07/01/10

Tops at the Box: Admittedly, it’s not often that ScreenTime is all about the No. 1 film in America - or even too many Top 10-type films. That said, having seen Pixar’s third Toy Story film a few days ago, it’s safe to say that we’re 100 percent down with America’s pop opinion this week. While the first two films were surely great (the original maybe even one of the Top 20 moments in the pop history of film), the latest installment - which grossed $59 million last weekend and well over $320 million worldwide over its first 10 days - is already our favorite. Sure, the “story” itself is maybe a bit too ambitious (i.e. overstuffed) and long, but just about everything else is about as good as it could be. There’s no edge or grit here to speak of, just lots of playful, thoughtful, sugary goodness from beginning to end. Cheese. Warm cheese. We love it! 

More From the Box: The latest film classified as an “Adam Sandler film,” ironically titled Grown Ups, brought in over $40 million over its first three days. Here’s where ScreenTime returns to our comfortable corner of American alienation. No thanks, Sandler. Last weekend’s No. 3 film, Knight & Day, starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz (an uber-no thanks if ever there was one!), brought in about $28 million over its first four days. Not bad, but about half what the studio expected. (Note to Fox Searchlight: not smart to open an expensive film - or, really, anything - within three weeks of a Pixar opening.) Coming in at No. 4 last weekend was Sony’s still-hot Karate Kid remake, bringing in another $15 million while the weekend’s No. 5 film, the quickly failing A-Team clunker, brought in a lousy $6 million. ScreenTime recently saw the third Duplass Brothers (The Puffy Chair, Baghead) film, Cyrus. We enjoyed it quite a bit. Thus far the $7 million mostly improvised indie comedy has earned $565,000 while playing on only 17 screens in the world - averaging $17,647 per screen (tops in the U.S. right now, with Toy Story coming in second at $14,000 per screen). Look for Cyrus to maybe see a nationwide opening soon. Meanwhile, Prince of Persia, Jonah Hex, Marmaduke (ROFL) and Killers all continue to bomb. Super work, Hollywood.

Opening this Weekend: Speaking of Hollywood, two of the year’s biggest productions, the third Twilight film, Eclipse, and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Last Airbender open. Will these two films, both aimed mostly at the 10-18 crowd, be able to compete with Toy Story? Sounds like the studio responsible for these three films (Disney, Paramount, Summit) should’ve maybe planned their releases a little better. But, who knows, maybe the entire movie-going population of the U.S. will go to the theater two or three times this weekend and we’ll have three big winners. If Eclipse is even twice as good as the last Twilight film … it’ll still be super lousy. But the dude with the muscleneck, the dude with the cryereyes and the girl who always looks stoned will bring the kids to the seats regardless. As for Airbender, well, umm … we might actually go check that one out at some point. Yeah, we’ve heard all the complaints about Shyamalan’s “whitewashing” of the material (shameful, for sure), but we’ve also heard that the film features some truly amazing visuals and direction. And, since this is the week that ScreenTime gets its America on, we’ll also admit to rooting for Shyamalan from day one. We’ve gone to all of his films on release day thus far and, aside from the poorly conceived The Village (which featured a solid script), think all of his movies stand up after repeat viewings. (Here we go: The Sixth Sense: B; Unbreakable: A+; Signs: B+; The Village: C-; Lady In the Water: B; The Happening: B-.)

New to Home Video: Items  new to shelves this past Tuesday, June 29 include The Crazies, When You’re Strange, Percy Jackson & The Olympians, The White Ribbon, Hot Tub Time Machine, season five of “The Closer”; the complete “Leave It to Beaver”; season four of “Mad About You”; and, most importantly, Criterion’s reissue of Carol Reed’s 1940 classic, Night Train to Munich. Out this coming Tuesday, July 6: Brooklyn’s Finest; The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; A Single Man; a whole lot of Blu-ray first editions; season four of “Battlestar Gallactica”; four new “Doctor Who” DVDs; season 13 of “ER”; season seven of “Project Runway”; the complete “Touching Evil”; and the complete UK version of “Life on Mars.” So, mostly, The White Ribbon and Night Train to Munich.

Written by G. William Locke