New Movies In Theaters - Rotten Tomatoes

New Movies In Theaters This Week - Rotten Tomatoes

This is the beginning of the winter blockbuster season. The latest Twilight film (a gazillion theaters) and the Happy Feet sequel (3600 theaters) will go head-to-head this weekend.

Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1. Reviews? We don't need no stinkin' reviews. Only 20% of the critics have liked it, but it is still expected to set the all-time non-summer record for an opening weekend, and maybe challenge the summer numbers as well. Fandango is reporting some incredible numbers of pre-sales. How many theaters will it be in? How many are there? Good luck finding one without it.

Happy Feet 2 has also been lambasted by the critics (29% positive reviews), but is also expected to be successful. The experts are predicting about $40m for an opening weekend, which might be impressive during any other weekend, but looks paltry compared to the Twilight film, which is expected to bring in about four times that amount.

For some reason I have seen hundreds of ads for that new George Clooney movie even though it will be in only 27 theaters in the entire country. That doesn't seem like very efficient use of the ad budget, especially given that I live on the remote tundra, and it's unlikely that one of those 27 will be anywhere near me. In order to get to the nearest showing, I'm guessing it would require an hour flight, or six days by dog sled. Even if it was playing nearby, I probably couldn't make it past the wolves to get to the theater, but if I did make it I might actually like it, given that 91% of the reviews have been positive.