New Movies In Theaters This Week - Rotten Tomatoes

New Movies In Theaters This Week - Rotten Tomatoes

There are three new films in wide release this week:

The Cabin in the Woods is a cerebral, original, R-rated horror film written by fanboy favorite Josh Whedon. It is currently pulling in 92% positive reviews, and that's no fluke of small numbers. There are 97 reviews on file at RT. The R was earned by violence, language, and sexuality/nudity. It is expected to battle for second place with a gross in the neighborhood of $15M from 2800 theaters.

The Three Stooges (PG) is apparently a much better film than we expected. It's hovering around 50% positive in the early reviews, and is doing even better than that among the top critics. The only real negative theme running through the reviews is that the film goes on too long. This flick is an homage to the original stooges, who realized that their humor worked best in small doses. The new film consists of three episodes, each of which runs about 30 minutes, whereas the "real" stooges packed their shenanigans into segments lasting about 15-19 minutes, and their studio generally screened only one of those at a time. Seventeen consecutive minutes of stoogery is probably kind of a fun way to pass the time, unless you're a female. Ninety minutes? Not so much. It will be in about 3400 theaters and is expected to vie with The Cabin in the Woods for second place with a gross of $15M or so.

Lockout is a PG-13 sci-fi thriller which has not been well received by the critics (33% positive reviews; even less from the top critics). The general consensus is that the star, Guy Pearce, does a good job, but that the material is cheesy and derivative. The film will reach about 2300 theaters, but is expected to be a nuclear bomb, grossing only about $6M, finishing between 6th and 9th.

Also:

The Raid: Redemption, an over-the-top martial arts film with non-stop violent action, has been well received by the critics (85% positive), and has demonstrated some promise at the box office as well. Last week it finished in 14th place despite being in only 176 theaters. It was originally released a month ago on only 14 screens, but did fairly well, was given a few more screens, then a few more, and now has some momentum. In response to its unexpected early success, it will be expanded again, to 650 theaters this week, and may sneak into the top ten.

First place is expected to go to The Hunger Games for the 4th consecutive week.