‘Rise of an Empire’ to dwarf ‘Mr. Peabody & Sherman’

Seven years ago, CGI sword-and-sandals epic 300 took the box office by surprise when it opened to a wonderful $70 million. The Zach Snyder film, which set the March record for best opening weekend, would go on to earn over $456 million worldwide. 300: Rise of an Empire isn’t exactly a sequel, per se – interestingly, it covers the same span of time as the first movie – but, with a mostly new cast and a different angle on the Greek-Spartan conflict, it’s certainly a follow-up. The question is, will it match the debut of its predecessor? Unlikely. The novelty of Snyder’s signature style has worn off (although Snyder worked on the screenplay, commercials director Noam Murro helmed Rise of an Empire), as has 300’s mix of togas and action; thanks to the popularity of the first film, we’ve seen several copycut productions and spoofs since 2007. Nonetheless, 300: Rise of an Empire is still tracking strong. According to Fandango, the movie is out-selling G.I. Joe: Retaliation in pre-sales, which bodes well for a solid opening: G.I. Joe opened to $40.5 million last March. Also, let’s not forget, Rise of an Empire is screening in 58 markets overseas. Even if it fails to match 300 domestically, it could out-perform its predecessor internationally.

Gunning for second place, DreamWorks production Mr. Peabody & Sherman also opens wide this weekend. March has historically been kind to the animation studio: The Croods opened to $43.6 million in 2013 while How to Train Your Dragon bowed to $43.7 million in 2010. Many pundits are unsure, however, how Mr. Peabody & Sherman will perform. DreamWorks' last two productions, Rise of the Guardians and Turbo, failed to meet expectations and even lost money.  Sherman has so far garnered mixed reviews, and it faces stiff competition from the still-going-strong The Lego Movie. Fandango has the film tracking stronger than Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2, which opened to $34 million this past September. 20^th Century Fox, however, is only expecting $25 to $30 million in opening-weekend business.

For specialty devotees, the weekend’s big release comes in the form of Wes Anderson’s latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel. Great reviews and a strong cast – Ralph Fiennes, Saoirse Ronan, Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Jeff Goldblum, and cameos by Anderson stalwarts Bill Murray and Owen Wilson – should propel the film to high returns. Think somewhere south of his roundly loved Moonrise Kingdom, which scored the third-best per-theatre average for a live action film when it opened in 2012, but possibly north of Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and The Life Aquatic of Steve Zissou (2004), both of which opened in the low $20 millions.

Overall, the weekend’s box-office breakdown should look something like this:

1. 300: Rise of an Empire


2. Mr. Peabody & Sherman


3. Non-Stop


4. Son of God


5. The Lego Movie

Today in casting: Rebel Wilson, Beyoncé, and Ralph Fiennes

Best news first. Rebel Wilson, who had a bit part as Kristen Wiig's eccentric Brit roommate in Bridesmaids, followed up by more prominent roles in Bachelorette and Pitch Perfect, has landed a project with Universal. The "Untitled Rebel Wilson Comedy" is based on an idea she came up
with. Wilson will star, produce, and write the script. With Judd Apatow and now Kristen Wiig in its stable, Universal has become comedy-centered in recent years. The studio is also distributing Identity Thief, another comedy starring a Bridesmaids vet, Melissa McCarthy. Add in Wilson, and Universal has quite the lineup of comedians.

Next up, Beyoncé. The singer and actress was supposed to star in director Clint Eastwood's remake of A Star is Born, but she's officially dropped out. Without a clear start date for the movie, the actress was having too many scheduling difficulties. Her replacement may be the little-known (at least compared to Beyoncé) jazz singer Esperanza Spalding. The woman can sing, so that's one thing. The movie will definitely read differently if there is a superstar in the role versus an unknown, but I love rise-to-fame stories regardless.

Finally, Ralph Fiennes will play a concierge in writer/director Wes Anderson's latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel. Anderson lived in France during the production of Fantastic Mr. Fox, so perhaps he found the inspiration for the Europe-set film there. Anderson players Bill Murray and Owen Wilson have already signed on, along with a newbie, Jude Law. Anderson's charming Moonrise Kingdom was one of this summer's indie movie successes, indicating the writer/director is back on track and pleasing his fanbase and beyond.

VIEW FROM THE TERRACE

By Sarah Sluis

Lakeview Terrace captured the top spot this weekend with a $15.6 million opening.  The neighbor-terror

picture, with some racial overtones thrown in, benefited from Samuel L. Jackson's performance.  While reviewers generally shrugged at the film, as least one critic noted that "Jackson hasn't had a role this good or this complex in many a moon."  With over one hundred films to his credit, Jackson has made something of a career from roles in moderately-budgeted, male-oriented genre films�including, as of late, the unusual snake duo Snakes on a Plane and Black Snake Moan.  While I haven't seen Lakeview Terrace, Jackson's villains are always compelling, and his supporting appearances always carry beyond the screen, making you wish he didn't have to die off so soon.

Two other newcomers, rom-com My Best Friend's Girl and animated tale Igor had disappointing opening weekends, coming in at #3 and #4, with $11.3 million and $8 million takes.  Neither was particularly well-reviewed�Film Journal pronounced Igor "decent" and My Best Friend's Girl "irredeemably ugly."  Audiences smelled a stinker and went for some of the better options in the multiplex.

Burn After Reading did surprisingly well in its second week, dropping only 41% and grabbing the #2 spot.  If I were a teen girl (as I once was), I would go for Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading over the iffy romantic comedy My Best Friend's Girl.

Other newcomer Ghost Town came in at #8 with a $5.2 opening.  The studio dropped 500 theatres from the run at the last minute, perhaps conceding that the film wouldn't be able to expand on its niche audience appeal.

Rounding out the top ten were last week's Righteous Kill, Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys, and The Women.  July's Dark Knight and August's House Bunny have also continued to bring solid returns, each coming in a bit under $3 million for the week.

Both Appaloosa and The Duchess had strong per-screen averages. The Duchess cheated a little bit, as its "per location" average (running on a couple screens in one location) of $29,000 beat out Appaloosa's per screen average of $18,429.  I saw The Duchess this weekend and many of its most dramatic moments played as absurd comedy, which definitely was not mentioned in any of the reviews or marketing of the film.  Ralph Fiennes' performance as the Duke was so bizarre it kept on drawing incredulous laughter from the audience.  One of the biggest laughs came from the wedding night scene, in which Fiennes aseptically inquires for scissors from a maid to undress Keira Knightley.  While not played as creepy, the moment is so bizarrely matter-of-fact the audience couldn't contain itself.  Inappropriate laugher aside, both of these films, with their strong per-screen numbers, should expand into more theatres.  Appaloosa already has a scheduled wide release in two weeks.  Assumedly, The Duchess will also expand, but no definite date has been set.