February done went and got you thinking you were out of the box office slump for a while. But like a freakish mid winter heat wave that wakes up every damned chigger in the universe just long enough to sniff out your chocolate-sweetened, won't-be-any-bugs-around-for-months sweat, February has thrown you a final curve ball. (I'm pretty sure I just sabotaged my own metaphor. Ah, well.)
It's not really a curve ball. It's just more movies you don't really have any interest in seeing. There's Hall Pass, I guess. Do you want to see Hall Pass? Really? Don't bullshit me, Man. You don't want to see Hall Pass. It *is* a Farrelly Brothers movie, somaybe that's why you want to see it. What? You didn't know it was a Farrelly Brothers movie? That's probably because they haven't really been pushing that. They used to. It used to be a big deal. I guess they stop advertising the directors' names when the movies to which their names are attached stop making money and cease to win any critical favor. (Doesn't explain M. Night Shyamalan. Then again, what does?)
I'm just going to assume you don't have much interest in another Nicolas Cage movie so soon after the last one. He was only in two movies last year, so I suppose it's time for him to flood the market with his movies again. Seems like he does it every other year. He was in four the year before last. The year before that? Just one. The year before that? Four. This year is one of the heavy years (two are out already, and two more are scheduled to come out beforeyear's end).
On the other hand, Hall Pass is Owen Wilson's third movie in as many months, and he has four more to come before 2011 is out.
If you're waiting for me to bring up the week's other major releases, you're waiting in vain. February gave you a couple weekends in a row of 3+ semi-interesting-looking major releases, and it probably started to feel like that was the new norm. Nope. February is giving (in comparison to January, at least), but it's not that giving.
The moneymakers from the last couple of weekends aren't quite ready to give up the ghost, so both this weekend's new releases are going to have a hard time coming out on top. Hall Pass has a better chance than Drive Angry. (That's the Nicolas Cage movie's title. I wasn't going to mention it by name, but I figured you'd appreciate knowing what it was called so you'd know to avoid it. Unless you really want to see it. And maybe you do. I have no idea why you would. It's in 3D. That's incentive, right? The kids love the 3D!)
This weekend's predictions:
1. Hall Pass $16.00
2. Gnomeo and Juliet $14.25
3. Unknown $13.75
4. Drive Angry $11.50m
5. Just Go with It $10.25m
6. I Am Number Four $9.50m
7. Big Mommas $7.25m
8. Gerhart Hauptmann's Der Biberpelz $7.00m
9. The King's Speech $6.75m
10. True Grit $2.25m
Disagree? Let me know by 11:59 EST Friday night. If your predictions come closer than mine to the actual weekend grosses, I will celebrate your superior skills in the Grovel Pit.
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Quasar
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Posts: 7588
Posted: 13 years 12 weeks ago
Aren't you sabotaging your own article by saying no one should want to see Hall Pass or Drive Angry when, in fact, you'll be seeing both opening weekend?