'Tooth Fairy' flies into theatres with angel-demons in 'Legion'

By Sarah Sluis

Leading the pack this week is Tooth Fairy (3,344 theatres). Dwayne Johnson stars as a hockey player-turned-tooth fairy. According to critic Ethan Alter, the artist formerly known as The Rock makes the movie (somewhat) worthwhile. For someone who got his start in the wrestling ring, Johnson seems "entirely at ease in PG-rated surroundings" and "establishes a comfortable rapport with his younger co-stars that's difficult to fake." The movie is expected to grab the runner-up spot this weekend, with Avatar positioned to hold its place at number one.

Horror movie Legion (2,476 theatres) is counting on its scary trailer and TV spots featuring demonic grandmothers to attract young males. Fallen angels, demons and Dennis Quaid will fill the theatres with horror-seekers and drive the movie to the upper half of the top ten, behind Tooth Fairy and Avatar.

Extraordinary Measures (2,450 theatres) is based on a true story of a father who helped fund a cure for a disease affecting two of his children. The story has many elements common in made-for-TV movies (sick children, "based on a true story," "a parent's fight"), prompting many critics to put the movie in that category. Our Doris Toumarkine, echoing other reviewers, says the movie is "shackled with that maybe-best-for-TV ankle chain." Though she enjoyed the film, she felt its middle-of-the-road status may limit its box office outlook to numbers more like Akeelah and the Bee and less like The Blind Side. The Harrison Ford/Brendan Fraser starrer is expected to open in the single-digit millions.

On the specialty front, Creation, a biopic of Charles Darwin, will open in seven theatres. "Bound to spark controversy," according to critic Ray Bennett, the movie is "one of the best delineations of intellectual and emotional struggle seen on film in many a year." Opening on one screen, The Girl on the Train is a French-language film about a girl who claims she was the victim of an anti-Semitic attack on a train. It turns out she's been lying. Director Andre Techine's drama was based on a real incident in France. The lovely Catherine Deneuve, one of my favorite French actresses, plays the girl's mother.

On Monday, we'll weigh in on Avatar's box office, the new releases, and if any returning movies got a boost from the Golden Globes last Sunday.