Thursday, May 22, 2008

Weekend Theater Threat Alert - 5/23/08


Weekend Movie Threat Level: Blue (Guarded)
Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of The Crystal Skull has everything going for it. It has an all star cast, one of the best director's in the biz, amazing stunts crew and most importantly, it's the ONLY new movie opening this weekend. To say this film is going to do huge at the box office this weekend is a complete understatement. Expect to not get in just about anywhere and dare i say it, a new opening 3 day record is possibly on the horizon. Is it any good? Who cares! It will be big box office regardless. The main plot consists of Indy being sucked back in for one last adventure by the Soviets (led by Cate Blanchett) talking him into finding a lost crystal skull. He can't help himself and is always thinking of his beloved museum, he decides to take on the adventure only later to be betrayed, damned Ruskies. Shia LeBeouf and Ray Winstone add sidekick comic relief. Even Karen Allen returns as Marion Ravenwood. There should be plenty of twists and turns and hopfully as long as you don't get your hopes too high you may even enjoy this.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Weekend Box Office Estimates for 5/2-5/4


(Statistics and links courtesy of
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/)

Iron Man Par. $100,750,000
Made of Honor Sony $15,500,000
Baby Mama Uni. $10,332,000
Forgetting Sarah Marshall Uni. $6,132,000
Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay NL $6,015,000
The Forbidden Kingdom LGF $4,200,000
Nim's Island Fox $2,750,000
Prom Night (2008) SGem $2,500,000
21 Sony $2,100,000
88 Minutes Sony $1,600,000

Iron Man in true blockbuster fashion came in at number one at the box office with a whopping $100 million dollar weekend. There were many factors that sealed its current position in the top ten movie opening weekends of all time (10th). When you have your movie shown on 4,105 screens that certainly helps, but most importantly is the fact that there was nothing, absolutely NOTHING it had to compete with. A producer’s wet dream. All of this along with the simple fact that it was actually a good film leads up to Jon Favreau as a real consideration for real films and obviously sequels to come.


Considering its competition and one trick pony screenplay Made Of Honor actually had a modest weekend coming in at number two and a $15.5 million opening. In only its second week Baby Mama dropped to the third spot with $10.3 million and has already topped its production budget and is now officially making a profit, God save us.

As for the rest of the top ten? Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay is losing it’s luster fast amongst theater goers as it dropped to the fifth spot from holding second just one week ago. Forgetting Sarah Marshall was not forgotten this weekend as its held the fourth spot yet again. To round out the top ten it’s looks as if 88 Minutes and Prom Night will be heading out of the top ten in the next week or two. I can’t think of two better candidates.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Weekend Theater Threat Alert - 5/2/08




Weekend Movie Threat Level: Blue (Guarded) - Rich Industrialist in a flying suit of armor Vs. Wealthy Playboy in a dress. Back the right horse, and you'll find yourself in the winner's circle.

Made of Honor


Tom (Patrick Dempsey, the sickeningly nicknamed “Dr. McDreamy” of Grey’s Anatomy) is a wealthy playboy living the ultimate bachelor’s life, but when his platonic best friend Hannah (the cute but forgettable Michelle Monaghan) decides to tie the knot with some guy she found in Scotland (Rome’s own Kevin McKidd), he suddenly realizes that he’s been in love with her all along. Hilarity ensues when Hannah asks Tom to be her ‘Made of Honor’.



When both your movie title and tagline (‘An Unbridled Comedy’) are puns based on the film’s one-trick pony of a screenplay, you know that you’re in for a world of hurt. Your ultimate Chick Flick Rom Com, men are uncultured slobs who eat potpourri and talk about getting laid all the time, and the really cute and wealthy bachelor fulfills the woman’s dreams by marrying her after being repeatedly humiliated. The only people buying tickets for this one will be women who have to mark their Harlequin romance novels so they can tell which ones they have read, and men too whipped to say no to their wife/girlfriend. The rest of us will be seeing…

Iron Man

On the other side of the coin, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr., America’s favorite ex-junkie actor) is a wealthy playboy who designs missiles and weapons, then has a change of heart after being kidnapped and tortured by terrorists, and suddenly realizes that he’d rather build a cross between an Armani Suit and a Sherman Tank and blow things up himself. Hilarity ensues when evil mastermind Obadiah Stan (played by The Dude himself, Jeff Bridges) gets his hands on Stark’s design notes and decides to make a toy of his own.



John Favreau, whose directorial credits consist mainly of one underground cult hit and two cheesy kids films, is probably hoping that Iron Man has a Sam Raimi Effect on his career. He’s most likely also thanking the Fates that he was passed over to direct The Fantastic Four.