern update on the interview sections in When Harry Met Sally.

Finally, Paul Giamatti stars in Cold Souls, a tale of people whose souls can be swapped to suit their whims. Our critic Rex Roberts found that "the movie's busy combination of science fiction, satire and absurdity, cloned onto a fairly conventional comedy-drama, favors style over substance. Viewers are encouraged to ponder life's existential dilemma, but [director Sophie] Barthes and [cinematographer-producer Andrij] Parekh offer only irony and sentiment as cynosures." Barthes' work has drawn comparisons to Charlie Kaufman, so fans looking for a little more Being John Malkovich may delight in the echo.

Next Monday, we'll see how G.I. Joe's critic-free strategy worked, whether Julie & Julia pulled in audiences its opening weekend, and if Judd Apatow's Funny People has stayed strong through its second week at the box office.

First peek at Peter Jackson's 'The Lovely Bones'

By Sarah Sluis

Alice Sebold's 2002 novel The Lovely Bones was the kind of book you could never imagine being adapted for the big screen: its main character is a young girl who has been raped and murdered. From her perch in heaven, she observes her family and the killer in the aftermath, narrating both her story and theirs. It's told in a non-sequential structure, with plenty of digressions, flashbacks, and flashforwards that tightly control the reading experience. Despite these challenges, the novel was acquired before it even became a bestseller.

Paramount, it seems, feels it has a winner, and moved up its release from March to awards season, December 11th. After a preview on "Entertainment Tonight," the trailer was just released online, and will be shown before screenings of Julie & Julia, to a suitably female, literary-oriented audience.

My initial reaction to the trailer was mixed. They start with the first line from the book, "My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie," giving readers an assurance of the film's literary authenticity. But the images of Susie's heaven are surprising, much different from what you'd imagine from reading the book. Still, I trust Peter Jackson to interweave fantasy with the narrative. Elijah Wood's intermittent visions of himself with the ring in Lord of the Rings worked quite well, often contrasting a high-energy sequence with the more dreamlike vision, and I anticipate Jackson will be able to accomplish a similar feat in Bones.

One of the most compelling aspects of the book is the disconnect between the horrible tragedies in the book (the murder, grieving family, etc.) and the distant, ethereal, wise tone with which Susie narrates. While the trailer abandons the voice-over halfway though, instead showing us images of the family making passionate but amateur attempts to track down Susie's killer, I hope that Jackson makes a point to include Susie's voice throughout the movie, despite the tonal difficulties that may cause.

The cast includes two Oscar winners and two nominees. Mark Wahlberg (nominee) and Rachel Weisz (winner) star as the Salmon parents, Susan Sarandon (winner) plays the Grandma, and Saoirse Ronan (nominee, Atonement) plays fourteen-year-old Susie Salmon. If the movie plays like the book, it will be strongly female-oriented. However, Wahlberg's character has the same protectionist instinct that appealed to viewers of Taken, the surprise kidnapping hit that starred Liam Neeson, which I think improves the movie's commercial prospects. While The Lovely Bones doesn't scream "Oscar" the way an old-fashioned costume drama does, if it delivers on its trailer I expect it will be among the ten nominees for Best Picture at the Oscars, along with a healthy smattering of nominations for its cast and crew.

Segel joins Hill and Schwartzman in 'The Adventurer's Handbook'

By Sarah Sluis

Today's most exciting mash-up of comedy talent is The Adventurer's Handbook. Jason Segel will be joining Jonah Hill and Jason Schwartzman in the comedy, which "SNL" writer/director Akiva Schaffer will direct. The movie centers on four childhood friends who are disenchanted with their lives, and decide to embark on an adventure together. Their inspiration comes from tongue-in-cheek guide book The Adventurer's Handbook: Life Lessons from History's Great Explorers. Written by a BBC documentary filmmaker, the book combines practical information, like how to find water in a desert, with more eclectic advice, like the fact that many explorers assembling a team choose an annoying, disagreeable person to be on their expedition, so the other members of the team can bond over their mutual annoyance. Segel will play a musician turned alcoholic and backup piano player. Hill has already signed on to play an engineer and, I suspect, by virtue of his occupation, the leader of the expedition. Schwartzman's role will be a variation of the egomaniac he has done so well (Funny People, Marie Antoinette), this time as a three-time Grammy winner with a sense of entitlement to match. Since the movie centers on four friends, one role remains uncast.

This summer, adventure comedies set in other worlds have done poorly at the box office. Land of the Lost and Year One, despite their A-list casting, failed to ignite at the box office. However, it appears The Adventurer's Handbook will be set in the present day, so perhaps it will end up mimicking The Hangover, which took its mission (rescue the missing groom) to a jackpot $256 million (and counting) box office. Hill wrote the script along with Max Winkler and Matt Spicer, who both have a smattering of credits between them, including work on "Clark and Michael," a web series that starred Michael Cera. Combined with "SNL" veteran Schaffer, who has worked on the "SNL Digital Shorts" segments that have distinguished the show recently, this project could be a comedy collaboration to watch.

Remake special: 'The Tourist,' 'Harvey'

By Sarah Sluis

Soon-to-be A-lister Sam Worthington (I'll count him as one after Avatar comes out) has signed on to play opposite Charlize Theron in The Tourist, a remake of the 2005 French romantic thriller Anthony Zimmer. Worthington replaces Tom Cruise, who recently opted for a supernatural/Midwestern romance project with Cameron Diaz, to be directed by James Mangold.

Those hoping to find out the ending in advance by renting the French film will be disappointed, as there are hints that the script has changed. The French film's trailer heavily emphasizes romance and seduction, aided by the presence of Sophie Marceau (who has appeared in American films as well, including as a Bond girl). She's the mistress of a criminal so successful, the police don't even have a photo. To throw the police off track, she seduces a stranger on a train, leading them to believe that he is the criminal. The man (who's rather nerdy and less attractive than Marceau) finds himself pursued by both the police and by criminals seeking revenge. In the American script, Theron will play an Interpol agent who once had an affair with the criminal. If she's a government official, does that mean she will be a rogue agent, or will the ruse be a part of some master plan? The choice of director is also worth noting. Bharat Nalluri most recently directed Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, but most of his credits come from dark action movies like The Crow: Salvation and Resident Evil (where he was the second-unit director). Nalluri will have the chance to combine his action and screwball credentials in this film, which, if done right, could make for an exciting ride. The Spyglass Entertainment film will start shooting in January and release later in the year.

Yesterday, Steven Spielberg announced he will helm a remake of Harvey, the 1950 film starring Jimmy Stewart as a man with an imaginary, six-foot rabbit friend. Many suspect that Tom Hanks, who has starred in three Spielberg films, will play the Jimmy Stewart role, given his resemblance to Stewart as well as the similarity in their screen personas. I can't help but wonder if this action-free project (i.e., low budget) has anything to do with DreamWorks' financial situation. The studio had difficulty securing financing in the wake of the recession, and a low-budget, high-yield comedy could be a wise choice for the newly unaffiliated studio. As it is, the project will be co-financed by Fox, and fast-tracked into production early next year. The project also seems culturally relevant. The story brings to mind hot 2008 Black List project The Beaver, which will star Mel Gibson and be directed by Jodie Foster. Both involve delusional main characters accompanied by imaginary "friends." Spielberg would certainly be aware of the script, and its positive reception could indicate that the Harvey story is just as fresh as ever.

'Funny People' draws in modest audience

By Sarah Sluis

With its mix of comedy and drama, Funny People baffled industry analysts and challenged audience expectations. At the end of the weekend, the Judd Apatow-directed comedy brought in $23.4 million, performing steadily throughout its first three days. That's slightly better than Apatow's 2005 directorial debut, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which made $21.4 million in its opening weekend. However, that comedy posted below-average drops of 20% for several weekends to reach its $109 million cumulative gross, a performance that appears less likely for Funny People, which also needs to make back its $70 million budget.

Sci-fi kids comedy Aliens in the Attic opened at number five with $7.8 million. Kirk Honeycutt praised the family film for "[taking] good advantage of digital effects and an athletic cast to make the action virtually nonstop," but it appears the movie--or its marketing budget--was unable to pack audiences into theatres.

Opening just outside of the top ten at number eleven, The Collector grossed $3.6 million. However, if audience responses are as negative as its reviews, it should fall out of theatres quickly.

Adam, The Cove, and Thirst, each at four locations, posted strong opening weekends. Fox Searchlight's Asperger romance did the best, earning $16,575 per location for a total of $94,800. Dolphin documentary The Cove brought in $13,875 per location, an auspicious start, and was closely followed by Thirst, which made $13,800 per location. All three films are well-positioned for expansion, and their generally positive reviews should help their performance over the next few weeks.

Among holdovers, Harry Potter & The Half-Blood Prince continued its reign at the number two spot, adding another $17.7 million to its Gringotts vault. The Hangover, in its ninth week in the top ten, dropped just 21.4%, making it the word-of-mouth and box-office hit ($255 million so far) of summer 2009. (500) Days of Summer continued its expansion, increasing its box-office take 68% from last weekend and more than doubling the number of theatres. It earned $2.7 million at the number twelve spot and a healthy $10,338 per location.

The Hurt Locker and In the Loop also expanded. With just a $3,654 per-screen average, the Kathryn Bigelow-directed war film may be burning through its audiences. In the Loop's $8,829 per-screen average was higher than any film in the top ten this weekend, and its $309,000 gross was a 61% increase from last week.

This Friday, G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra will got to battle with boeuf-y Julie & Julia. Horror flick A Perfect Getaway will round out the offerings in wide release.