Anybody Else Wanna Release a Movie This Weekend? Anyone?
You throw Disney in the mix with four other wide releases over a holiday weekend, and you see what happens.
The big story, though, is This Christmas outta nowhere with a $27mil five-day haul. This plus the Why Did I Get Married? boffo b.o. equals a greenlight for every “urban” holiday comedy in the pipe (if, you know, all the writers weren’t on strike). And we still have The Perfect Holiday on the way.
This weekend, wide releases mostly take a break for some reason. They’ll do it next weekend, too, but for a much better, avoid-the-holiday-tentpole reason.
11/30
Wide
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Man (Hayden Christensen) overhears his own murder being plotted while under really ineffective anesthesia.
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is good. Terrence Howard plays the doctor who may have betrayed Christensen.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
A little competition from the second frame of The Mist, but next week Golden Compass obliterates everything in its path. $14mil.
WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
Hustle & Flow it is not.
Limited
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney play siblings putting their father in a home.
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is outstanding, having this surpass writer/director Tamara Jenkins last effort as a double threat, 1998’s The Slums of Beverly Hills.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Fox Searchlight has got to get the word out. $1mil.
WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
Provided enough people see it, Linney and Hoffman could get some love.
THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
The French Sea Inside
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is fantastic. Like, best director at Cannes award for Julian Schnabel (Before Night Falls) fantastic. Ron Harwood (The Pianist) adapts the memoir written by Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby one blink at a time after he suffered a stroke. Mathieu Amalric (Louis in Munich) plays Bauby. Oh, and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski works for someone besides Spielberg for once.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Has an uphill battle. Foreign, indie and no star. $3mil.
WILL ANYBODY REMEMBER IT AT OSCAR TIME?
Looks lined up to be that foreign film that gets nominated for more than just Best Foreign Film.
Next Week: Rock-em, sock-em polar bears.