Run, Superhero, Run
I knew Owen Wilson wasn’t as popular as he used to be, but to lose to Shutter?
3/28
Wide
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Shortened version of 24. No? Okay, how about an MIT professor trains his students how to count cards? True story.
WILL IT SUCK?
You’re gonna have to do better than the writer from Be Cool and the director of Win a Date With Tad Hamilton and Monster-in-Law before I get psyched, much as I love seeing Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne get their movie on. Early buzz is mixed.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Spacey’s as much of a draw as he used to be. $51mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Simon Pegg tries to run a marathon.
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is mixed, but even those who like it seem to admit it’s formulaic. Interested, though, to see what Simon Pegg co-writing with Michael Ian Black produces.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
I’d like to think this was going to be some sort of breakout hit, but I think it’ll fall somewhere in between. $24mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Okay, everybody who’s done with their military service please step forward. Not so fast, Ryan Phillipe!
WILL IT SUCK?
After Boys Don’t Cry, I’m not really going to question Kimberly Pierce’s ability to write and direct a film. Plus, you’ve got Joe Gordon Levitt and Timothy Olyphant joining the (imho underrated) Phillipe in the cast. Early buzz is mixed.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
We pretty much have to accept that, at this point, Iraq movies are going to have to be labors of love, not profit. $12mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Do I really have to explain the Genre Movie series anymore?
WILL IT SUCK?
You’ve probably figured that out, too.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
This, sadly, is also a foregone conclusion. $37mil.
Limited
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Janitor (Michael Caine) gets executive (Demi Moore) to re-enact the eponymous 1999 Joel Schumacher film with Philip Seymour Hoffman as a drag queen who teaches Robert De Niro how to love. And by that I mean, he asks her to help him rob the bank that employs them.
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is good. The return of Il Postino director Michael Radford (actually, he’s made plenty of films since then, you just haven’t heard of most of them).
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Name cast gives it about as much of a chance as anything else opening this weekend. $2mil.
WHAT’S THE PITCH?
Guy (Gad Elmaleh) tries to win the affection of a golddigger (Audrey Tautou) by becoming one himself.
WILL IT SUCK?
Early buzz is good. From the writer/director of a bunch of other French comedies we’ve never heard of.
HOW WELL WILL IT DO?
Do you really want to open your film, Priceless, the same weekend as another film with much bigger stars called Flawless? $1mil.
Next Week: I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but Martin Scorsese kind of likes The Rolling Stones.