Other Crap

The Weekend Warrior's box office predictions for the upcoming weekend

• He's basically calling it a disaster, with $64 million for the top twelve, compared to $73 million last year. (Last year featured a break-out performance from The Exorcism of Emily Rose. This year, the sum of the top THREE films is not expected to match Emily Rose's total.)
• None of the new films will force the government to print any additional money. The only full release is The Covenant, which is expected to finish first, but with a tepid $15 million performance, as compared to Emily Rose's $30 million this time last year. The other two newcomers are in fewer than 1600 theaters. (Although the Superman Suicide movie has some good reviews, and may surprise.)
• The Illusionist is expected to move up once again, this time to #3. I confessed mixed feelings in my review of The Illusionist. On the one hand, I was really disappointed that the auteur took one of the greatest short stories ever written and converted it to a conventional Hollywood thriller in period garb. On the other hand, I really liked the damned thing. It may follow a standard genre formula, but it just does everything so well! In the end, I have to concede that the film I wanted would have been an Oscar nominee and a box office disaster. The film he made is still a very good movie and has solid mass audience appeal, as it is now demonstrating. NOTE: my review does not reveal the surprise ending, but you may fairly infer it from other comments, and therefore you need the SPOILER ALERT. Instead of reading the damned review, go see the movie, which is one of the few worth seeing this year.