Weekend Movies: Big Summer Begins to Wind Down
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Hollywood’s summer of event movies starts winding down on Friday with two new films joining Disney’s “Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement,” but gone are the days when each weekend brought a major new movie with a big-name star.
“Princess Diaries 2” is a follow-up to 2001’s successful movie about a 15-year-old social misfit who discovers she is a princess. It debuted on Wednesday, and squares off this weekend against sci-fi action flick “Alien vs. Predator” and animated “Yu-Gi-Oh!,” which is based on the popular Japanese comics.
The latter part of August is traditionally a slow moviegoing period in the United States because people are away from home on holiday or are suffering general fatigue from the big-budget flicks that fill May through July.
By now, Brad Pitt has conquered Troy and Harry Potter has conjured up the box office magic that had been expected. “Shrek 2” is the No. 1 summer hit with a domestic box office tally over $434 million beating “Spider-Man 2” and its $354 million.
This weekend, “Alien vs. Predator” has perhaps the best chance at claiming No. 1 at box offices because it is targeted at the young men who make up core theater audiences and is playing in more theaters — 3,472, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. — than any of its other new rivals.
But don’t count out Hathaway and girl power. “Princess Diaries 2” is The Walt Disney Co.’s last shot at big summer success after having stumbled with “Around the World in 80 Days” and “King Arthur,” and now facing a steep drop-off in second week sales for its recent No. 1, “The Village.”
CONFIDENCE BECOMES HER
The first “Princess Diaries” helped make 21-year-old Anne Hathaway a star. In the sequel, her character Mia Thermopolis has grown from a gawky teen girl to a self-assured young woman with choices to make about the direction of her life.
“Mia is a lot more confident now, a very self-possessed young lady,” said Hathaway.
Having grown up, Mia is ready to face a new life as the princess of Genovia with all the perquisites and pitfalls of life as a royal.
But her country’s quest for a king to wed their soon-to-be queen challenges Mia’s beliefs and values. She has to learn to live her new life, but in her own way.
Twentieth Century Fox’s “Alien Vs. Predator” pits two of the movies’ scariest monsters of recent years against each other in a duel to the death.
Scientists discover the otherworldly creatures in a pyramid buried under Antarctica’s ice. Inside, the monsters are on the hunt, putting the scientists squarely in harm’s way.
Monster vs. monster movies have been popular in late summer months of recent years. In 2003, “Freddy Vs. Jason” turned in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales of around $82 million.
Fox has already enjoyed a strong summer behind hits like “The Day After Tomorrow,” “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” and “I, Robot.” Its independent film division, Fox Searchlight, has seen a solid showing from “Napoleon Dynamite.”
Finally, Warner Bros. has had success at bringing Japanese animated movies to kids in the past with the “Pokemon” movies, and “Yu-Gi-Oh” is in the same vein.
The movie follows the adventures of high-school student Yugi Muto who becomes invincible when he plays his favorite card game. It is playing in 2,411 venues, according to Exhibitor Relations.
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