There’s a slightly off vibe to this coming movie weekend. Hollywood is distracted by all the usual, largely indie-centric goings on at Cannes (though the response to the upcoming Dreamworks animated flick, “Kung Fu Panda” looks encouraging, critically speaking) and also by the big news that real-life (very) hardboiled Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano has an appointment with the slammer. And, with only one major new release coming on the heels of last weekend’s financially disastrous opening for “Speed Racer“, one movie is really poised to make a (PG rated) killing.
That new release is, of course, the second installment in the Narnia franchise, “Prince Caspian.” Regular readers of this feature will note a definite lack of Narnia pics to go with this, and that’s because, well, we’ve been ignored. There was no screening near enough for our esteemed Bullz-Eye critics to be able to catch it on time, and hence no pics for this blog. And, heck, while we’re at it, they’re getting no links to their movie website (my usual fallback when we don’t have a review up). That’ll show Disney and Walden Media for ignoring the likes of us.
Which is not to say they’re exactly quaking in their boots. As usually happens with non-lousy sequels to super-successful fantasy films. “Prince Caspian” seems safely on its way to stomping pretty much everything else this weekend, perhaps addding to the nearly $70 million opening of the first picture and making a cool $85 million, says Hollywood Reporter prognosticator Carl DiOrio. With decent enough reviews, there doesn’t seem to be any reason for the film not to outdo the prior installment. Still, as Variety reminds us, the prince’s reign will be shortlived, because next week the Shia LaBeouf-aided return of the Indiana Jones megafranchise is certain to dominate anything and everything when it comes to big mainstream films.
To my mind, the only suspense this weekend regards whether or not “Speed Racer” will hold on to its tenuous second place or drop further behind the leggy mass popularity of “Iron Man.” Not that the film doesn’t have it’s defenders — cinephile’s cinephile Dennis Cozzalio has written a lengthy discussion of the criticial reaction and a spirited defense of the film that’s well worth your time (figure an hour, if you’re into reading comments — five hours if you’re into writing them!). Still, “What Happens in Vegas” actually switched spots with “Racer” during the week, suggesting that unaccompanied adults are turning up their noses at the colorful action movie and seeing an Ashton Kutcher film instead. Each to his own, I guess, but coming in third or even fourth is a real possibility for the Racer family.
Even the indie world is looking a bit odd this week, with the only really notable action the continued widening of “Son of Rambow” into 91 theaters, where it should continue doing reliable business. And, hey, at least they finally gave us a screening.
Other than that, we have the kind of tiny releases that get ignored on Box-Office Mojo‘s theater counts, but manage to make the not always complete Rotten Tomatoes list of openings. Are any of these films going to get more than token releases? One at least: the sexy comedy “How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer,” starring America Ferrara and Elizabeth Peña, is getting great reviews and may get a little traction with the growing and underserved Latino market as well as non-Hispanics who like sexy comedies. (There are a few of us.) Though you’d never know it from the usual sources, “Garcia Girls” will be screening in a number of theaters, including several in California. You could probably do a lot worse.
