Harold and Baby Mama Escape From Guantanamo Bay
The market has spoken, evolution never happened.
From CinemaBlend:
Ben Stein’s documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed managed to make it all the way to ninth place despite only showing on 1,000 screens. The beauty of documentaries these days is that you have some kind of built in audience so long as your subject matter and approach is controversial enough.
4/25
Wide
HAROLD AND KUMAR ESCAPE FROM GUANTANAMO BAY
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Read the title.
WILL IT SUCK?
High-fucking-larious. Go now.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Opening against Baby Mama, the second frame of Sarah Marshall and right before Iron Man is not ideal, but Harold and Kumar (and NPH) have had plenty of time to build a fan base. $51mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Ewan McGregor gets involved in a prostitution ring. Things go worse for him than for what’s-his-name.
WILL IT SUCK?
From the writer behind Live Free or Die Hard, but delays, title changes and such lead me to believe this is an April dump. Also starring Hugh Jackman, Maggie Q and Michelle Williams.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
April dumps do not do well. $15mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Tina Fey hires Amy Poehler to carry her child. Maybe-she-should-have-kept-looking hilarity ensues.
WILL IT SUCK?
Written and directed by Michael McCullers, co-writer on Undercover Brother and the Austin Powers films. Fey’s got Romany Malco, Sigourney Weaver, Greg Kinnear, Dax Shepherd and Maura Tierney providing support. Early buzz is good.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Sarah Marshall the week before, Harold & Kumar this week and Made of Honor opens the very next. Still, Fey’s garnered a decent following. $41mil.
Limited
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Thriller involving a novelist researching her next book.
WILL IT SUCK?
The trailer should be taught in class called “How Not to Make a Trailer.” That havng been said, it’s got generally good buzz. Nominated for a Cesar. Director Claude Lelouch won an Oscar for writing A Man and a Woman back in ‘66. But it’s likely Web folk are more familiar with the kick-ass driving short he directed.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
And even more people have no idea who Claude Lelouch is at all. $1mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
The Color of Poker
WILL IT SUCK?
Burt Reynolds plays the Paul Newman role and Reaper’s Bret Harrison plays Tom Cruise. To look at the trailer, this will follow every cliche it can get its hands on. Early buzz is not good.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I think I speak for most Reaper fans when I say, I like the show, but not that much. $500,000.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Errol Morris takes on Abu Ghraib.
WILL IT SUCK?
In spite of a Silver Bear at Berlin, early critical buzz is mixed; but I’m willing to give Morris the benefit of the doubt. Check out the larger picture of which this doc is only going to be a part.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Awesome as they may be, Errol Morris movies are never really “hits.” $3mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Helen Hunt stars in her directorial debut as a woman dealing with a new pregnancy by her ex-husband (Matthew Broderick), a new beau (Colin Firth) and the discovery of her birth mother (Bette Midler).
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is good. Won the Audience Award at the Palm Springs Film Festival.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Honestly, not that much competition. Well-marketed, this could make it happen. $5mil.
Next Week: First name “Iron.” Last name “Man.”