BOI WEEKLY: THIS WEEK’S PREVIEWS AND PREDICTIONS
LUCY—UNIVERSAL—WIDE—90 MINS—R—D-BOX
Director Luc Besson certainly has a way with strong female characters in his movies. Continuing the trend that has included “La Femme Nikita”, “The Professional” and “Colombiana”, this time out the director sets up Scarlett Johansson as a supreme killing machine in “Lucy”. The film’s trailers and TV campaign have been outstanding and buzz is certainly on the rise. Scar Jo and co-star Morgan Freeman are basically the only American actors in the film so look for “Lucy” to be one of those movies that overperforms internationally. This will be an interesting test for the actress as this will be her first action role that doesn’t have a major co-star (sorry, Morgan) but Besson has given the film his trademark stylish look and who isn’t going to love Miss Scarlett on the rampage?
JIM’S WEEKEND BOX OFFICE PREDICTION: $32 MILLION
CAST: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, tons of other people who would send my auto-correct into a tizzy.
DIRECTOR: Luc Besson
THURSDAY NIGHT LATE SHOWS: 8:00 PM
HERCULES—PARAMOUNT—WIDE—98 MINS—PG-13—IMAX/3D
This week it’s Attack Of The Action Filmmakers and for our second high octane offering we have Brett Ratner taking the second shot in the past six months at the “Hercules” legend. It’s safe to say that Dwayne Johnson is a bigger draw than Kellan Lutz, who portrayed the mythical Greek hero in January’s “Legend of Hercules”, so I’m going out on a limb and predict that this time around we’ll see an opening north of $8.8 million. Imax and 3D will help the average ticket price and Johnson remains a major action star (heck, even “Pain And Gain” opened to $20 million) but my only concern is it feels the film is going after a similar audience to “Lucy”. While this might have looked like a sure bet to open at or above the $30 million level a few months ago, now it’s looking much less.
JIM’S WEEKEND BOX OFFICE PREDICTION: $19 MILLION
CAST: Dwayne Johnson, John Hurt, Rebecca Ferguson, Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell
DIRECTOR: Brett Ratner
THURSDAY NIGHT LATE SHOWS: 7:00 PM
AND SO IT GOES—CLARIUS—1,800 RUNS—94 MINS–PG-13
…or as it’s more commonly known, “Grumpy Old Man And A Baby”. Michael Douglas is a ruthless and rude real estate agent (I’m biting my tongue right now) who is left in charge of the granddaughter he never knew he had. Hilarity and saccharine cuteness ensue. Douglas finds his babysitting co-pilot in the form of Diane Keaton and the two forge a relationship over the course of an hour and a half (did we think otherwise?). It’s been a while since director Rob Reiner’s last hit (specifically 2007’s “The Bucket List”) and although this won’t come close to that film’s $93 million total, this could prove to be satisfying entertainment for anyone who’s excited that Denny’s has a new assortment of Early Bird specials.
JIM’S WEEKEND BOX OFFICE PREDICTION: $4 MILLION
CAST: Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton, Rob Reiner, Frankie Valli (yes, that Frankie Valli)
DIRECTOR: Rob Reiner
THURSDAY NIGHT LATE SHOWS: Seriously? 2:00 PM is considered a “late show” for this crowd
THE FLUFFY MOVIE—OPEN ROAD—400 RUNS—101 MINS—PG-13
Comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias is quickly becoming a worldwide comic phenomenon and his first concert film is drawn from his “Unity Through Laughter” tour which will visit 23 countries and 400 cities throughout 2014. Concert films are always hit or miss (Kevin Hart’s “Let Me Explain” is the current gold standard with a $10 million opening in 875 theatres back in July of last year) but Iglesias has built a fervent group of followers and Open Road’s release plan of only taking 400 theatres on avail means that every location should be a winner.
JIM’S WEEKEND BOX OFFICE PREDICTION: $3 MILLION
CAST: Gabriel Iglesias
DIRECTORS: Manny Rodriguez, Jay Lavender
THURSDAY NIGHT LATE SHOWS: 8:00 PM
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