New Movies In Theaters This Week - Rotten Tomatoes

New Movies In Theaters This Week - Rotten Tomatoes

The Expendables 2. The over-the-hill action stars are back. 3200 theaters; 61% positive reviews. It is expected to take first place in the weekend box office sweepstakes by grossing somewhere between the low 30s and 40. Rated R for violence.

ParaNorman. Stop-motion animated PG film, for those who really miss Gumby. 3100 theaters; 78% positive reviews. It is expected to finish with a gross in the mid teens.

Sparkle. PG-13 melodrama about a musical performer (former American Idol champ Jordin Sparks) in the Motown era. Her mother is played by the late Whitney Houston. Nobody seems to have seen this film, and the fact that critics haven't been allowed a look at it may be a bad sign. There are no reviews of any kind, either at IMDb or Rotten Tomatoes. It's in 2200 theaters and will probably finish in the low teens. Maybe. Or not. I'm not sure what kind of marketing they have done, and none of the industry analysts seems to have a confident prediction.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green (opens today). This is a PG-rated fantasy film from the likable, sentimental Peter Hedges, author of What's Eating Gilbert Grape and About a Boy. It's an odd one. "Based on a story by Ahmet Zappa, it’s about a loving married couple — played by Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Garner — who can’t have children, but 'invent' one. They write attributes on pieces of paper, place them in a box and bury it in the garden; the next morning, a young boy, covered in dirt and leaves, appears." Early reviews have not been enthusiastic (42% positive). This is another difficult one to predict. It'll be in 2500 theaters, and is a Disney product, so you'd think it might attract some attention, but the industry experts think it will gross a mere $10-$15 million over the weekend.

Any one of the last three films listed above could finish as high as second or as low as eighth, because the narrow range between those places should go from $10M to $18M, and that's the very same range where all three films are expected to fall. Which component will be the key to marketing? ParaNorman's good reviews and TV ads? Sparkle's muscle in the African-American community? Disney's name behind Timothy Green? Any one of them could break through the clutter, but any one of them could fall on its face as well.