Top bunk goes to 'The Roommate'

By Sarah Sluis

You have to hand it to The Roommate, which earned $15.6 million from gullible young audiences who hadn't been around for Single White Female. Dismal reviews, like that from The Hollywood Reporter, described the movie as a "made-for-television thriller that will appeal only to younger audiences." But though these high schoolers' ticket purchases may have been an act of youthful inexperience, they knew better than to pay attention. "In the theater where I saw it," Movieline critic Elvis Mitchell comments,"the tedium was broken only by the sound of Angry Birds being played on iPhones."

The Super Bowl caused most films to drop in the 60-70% range from Saturday to Sunday, and Sanctum, which fell 71%, was one of the sporting event's victims. The trapped-in-a-cave movie tallied up just $9.2 million, even with ticket surcharges for 3D and IMAX. Ouch. With a reported budget of $30 million, this is one film that's going to be in the hole for awhile.

The films that fell the least during Super Bowl Sunday were The King's Speech (50% drop) and Yogi Bear (44.9% drop). Though films targeted towards young females have dominated Super Bowl counterprogramming, it appears that families and those seeking specialty fare were more inclined to catch a movie instead of the game. After all, The Roommate fell 65% on Sunday, in line with most of the other top ten films.

Portland-set mumblecore crime thriller (really) Cold Weather brought in $15,000 for IFC Films, a decent one-screen debut. Waiting For Forever, however, earned just $3,000 per screen on three screens. At one point, leading lady Rachel Bilson ("The O.C.") had the cachet of Roommate star Leighton Meester ("Gossip Girl"), but this movie's lackluster performance shows how quickly one can rise and fall.

This Friday will be a crowded one, with four wide releases hitting theatres: Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, romantic comedy Just Go With It, 3D animated pick Gnomeo and Juliet, and historic action film The Eagle.

'The Roommate' and 'Sanctum' battle Super Bowl Sunday

By Sarah Sluis

Super Bowl Sunday is this weekend, which has historically led to box-office doldrums. Many studios don't want to release a big film because they know Sunday will see a steep decline in ticket sales, but recently some movies, like the Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds concert movie and romance Dear John, have hopped into the time slot as counterprogramming for a young, female audience.

This year's "Miley Cyrus" counterprogramming pick is The Roommate (2,534 theatres), which should attract medium-sized hordes of young women (this demographic is already a big consumer of the horror genre, though this movie is more of a thriller). Leighton Meester ("Gossip Girl") stars as a creepy roommate in the style of Single White Female, whose possessiveness and copycat behavior quickly turn for the worse. With no advance screenings, a two-thumbs-up review is unlikely, though the lack of competing films should bring it over $10 million.

The 3D/IMAX, cave exploration movie Sanctum (2,789 theatres) will also drop into theatres. Despite the fact that the movie used the same 3D techniques as Avatar and bears the executive producer stamp of James Cameron, I was not impressed. Critic Maitland McDonagh called out the "one-dimensional characters" and added this observation: "Anyone who can't predict the order in which the bruised and battered survivors will fall prey to the implacable forces of nature and human error doesn't spend much time at the movies." I myself became distracted from the story, debating which character would be the next addition to the body count. A $10 million plus debut should also be in order for this suspense tale.

Natalie Portman's the new owner of a Golden Globe, and her prominence in both Black Swan and No Strings Attached undoubtedly motivated IFC Films to release The Other Woman (2 theatres), which stars the actress. In fact, "Portman is the only real reason to see the film," critic David Noh proclaims, faulting its "overt complexities and heavy obviousness."

On Monday, with the battle of the Steelers and Packers over, I'll give a play-by-play of this weekend's winners and losers.