'Thor' strikes down 'Fast Five'

By Sarah Sluis

The (pre-)summer box office continued to heat up with this weekend's release of Thor. The comic book-based action extravaganza easily soared to $66 million, beyond timid estimates that put the movie at $50 million or so. Compared to Fast Five last weekend, Thor attracted a younger audience, but a less ethnic one. The car-centered sequel has a diverse cast, while Thor's comic book and swords-and-sandals elements made it popular among younger viewers.

Fast Five ran low on gas its second week, dropping 63% to $32.5 million. These kinds of drops are the price movies pay for opening at $86 million, however. With over $300 million worldwide in two weeks, I'm sure no one at Universal is complaining.

Romantic comedies Jumping the Broom and Something Borrowed both overperformed, coming in at $13.7 and $13.1 million, respectively. Jumping the Broom, centered on two African-American families, had an added boost from faith-based audiences. One of the executive producers, Bishop T.D. Jakes, heads a megachurch, and the leading lady reportedly finds love after embracing abstinence. Both films attracted audiences around 70% female.

This weekend was a bad one for specialty films, with no release posting over a $5,000 per-screen average. The moody "will-they-or-won't-they" cheating film, Last Night, opened to just a $3,200 per-screen average. Mel Gibson may unleash a tirade over the performance of The Beaver, which opened to a $4,700 per-screen average. There Be Dragons, a Spanish Civil War-themed thriller, did the best of the bunch, averaging $2,660 per screen but earning $689,000 by releasing on 259 screens.

This Friday, Bridesmaids leads in hype, promising a female version of The Hangover. Vampire horror flick Priest (3D) will feed horror fans and Will Ferrell will make a blip in the dark indie comedy Everything Must Go.

Can 'Thor' outrace 'Fast Five'?

By Sarah Sluis

Last week's record-breaking Fast Five debut jump-started the summer box-office season. Many are betting that the success of the Diesel-driven sequel brought hibernating moviegoers back, readying them to return for more fun summer films. If so, Thor (3,955 theatres) could easily attain the $50-60 million that industry experts predict for the comic-book adaptation. With over 70% of the screens showing the film in 3D, and over 200 IMAX locations, Thor will be able to take advantage of more box-office premiums than Fast Five. Thor's getting fairly positive ratings on Rotten Tomatoes, and earned the endorsement of Frank Lovece, who dubbed it a "comic-book romance for grown-ups." Non-comic book lovers will enjoy the funny scenes of Thor, exiled to New Mexico, experiencing loss of power for the first time. It's a welcome relief after an opening with one of those tired video game-style slaughters, in which 100 against one simply provides 99 more opportunities to kick-punch/knife/flail someone to death.

If the preview screening I attended is any indication, Something Borrowed (2,904 theatres) will be filled with receptive female audiences. I think it's one of the best "traditional" romantic comedies out in a long time. I had almost forgotten how nice it is to leave the theatre filled with giddy warm fuzzies. Critics slammed the film with just a 12% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but I suspect that these critics must not have a receptor for giddy warm fuzzies. David Noh begrudgingly noted the film is "a bit more than passable," and singled out Kate Hudson's "amusing portrait of an egomaniacal frenemy." However, the TV commercials I saw for the film were just plain terrible, so I wouldn't be surprised if the romantic comedy doesn't break $10 million.

The other romantic comedy on the plate this week is Jumping the Broom (2,035 theatres), which centers on the wedding of a wealthy bride and a working-class groom. Their families, predictably, do not get along. The "talented, really gorgeous cast goes a long way toward making it a highly watchable, pretty damned good time," according to Noh. Like Something Borrowed, this coupling-centered comedy should land somewhere over or under the $10 million mark.

In "a role that seems to summon his private demons," according to critic Rex Roberts, Mel Gibson talks through a toy puppet in The Beaver (22 theatres). Gibson's "earnest" performance, along with "Jodie Foster's able direction," make for a "genuine original" film. Grindhouse tribute Hobo with a Shotgun (2 theatres) offers a "pitch-perfect recreation of the brutal, low-budget crime films of the '70s," according to critic Maitland McDonagh. The link between diet and chronic disease is explored in Forks over Knives (6 theatres), which I found "scattered" but thought-provoking and good for after-movie discussions.

On Monday, we'll see if Thor struck down Fast Five, and which romantic comedy beckoned more audiences.