'Food, Inc.' finds an unlikely corporate sponsor, 'Bruno' receives tyke-friendly edit

By Sarah Sluis

Could you imagine if Fast Food Nation were sponsored by a fast food chain? Chipotle seems to be doing just such a thing, giving out flyers for free screenings of Food, Inc., a documentary that explores the negative effects of factory farming and insufficient laws governing our food supply. While I love my barbacoa burritos from Chipotle, I never would have linked my consumption of them to the sustainable eating practices recommended in Food, Inc. Of course, that's the point. Chipotle wants to position itself as the "good" fast casual option against the "bad" fast food shown in the film, such as Burger King. I blogged about the thought-provoking film in June, and I find it even more interesting that its activist message has found a corporate sponsor.

Food, Inc. stands apart for its practical, rather than radical, approach to changing the food we eat. The documentary makes a point to single out companies that aren't standing alone, but changing factory farming by throwing themselves into the mainstream. Stonyfield Farms, for example, was bought by the Dannon corporation, and is sold in Walmart stores. The CEO defends the company's decision, saying that if more yogurt is organic, fewer pesticides and chemicals will be circulating in the environment. Food, Inc. suggests that food companies (i.e. Tyson) are so gargantuan,

they simply can't change, but most acquire upstarts and, perhaps,

slowly incorporate more sustainable, healthy methods of farming and

processing. McDonald's owned Chipotle until 2006, when it sold off all of its non-McDonald's food chains. So even McDonald's, much reviled for some of its corporate practices, allowed another company to experiment with organics and environmentally sustainable products, which is consistent with Food, Inc.'s message. Perhaps in the future, we'll see more corporations "endorse" documentaries--a practice that, when done properly, I'm sure will have mutually beneficial results. Maybe an anti-Sea World company will want to make a play for The Cove?

Across the pond, Universal is trying a different distribution strategy for Bruno, which had less-than-spectacular results in its first weekend. After grossing just $8.1 million (U.S. $) its opening weekend, Universal submitted a 15-and-over version of the movie to the British Board of Film Classification. English-speaking countries like the U.K. and Australia posted the highest grosses for Borat, so Universal clearly wants to fully tap this market. With a more inclusive rating, Universal hopes to be able to draw in younger viewers, who apparently have been "turned away" at ticket booths. Considering that the BBC airs youth-oriented programs like "Skins" that make our teen soaps look G-rated, I'm sure teens are annoyed and even turning to illegal downloads to see the film. Importantly, this will be a rare chance to see the difference ratings make on the bottom line. You constantly hear directors complaining about studios making them cut

to get a specific rating, so this will provide a nice experiment to see

how much truth there is to the conventional wisdom.

'Bruno' gets his 15 minutes (and million) on Friday

By Sarah Sluis

Sacha Baron Cohen's comic persona Bruno did big business on Friday, but dipped through the weekend, sparking concerns that Cohen's brand of shock comedy has run its course. After Friday's $14.4 million debut, Bruno dipped 39% on Saturday, taking in just $8.8 million, and another 18% on Sunday ($7.2 million). While it brought in $30.4 million, $4 million more than Borat, it opened in three times as many theatres, making its per-screen average one-third of Borat's. Critics have generally liked the film, giving it a 69% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but that's far short of Borat's 91% rating. Part of the appeal of Baron Cohen's characters has been the guerrilla-style humor. With that element of surprise already played out in Borat, the humor of Bruno grows old more quickly. I enjoyed Bruno, but it was much more evident that the events were staged. While Borat had that "Blair Witch Project" sense of authenticity on its side, Bruno may suffer the same fate as Blair Witch Project 2. Needless to say, Baron Cohen is a talented comedian and there is a chance its second-weekend grosses could show only a slight dip.

I Love You, Beth Cooper, the other new release of the week, opened to $5 million at the #7 spot. With lackluster reviews and little marketing support, it appears this movie will fade fast. While Beth Cooper didn't open big, the other comedies in the top ten held strong, even with a comedy at #1, which might be another sign of Bruno's limited appeal. The Proposal dropped just 18% to bring in $10.5 million, and The Hangover fell 11.9% for a $9.9 million weekend gross.

Opening in just New York and Los Angeles, Humpday made a solid debut of $14,500 per screen. The Hurt Locker, which added 51 locations to up its release to 60, increased 324% from last week and crossed the $1 million mark. Both of these films have received extra attention for having females at the helm of a bromance and a war film, respectively. In an interview with The New York Times, The Hurt Locker director Kathryn Bigelow revealed to the reporter that "after she made The Loveless, a postmodern motorcycle movie in which she stretched narrative to the limit, she started receiving scripts for high school comedies, which she quickly realized was considered a suitable subject for her gender." In the indie world, however, it appears easier for these females to work outside of these genre ghettos, to box-office success.

This Wednesday, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will open. According to MovieTickets.com, the film has already sold out 350 screenings, including 216 midnight sellouts, making this film one to watch.

'Bruno' promises a gay time at weekend box office

By Sarah Sluis

The most-buzzed release this weekend is Br�no (2,755 theatres), Sacha Baron Cohen's gay Austrian fashionista creation. The plot and the brand of humor differ little from 2006's Borat, and while "pre-premiere buzz sawed on so long the project felt like a reality show in rerun," according to our critic Rex Roberts, I doubt that will deter fans craving another round of Cohen's humor. Br�no takes the comedy further in the NC-17 direction than 2006's Borat, ensuring there's still plenty of shocking moments saved for the big screen. However, this could in fact be why Br�no will ultimately fail to charm as much as Borat. "[Cohen] is a man who clearly delights in making himself the target of opprobrium, humiliation, and even violence," notes Slate critic Dana Stevens. "Borat, for all his backwardness and provincial racism...elicited the audience's sympathy. There was something sweet about

his eagerness to connect, however inappropriately, to everyone he met

on his travels," while "the humor of Br�no is arguably crueler and more misanthropic." Cohen's film is my pick for the #1 release of the weekend. However, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosuars, which has little overlap with the R-rated comedy, along with an additional 1,300 screens in its release, could overtake the Austrian. Br�no, like its predecessor Borat, is less concerned about a record-breaking opening weekend, and more interested in selling out houses this week, then having those viewers spread the news for following weekends.

The small teen romantic comedy I Love You, Beth Cooper will offer a PG-13 alternative to young audiences in 1,858 theatres. The premise sounds endearingly sweet. A high school nerd declares his love for the popular girl (Hayden Panettiere) during his graduation speech. Intrigued, they spend the night after graduation together, running into a series of madcap situations and finding out more about each other. Unfortunately, reviews have been calling the movie unfunny, and more than one noted its inferiority to the considerably more amusing Superbad. Our critic Stephen Farber notes that "most of the scenes are stock teen crises that we've seen many times before: underage kids trying to buy beer, getting into a car wreck, fighting off vicious bullies." Still, most teens haven't spent decades watching these kinds of movies, so perhaps they'll turn out.

Humpday, which will release in NYC and LA today, is the most talked-about specialty film releasing this week. Two straight guys find themselves making a pact to create a porno together, and follow through. FJI's Ethan Alter was more than pleased with the result, noting that "mumblecore comes of age with this smartly written and well-acted, grown-up version of a "bromantic" comedy." Those that have previously steered clear of the mumblecore genre might find a film they can not just tolerate, but enjoy.

On Monday, we'll see just how many viewers Br�no managed to offend, and who ended up turning out for I Love You, Beth Cooper (Br�no sellouts?).

Tobey Maguire focuses on 'The Details'

By Sarah Sluis

Tobey Maguire will star opposite Elizabeth Banks in The Details, a dark comedy. Filming will start later this summer in Seattle, before Maguire goes off to shoot Spider-man 4. Jacob Estes, the writer and director, previously took on the dual role in 2004's Mean Creek, which took place one state south, in Oregon. It earned a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and has some thematic similarities to the described plot of The Details.

In Mean Creek, a bully and his friends decide to punish a boy by humiliating him out in the Oregon wilderness, but the actions escalate out of their control and the stakes suddenly become life-or-death. In The Details, Maguire and Banks will play a couple bickering about infidelity and the strength of their marriage, and who must deal with the added annoyance of pesty raccoons destroying their backyard. They have a disagreement over how to get rid of the animals, which (like in Mean Creek) spins out of control and results in death (apparently by bow-and-arrow). Laura Linney will play an "eccentric" neighbor, and Ray Liotta, Anna Friel (Land of the Lost), and Dennis Haybert ("24," "The Unit") are also on the cast list. While Mean Creek was more serious, this is being billed as a "dark indie comedy"

Over the past year, Elizabeth Banks was in one release right after the other (Zack and Miri Make a Porno, W., Role Models, The Uninvited), which really highlighted her versatility (or just her willingness to pick up anything and everything). Tobey Maguire is stepping into the role previously held by James McAvoy, who left due to scheduling problems. With its high-profile stars, and prolific producer Mark Gordon (who was nominated for an Oscar on Saving Private Ryan), The Details certainly has the potential to take on an awards-season sheen. Or, perhaps, be another War of the Roses.

'Ice Age 3' almost even with 'Transformers 2'

By Sarah Sluis

Both Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen posted estimated $42.5 million grosses for the Fourth of July Weekend on Sunday, but as final data trickles in, it appears that Transformers 2 came in at about $42.4 million, and Ice Age 3 slightly under $42 million. Even though Transformers fell 61% from its opening weekend, its twelve-day gross puts it behind only The Dark Knight for that time frame. When you start that high, even steep declines don't dent the gross. Audiences love CGI spectacles, even if there isn't much of a story to go along with them. Ice Age 3's five-day total of $65 million is a promising debut against the tough competition from Transformers 2. Because it's animated and released during the kid audience-friendly summer break, it should have strong weekends, and weekdays, to come.

Johnny Depp as John Dillinger drew in a healthy audience this holiday weekend. Public Enemies earned $26.1 million, and $41 million over five days. The number is consistent with director Michael Mann's previous film, Miami Vice, but the strategic decision to release it over the holiday brought its five-day total to $41 million, the same level as Vice's two-week total.

Among specialty releases, second-week release The Hurt Locker and fourth-week release Moon have picked up the most speed. The Hurt Locker posted the highest per-screen average this weekend, $14,000, even beating Transformers 2 and Ice Age 3. It went from four theatres to nine, bringing its cumulative gross to $365,000. Lower down on the list, sci-fi entry Moon increased 140% from last week, doubling the theatres in its release to 47. With a four-week total of $963,000, it should cross $1 million this week.

This weekend, it's back to the comedies. The Hangover is still in the top ten, and over the Fourth of July weekend it dropped just 38%, crossing the $200 million mark, but its fortunes could change. The highly anticipated Sacha Baron Cohen movie Bruno opens, along with Chris Columbus-directed high school romantic comedy I Love You Beth Cooper.

'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.

'Ice Age 3' and 'Public Enemies' battle with 'Transformers'

By Sarah Sluis

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Public Enemies will be opening in some rough waters. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen has made the biggest splash of the year, earning some $200 million in its first five days. Young teens turned out in force for the CGI action, but critics panned the movie, making it unlikely to have the legs of a film like The Dark Knight. This weekend, everyone's wondering how much Transformers will drop off. A 50% plus drop for Transformers could be enough for Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs to come in at number one.

The first two Ice Age films opened at $46 and $68 million, though in the less lucrative--and competitive--spring break time slots. It seems reasonable that Ice Age 3 should come in around its second film total, especially given the added holiday weekend boost. Also adding to the film's potential profitability are over 1,000 3D screens. However, it's still won't be playing on as many screens as Transformers 2. Ice Age 3 will open on 3,993 screens today, and add another 100 on Friday, but that's still less than Transformers' current 4,224 screens.

Public Enemies is my pick for the #3 spot. Michael Mann's last film, Miami Vice, opened in the heat of the summertime at $25 million (and #1). The film's R rating and violence will subtract some viewers during this family-friendly weekend, making me believe it will play third. Plus, Mann is not known as a big "opener" of films, but as someone who can create a film that will play for multiple weekends.

Like most critics who saw Transformers, I can't recommend it. Not even a jumbo bag of buttery popcorn can redeem its awfulness. Both Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Public Enemies are receiving a warmer reception than Transformers 2. For Ice Age 3, the compliments are rather tepid. Our Michael Rechtshaffen points out that "IA3 will draw families looking to fill the gap between Up and the July 24 arrival of Disney's G-Force, " but can't really recommend anything else about it. Likewise, The New York Times' A.O. Scott predicts that "families who have recovered from the trauma of the Transformers sequel are unlikely to avoid this tired, loud little sequel over the coming holiday weekend," but complains at length about the premise, which involves dinosaurs living underground, below the ice.

As for Public Enemies, critics have praised its lush costuming, use of HD cameras, and the performances of Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard. There's a sense that some soul is missing, that Mann might hold you at a distance, from comments like "Public Enemies re-creates clothes, but doesn't fully fashion the man who wore them" from Entertainment Weekly, and NY Times' Manohla Dargis' multiple mentions of "ambivalence" and closing pronouncement that "If [Mann] doesn't fully succeed, it's because he knows that the gangster's rakish smile is at once a fiction of cinema and one of its great, irresistible lies."

On Monday, we'll see how the five days of Ice Age 3 and Public Enemies fared against the box-office behemoth Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.