'Despicable Me 2' and 'Lone Ranger' ready for fireworks

The first Despicable Me was a smashing success, and families and adults alike will be turning out this weekend to get their Minion fix in Despicable Me 2 (3,956 theatres). This summer is loaded with animated movies, but the strong reviews coming in for the feature so far means Despicable Me 2 stands a chance at being the cream of the crop, both critically and at the box office.

Blue Sky's May release, Epic, recently crossed the $100 million mark, and it's likely the weakest of the bunch. For the past two weeks, Pixar's Monsters University has held the number-one spot, even with last week's competition from The Heat and White House Down. The sequel has already earned $178 million. Still to come this summer is DreamWorks Animation's Turbo, Sony's The Smurfs 2, and Disney's Planes. Every studio doing animated movies has an offering this summer, leading to an incredibly crowded field. That's because when animated movies are done right, they're hugely successful both at the box office and, of course, through merchandising. According to FJI critic Kevin Lally, the Minion-filled tale deserves its expected $120 million gross from Wednesday through Sunday. The "boisterous, wholly
satisfying follow-up that takes the original premise in new
directions and provides memorable moments for its entire cast of
amusing characters," he extols.

What better way to celebrate America's independence than with a modern update to a western? Johnny Depp plays Tonto in The Lone Ranger (3,700 theatres), which our critic Frank Lovece dubs "an Old West superhero movie" that's far more entertaining than Man of Steel." However, while Man of Steel opened to $128 million over four days, Lone Ranger may end up with a more modest $70 million take over the five-day period. If audiences agree with Lovece that the movie is a "buoyantly kinetic,
full-of-heart adventure" that recalls Depp's memorable performance as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, Lone Ranger may end up higher, and play well in weeks to come.

Rounding out the offerings is a theatrical release of comedian Kevin Hart's 2012 standup performance at Madison Square Garden in Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain (876 theatres). Our critic Marsha McCreadie calls Hart an "incredibly agile and
physically gifted comic," noting the Hart fans at her screening were enthusiastic.

On Friday, The Way, Way Back (19 theatres) will join the list of releases. The coming-of-age comedy about a teen boy finding his way by taking a summer job at a water park features a great cast of adult stars including Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, and Allison Janney. Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, who co-wrote The Descendants, penned the screenplay and make their directing debut with the project, a similar family drama spiced with a pinch of dark humor.

On Monday, we'll be back to report on the box-office fireworks of the long holiday weekend.

 

'Rite' and 'Mechanic' compete against specialty pics flush with Oscar nods

By Sarah Sluis

The action thriller The Mechanic (2,703 theatres) sounds like typical late-January B-movie fare, but critic Maitland McDonagh begs to differ. The "sleek, brutally succinct thriller" comes along with an "emotional pitch [that] lies somewhere between those of King Lear and a Roadrunner cartoon, which doesn't sound like much until you stop to seriously consider the range of most mainstream action movies." Jason Statham also turns in a praise-worthy performance, projecting an "elusive warmth."

Marketed as a horror movie, The Rite (2,985 theatres) should draw in plenty of young females. McDonagh, however, feels that the exorcism movie does not fall within the genre, and "anyone who buys in expecting levitation, demonic apparitions and sundry other gross-out clichs will be disappointed." It's really about "the power of faith," told through "the relationship between a cynical seminarian and [an] unorthodox but devout exorcist." Warner Bros. has apparently been marketing this movie heavily to Hispanic viewers, many of whom are Catholic, and avid moviegoers to boot.

In the wake of the Oscar nominations, The King's Speech will up its screen count to 2,553 theatres, an addition of over 800 theatres. Studio head Harvey Weinstein has also reportedly talked about recutting the film to remove the F-word, and thus secure a PG-13 or PG rating. 127 Hours, which received nods for Best Picture and Best Actor for James Franco, is expanding to 916 locations. Franco is not only a nominee for Best Actor, but he's also doubling as one of the Oscar hosts, a nice increase in exposure for the movie.

Biutiful (57 theatres) reach more ticketbuyers this week, sure to benefit from its two Oscar nominations, one for Best Foreign Language Film and another for its star, Javier Bardem. While critic David Noh wasn't the biggest fan of the movie, he praised the "wearily weathered and better than ever" Bardem, who "proves the very heart and soul of this film."

The Sense and Sensibility-inspired From Prada to Nada (256 theatres) follows two wealthy young women who move in with their aunt after misfortune befalls their family. The romantic comedy is an attempt to woo the Latino market, which is a strong consumer of movies, especially in their first week. While few reviews are on the scene, the first-week receipts should predict whether this movie is among the likes of Prada, or nada.

On Monday, we'll return to analyze which Oscar-nominated films saw the biggest bumps over the weekend, and if The Rite and The Mechanic were able to pull in their respective audiences (apparently the Statham pic is tracking extremely well with older males).

'Quantum of Solace' will shake, not stir, the weekend box office

By Sarah Sluis

Quantum of Solace (3,451 screens) releases today to a wide-open market.  Without any competition, the film will likely exceed all previous Bond openings (2002's Die Another Day opened to $47 million). 
Forecasters have the film tracking in the $50-$60 million range, slightly below Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa's performance last week. 

Released two weeks ago in Europe, Quantum of Solace has already earned $160 million overseas, but critical reception has been mixed.  The film adjusts the proportions of action, glamour, sex, gadgets, and wit.  While the Bond package remains intact, those who look to the movie for the latter four elements might come out disappointed, as the lean film focuses primarily on the action.  Without the twists and ribald humor and narcissistic concern for the cleanliness of his evening wear, Bond looks more like Bourne, an opinion shared by numerous critics and the FJI staff.

Of note, two American CIA agents aid and do business with the story's main villain.  Bond films usually choose generic but safe villains--they used Russia as the Cold War villain even after the idea of Russia as an enemy was a bit stale (explained, in part, because they kept drawing on Ian Fleming's dated source material).  As far as I can tell, this marks the first time that a Bond film portrays a United States government official as a villain.  A product of the political leanings of screenwriter Paul Haggis, as well as the negative impression overseas of a Bush-led United States, the rather mild depiction of Americans-as-villains did not offend me, but serves as a warning of the world's casual distrust of America.

Holdovers Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Role Models, HSM3: Senior Year and Changeling will continue to rack up numbers at the box office, and, with so few debuting films, will probably drop less than 50% from last week.

The indie market is crowded this week, but the standout is Slumdog Millionaire (10 screens), which released Wednesday (related blog post here) and has already earned $3,000 per screen, a hefty figure for a mid-week release.

FJI publishes reviews of even the smallest indie releases, so, if the thought of Bond makes you run from the multiplex, click here for a round-up of all recent specialty releases.