The long Memorial Day weekend is not quite half over but it doesn’t look like a barn-burner for anyone. Looking at the traditional three days which are used to cover the more competitive side of box office results, it’s looking like Carrie Bradshaw and the other women of “Sex and the City 2” have been stood up by a significant share of the expected audience, leaving “Shrek Forever After” the box office leader.
The $60 million guessed at for the entire “five day frame” by jolly Carl DiOrio on Thursday may still be possible” but it’s start to look like it’ll be lucky to hit even that modest number. (The first film in the series earned $57 million in its initial three-day frame.) In any case,everyone really did seem to expect the film to hit #1 and that certainly doesn’t seem to be the case. The present weekend estimate for Warners’ “Sex” according to Box Office Mojo is $32.125 million while the final Shrek film took in $43.345 million.
The pleasant surprise for Dreamworks/Paramount here is that their animated comedy about the world famous fairy tale troll experienced a better than average 38% percent drop from it’s opening — which was a big let down compared to previous films at just under $71 million, but far from disastrous. This may be more evidence that telling a decent story actually counts for something.
The consensus on this “Shrek” is that it’s nothing great (Mike Fleming termed the reviews “mediogre” <yuck, yuck>), but a relatively decent ending to the series with some considering it one of the better entries in the four picture series, so word-of-mouth may be giving it a small boost. There’s also the factor of it in being in nearly a thousand more theaters than the other films and many of those being 3-D with higher ticket prices. The public may be starting to tire of those prices, but enough of them appear to still be willing to pay the added freight to keep the troll on top.
The origins of “Legion” – a group of strangers fight off an unholy invasion – can be found in a dozen low-budget movies from “Assault on Precinct 13” to “Evil Dead,” and as source material goes, those are two damned fine titles to borrow, as it were. And “Legion” pays decent tribute in the process, serving up some enjoyable moments both humorous and dreadful (as in full of dread, not as in miserable). Paul Bettany is the archangel Michael, rebelling against God’s order to essentially launch the apocalypse by killing the unborn child of a truck stop waitress in the middle of nowhere. Instead, Michael leads the truck stop employees and their few patrons into fending off an army of angel-possessed (that’s right, angel-possessed) people who have suddenly swarmed on them. And what a group of employees and patrons this is. You’d expect Dennis Quaid and Charles S. Dutton to be here, but Kate Walsh’s appearance as an angry mom is a nice surprise. The dialogue is decent enough for what is clearly a B movie, but it’s a bit too slick for its own good. Movies of this ilk should have swagger and personality, not glossy production value. Still, Bettany handles the lead role with aplomb, taking the role seriously but not too seriously. Overall, it’s an acceptable entry into the supernatural horror genre, but if we’re lucky, this won’t pull a “Prophecy” and inspire a series of unnecessary sequels.
