Screener

Box Office Outlook: Nothing To See Here, Keep Moving

Remember how last weekend was so frantic, with visits to multiple family members and old friends and the challenge to fill your stomach with as much pie as possible? And how this weekend you're ready to take a break, finally unpack your suitcases from Thanksgiving (OK, maybe that's just me) and maybe wrap some early Christmas presents? Yeah, the box office feels your pain. Unlike last weekend's free-for-all of four wide releases, only one film is going into more than 2,000 theatres this weekend. Clearly Hollywood is giving you a chance to breathe for a second and get to that Hitman movie you've been hearing about. Or, if you're like me, maybe finally see American Gangster, because my God, there's been a lot to see this fall. In any case, if you're hell-bent on seeing a new movie this weekend, you've got two great acting teams to choose from: Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman, or Jessica Alba and Hayden Chris--sorry, I couldn't even bring myself to finish that joke.

AWAKE. If the marketing mavens behind this one are right (and we all know they never lie or exaggerate), one in 700 people who go under anesthesia for surgery experience what is called "anesthetic awareness," in which they are completely paralyzed but also completely awake, and feeling everything. Hayden Christensen plays a young man who goes under the knife and experiences such a thing, but it's no accident: it's part of a conspiracy to kill him. Jessica Alba plays his new wife, who's scheming to get his inheritance, and Terrence Howard is part of a team of doctors that has joined Alba in her moneymaking plans.

When the one wide release of the weekend is also unscreened for critics and stars Jessica Alba and Hayden Christensen (sorry, I just can't leave them alone), you know you're in trouble. The only two reviews to have surfaced on the Internet are, predictably, negative. "This is the kind of movie that is actually a lot better if you don't try and think about it," writes Maxim. "Or better yet, wait until it hits basic cable, which is where this ludicrous drama probably belongs in the first place." ShockTilYouDrop.com is a little more amused, but still concludes, "With better actors in the two main roles, this movie would probably have been great, but with Christensen and Alba, it's just okay, something to see on a rainy day, but only if you don't have too far to drive." It's not like the potential audience for Awake was likely to see Enchanted to begin with, but it sounds like they'd be better off with a princess than with Darth Vader this time around.

The Great Debaters Does Emotional Manipulation Right

Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters tells a story that's so familiar in American movies by now, we could probably recite its key points alongside the Pledge of Allegiance. A group of young, gifted students are united by an eccentric and inspiring professor.  Under his guidance they tap into their talents, and even though the rest of the world doesn't believe in them, they prove themselves worthy competitors in their chosen field. Tragedies ensue that test character but eventually make them stronger, young romances develop, and in the end the students must face off against their toughest enemy in a final showdown.

Oh, and did I mention it's based on a true story, and set at a black college in the Jim Crow South? The Great Debaters pulls every punch in emotionally manipulating you, but damn if it doesn't succeed. If you scoffed at Dead Poets' Society and had no love for Washington's stern but inspiring coach in Remember the Titans, The Great Debaters is guaranteed to annoy. But if you're a sap like me, and still get a little misty when a character both wins the championship and proves himself worthy to his father, Washington's film contains much that's enjoyable and, yes, heartwarming.

'Walk Hard' Brings Down The House

I can't tell you much about last night's screening of Walk Hard-- there's a review embargo for a few more weeks-- but I will tell you this: I haven't heard an audience laughing so hard since Superbad. Coming after a long fall of grim (but often great) movies, Walk Hard is the perfect holiday season antidote for grownups, riotously silly but well-made, a thumb to the nose at the pretension and preening that often takes the screen this time of year. Judd Apatow's nonstop hit factory-- the "Apatow uprising," as director and Apatow's co-screenwriter Jake Kasdan put it-- is almost guaranteed to have another success on its hands.

  If nothing else, they deserve to have a hit soundtrack. There are over 20 original songs in Walk Hard, all performed by star John C. Reilly. At a press conference after the screening, Reilly admitted to having no formal vocal training, but in the film he manages to effortlessly channel musicians like Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash and even Bob Dylan. Reilly's character Dewey Cox went through every major phase of rock and roll history, from the teenybopper music of the 50s through the pscyhedelic 60s to bad David Bowie covers in the 70s.

Reilly called the songwriting and recording process "one of the most insanely fun parts of this whole project. To have the greatest musicians and the greatest songwriters there at your disposal, and you’re trying to make each other laugh [...] Everyone is so full of joy." Kasdan, Reilly and composer Michael Andrews oversaw a writing team that eventually wrote and recorded over 40 songs, only half of which made it into the film. "We were excited about that possibility [of writing original songs] from the beginning."

Though the film spans so many decades and involved plenty of elaborate wigs and costumes, there was still room for the kind of improv the performers are accustomed to finding on Apatow sets. "There was a little less than what you’re used to on Judd’s set, but within that there was really a lot of it," Kasdan said. "We would get the scripted thing, but for example, when you have Kristen [Wiig] and John in a scene together, they can go, you let it roll."

"Is the candy house thing still in there?" Reilly asked about a scene in which he tells his long-suffering wife (Wiig) just what he can't provide her. The audience's laughter and applause was enough answer for him. "That was one time, I was just trying to make her laugh, trying to get her to break up in the middle of take. She went with it."

"I was watching a DVD the other day, and it was just all of you guys riffing at each other in that scene," Kasdan added. "It is so crazy. It’s like psychedelic crazy."

Wiig mentioned an anecdote from the same scene, in which she and Reilly had to share the first on-screen kiss ever for the both of them (hard to believe given Reilly's 20-year movie career). "I was nervous and she was nervous, and we’re both nerds," Reilly recalled.

"We basically just ran at each other really fast," Wiig said.

"Our faces hit like two cinderblocks," Reilly added.

It's worth noting at this point that the laughter during the press conference was about as loud as that during the movie itself. Reilly earned roars when his cell phone rang and he admitted it was his wife calling (he didn't pick it up). "I should pull a Giuliani. 'Hello honey. I’m doing a Q&A but my marriage is the most important thing. Isn’t it so funny that you would call right in the middle of a Q&A. I love you. I love you so much, and everyone sees that I love you.” Later Kasdan admitted than one of the original ideas was to have Reilly play Cox as a six-year old, by digitally transferring his head to the child actor's body. "Look, when you’re going for the Golden Globe you don’t start at age 25," Reilly said to wide applause. "You either have to lose 60 pounds or start at age 14." (Reilly's been nominated for a Globe once, for his role in Chicago)

Kasdan said that the idea from the beginning was to make the movie a breakneck, laugh-a-minute comedy, the kind of film where a kid meets his demise in a ridiculous manner within the first two minutes. "I kept saying it should feel like we took an actual great American biography kind of story and hijacked it and put something in every shot that was insane. Otherwise it would seem exactly like a lot of other movies. [...] We could start to see that there's a very fine line between just doing all the movies that you’re quoting and not."

Reilly was the man they had in mind from the beginning of the writing process, and it's not hard to see why: Much of the broad parody wouldn't work if you didn't accept that Dewey believes in all the insanity going on around him. Reilly's fierce dramatic chops really do get exercised, even when he's scaling a flagpole in his underwear. "From the first few conversations we knew that we were trying to build this for John to play this part," Kasdan said. "Hardly anyone can do all of the things that he can do."

"I looked at this and said there is only one man who can possibly attempt this, and it’s me," Reilly deadpanned. He earnestly added, "Jake is a great director, that’s obvious. Judd I’d already worked with on Talladega Nights. This was clearly the fun ride to be on."

Apatow was missing from the press conference, but his influence on everything from the huge array of cameos ("Freaks & Geeks" fans, keep your eyes peeled!) to the film's very existence was evident. Explaining the process of pitching the project, Kasdan said he walked into the room and explained the idea, to which Reilly added, "It should be noted that Judd Apatow walked into the room as well." Kasdan, no stranger to Hollywood influence himself (he's the son of director Lawrence Kasdan), agreed. '"At this point [Judd] can walk in without telling them the idea and it works."

Then Reilly went into an impression of Apatow: “Can I put these bags of gold somewhere while we have this meeting?” And what do you know? For about the 50th time that night, he brought down the house.

Elvis (Jack White) and Dewey Cox face off backstage.

Indy and the Joker Fully Revealed!

Maybe I've thought too much about how to write "I love you" on my eyelids, or maybe I've seen the Indiana Jones show at the MGM theme park in Orlando one too many times, but the new images from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull give me a thrill that I can't quite place. The pics showed up on Ain't It Cool News, and unlike the teasing previews of the Joker from next summer's Dark Knight, they give us a full view of both Harrison Ford in his Indy getup as well as new kid Shia LaBeouf, playing an intrepid young fellow explorer who may or may not be Indiana Jr.

Here are the photos, which get bigger if you click 'em:

Sure, it's a little strange to see Indy with more wrinkles and gray hair, but you can't deny that Harrison Ford still fits that costume better than any other actor possibly could. Just look at that powerful stance in the second photo! I'm wary about Shia LaBeouf's trace of a weird mustache, but I'm willing to accept the word of those who saw Transformers that he's a worthy player in the series.

But speaking of that pesky Joker, Ain't It Cool also seems to have the full image of the Joker that this promotional website has been revealing bit by bit over the last few days. It's clearly the same image, so it looks like the cover of Empire magazine just showed up a bit earlier than the promotional mavens behind Dark Knight intended. Still, what an impact: the previous sneak peeks at the Joker (like this one or this or this) didn't indicate the same level of, well, fun in the character. For the first time you can now see Heath Ledger digging into this role with the same kind of maniacal glee that Jack Nicholson did back in 1989. It's been a while since we saw Ledger so much as crack a smile on-screen, so getting a glimpse of that cracked smile is like a breath of cold Gotham air.

It's hard to believe it's already time to get pumped up about next summer's testosterone-heavy releases, but the marketers behind both of these films are doing a great job of drumming up the interest. Let's just hope Shia's facial hair and Joker overload don't sink both enterprises before May comes along.

Spirit Awards Announced: 'Juno', 'Diving Bell,' 'I'm Not There' Clean Up

The Film Independent Spirit Awards, the funky younger cousin to the Oscars, has announced its nominees for this year. As usual there's a little overlap between these and the presumed Oscar contenders, but there are also enough offbeat, low-budget, true indies to keep things interesting. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, I'm Not There, Juno and The Savages, Oscar contenders all, led the nominees with four each, including Best Feature for the first three. A Mighty Heart and Paranoid Park rounded out the Best Feature nominees.

Kendrick played a high-strung debater in Rocket Science.

Perhaps one of the biggest black sheep nominees was Rocket Science, a quirky teen comedy about a high school debate team from first-time writer-director Jeffrey Blitz. It bowed to largely positive critical reviews in August and made pretty much no money, but it played for over two months, which is practically a hit given how fast some titles get whisked in and out of theatres. Blitz earned two nominations, for "Best First Screenplay" and "Best First DIrector," and 22-year old Anna Kendrick scored a Best Supporting Female nomination, alongside likely Oscar nominees Cate Blanchett (I'm Not There), Jennifer Jason Leigh (Margot at the Wedding) and Marisa Tomei (Before the Devil Knows You're Dead).

A few films made a surprisingly small impact. Much-beloved Waitress nabbed only a screenwriting nom for its late writer-director Adrienne Shelly, while Margot at the Wedding was noticed only for Leigh's performance (this after The Squid and the Whale earned six nominations in 2006). On the other hand, Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor both got noticed for the largely forgotten summer release Talk To Me, and two-time Spirit Awards winner Mike White scored a nod for his screenplay for the small comedy Year of the Dog. 

A few no-brainers: I'm Not There won the Robert Altman award for ensemble cast and direction, and Great World of Sound, which led the Gotham Awards, picked up nominations for "Best First Feature" and "Best Supporting Male" for Kene Holliday. Also, if Diablo Cody doesn't clean up "Best FIrst Screenplay" for Juno, there really may be no justice in this world.

The 2008 Film Independent Spirit Awards will be handed out on Saturday, February 23, in a beachfront ceremony held the day before the Academy Awards. There's talk of a "Spirit Award curse," by which the winner of Best Feature will go on to lose the Oscar the next day-- it happened to Little Miss Sunshine, Brokeback Mountain, Sideways, and Lost in Translation. So if you're really rooting for Diving Bell and Juno, or somewhat delusionally rooting for I'm Not There, hope that Gus Van Sant's digitally-shot murder mystery about skateboarders Paranoid Park can eke its way to a win.

The full list of nominees is available after the jump, as well as at the Spirit Awards website.

Release Date Changes: Miss Pettigrew Lives In March

Normally on Fridays I go through the list of release date changes, but hey, last Friday I was picking at leftovers, like most of America. So here we are today looking at a big list of movies and when they will finally be coming at us. Unlike in the last few weeks, there's actually a few notable changes and announcements to discuss.

Adams' star is on the rise.

DreamWorks has picked an awards season-savvy release date for Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day, putting it out on March 7, 2008, only a few weeks after the Oscars, where its star Amy Adams may be getting some attention. Adams stars as an American actress and singer who hires a dowdy former governess (Frances McDormand) as her assistant during her world travels. The tale, described as a "Cinderella story", is based on a book written in 1938 by Winifred Watson. After Adams' exceptional performance in the box-office smash Enchanted, audiences will likely again be thrilled by her role as a glamorous, presumably kind-hearted woman. Pettigrew doesn't sound like the same kind of wide audience catnip that Enchanted is, but given that critics were just as charmed by Adams as the target audience of eight-year-olds was, there will likely be plenty of art-house types ready to fall in love with Adams all over again.

It's already been widely reported in the trades that Angels and Demons, the Ron Howard-directed followup to The Da Vinci Code, has been delayed thanks to the writers' strike. Initial reports said that Akiva Goldsman had turned in his screenplay ahead of the deadline, but according to The Hollywood Reporter the script isn't ready for filming, and can't be worked on until the strike is finished. Sony is showing great restraint in postponing their likely cash cow, since you can imagine the amount of money and talent that could be wasted with a shoddy script. Still, this is yet more evidence that many of those rushed-to-completion projects may be riddled with plot holes and inconsistencies.If a screenwriter like Goldsman, with a huge number of hits and even an Oscar to his name, can turn in a rush job, just imagine what we might actually see from less-experienced writers with less money riding on their work.

America's next action star?

A few other big releases finally had dates set, including Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones set for March 13, 2009 and G.I. Joe, based on the action figures, dropping on August 7 of that year. The Taking of the Pelham One, Two, Three, an action remake starring Denzel Washington, perhaps shifted its date in response to G.I. Joe, and switched from August 7, 2009 to July 31, giving it a week to play before the "Real American Hero" tries to replicate Transformers' success. Coming much earlier will be Marley & Me, a comedy starrring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston, based on the best-selling book about a man and a misbehaving dog. The fast-approaching release date presumably means they've set shooting dates for the project, which was on hold while Wilson recuperated from his much-publicized suicide attempt. The late-December release indicates the studio thinks they might have something special on their hands, though a movie with bankable stars based on a best-seller isn't exactly a gamble.

And finally, two releases intended for this weekend have been pushed to next spring: Flawless, a caper comedy starring Demi Moore and Michael Caine, and Teeth, a Sundance favorite about a teenage girl with teeth in her you-know-what. Though this weekend itself is looking pretty calm compared to the last few-- only one wide release!-- delaying anything that isn't a heavy awards-season contender or a holiday movie seems like a smart move right now. Flawless seems like a perfectly fine film that could play well in the springtime lull, and Teeth seems destined for a cult audience that might be too busy at the moment to give it the time it deserves.

Weekend Roundup: Fairy Tales Come True (For Disney At Least)

Because nothing does a better job than alleviating the familial tensions at Thanksgiving than a Disney movie, Enchanted, um, enchanted the box office this weekend, notching a $50 million take over the five-day holiday. This gives Disney the bragging rights to the top 5 Thanksgiving weekend releases of all time, as reported by Variety: Toy Story 2 ($80.1 million), Enchanted ($50 million), A Bug’s Life ($47.7 million), Unbreakable ($46 million) and 101 Dalmatians ($45 million).

On significantly fewer screens than any of the other wide releases of the weekend, Screen Gems' family drama This Christmas scored a surprise #2 spot, bringing in $27 million. It barely edged out Beowulf, which dropped only 40% from its opening weekend and added another $23 million to its total gross. Even Hitman, which bowed to dismal reviews, managed to wrestle some young male viewers away from Beowulf, coming in at #4 with $21 million for the five-day period.

The weekend's other wide releases didn't fare quite as well: Family-friendly August Rush came in at #7 with $13 million, and the Stephen King adaptation The Mist squeaked into the top 10 at #9, also with $13 million for the five-day period. Both films featured the lowest per-screen averages of the new releases, averaging just under $4,000 per screen. Trumping August were two family holdovers, Bee Movie-- which crossed the $100 million mark over the weekend-- and Fred Claus. Bee Movie grossed $16 million over the five days to come in at #5, with Fred Claus right behind it at #6 with a $15 million five-day gross.

Rounding out the top ten, American Gangster continued its successful run with a #9 berth and a $13 million five-day take, while No Country for Old Men was a hit in its first wide expansion, breaking into the top 10 in the last spot and taking in $11 million over the long weekend. It maintained its run of spectacular per-screen averages, coming in at $9,432.

Below is the full list of the top 20, courtesy of Box Office Mojo. Note that Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium and Love in the Time of Cholera both dropped out of the top ten in their second weeks, with Cholera losing over 50% of its audience from the previous week. On the other hand, I'm Not There performed pretty well in limited release, and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead continues adding screens and dollar amounts. Bella continues its remarkable hold on the box office (you can read my story about its success for more information), and in the best news of all, Saw IV dropped over 1,500 screens and finally seems to be going away-- until next Halloween, at least.

Tryptophan Beckons!

Why yes, that is a clay turkey dressed as Borat, courtesy of Flickr.

This is the part of the afternoon where the Screener tells you "Goodbye! Eat lots of turkey!" Because the Nielsen Company is setting us free at 3 p.m. today so that we can prepare for battle in the wilderness that is the Newark International Airport's security screening line. And, you know, I've never been a girl to turn down a chance to put all of my toiletries in a clear plastic bag.

Even the striking writers are on vacation for the next few days, so I'm operating under the assumption that I won't miss much whilst eating leftovers, watching whatever my parents have recorded on their DVR and making my family go see Enchanted with me. I'll be back, well-fed and well-rested, on Monday.

Gobble gobble!

'Bella' Is Surprise Small Scale Hit

Here's a heartwarming Hollywood parable for you as you head into the holiday weekend. A little movie made for little money charms audiences at a big film festival, but still no major studios are interested in picking it up. Believing in the movie, and in the dedicated people behind it, a small distributor takes the movie on, and spends the next year reaching out to all the audiences they believe will love it. The filmmakers and actors promote it relentlessly, and when this little movie made for little money finally makes it to theatres, it blows everyone away. For a solid month it does nothing but increase its business, and word starts to spread that the little movie has already made five million dollars on less than 400 screens, and only has plans to go bigger.

Bella's story is the kind of that every independent filmmaker dreams of happening with their little-indie-that-could. Even Eric D'Arbeloff, co-president of Bella's distributor Roadside Attractions, admits they've been surprised by Bella's success. "This film has defied everybody’s expectations. I think if the industry ever expected it would be at $5 million halfway through its release, a studio would have picked it up."

Bella is the first feature from writer-director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, about Jose (Eduardo Verástegui), a waiter who walks out of his job in solidarity with Nina, a waitress (Tammy Blanchard) who has been fired by his hot-tempered brother (Manny Perez) for being late while she took a pregnancy test. Jose and Nina spend the day wandering the city together, visiting Jose's family by the beach and discussing Nina's accidental pregnancy.

With its gentle pro-life message and Latino main character, Bella has appealed greatly both to religious and Hispanic communities, groups that are often targeted with specialty films but rarely at the same time. "I think what has really clicked with those audiences is that it’s not the clichés of what you would expect movies for them would be. It is a real film and dealing with complex characters and not simple solutions."

D'Arbeloff described an experience creating the trailer, when Monteverde stepped in to ask they not include such stereotypical "Latino" music. "You can’t talk down to [Hispanic communities]. They’re interested in independent film and new voices in the same way that other filmgoers are."

Bella opened on 165 screens on Oct. 26, and notched a phenomenal $8,000 per-screen average, according to Box Office Mojo. Since then the movie has expanded to 457 screens and maintained a healthy $2,200 per-screen average. Bella's top markets remain coastal stalwarts Los Angeles and New York, but within the top 10 are also Dallas, Houston and Minneapolis. According to D'Arbeloff, Roadside Attractions plans to continue expanding into new markets and screens.

D'Arbeloff said it's hard to quantify the word-of-mouth effect on the film's success but notes, "I do think there’s a lot of informal stuff going on"-- like e-mails sent to friends or conversations with family. A Google blog search indicates significant support for the movie on pro-life and Catholic websites; the activist organization Operation Rescue posted a message on its website with the title "Send Hollywood a message! Go See Bella Wednesday, Thursday." In it the group's president, shown in a photo with the movie's star Verástegui, tells readers, "While abortion is not directly mentioned, the pro-life theme of this heartwarming movie is unmistakable. We believe the life message in Bella is so powerfully and artfully presented, that it will save lives and change hearts."

On sites like Fandango and Yahoo! Movies, where readers are encouraged to submit their own ratings for films, Bella ranks well above critical favorite No Country for Old Men or even box-office behemoths like American Gangster. "It wasn't as Hollywood as the rest," wrote Fandango user m.perez. "I liked that they didn't dirty it up with sex and swearing. It was just a movie that stood on its own."

D'Arbeloff credits Monteverde, Verástegui, executive producer Shawn Wolfington and producer Leo Severino for coming into the distribution process with a distinct idea of where they wanted their film to go. "[Bella's success] goes to show this whole idea about the filmmakers really pulling through and finding different constituencies for a movie that obviously the industry didn’t really respond to. I think it’s really a great story—the industry doesn’t always have the last word on things."

Box Office Outlook: Some Enchanted Four-Day Weekend

Not too often does Friday come around mid-week, but thanks to our Plymouth Rock forebears, it's already time for another Box Office Outlook! While many of us will spend the weekend struggling our way out of a turkey coma, many more of us will make our way to the multiplex, where there's an onslaught of new releases in addition to the huge variety of offerings from last weekend. There's something for the horror fans, the action fans, the sentimental goop fans, and even the Dylan-philes. And for the rest of us there's Enchanted, with the widest imaginable appeal of any movie this year, and enough good buzz to turn a frog into a prince. Make the forest animals help with the housework? Get the clocks and candlesticks singing and dancing? Maybe once I actually see it my Disney references will be a little more polished.

ENCHANTED. A gleeful sendup of the conventions the Walt Disney Studio has spent the last 70 years inventing, Enchanted mixes live-action and hand-drawn animation to tell the story of a fairy tale princess sent on a wild adventure. Giselle (Amy Adams) wants nothing more than to marry her handsome prince (James Marsden), but is cast away by his wicked mother (Susan Sarandon) to the harsh world of live-action Manhattan. Taken in by a lawyer (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter (Rachel Covey), Giselle navigates this strange new world, soon followed by the prince and his mother. Songs by Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast) abound.

Reviews are comparing Amy Adams to Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins, praising the lavish musical numbers, and generally going gaga over this holiday treat. "One of [Disney's] most clever and entertaining films in years," says our Daniel Eagan, who also praises the musical number "That's How You Know" as "choreographed with all the vitality and ingenuity of classic Hollywood musicals." "Enchanted has the makings of a supersize sugarcoated hit, and Adams is just the spicy princess you want to take home and PG-love," writes Rolling Stone's Peter Travers. The Chicago Tribune recognizes that the film has its problems, but predicts, "Don’t be surprised if the film’s minor flaws fade away with time and repeated viewings. This is the kind of movie that will be around for awhile." And Manohla Dargis at the New York Times, like virtually every other critic, totally fell for Amy Adams: "Ms. Adams proves to be an irresistibly watchable screen presence and a felicitous physical comedian, with a gestural performance and an emotional register that alternately bring to mind the madcap genius of Carole Lombard and Lucille Ball." Gene Seymour at Newsday wasn't even that impressed with the film, but even he admits, "If I were an 8-year-old girl, I would think Enchanted was better than a week of snow days or 10 Justin Timberlake concerts."