06/17/10

Tops at the Box: St. Petersburg Times writer Steve Persall, who loved last weekend’s No. 1 film at the box office, The Karate Kid, put it best, saying that the remake is a fun ride because it “embraces and vastly improves the clichés of the original. No, ScreenTime hasn’t seen the remake (and hopefully never will), but we’ve been made to sit through the trailer and can tell just from that small bit that last weekend’s top film, which brought in $56 million over its first three days, is a huge improvement from the awful original. Wait a second … are we saying nice things about The Karate Kid? Moving on … 

More From the Box: Okay, one more good thing about The Karate Kid remake and then we’re done, I promise: at least the Kid kept stinkfest The A-Team from opening big. Starring a whole lot of people you’ve seen in big movies over the last two years, boasting a collection of popular film style gimmicks from the last couple of years (yet directed by the forever promising Joe Carnahan, director of Narc and Smokin’ Aces), and featuring a huge advertising budget, this action/buddy film based on the horribly produced/executed low-brow 80s television show, “The A-Team,” only made $26 million over its first weekend. This particular failure makes the ScreenTime staff very happy. Shrek Forever After came in at No. 3 with another $16 million over the weekend, upping its so-far total to over $200 million in the U.S. Meanwhile, the marginally amusing Get Him to the Greek took the No. 4 spot, taking in just over $10 million, bringing its 10 day total to just under its $40 million shooting budget. Romantic action stinker Killers, starring Ashton Kutcher and Isabelle Stephens, somehow managed to score another $8 million over the weekend. Huh? Good enough for fifth place last weekend, though the $75 million film likely isn’t going to crack the $50 million mark.

Opening this Weekend: This weekend’s two major openings are modern Western Jonah Hex, starring Josh Brolin, John Malkovich and Megan Fox, and Toy Story 3, starring all the usual suspects (Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, etc.). Look for Toy Story 3 to top the box office for at least a couple of weeks, likely on its way to making a few hundred million this summer. As for Hex, well … some are predicting that it’ll be a surprise summer hit. We’re not so sure about that, as the trailer certainly doesn’t have us too excited. And last but certainly not least, the Duplass Brothers’ third proper feature, the very promising Cyrus, begins to test this weekend. Hopefully Cyrus makes it to town before the reel gets too beaten up.

New to Home Video: New films out this past Tuesday, June 15, include Youth In Revolt, When In Rome, The Book of Eli, Happy Tears and Unthinkable. Some new Blu-ray first editions, too, including Darkman, all of the above mentioned films, Showgirls and more will be released. Movies out on home video this coming Tuesday, June 22 include Green Zone, She’s Out of My League, The Last Station, Remember Me, Death Race 2000, A Star Is Born, season six of “Entourage,” Stones In Exile and season one of “Hung.” Criterion will release Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1964 classic, Red Desert, on June 22 as well. We’re told that it’s a must-see.

Random List (aka, our 10 favorite films of 1984): 10. James Cameron’s The Terminator; 9. John Hughes’ Sixteen Candles; 8. Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger Than Paradise; 7. Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters; 6. Roland Joffe’s The Killing Fields; 5. Milos Foreman’s Amadeus; 4. Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America; 3. Rob Reiner’s This is Spinal Tap; 2. Alex Cox’s Repo Man; 1. Wim Wenders’ Paris, Texas.

Written by G. William Locke