Weekend Movies: ‘Jersey Girl’ and 3 Others Too
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood’s major movie studios roll out four new films in theaters on Friday including kids comedy “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” to challenge last week’s box office champ, zombie flick “Dawn of the Dead.”
Also looking to grab a share of ticket sales is art house romance, “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” starring Jim Carrey, which opened last week to No. 6 in U.S. and Canada but earned a healthy $6,042 per theater at 1,353 sites.
“Dawn of the Dead” debuted at more than twice the number of theaters, 2,745, giving it a far better shot at the coveted No. 1 spot last week, where it landed with a $27 million haul.
This weekend, the numbers add up for Warner Bros. “Scooby-Doo 2” playing in more than 3,300 theaters against a dearth of kids movies. Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc.
The movie follows 2002 hit “Scooby-Doo” about a group of four teen ghost hunters and their dog, Scooby, who bumble their way through mysteries but always catch their crook.
The first “Scooby” opened in the summer to a $54 million weekend and went on to take in $153 million at domestic box offices. “Scooby-Doo 2” features the same cast, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini, as well as the computer animated mutt, Scooby.
In this version, they are asked to unmask a villain who is scaring the town of Coolsville with a machine that conjures up the gang’s old foes like The Black Knight Ghost. It is rated PG for some scary action, rude humor and language.
Among the other three new entries, all are opening in far few theaters and face stiff competition from current movies.
Comedy “The Ladykillers,” starring Tom Hanks and distributed by Walt Disney’s. Buena Vista Pictures, debuts in about 1,600 theaters. From directors Joel and Ethan Coen (“Fargo”), it is based on a 1955 movie of the same name.
Hanks portrays a scholarly southern gentleman with penchant for crime who is leading a band of hapless crooks in a scheme to tunnel into a vault that holds cash from a riverboat casino. But he and his men run into trouble when devout Christian, Mrs. Munson (Irma P. Hall), from whose basement he and his men are hatching their plan, discovers their scheme.
Given an R-rating for language and sexual references, the sophisticated storytelling of the Coens’ movies and Hanks in the lead role, “Ladykillers” will likely appeal to adults.
“Jersey Girl,” from director Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, aims for younger adults with a story about Ollie Trinke (Affleck) whose life as a single father is changed after he strikes up an affair with a woman (Liv Tyler).
It is rated PG-13 for language, sexual content and frank dialogue, and is being distributed by Disney unit Miramax Films. It debuts in just over 1500 theaters.
Finally, aimed at black audiences is crime drama “Never Die Alone,” from Twentieth Century Fox specialty film unit Fox Searchlight. Fox is a unit of News Corp. Ltd’s Fox Entertainment Group .
The movie stars rapper-turned-actor DMX as a street smart criminal named King David who wants to be redeemed from his past crimes but finds himself the target of revenge.
It is based on the novel of the same name by Donald Goines and is rated R for strong violence, drug use, sexuality and language. It debuts in about 1,200 theaters.
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