‘The Butler’ overachieves this weekend, while ‘Kick-Ass 2’ lacks punch

Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2,933 screens) easily outshone all
other films at the box office this weekend, earning $25 million, a figure above what most predictors expected it to
bring in. The film cost $30 million to produce. Based on the true story of an
African-American butler (Forest Whitaker) who worked in the White House under
six presidents, The Butler was
particularly popular with women (60% of viewers) and people over 35 (76% of viewers).
It played most strongly in the Northeast and especially Washington, D.C., where
the film is set. 

It is fairly typical that distribution companies release
dramatic features aimed at women and older audiences in mid to late August. After a summer of tentpoles and 3D sci-fi
blockbusters, these demographics are starved for films that don’t feature men
in capes or multiple explosions. The
Butler was originally slated for an October opening, but TWC wisely decided
to take advantage of this late-summer demand, a choice that the studio is no
doubt very happy with.

The Weinstein Company can also attribute much of The Butler’s success this weekend to its
popularity among African-American audiences, many of whom went to see the film
with their church groups. TWC reached out to many religious leaders in the
black community to promote The Butler,
a popular practice among studios when releasing black- and civil rights-themed
movies. A special trailer, altered from the one shown in theatres, was created to appeal to church parishioners, and the company
even produced a “scripture guide” meant to promote faith-based discussion in
relation to the film. Black audiences made up 39% of total Butler tickets purchased this weekend, a very high percentage.

Unfortunately for Universal, Kick-Ass 2 (2,940 screens) did even more poorly
this weekend than expected. The studio had predicted earnings of nearly $20
million, identical to Kick-Ass’s take
its opening weekend three years ago. However, the sequel—which was made for $28
million—only grossed about $13.5 million,
or less than 70% of its expected profits. This put it in a near tie with Elysium, now in its second week in
theatres. However, Elysium earned
about $40,000 more than Kick-Ass 2,
placing the sci-fi thriller in third place above the superhero sequel, which
came in at fourth. Surprisingly, We’re
the Millers, also in its second week, continued to perform well, grossing
$17.8 million and landing in second place behind The Butler. We’re the Millers
now has the smallest drop in earnings (just 33%) between its opening and
second weekend of any film of the summer.

Like Kick-Ass 2, the two other features opening this
weekend, Jobs and Paranoia, both underperformed. Though they were both smaller releases, Open Road
Films and Relativity Media, respectively, had expected better showings. Jobs (2,381
screens) (a biopic of Apple founder Steve Jobs, played by Ashton Kutcher)
made $6.7 million and achieved a
seventh place finish. Paranoia (2,459 screens), by far the
worst-reviewed film currently in theatres, managed to dredge up a paltry $3.5 million—a disaster for a film
which cost ten times that amount to make, and which stars up-and-coming leading
man Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games)
as well as film royalty Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman. 

'Elysium' should lead, with 'Planes' at its tail

This weekend brings four new releases, two today and two that jumped the gun with an early release on Wednesday. The frontrunner is Elysium (3,284 theatres), which has two things going for it: District 9 writer/director Neill Blomkamp, and star Matt Damon. Critics have been

more tepid towards Elysium: It's tracking just 66% positive, compared to District 9's 90% "Fresh" rating (it also scored an Oscar nod for Best Picture). Our critic Michael Sauter was one of those who came out in favor of the futuristic dystopia. He calls out its "hurtling momentum,
with enough boom-crash-splatter explosiveness to wow even the most
hardened action junkie," which pairs well with a "topical, deeply
resonant theme and premise." Others (including myself) thought the plot had some gaping Swiss cheese-holes, with commentary not nearly as biting as District 9, and I suspect audiences will come away with a similar spectrum of reactions. Curiosity and name-brand recognition should bring Elysium over a $30 million opening.

Joining Elysium is Planes (3,702 theatres), the final animated release of the summer. Both Turbo and live-action/animation hybrid The Smurfs 2 fell victim to animation fatigue, and the huge amount of animated product in release should definitely take a slice out of Planes' pie. An opening over $20 million would be good news for this "simplistic knockoff" of Cars, which Disney moved from direct-to-video to theatrical release. "Why didn’t someone bring the pixie dust that makes
Pixar’s animated flicks a cut above in wit, style and detail?" our critic Harry Haun bemoans. Still, plenty of young kids are obsessed with planes, cars, and all things mechanical, and this movie will be catnip to those youngsters--if not the parents who bring them to theatres.

A low-level pot dealer (Jason Sudeikis) becomes a drug runner to get himself out of a pinch in We're the Millers (3,260 theatres), assembling a fake family (including Jennifer Aniston as a stripper) in the process. Our critic David Noh loved the cast and the premise, but regrets that the "direction and writing are so scattershot, they engender only
fitful amusement." A real highlight is Nick Offerman as a goody two-shoes RV owner--he's
probably one of my favorite comedy players right now. We're the Millers earned $6.7 million on Wednesday, and its totals should rise to the upper-$20 millions by Monday.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (3,031 theatres) also opened on Wednesday, earning $5.4 million, which also should put it on track for a weekend somewhere north of $20 million. This is an action-fantasy for the tween set, with "Harry Potter-esque assets" that become less appealing the older and more discerning the audience gets, according to FJI's Doris Toumarkine.

This weekend's specialty offerings include In a World (3 theatres), a comedy starring Lake Bell as a wannabe voiceover artist that "has its moments," according to Toumarkine. Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine will expand from 50 to 116 locations in its third week.

On Monday, we'll see if Elysium indeed grabbed the top spot, and how the other three new releases finished in this close August weekend.

‘Despicable Me 2’ continues to dominate box office

 

As has
become the norm in Hollywood, the sequels prevailed this weekend. The biggest
grosser was Despicable Me 2, earning
the top spot for the second week in a row. Coming in at number two was Grown Ups 2, the Adam Sandler and Co.
comedy. Pacific Rim, which had been
gaining buzz due to its original monsters vs. robots concept, was left in third
place, underperforming at the box office.

Despicable Me 2 likely earned its second weekend at
number one due to great reviews and its family-friendly content (minions!),
which both children and their parents can enjoy. The film took in about $45 million
this weekend, a 46 percent drop from its opening. This is a similar decline to
the other animated feature still in major release, Monsters University, which
fell 45 percent its second week in theatres. This data puts Despicable Me 2 on track to earn a total
of around $350 million this summer, and to probably become the second-highest
earning movie of the year. The film has so far grossed about $230 million
domestically, or 91 percent of what the original, Despicable Me, earned throughout its entire run. All this success
undoubtedly means that Universal will be rolling out a Despicable Me 3 in a few years’ time.

Despite Grown Ups 2’s extremely negative
reviews—the film only scored a 7 percent critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes—the
film has exceeded expectations at the box office, coming in just $2.25 million
behind Despicable Me 2. The $42.5
million three-day haul is actually better than Grown Ups’ 2010 opening weekend. These earnings can probably be
chalked up to the fact that, despite the film’s crude humor and PG-13 rating,
the opening weekend audiences were more than 50 percent female and more than 50
percent under 25, indicating that many families went to see the film together. Grown Ups 2’s successful debut (the
second highest of any of Adam Sandler’s live-action productions), indicates
that the comedian’s post-Jack and Jill
slump is officially over. Grown Ups 2
has now overtaken The Hangover Part III
to have the largest opening weekend for a comedy this year.

Unfortunately,
that leaves Pacific Rim to place
third this weekend. Despite pretty positive reviews from both critics and audience
members, the film just didn’t have enough appeal to win over a wide demographic
of viewers. With no bankable stars and a heavy reliance on CGI-created action
scenes, the film predictably drew crowds from the fanboy sector, but couldn’t
muster up nearly as many older or female audience members. The $38.3 million
opening is by no means a flop, but it is under what Warner Bros. had hoped for,
especially considering that another recent original sci-fi film, World War Z, scored $66 million its
first weekend in theaters. Of course, World
War Z had the benefit of Brad Pitt and was based on a book with built-in
hype. It is now likely that Pacific Rim
will earn a total of about $110 million domestically, and will rely heavily on
the international market to break even on its reportedly $190 million
production budget.

The female
buddy-comedy The Heat, starring
Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, took in $14 million in its third weekend
out, putting its total gross thus far at over $112 million and keeping it on
track to become the highest-grossing comedy of the summer. Disney’s flop The Lone Ranger continues to struggle along
at fifth place in its second week in theatres. The film has only made $71
million so far, or a third of its $215 million budget. It seems as though Jack
Sparrow just doesn’t translate to the Old West. 

'Heat' scorches 'White House Down'

Both The Heat and White House Down earned "A-" Cinemascores from their audiences, but one movie overperformed while the other fell short of expectations. This is summer movie season, and Monday morning results aren't always fair.

The Heat soared with $40 million. That's much better than openings for either Melissa McCarthy movies (Bridesmaids opened to $26 million, Identity Thief to $34 million) or Sandra Bullock's latest (The Blind Side and The Proposal both opened around $34 million). While Bridesmaids and The Blind Side were both word-of-mouth hits, earning six to seven times their opening weekends, audiences here already knew they were dealing with a great product featuring known stars and a specific style of comedy. Since initial awareness was so high, The Heat's subsequent weeks won't be quite as hot as Bridesmaids, but its strong rating in exit polls should stoke this comedy right up to $150 million.

White House Down should have opened north of $30 million, but instead the action movie, the second to focus on an attack on the White House in a year, disappointed with $25.7 million. Historically, similar movies don't always lose by coming out second--meteor disaster movie Armageddon did much better than Deep Impact. But in this case, Olympus Has Fallen opened $5 million higher in March, despite a cheaper budget, a lesser-known star, and weaker reviews. White House Down should level out in coming weeks, but one of its biggest problems is the amount of competition out there. World War Z's second week earned $29.8 million, while Man of Steel, brought in $20.8 million and upcoming pictures including Lone Ranger and Pacific Rim. For star Channing Tatum, who has appeared in four $100+ million movies in the past eighteen months, this underperformance will be a slight knock to his reputation as a skyrocketing box-office star.

I'm So Excited had a strong debut, averaging $20,000 per screen in five locations. I suspect Sony Pictures Classics may have timed the release to Pride festivities this weekend. After all, Slate's Dana Stevens quipped that the Pedro Almodóvar work is "a sassy disaster-movie spoof that might as well be titled Gays on a Plane."

On Wednesday, Despicable Me 2 and The Lone Ranger will kick off the long Fourth of July weekend.

 

'Bourne Legacy' and 'Campaign' take lead from 'Dark Knight Rises'

Arriving a month after The Dark Knight Rises, The Bourne Legacy relieved the Batman film of its number one spot with a $40.2 million opening. That's off 42% from the Matt Damon-starring Bourne Ultimatum. Hollywood so frequently relaunches franchises, it's easy to put that figure in context. X-Men: First Class suffered a 53% loss when it revved up again, while The Amazing Spider-Man had better luck, performing 30% off the previous incarnation of the franchise. That means The Bourne Legacy is right in the middle. Attendees gave the movie a so-so B rating in exit polls, which is partly attributed to the abrupt ending. I was one of the people who turned to my guest and said, "That's it?" in confusion, too, so I'm actually glad that other viewers didn't buy into the sudden ride off into the sunset either. I suspect this Bourne film will yield a sequel, but I think the production team will need to work a bit harder to close up those gaps in believability.

The Campaign overperformed to place second with $27.4 million. The Will Ferrell-Zach Galifianakis political comedy earned a 67% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is on the high side for Ferrell's comedies. His best-rated movies top out in the 70-80% range, and he's no stranger to the other side of the ratings spectrum either. THR reports that the comedy broadened its base beyond the typical under-25s that go for R-rated laughs. In Boston (Mitt Romney's home base) and Washington D.C., the feature performed well on Saturday, a time that usually sees drop-offs for this genre. The North Carolina-set comedy also played well in the South and the Midwest.

Hope Springs finished fourth with $15.6 million over the weekend, for a five-day total of $20 million. That's actually the same figure earned by Meryl Streep's 2009 feature Julie & Julia, which ended up earning just under $100 million. The audience was two-thirds female, with 69% of ticket buyers over the age of forty. Because Hope Springs isn't bringing in as broad of an audience, most doubt it will reach the same total as Julia & Julia, but the older moviegoers should ensure the film plays over a long period, since this demographic doesn't focus as much on seeing movies opening day.

Star/writer/director Julie Delpy's follow up to 2 Days in Paris, 2 Days in New York, averaged $13,500 per screen in two locations. Fantasy romance Ruby Sparks passed the $1 million mark by earning $453,000 in 261 locations.

Nitro Circus: The Movie totaled $1.1 million over the weekend and $2.1 million since it opened on Wednesday. At $1,100 per screen, the average theatre totals aren't so high. Could the movie have done better on fewer screens?

With just two weekends before Labor Day, when the box office takes a dive, studios are throwing in all their final summer films. On Wednesday, Disney releases the sentimental pic The Odd Life of Timothy Green. On Friday, The Expendables 2 will vie for the action-focused male audience, stop-motion animated Paranorman will attempt to scare adults and kids alike, and the late Whitney Houston will make her final cinematic appearance in Sparkle.

Revenge of the sequels

The next few years are going to see a lot of the same films cropping up with colons appending their names, and "2's" and "3's" or part I and part IIs tacked to the end. First up, The Hobbit is being expanded from two films to three films. To those who aren't in the know, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is a single, 300-page book. How could that possibly cover the ground for three movies? THR notes that "production cost of the third could run between half and two-thirds as much as one of the other two films thanks to work that's already been done" [emphasis added]. That means that director Peter Jackson is essentially stretching out the book into three films instead of two, so fans will have to wait two and a half years to see the series complete. The first installment opens this Christmas, with the two after planned for the fourth quarter of 2013 and summer 2014. This isn't that different than what Harry Potter, Twilight and The Hunger Games did or plan to do: chopping the final book into two parts. Although I've never read Tolkien's books, there must be an awful lot of material to turn such a short book into three movies. In Jackson's official statement, he notes that the Hobbit movies include material from other Tolkien works, and that the decision to add another movie was made after watching preliminary cuts of the first and second films. But did the filmmakers really see a gap in the story, or simply an opportunity to turn two movies into three when presented with a long, unedited first cut? I wonder if the films will end up with lagging pacing, or if the three movies will be filled with just the right amount of action sequences and plot.

Besides The Hobbit, there will be plenty of other multi-film franchises of this summer's films, which THR compiles in a lengthy and slightly depressing list. With the exception of Prometheus, which may not even get a sequel, there have been very few films I've seen this year that have warranted a repeat. However, the success of Ted and Magic Mike, along with Snow White and the Huntsman (star Kristen Stewart's affair with the director notwithstanding), Men in Black 3, and The Amazing Spider-Man means these films will be the first of many. Get ready, because the next couple of years will bring plenty of déjà vu.

 

'Battleship' challenges 'The Avengers'

Like The Avengers, Battleship (3,690 theatres) has already released overseas. With $200 million already in the bank, the action extravaganza won't be a failure by any means, but it won't enjoy the combination of critical and box-office success enjoyed by The Avengers. "Those looking for big, loud sci-fi action will find plenty to like here," THR's Megan Lehmann reports, "as director Peter Berg pumps up the volume on clashing military hardware and flag-waving heroics." That doesn't mean the action-packed, warships vs. aliens premise has much of a narrative thrust. Critics agree, giving the Taylor Kitsch starrer just a 36% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A weekend total of around $35-40 million is in the cards, which would put the Hasbro adaptation short of The Avengers. Even if the superhero picture drops by half, it will end up with over $50 million. Globally, the billion-dollar success is now the sixth-most profitable movie of all time.

For audiences who prefer the screams of a baby to explosions, What to Expect When You're Expecting (3,021 theatres) offers a humorous take on pregnancy and child-rearing, with a diverse cast (young, old, black, white) that covers the gamut of experiences (planned, unplanned, adoption). FJI critic Marsha McCreadie reports that the "sitcom structure of much of the film supersedes credibility," but "you won't need an epidural" to get through with the comedy, which has a "light touch." An opening just north of $20 million would undoubtedly make Lionsgate very proud of its creation.

The Dictator (3,008 theatres) opened on Wednesday to $4.1 million, and its five-day total could end up close to $25 million. Unlike star Sacha Baron Cohen's previous titles Borat and Bruno, which documented his characters' interactions with unwitting participants, this one is 100% fictional. I laughed from start to finish, which made me more forgiving of the comedy's narrative flaws and occasional joke that didn't quite hit the mark. There's also a dash of social commentary in the mix, with a late-in-the-game speech that references the 1% rhetoric of Occupy Wall Street.

On the specialty scene, Maggie Gyllenhaal leads the cast in Hysteria, a "gimmicky but handsome period rom-com" about the invention of the vibrator to treat Victorian women's so-called hysteria. The film "amounts to a superficial cinematic massage," according to Doris Toumarkine. Francophiles should swoon for Polisse (3 theatres), which dramatizes the work of officers in Paris' child protection unit.

On Monday, we'll see if the wild success of The Avengers dampened the releases of Battleship and The Dictator, or if the great kickoff to the summer movie season has encouraged more repeat business.

Hear executive editor Kevin Lally talk summer movies on WNYC

By Sarah Sluis

Today on the Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC, executive editor Kevin Lally dissected this summer's pleasant surprises, the movies that disappointed, and indie films to add to your must-see list. With fellow guest Richard Corliss of Time Magazine, the two cover everything from the fate of 3D, this year's superhero movies, and the proliferation of prequels, origin tales, and remakes.

Listen to the broadcast here:

 

 

 

'Nanny,' 'Pirahna,' 'Lottery Ticket' and 'Vampires' crowd the box office

By Sarah Sluis

Emma Thompson's "snaggle-toothed, uni-browed, wart-ridden" version of Mary Poppins makes a second appearance in Nanny McPhee Returns (2,783 theatres). Our critic David Noh was unimpressed with the

movie's jokes about farm animal excrement and "unending, chaotic chase scenes," which leave the audience with a "noisome and numbing" effect. As the only new offering for kid audiences, the movie may open well, but it's unlikely to approach the must-see status that drew such large audiences to the animated crowd-pleasers of the summer.

Expanding into the largest amount of locations this weekend, Vampires Suck (3,233 theatres)

opened on Wednesday to $4 million, a surprisingly high number for a movie that, judging by the number of the times its name and release date were changed, didn't inspired much confidence among the folks at 20th Century Fox. However, making fun of Twilight and the glitter content of vampire heartthrob Edward's body has become a favorite topic for young males, so this spoof may prove popular among that set. It comes from the creators of genre parodies Date Movie, Epic Movie, Disaster Movie and its ilk, so viewers will be in store for some stupid fun that, just maybe, offers them a few laughs, especially if you still have a -teen suffix at the end of your age.

Lottery Ticket (1,973 theatres) is expected to draw in largely black audiences to the tale of a boy from the projects who wins the jackpot right before the

long Fourth of July weekend, leading everyone from his grandma to a rogue preacher to try to snag the ticket from him. First-time director Erik White is "unable to blend broad comedy with the uncomfortable ghetto realities," according to THR critic Kirk Honeycutt, leading to a stereotypical presentation of life for poor blacks. Its first weekend will be the test, since black-oriented comedies, including Tyler Perry's, tend to open big and fade quickly.

Oh, look! It's Jennifer Aniston in another romantic comedy, The Switch (2,012 theatres). In this one, she stars opposite Jason Bateman as a

woman who decides to become a mother with the help of a sperm donor of her choosing, except Bateman replaces his sperm and becomes the father of the kid. It's pretty average, and apparently isn't tracking well. This movie will have to contend with Eat Pray Love, as the two will be battling for some of the same audiences.

A remake of a lowest-common-denominator horror film and Jaws spoof, Piranha 3D (2,470 theatres) adds another dimension to the equation, releasing almost exclusively in 3D (2,220 out of 2,470 theatres in 3D). With just a limited amount of critics seeing the movie, it's currently tracking at 88% on Rotten Tomatoes--what?? As long as you're evaluating it as a low-brow, cheesy exploitation horror movie, it's a "pitch-perfect, guilty-pleasure serving of late-summer schlock that handily nails the tongue-in-cheek spirit of the Roger Corman original," according to THR critic Michael Rechtshaffen.

Releasing with an R rating, despite the filmmakers' protestations, the documentary The Tillman Story (NY/LA; 4 theatres) tells the story of NFL player-turned-Army Ranger Pat Tillman who died in Afghanistan in what was spun as an act of heroism but was later determined to be a friendly fire incident. Talented director Amir Bar-Lev (My Kid Could Paint That) elicits both heartbreak and outrage with his story. For something lighter, there's the story of a restaurant owner (Adam Bousdoukos) with a struggling business, Soul Kitchen (NY; 2 theatres). Despite an "awful run of bad luck," the owner's "constantly changing fortunes are the good-natured joke in this disarmingly loose and energetic comedy," according to critic Kevin Lally. Based on a true story of a Chinese ballet dancer who goes to Texas as part of an exchange program, only to abandon his homeland for America, Mao's Last Dancer (29 theatres) is a "conventionally told biopic," according to Lally, that "follows a pretty basic path of contrasting Western freedom with the rigid totalitarianism of Li's [Cunxin, the dancer] upbringing." The ballet sequences and true story help make this movie a crowd-pleaser, according to Lally.

On Monday, we'll see where each of these new releases fell in the top ten, and if returning releases The Expendables and Eat Pray Love continue to hold on to their sizeable audiences. The summer movie season is coming to an end, and this may be the last week any film has even a chance of breaking $100 million. Then we'll be on to the September slump. Though many of next month's films aren't expected to be huge winners at the box office, there should be some entertaining ones in the bunch.

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?

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.

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.

'Funny People' looks out for number one

By Sarah Sluis

While almost everyone in the industry thinks Funny People (3,008 screens) will be able to grab the number one spot this weekend, its exact gross is more uncertain, with estimates ranging from $20 to $30 million. The film itself is similarly ambiguous, uneven and not immediately satisfying. It's the kind of movie you keep on thinking about after the lights go up. While I liked it far less than The 40-Year-Old Virgin or Knocked Up, it's a film I would want to revisit a few more Judd Apatow pictures down the line. Since Universal announced today that it signed a three-picture deal with Apatow, including an option for him to make films outside the studio, it looks as though the writer-director will have several more chances to add to his body of work. FJI's Executive Editor Kevin Lally called the death-centered comedy Apatow's "most ambitious film, which is both a good and bad thing for the audience. Good, because he's not playing it safe and repeating himself; bad, because the movie falls short of fulfilling its risky ambitions." I suspect this movie will underperform, but its risk-taking increases my respect for Apatow as a director.

Going to battle against the numerous kid films in release, Aliens in the Attic will open in 3,106 theatres. It's expected to perform below Harry Potter 6 and G-Force, making it a likely candidate for the number four spot. With its horror-lite tone and High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale, the movie is likely to do best among young boys.

Horror film The Collector will scare audiences in 1,325 theatres. While the movie wasn't screened for critics, its trailer has rather striking visuals, and the tale comes from the writers of the Saw sequels. The premise is intriguingly moralistic: a thief breaks into a house, only to discover that the family has been held captive by something or someone far more sinister--and he helps save the family he intended to rob.

On the specialty front, documentary The Cove opens in 4 theatres. The filmmaking activists pursue their goal--to record the inhumane slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan--Ocean's Eleven style, adding suspense and allowing the audience to viacriously join the crusade. Vampire film Thirst opens on 4 screens. I adored the "cinematic maelstrom of bloodlust and sensual obsession projected through Park Chan-wook's runaway imagination," but its graphic, depraved representation can be difficult to watch and is certainly not for everyone. Adam, a "sensitive but not sentimental" romance in which one party has Asperger's, opened Wednesday on 4 screens, and Lorna's Silence, a Danish film from the award-wnning Dardennes Brothers about the relationship between a drug addict and the woman who married him for immigration reasons, will appear on 6 screens in New York and L.A. For family audiences and those seeking specialty fare (I would almost count Funny People in that category), it's another jam-packed summer weekend.

'Ice Age 3' breaking up 'Transformers,' and 'Asteroids' in our future

By Sarah Sluis

First, a note on yesterday's box-office returns. Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs debuted with $14 million, followed by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen's $10 million, then Public Enemies' $8 million. If these results hold, it looks like Transformers 2 will be unseated in its second week.

One of the producers on the Transformers franchise, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, has another game adaptation on his list: Asteroids. The 1979 Atari game (which you can play online here) has no plot and no backstory. It's just shooting asteroids before they shoot you. Since many video games with complicated backstories fail to thrive at the box office, perhaps creating a story out of such a bare-bones premise could actually work. After all, Hasbro has been licensing versions of its games like Monopoly, Battleship, and Stretch Armstrong. The property even ignited a bidding war, with four studios vying for rights to the work. Matt Lopez, who has recently penned high-profile projects like The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Race to Witch Mountain, and Bedtime Stories, is in charge of the first draft.

Although the game Asteroids debuted in 1979, about five years before the Transformers television show, people played the game for years afterwards. Later-model consoles, arcades, and early computers (where I first played an Asteroids-type game) carried versions of Asteroids. People from teens to 40-somethings have probably had some direct exposure to the game, making this picture a potential "four-quadrant" film, the term marketers love. What direction will they take? The 1984 movie The Last Starfighter featured a boy good at an Asteroids-type game who is recruited by a stranger from another galaxy to save its world from invading aliens. That kind of plot is every kid's fantasy, though I'm not sure it's the direction the studio will go. In the Transformers franchise, the machines are always "real," it's just that their reality isn't universally acknowledged. You don't have to go to another world for it to become real. Universal has a great property on its hands--hopefully it will swim, not sink, in development.

'Transformers' revving for a blockbuster weekend

By Sarah Sluis

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (4,234 theatres) earned $60.2 million in its opening day (including $16 million from midnight screenings the night before), and an additional $28.6 million on Thursday. It's set for a $160-$180 million five-day total, which would put it behind The Dark Knight but among films from an elite group of franchises, like Star Wars and Spider-Man. Still, as someone who squirmed through the entire film and found it to be a CGI version of six-year-old children playing with their transformers, I'm at a loss. There's no way this can be a "four-quadrant" film, the kind that's supposed to cross over to all audiences. Judging from its PG-13 rating, and the lines I saw outside AMC Empire 42 in New York City on Tuesday night for late-night showings, pre-teens to early teens seem to be the biggest fans of the film. While its opening weekend should be stellar, it should expect to drop at least in the mid-40%'s each week, consistent with the first Transformers.

When women drop off their kids at the movie theatre, perhaps they'll catch My Sister's Keeper, which opens in 2,606 theatres. I reviewed the film, and found it to be a surefire way to have a good cry. While the sick child premise isn't as big of a draw as director Nick Cassavetes' romantic tearjerker The Notebook, the film celebrates life and family, and is quite satisfying despite being repetitious at times. However, the film will face competition from the more upbeat The Proposal, which won the box office last week.

A more adult action film than Transformers, The Hurt Locker (4 theatres) centers on a group of bomb diffusers in Iraq. The film has received a sensational response among critics, who have praised the film for its realism and for its unusual choice to be a war film, without coming out pro-war or anti-war. The New York Times' A.O. Scott made the advertising-ready pronouncement "If The Hurt Locker is not the best action movie of the summer, I'll blow up my car," which sounds like a pretty strong endorsement to me.

Presciently topical, The Stoning of Soraya M. (27 theatres) will likely pick up audiences due to its Iranian setting, as well as its politically aware message. Based on a true story, the film follows a woman whose husband accuses her of adultery in order to get rid of her and marry someone younger. For her punishment, she is stoned to death.

Also opening today is Cheri (76 theaters), a costume romance starring Michele Pfeiffer. Directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen), who Kirk Honeycutt praised for "simply [bringing] out the best in his collaborators," and based on two novels by French writer Colette, the film's exceptional pedigree produced a romance just as rewarding to watch.

On Monday, we'll circle back to see how Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen fared through the weekend, whether My Sister's Keeper will beat The Proposal, and which specialty releases packed the most seats.

'Terminator Salvation' keeps the action, loses its resonance

By Sarah Sluis

The new Terminator Salvation has all the action you would expect from a franchise that once starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Filmmaker McG is incredibly comfortable directing car chases, planning for CGI-created monster machines, and making machine-to-human combat look fresh and engaging. Unlike in many action movies I've seen, you never get worn out by the fighting and chases. The characters' interactions with each other are believable, necessary, and real. You better believe that Christian Bale, as evidenced by his on-set outburst, was taking his job seriously.

It's also worth noting the performance of John Connor's opposite, Marcus Wright, who is played by newbie Australian actor Sam Worthington. His performance is a preview of what audiences can expect with Avatar, the action film directed by original Terminator director James Cameron, which releases later this year. Worthington plays a death-row criminal resurrected as something else, and he gives his character just the right attitude: redemptive without beating himself up over his never-explained crime. There's a moment where he realizes that he's not who he thinks he is, and watching him act through it is one of the most satisfying moments of the film. He's also forced into a Matrix-like scene where information is downloaded into his head. He makes the moment feel original and fresh, but the scene symbolized my main problem with Terminator Salvation: the sci-fi world of post-apocalypse Skynet seems tired, and little has been done to refresh it.

I prefer my action films to have some kind of soul, and for their battles to be proxy for some greater cultural anxiety (I loved The Matrix). The earlier Terminator films play on that Frankenstein fear, the idea of our creations taking over us. There's also the popular trope of malignant, devious corporations (Skynet) that pursue profits against the common good. Added to mix is the allure of seeing what a world looks like post-apocalypse, and, of course, time travel. All of these struggles seem global, epic, and resonate with the times. But McG doesn't seem interested in syncing up Terminator with today's sci-fi fears.

In this Terminator, the characters display little interest in their predicament. Even Marcus Wright, who woke up in 2018 after being executed in 2003, doesn't show any surprise at the great change in humanity's fortune. And devious corporations going rogue? That certainly could have been stressed more, to great effect. The one thematic glimmer is the tension between members of the resistance and people who merely try to survive, avoiding the Terminators where they can and not bothering to fight. Because it's an action film, we're on board with the fighting side, but the few scenes with the gaunt refugees who preferred avoidance to confrontation stayed with me. Odd, I know, but they piqued my interest in seeing the upcoming adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road, which follows a father and son on a path to survival--with only people, not machines, to fight.

The buzz after the Terminator Salvation screening, as everyone gathered their cell phones (which were checked into zip-loc baggies for security reasons) was "not as good as Star Trek." I'll add in myself that I found the film to be better than Angels & Demons. I expect the box office for Terminator Salvation will stack up somewhere between the two films, and wouldn't be surprised if we see a Terminator 5.

'Wolverine,' meet 'Star Trek'

By Sarah Sluis

Everyone seems to like Star Trek. Many people will see it this weekend. But how will it all add up at the box office? Currently running a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, the time-traveling origin story juxtaposes car chases in vintage roadsters in Iowa with galactic attempts to wrench ships out of black holes ("More warp!" There is no more warp! More warp!!!"). It's great fun, and includes J.J. Abrams' signature time-bending, a space vocabulary that heavily references Star Wars (When will they put up safety rails next to deep abysses in spaceships?), and a plotline accessible to those who have never even heard of the Enterprise fan club. In other words, Trek has all the makings of a summer popcorn movie.

Currently, the film's tracking way up, as the marketing blitz continues to raise awareness of the film. There are conflicting reports about whether Star Trek or Wolverine has better female support, which surprised me, given that for me it was pretty clear-cut. My interest in Wolverine hovered around zero, while I was enticed from day one by the Star Trek trailer that included the aforementioned Iowa car chase scene and promised me there wouldn't be hard-to-decipher techno-conversations on the flight deck.

Last week, headlines for Wolverine gave the film a range of $60-$100 million, and it came in at $75 million. This week, estimates for Trek seem to be in the $65-$100 million range, but the studio's low-balling, saying they would be happy with $50 million. In Trek's favor are 7pm screenings tonight which should jump-start its grosses, as well as data from Movietickets.com that shows that sellouts have already exceeded those of Wolverine. The space actioner will also be showing up on bigger IMAX screens, which carry a ticket premium and could push grosses higher.

Internationally, the film will open everywhere but Japan and Mexico, where the swine flu has made public gatherings impossible. Based on previous performances in the franchises, X-Men's Wolverine claws are supposed to read better than the Spock/Kirk interactions of Star Trek, but since the reboot is all about drawing in new, younger viewers, there's a chance the film can create new audiences. The fact that Trek avoids using its plot as a Cold War parable will undoubtedly make the film more universally appealing.

Among, say, your typical young male fan who missed Wolverine last week because of a soccer game, there will definitely be competition for the box-office dollar, and last week's $75 million open still leaves many viewers choosing between the two films, or opting to take a week off from moviegoing. From my standpoint, that hard-to-quantify buzz has always been higher for Star Trek, but, then again, I'm not hanging out in middle and high school hallways.

Summer season gets some competition

By Sarah Sluis

Hollywood used to have a scheduling formula: blockbusters and tentpoles in the summer, awards films in the winter, and more blockbusters to cover the winter holidays and Easter/spring break. While the logic makes sense, it's left many moviegoers high and dry when they want to see a good film at an off time. There's nothing worse than wanting to catch a movie with a friend in late January, only to be faced with stale awards fare or some unappealing horror film or teen comedy.

However, just as television stations colonized the rerun space of summer a few years back, studios are looking hard at the recent succeses of "off-time" movies that opened, like 300, Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Taken. In a model that pits quality films against quality and junk against junk, these films managed to rise above the pack, doing consistent business week after week because they were more than "just junk," they (arguably) were films that people would have seen at any time of year.

Fox is jumping on this strategy, and recently moved several of its upcoming films to these less competitive but more and more lucrative slots. Tooth Fairy, the Dwayne Johnson movie planned for a pre-Thanksgiving November 13th release in 2009, has been pushed back to January 22, 2010. Race to Witch Mountain, which Johnson recently starred in, also opened on a slightly off time, March 13 of this year, and racked up $63 million, so the studio can expect similar results.

The comedy Date Night will open on April 9, 2010, also a light time at the box office, but one that coincides with the television schedules of Tina Fey and Steve Carell--expect many commercials for the film during "30 Rock" and "The Office." In another off spot (though coming in around when some lucky students have mid-winter break), the kid fantasy adventure Percy Jackson will release on February 12th.

Like Paramount last year with Iron Man, Fox is pushing the boundaries of "summer movie season." While, like the color white, tentpoles were taboo before Memorial Day, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which has all the markers of a tentpole, will release on May 1st, weeks before the kick-off holiday. The studios's not abandoing the Memorial Day slot, as it's positioned Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian there against Terminator Salvation, but it's front-loading its films that can easily be classified as tentpoles, leaving movies like Fox Searchlight's Jennifer's Body (September 18) to finish up the summer, a time when back to school leads to a temporary drop in the box office.

For me, evenly spacing quality films will lead to more trips to the box office. While I certainly go to the movies more in the summer and the winter, it's because there are more films I want to see, not necessarily because I have more spare time. While I do have some nostalgia for childhood trips to air conditioned theatres during summer break, and seeing a special film the day after Thanksgiving, nostalgia alone does not sell movie tickets (unless we're talking about a drive-in theatre). Making movie marquees appealing year-round is an excellent decision by Fox, and one that many studios will likely follow.

'Hellboy II' Pumps Up The Magic

By Katey Rich

Does any summer blockbuster really have the right to look as fabulous as Hellboy II does? In an era where CGI stands in for anything and everything, and you only need to throw a spandex suit on someone to make them a superhero, you have to wonder why Guillermo del Toro puts the painstaking care and minute details into his vision of a world packed with underworld creatures. Then, of course, you have to thank him dearly for doing it, and making a wildly entertaining blockbuster that, even if it lacks the depth of his breathtaking Pan's Labyrinth, shares the same inspiring visual wizardry.

The story of Hellboy II, which involves a pact between humans and the underworld and an army of brass transformers and all kinds of other hokum, invites a vast menagerie of creatures to come take part, from the central trio of Liz (Selma Blair), Abe Sapien (puppeteer extraordinaire Doug Jones) and Hellboy himself (Ron Perlman) to a giant Jack-and-the-beanstalk figure gone Little Shop of Horrors on a Brooklyn street. Some are CGI, like the monster plant, but most are puppets and prosthetics on humans who are rendered almost unrecognizable within their creatures. One character, the ectoplasmic Johann Krauss, who lives inside what resembles an old diving bell, is played by two people. How??? Never mind, I don't want anyone to spoil the magic.

And that, actually, is the best part of Hellboy II--the idea that there is movie magic at work here that can't be explained through well-placed mouse clicks. OK, Doug Jones isn't actually magical, but the way he moves his arms as Abe, and then transforms into the Angel of Death later on (no, really, that's a character), defies logical explanation. The mixture of the brick-and-mortar wizardry with the standard CGI flair has the wonderful effect of grounding it all in reality, turning off the section of your brain that grumbles, "Oh, well, it's all just CGI." You don't know which part of the movie actually walked the earth, or a soundstage, at some point. That's all the fun.

Hellboy II is funny and adventurous, but it also loses itself from time to time in the faux-mythic language and portentous music that virtually every fantasy movie seems to require these days. But the overall combination favors sheer glee, whether it's Hellboy's tossed-off one-liners or the spectacle of watching a hideous ogre walk down the street. And with relatively little of that glee being digitally manufactured, the satisfaction is all the greater.

Dark Knight Could Be One for the Ages

By Katey Rich

Any frequent reader of movie blogs might be under the impression that The Dark Knight is the only movie coming out within the next six months. It's seemingly the only thing any moviegoer, blogger or even critic wants to talk about, now that Wall-E has impressed us all and we're left waiting for the next thing to be, perhaps erroneously, dubbed a masterpiece.

Now that early reviews are trickling in, it seems that The Dark Knight might actually be capable of living up to the massive hype. The Hollywood Reporter calls it "pure adrenaline," and Variety chimes in and calls it an "enthralling second installment of [director Christopher Nolan's] bold, bracing and altogether heroic reinvention of the iconic franchise." Plus, the movie gets fanboy cred, with a handful of movie blogs predictably going nuts for the dark superhero epic.

So, with the July 18 release date growing nearer, what exactly are we looking at here? Humongous box-office grosses aren't really in doubt-- The Dark Knight seems likely to play to even the slightest of comic-book movie fans, and given the glut of superheroes in the last decade, who isn't one? But with Oscar talk for Heath Ledger swirling everywhere-- and some Oscar-centric blogs predicting even more awards love for the movie-- The Dark Knight has the potential to be the kind of gigantic populist entertainment the likes of which we haven't see since Titanic.

No, seriously. Of course there have been gigantic blockbusters that virtually everyone has seen this decade-- the Spider-Mans, the Pirates, at least the first two Shreks. But nearly all of them feel disposable, even now, and especially after third installments of all three franchises tarnished the reputations. It's been a long time since a movie immediately pole-vaulted its way into the canon through sheer ubiquity, the kind of movie that both mom and grandma are willing to see and aren't embarrassed to adore. There was a time when romantic epics or movie musicals filled the niche; though the 2000's have been dedicated to superhero movies to an almost overwhelming degree, not a one of them has truly managed that crossover.

Yes, I realize this post is just part of a crazy tailwind left by the endless hype and hyperventilating reviews that are anticipating The Dark Knight as some kind of second coming. But it's undeniably exciting when something like this hits everyone-- not just because of promotion or name recognition, but what seems to be genuine attention and craft in a movie where much, much less could suffice. In a way, Christopher Nolan is doing the same thing the Pixar geniuses have done over and over again-- giving us the kind of broad-appeal entertainment we deserve, and not just what we'll settle for. If Nolan and company pull off what Pixar did with Wall-E, maybe we can remember this summer as the one when the blockbusters actually gave us something worth seeing, and were justly rewarded for their effort.