Epic Chocolate
Night at the Museum just made more money than Superman Returns. The Hitcher, in the meantime, underperformed at fifth place.
1/26
Wide
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Get Piven
WILL IT SUCK?
After Narc, writer/director Joe Carnahan can pretty much do no wrong, even if he did tease us dropping out of Mission Impossible III. The kick-ass cast doesn’t hurt, with Peter Berg, Jeremy Piven, Jason Bateman, Andy Garcia, Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds, among others, all up in there.
Early buzz, however, is pretty bad.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
About as many people know about this as knew about Narc when it came out so, not so well, especially with 50 other films coming out the same weekend. $33mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Woman (Jennifer Garner) tries to get over the death of her husband with a little help from her wacky love interest (Timothy Olyphant) and her wacky friend (Kevin Smith, yes, that Kevin Smith).
WILL IT SUCK?
Normally I would dismiss this as another craptacular romantic comedy. However, writer/director Susannah Grant (she who wrote Erin Brockovich, In Her Shoes, Charlotte’s Web - hey, it got good reviews) is not to be dismissed. I am a little disturbed by the sad-but-inevitable relegation of Not-So-Silent Bob to the goofy sidekick role in someone else’s movie.
Early buzz is good.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Has to deal with the even chick-ier Because I Said So the following week. $25mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
An American Werewolf in…um, Looks Like Prague?
WILL IT SUCK?
I love the fact that this is directed by Iron Jawed Angels helmer Katja von Garnier, as if this were female empowerment through werewolfery, althouh I guess it kind of is. Co-adapted by Ehren Kruger, who hasn’t written a good adaptation since The Ring, so I’m not holding my breath.
Early buzz is crappy.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Though competing horror flick The Invisible swerved in this weekend’s game of release date chicken, Epic Movie more or less targets the same teens. $17mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Like Scary Movie or Date Movie, but probably worse.
WILL IT SUCK?
I think you know the answer to that question. Oh, and yes, there is a Scary Movie 5 in the works.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Should own the weekend. $51mil.
Next Week: Hey, you know what I haven’t seen in a while? A horror movie.
January 22nd, 2007 at 11:08 am
The confusing thing about this week’s box office is that “Stomp the Yard” took first place again, with approx. $13 Million. I expected that it would do well in its first week, but how broad is the appeal for this film that it managed to hold the top spot for a second week? Or is it just that there wasn’t much worth seeing that came out this weekend?
January 22nd, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I think it’s a combination of lack of interest in the sole wide release of last week (The Hitcher) and the fact that dance movies are back (see the unbelievable b.o. for “Step Up”).