Summer movie winners & losers
HOLLYWOOD — Back at the beginning of May we surveyed a bunch of movies going into the summer season with something to prove — in most cases, where their stars were concerned.
With the Labour Day finish line just around the corner, it’s time to find out if the end results of their respective labours did the trick, or were merely laboured.
Here’s a hint: There were more losers than winners.
Let’s start with the May 14 arrival of MacGruber, the most recent Saturday Night Live sketch deemed worthy of a 90-minute running time.
While a number of respected critics conceded that it was better than some of the past SNL feature output (not exactly a ringing endorsement), Will Forte’s bumbling special op was unable to diffuse this $8.5 million-grossing bomb, one of the worst in SNL history.
That same weekend Robin Hood rode into theatres, with Russell Crowe dispensing with the tights and the traditional dashing demeanour in favour of a darker, tougher rendition.
After lacklustre results from State of Play and Body of Lies, Crowe needed a hit, and although the $200-million production only made back about half that amount in North American theatres, it tended to attract larger audiences overseas.
The verdict: Call it a DRAW.
When Prince of Persia blew into the megaplexes at the end of May, considerable hope (along with a ton of special effects) was riding on audiences buying Jake Gyllenhaal as an action hero.
After all the sand cleared, the $200-million Jerry Bruckheimer production made a decidedly less than boffo $90 million, domestically, meaning Robert Downey Jr. isn’t going to have to watch his back anytime soon.
The verdict: LOSER.
The third week of June was a crucial one for Tom Cruise, who was looking to reignite the old b.o. mojo with Knight and Day, a try-too-hard action-comedy pairing him with Cameron Diaz.
Following in the on-the-run heels of The Bounty Hunter and Killers, the intended romp opened on a Wednesday and went nowhere fast, taking in even less money than Cruise’s Valkyrie.
The verdict: LOSER.
Discovering that acting his age didn’t make for hit movies, Adam Sandler swapped recent, more grown-up efforts such as Funny People and Reign Over Me for goofing off in the reunion comedy, Grown Ups.
It didn’t matter whether it was any good — it wasn’t — the major factor was that it looked like it could be fun, and the fandlers responded by pushing the Grown Ups over the $160 million mark, taking on Big Daddy as Sandler’s all-time top movie.
The verdict: WINNER.
So, in a summer filled with underachievers, who was the season’s biggest loser?
That would be producer Bruckheimer, who, just a few months earlier was given the full-on red carpet treatment for a career-spanning Cinematic Celebration of Jerry Bruckheimer evening.
Good thing the big fete took place before the box office results for Prince of Persia, which, when combined with the returns for Bruckheimer’s not-so-magical The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, left the Disney studio about $200 million in the hole, give or take.
He’s likely counting on Captain Jack Sparrow to get him back on course when Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides sails into theatres next May.
Savvy?
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