11/12/09

Tops at the Box: Only a few days after its official U.S. release and I’m already hearing that Buena Vista, the film’s production company, is considering it’s should-be holiday hit, A Christmas Carol, a major disaster. The fact that the live action/animated 3D mash-up scored $30 million in its first three days means very little to the Buena big shots who gave the film a $200 million production green light over a year ago. Don’t be surprised if you start seeing a whole lot commercials or even a DVD rushed to shelves before mid-December. As for the actual film, well, the reviews are mixed, with some trusted guns loving it (Owen Gleiberman and Roger Ebert both gave it a perfect score) and most panning it, bringing it’s so-far Metacritic score down to 55/100. Ouch! Either way, it debuted at No. 1 this past weekend.

More From the Box: Michael Jackson docu This Is It had a strong showing in its second and supposedly final weekend, upping it’s total box office draw to just under $58 million. Weirdo Coen Brothers rip-off comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats had a strong opening weekend, bringing in a surprising $13.3 million while Universal’s lame new horror release, The Fourth Kind, pulled in a strong $12.5 million through its first three days. Paranormal Activity, the little indie thriller that could, continues to kick, taking the weekend’s No. 5 spot with $8.6 million in sales, upping it’s so-far total to just under $100 million. The big story this week, however, is Lionsgate’s new Oprah- and Tyler Perry-produced indie drama, Precious, which miraculously brought in $1.8 million while only playing on 18 screens. Simple math tells us that the film made an average of $100,000 per freaking screen in its first three days! Amazing! Look for this little $10 million film to be everywhere in no time. Where the Wild Things Are continues to stumble along, now standing at about $70 million in sales - impressive if it only didn’t cost $100 million to make. A possible rushed Christmas season DVD release could push the project into the green.

New This Week: Wes Anderson’s stop-motion feature, The Fantastic Mr. Fox, will open in four theaters this week (and hopefully see major expansion in coming weeks) while Focus Features’ much moved around comedy Pirate Radio will finally hit 900 screens across the country (ScreenTime saw a trailer for this in theaters last year). After much anticipation (retro rocker film staring Philip Seymour Hoffman and a slew of funny Brits! C’mon!) in the U.S., Pirate’s release date disappeared for months while the film opened to decent sales overseas. With already $28 million in the bank, it’ll be interesting to see how U.S. audiences respond to this long awaited “historical comedy” about a crew of rock n’ roll types who hit the seas, manning a pirate radio station that plays only the finest rock n’ roll of the time. The big release this week, of course, is director Roland Emmerich’s disaster epic, 2012, set to open on well over 3,000 screens. Thus far Emmerich’s should-be blockbuster - which stars Josh Cusack, Woody Harrelson and Thandie Newton - is getting very strong reviews. Wait a second … huh?! Looks even cheesier than Emmerich’s two previous world-is-ending flicks, The Day After Tomorrow and Independence Day, both of which received disastrous reviews. Rightfully so.

The Buzz: Disney recently released the trailer for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, their big budget action epic starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Looks like a well made post-Pirates action flick that should do well enough with the tweenage crowd. Mostly, though, ScreenTime is giggling at the sight of Gyllenhaal, who - armed here with big muscles, long hair and facial expressions surely inspired by Nic Cage - looks so awesomely unlikely as the big action star. This is the kid from Donnie Darko, October Sky, Moonlight Mile and The Good Girl, right? Gag! Anyhow, the folks at Disney are putting their all into this CGI-filled action epic.

New to DVD: November 17 will see one of the year’s most deservingly successful  blockbusters, Star Trek hitting shelves in both DVD and Blu-ray formats. My Sister’s Keeper, an “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia” Christmas special, a Blu-ray version of Fight Club, season nine of “7th Heaven,” a new edition of Gone With the Wind, two collections of Michael Jackson interviews and plenty more also hit shelves on the 17th. Look for pretty much every major theatrical release from 2009 to arrive in stores over the next few weeks - just in time for you-know-what.