No real box office surprises this weekend. At this point, I’m just waiting for Toy Story 3 to make another $2 million and knock Transformers 2 out of the top ten highest grossing films of all time.
8/20
Wide
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
The eponymous supernanny (Emma Thompson) helps out Maggie Gyllenhaal (proving she’s not the only one in her marriage who can put on a British accent) with her rotten, rotten children and their spoiled cousins.
WILL IT SUCK?
First off, if you haven’t seen the original, it’s actually pretty good. Thompson, who wrote the original, writes again and early buzz says it’s even better.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
This is really about the international gross. $37mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Not just piranha. Super, big-ass, prehistoric piranha!
WILL IT SUCK?
This is from the guys who wrote the Sorority Row remake which, given the level of camp this is likely to reach (they’ve recast Richard Dreyfuss as Hooper from Jaws and Chris Lloyd has never looked sillier), that might not be a bad thing. If it weren’t for the high levels of gore director Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes, Mirrors) has added to the mix, I might actually enjoy the crapulence.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
The Last Excorcism might be a problem next week, but I doubt it. $32mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Vampire Movie
WILL IT SUCK?
Please. Just. Make. It. Stop.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I hate to say it, but these movies hit more often than miss. $29mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Guy (Bow Wow) gets a winning lottery ticket but has to hold on to it for 3 days before he can cash it in. The neighbors find out, and hilarity ensues.
WILL IT SUCK?
The only thing interesting about this is that Ice Cube is now essentially playing the dad role John Witherspoon played when Cube was in Friday. Sunrise. Sunset.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Friday, it ain’t. $11mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Woman (Jennifer Aniston) uses artificial insemination to get pregnant, not knowing that, through a mishap, her platonic friend (Jason Bateman) is the donor.
WILL IT SUCK?
From the directors of Blades of Glory but from the writer of 21. Nice to see Patrick Wilson up in here, tho.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
2nd frame of Eat Pray Love may be an issue. Will probably fall on the lower end of the Aniston romcom spectrum. $41mil.
Limited
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Guy becomes a dancing sensation in China, then America, but then China wants him back. Based on a true story.
WILL IT SUCK?
From director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Tender Mercies, Breaker Morant). Early buzz is great. Apparently, would have won the audience award at Toronto last year if it hadn’t been for some film called Precious. With Bruce Greenwood, Kyle MacLachlan, and Joan Chen.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
This has a fairly open playing field, although Tillman Story will provide a little grief. $3mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Doc about football-player-turned-soldier Pat Tillman’s death in Afghanistan and how his family investigates the ensuing cover-up.
WILL IT SUCK?
From director Amir Bar-Lev (My Kid Could Paint That) and writer Mark Monroe (The Cove). Early buzz is outstanding.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
War docs have it tough, though the subject matter in this case may give it a little more press than usual. $2mil.
Next Week: The director of a film I championed two years ago finally makes it to the big time.
I love your writing style, but I have one very minor suggestion.
I really like your use of “links as 3D text,” (my own writing style is not dissimilar) and I’ve noticed that you often link to the IMDb page of any given film. Most of the time, that’s probably the best course of action, but whenever you make an oblique reference to a movie (such as “put on a British accent”), it slows things down a bit. IMDb pages just identify movies with strings of numbers, whereas Wikipedia will include the film name in the URL, meaning the reader just has to mouse over the text to understand the reference. Maybe I’m just a lazy jerk who doesn’t want to have to actually click links, but I feel that pausing to click the link and see which page it is can really break the flow of the writing (particularly if the indirect reference is a snarky one).
That’s just my two cents, and if you have some sort of unwillingness to link to Wikipedia, that’s fine. Either way, I will gladly continue reading, since you’re definitely one of the best writers on the web.
Driving by the Moorestown Mall on my way home from 30th Street Station tonight, I couldn’t help but laugh at the marquis:
NANNY MCPHEE RETURNS
LOTTERY TICKET
Unintentional commentary FTW!
Tim,
First off, thanks for the compliment! Secondly, I had never actually considered *that* difference between an IMDb link and a Wikipedia link when choosing links. It never even occurred to me that readers were using that preview ability while reading to determine whether or not to click. I’ll certainly consider that in the future. The more one knows about one’s writing tools, the better.
Thanks again!
M-D,
That is made of awesome! I would see that film.