That's fine, because older audiences will have plenty of other choices like the Stephen King horror-thriller 1408 (Dimension Films), starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, a movie with a significantly creepy trailer and commercials that will appeal to horror fans that like scares but not necessarily blood and gore. Its PG-13 rating will offer a lot of potentail for bringing in teens, but it's vying for third place behind the big budget sequels.

The grown-ups may choose to see Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl, the pregnant wife of kidnapped journalist Daniel Pearl, in Michael Winterbottom's political drama A Mighty Heart (Paramount Vantage), although its tough subject matter and moderate release is likely to keep it just outside the Top 5.

Last year, Adam Sandler's high concept comedy Click opened at #1 with $40 million, dethroning Pixar's Cars, while Tyrese Gibson starred in Vondie Curtis-Hall's crime drama Waist Deep, which exceeded expectations by making $9.4 million in just a thousand theatres. The Top 10 grossed just under $125 million, a number that should be easy to beat as long as Evan Almighty and/or 1408 meet expectations.

This Week's Predictions

1. Evan Almighty (Universal) - $35.8 million N/A
2. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (20th Century Fox) - $26.5 million -54%
3. 1408 (Dimension) - $18.1 million
4. Ocean's Thirteen (Warner Bros.) - $10.8 million -45%
5. Knocked Up (Universal) - $9.2 million -35%
6. A Mighty Heart (Paramount Vantage) - $7.0 million N/A
7. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (Disney) - $6.6 million -47%
8. Surf's Up (Sony) - $5.4 million -44%
9. Shrek the Third (DreamWorks) - $5.2 million -42%
10. Nancy Drew (Warner Bros.) - $3.5 million -49%

Evan Almighty (Universal)
Starring Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, John Goodman, John Michael Higgins, Jimmy Bennett, Wanda Sykes, Jonah Hill
Directed by Tom Shadyac (Bruce Almighty, Liar, Liar, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective); Written by Steve Oedekerk (Bruce Almighty, Barnyard, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, The Nutty Professor, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius)
Genre: Comedy
Rated PG
Tagline: "A comedy of biblical proportions."
Plot Summary: God (Morgan Freeman) is back and this time he's commanding former newscaster Evan Baxter (Steve Carell), now a Congressman in D.C., to build an ark in preparation filled with two of every animal for a coming flood.
Of Note: The sequel to Bruce Almighty reunites the creative team but moves its focus to Steve Carell's character after the departure of Jim Carrey.

Mini-Review: A fairly straightforward retelling of the Noah's Ark tale with an ecological message for the liberals and biblical pandering for the religious right, lacking one important aspect of any comedy-- funny jokes. Although with the right material, Carell can be hilarious, he just doesn't have Jim Carrey's ability to turn everything into a laughable gag, and with no real jokes to speak of, it leaves him resorting to dumb physical comedy and reacting to the things happening around him, often mimicking his own "40-Year-Old Virgin" schtick as he faces a variety of CG and real animals (whose very presence makes little sense in the long run.) There are some good bits involving Carell's chronic beard and Noah robes, but most of the funniest gags and lines are already in the trailer and commercial, and otherwise, it mostly relies on the type of gross-out humor that might only appeal to young kids. At least when the flood comes, we're given a spectacular special FX bonanza that would make Wolfgang Peterson proud, as chronically annoying child actor Jimmy Bennett from "Poseidon" must be thinking, "Not again!" Just like Carell stole the show in the first movie, Wanda Sykes gets that honor here with some of the best lines delivered in her inimitable style. Otherwise, it's tragic how badly this sequel misses its mark, never quite attaining the level of humor of the original, instead being another touchy-feely family movie with a message that we've seen far too many times before. (Even the canned soundtrack seems to be recycled from similar family comedies.) There's probably someone out there who'll like this, but it has so little in common with the original movie that it's a shame to even consider it a sequel. Rated: 5/10

Analysis: So what's the one thing we learned this summer? You, in the back of the room… yes, that's right. If a movie does well, it will get a sequel, regardless of whether anyone actually liked it or whether anyone from the original movie wants to come back to make another movie. Fortunately, this summer the latter hasn't been case, until now, because for the first time this summer we're getting a sequel where the star of the first movie that was such a big hit isn't back for its sequel. Most people won't be too surprised when they realize that this is a sequel to a movie starring Jim "No Sequels" Carrey, who has only done one in his entire career, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, the sequel to his first movie with Tom Shadyac, written by Steve Oedekerk. The irony is that the three of them would reunite to collaborate on 2003's Bruce Almighty, which Universal Pictures opened over Memorial Day weekend to HUGE success, grossing $85.7 million over the four-day weekend and $242 million total, making it Jim Carrey's second highest grossing movie to date. Universal probably enjoyed making money, but Carrey wouldn't make a sequel, which left them in a weird position, but fortunately, a spec script came along called "The Passion of the Ark," which they were able to modify for Steve Carell's scene-stealing antagonist from the first movie, newscaster Evan Baxter. The big problem is that there have been numerous sequels to Jim Carrey movies in the last few year which had others stepping into his shoes and none of them were received very well, nor did they do a lot of business, noted disasters including Dumb and Dumberer, a prequel to the Farrelly Brothers comedy, and Son of the Mask starring Jamie Kennedy.

The good thing for this attempt is that Steve Carell has found a lot of success since Bruce Almighty, first by stealing scenes in Will Ferrell's Anchorman, then successfully Americanizing the hit BBC show "The Office" as the world's worst boss Michael Scott (for which he got a Golden Globe and an Emmy nomination), and then most importantly, taking Judd Apatow's debut film The 40-Year-Old Virgin to over $100 million during the late summer of '05. Carell also took a more dramatic role as a depressed gay uncle in the Oscar-nominated Little Miss Sunshine, for which his co-star Alan Arkin won an Oscar. It's hard to believe, but Evan Almighty is Carell's first straight comedy since Virgin and it's a much bigger scale than anything he's done before, although besides Virgin, he hasn't proven himself to be able to bring in the type of box office that Carrey brings in regularly. Evan Almighty is going to be a trial by fire, because it will show whether Carell is up there with Will Ferrell and Adam Sandler if the movie does as well as Universal hopes. (Me, I'm a huge fan of Carell, but I fully realize that I'm an oddity, because most general audiences would prefer comedy that's a bit more physical and extreme.)

Not that Carell has to carry this movie alone, since Morgan Freeman is also back reprising his role as God, but other than that, the rest of the cast is brand new, including Lauren Graham from "Gilmore Girls," Christopher Guest ensemble cast member John Michael Higgins (who also had a key role in last year's The Break-Up), Jonah Hill from Knocked Up as well as the ever-present Wanda Sykes, presumably playing a sassy black woman.

Writer Steve Oedekerk, who wrote the Ace Ventura sequel for Jim Carrey as well as Bruce Almighty, has been making the shift to kids movies having written Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and last year's computer animated Barnyard, and this sequel looks very much like Eddie Murphy's Dr. Dolittle movies due to the animal humor. It might not be too surprising that Universal and Shadyac have gone for a PG rating in order to get more of a family audience than the racy humor of Bruce Almighty; unfortunately, that also means that the older audiences who liked the risqué humor of Carrey in the first movie probably won't be as interested in this sequel. Although there are some funny gags involving Carell's fast-growing beard and a lot of animal-related physical humor, they don't really stand-up to repeat viewings and it's likely that these jokes will appeal more to kids than older teens or adults. Maybe religious types will be interested in the movie's biblical concept, but there's no proof that the first movie brought in that audience.

Counter to allegations by the producers and director Tom Shadyac, Univeral has given the movie a huge marketing campaign that began as far back as the Super Bowl, as well as the trailer debuting during sweeps month on Carell's hit show "The Office", and on Father's Day, the USA Network showed the original movie and Liar, Liar, hosted by Carell, which might only work in reminding people how great Carrey was in the role. Sadly, people are getting sick of sequels and this one doesn't even have the original movie's star, so the chances of it even coming close to what Bruce Almighty made over Memorial Day is doubtful, and it's unlikely that Evan Almighty will find nearly the success of the original movie, and considering how expensive the movie is rumored to have cost--upwards of $200 million--it would be surprising if it's able to make that money back theatrically in the U.S. alone. It also has to contend with three weeks full of far more anticipated movies, which won't help it maintain any legs even if it is worthy of positive word-of-mouth as was the case with the original movie.

Why I Should See It: Steve Carell is one of the funniest comic stars of the 21st Century so putting him in this type of high concept comedy has gotta be good, right?
Why Not: At one point, I probably thought the same thing about Will Ferrell in Bewitched.
Projections: $35 to 38 million opening weekend; $110 million total.
COMPARISONS

1408 (Dimension Films)
Starring John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Tony Shalhoub
Directed by Mikael Hafstrom (Evil, Derailed); Written by Matt Greenberg (Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later, Reign of Fire), Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski (Ed Wood, Auto Focus, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Man on the Moon)
Genre: Horror, Thriller
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "The Dolphin Hotel invites you to stay in any of its stunning rooms. Except one."
Plot Summary: Writer Mike Enslin (John Cusack) plans to finish up his latest book about haunted hotels by spending a night at New York City's Dolphin Hotel in its notorious Room 1408, which is rumored to have sent over 50 people to their deaths. Despite ominous warnings from the hotel's manager (Samuel L. Jackson), Enslin enters the room unprepared for what he'll be forced to face.

Of Note: John Cusack returns to the horror genre with the first theatrical movie based on a Stephen King story since 2004.

Mini-Review: After so many bad Stephen King TV mini-series adaptations, it's surprising that the movie that finally nails the tone of King's writing is based on one of his short stories, adding enough suitable twists and turns to expand upon the original source material that you wouldn't have to be a King fan to appreciate it. Many of King's normal themes are in place--the story centers around a writer from a broken family trying to make amends for something that happened in the past--which makes this a bit of an obvious story, but John Cusack gives the type of performance that will thrill his fans while elevating the film well above the normal King fare. Mikael Hafstrom does an impressive job with the visuals and the script is great, but what it comes down is that the movie is an hour of watching John Cusack alone in a hotel room completely freaking out as he tries to escape from what the Dolphin Hotel's manager (Samuel L. Jackson) calls "an evil f*cking room." The same thing might be said about this mindf*ck of a movie that will often surprise you with how cleverly it's set-up by the perfectly cast Jackson in a single scene that does the trick to get you so worked up about what to expect even before Cusack enters the room. The movie doesn't rely solely on lots of cool effects and cheap scares to work, as has been the case far too much recently, instead using serious character-driven psychological chills. Sure, there's one or two needless twists that might annoy those who think they might have figured out what's going on but it's all part of the fun in what ultimately winds up being the best movie based on a Stephen King horror story since "The Shining." Rating: 8/10

Analysis: Four years ago, actor John Cusack, best known for his '80s teen romances, took on a very different genre with the horror-thriller Identity, and despite its late spring release, it did fairly decently, grossing over $50 million after a $16 million opening. After a couple other movies, Cusack is back in the hotel (and back in the rain) as he takes on a lesser-known short story by legendary horror writer Stephen King that follows one of King's normal themes: a writer with familial problems facing ghosts of his past. This is the first theatrical release of a movie based on a story by King since 2004's Secret Window, which greatly capitalized on the popularity of its star Johnny Depp while also being based on a lesser-known King short story. (Okay, I'm lying… later in 2004, Mick Garris released a movie based on Riding the Bullet another short story in the same collection as 1408 but few people saw it.) For the most part, King's novels have been relegated to TV mini-series in the last few years, but there was a time when all of his books were being turned into major motion pictures including horror classics like Carrie, Christine, The Shining and Misery. At a certain point, the movies started to have problems bringing in viewers 'cause they weren't very good--Pet Semataray may have been the last good one--and after two flops in 1993, King's novels were moved to television until 2003's Dreamcatcher, a dog of a movie that wound up with $33 million, which was probably significantly less than it cost to make.

Fortunately, the King movies that have done the best in theatres have been the ones that had major stars like Johny Depp in and 1408 has a strong leading man in John Cusack. Cusack's career is still going strong well into its quarter century, although he hasn't starred in any of the huge blockbusters that has helped his peers, instead appearing in romantic comedies and other vehicles that would appeal to the 30 to 40-year-old fans he found early in his career. Although his last movie, the crime-drama The Ice Harvest with Billy Bob Thornton, didn't fare too well, his previous three movies all made more than $40 million with him as the featured star. Since this is set in a hotel like Cusack's only other thriller Identity, it's a very easy sell to the audiences who enjoyed it, even though the last hotel based horror movie, Vacancy, starring Luke Wilson and Cusack's Serendipity co-star Kate Beckinsale, didn't do very much business in the same frame as Identity. Essentially, 1408 is all about John Cusack in a room freaking out and the kind of thing that his fans who aren't into romantic comedies will appreciate.

Sure, we can go over Samuel L. Jackson's lengthy career, but we probably won't find much in the way of horror--really just last year's Snakes on a Plane and a few scattered thrillers--but he's not in the movie nearly enough to really consider him a factor, and the same goes for the rest of the cast. (Tony Shaloub only has one small scene that could have been cut without anyone missing it.) Even though most people won't get as far as the creative team when making their decision whether to see this, the film's quality can certainly be attributed to Swedish filmmaker Mikael Hafstrom, who made a lot of highly-regarded films including the Oscar-nominated Evil, before coming to Hollywood with the lackluster Jennifer Aniston thriller Derailed. He's working from a script written by the duo behind many Oscar-nominated biopics as well.

Besides the popularity of the always likeable John Cusack, the movie has a couple other things that make it a good bet to do well in theatres, firstly being a rare non-sequel in a market oversaturated by them, and its PG-13 rating will make it a first choice among teens over the PG Evan Almighty and R-rated A Mighty Heart, although the latter might cut into the older audiences that might usually be interested in a thriller that doesn't rely on blood, gore and torture to scare. With a solid combination of scares and decent writing and acting, 1408 has all the makings of a sleeper hit like M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense or the recent Disturbia.

Why I Should See It: With lots of scares and freaky stuff, Cusack might be the savior of what might have been another Stephen King adapted disaster.
Why Not: It might be too scary and freaky for those who confuse easily.
Projections: $17 to 19 million opening weekend on its way to $55 million
COMPARISONS

A Mighty Heart (Paramount Vantage)
Starring Angelina Jolie, Dan Futterman, Archie Panjabi, Will Patton, Irfan Khan, Sajid Hasan, Aly Khan, Denis O'Hare
Directed by Michael Winterbottom (The Road to Guantanamo, 24 Hour Party People, In this World, Code 46, Welcome to Sarajevo); Written by John Orloff ("Band of Brothers")
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rated R
Tagline: "It was an event that shocked the world. This is the story you haven't heard."
Plot Summary: Journalist Daniel Pearl and his pregnant wife Mariane (Dan Futterman, Angelina Jolie) had only been in Karachi, Pakistan a few days when Daniel was kidnapped by terrorists, leading Mariane, along with fellow journalists, the local police and other agencies to desperately try to find Daniel before the terrorists kill him
Of Note: Producer Brad Pitt, girlfriend/actress Angelina Jolie and prolific British director Michael Winterbottom join together to tell the story of the kidnapping and execution of American journalist Daniel Pearl.

Interview with Michael Winterbottom
Review

Analysis: And now for something completely different (at least for this time of year), a serious true-life political thriller about the kidnapping and execution of journalist Daniel Pearl that shocked the world when the video of his beheading turned up on the internet, helping build the paranoia and tension that ultimately led to the decision for the U.S. to go to war in Iraq (despite the incident taking place in Pakistan.)

The movie stars Angelina Jolie in the prominent role as Pearl's pregnant wife Mariane, on whose memoirs the film is based, and her casting has stirred up some controversy ever since the first picture of Jolie with darkened skin turned up on the web. Then again, her performance is also generating a lot of accolades among critics, and this is the kind of movie that would do well based on older audiences seeing positive reviews. It continues Jolie's run of serious roles after last year's The Good Shepherd, and returns her to more serious global issues like the ones examined in her 2003 bomb Beyond Borders made with Casino Royale director Martin Campbell. This movie's produced by Jolie's boyfriend Brad Pitt, and the amount of time the duo have spent in the news and tabloids ever since they starred together in Mr. & Mrs. Smith two years ago may raise the interest and awareness in this movie beyond the political types. Jolie is joined by Dan Futterman, the Oscar-nominated writer of Capote, as Daniel Pearl and Indian actor Irfan Khan, who recently appeared in Mira Nair's The Namesake, as the head of the police investigation.

Helming this serious drama is prolific filmmaker Michael Winterbottom, who has dealt with similar global dramas going back ten years to his drama Welcome to Sarajevo and last year's The Road to Guantanamo, an intense and timely docudrama set in a similar Pakistan setting as A Mighty Heart. Unfortunately, only two of his movies have ever made more than a million in this country, those being his two comedies with British comic Steve Coogan, 24-Hour Party People and Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story, both which made just over that amount. With the widest release of any movie Winterbottom has ever made, A Mighty Heart is likely to become his highest grossing movie in just one day.

A Mighty Heart follows similar politically-charged dramatic thrillers based on real incidents like United 93 and World Trade Center, and comparisons could also be made to Babel, which was released by Paramount Vantage last year, starring Heart producer Brad Pitt. Other movies set amidst today's headlines with serious topics include Steven Gaghan's Mid-East political thriller Syriana and The Constant Gardener, based on the Le Carée novel, both movies that were helped by big stars bringing in audiences looking for more serious fare. Those last three movies opened much later in the year, so the decision to release Mighty Heart in the middle of summer might either pay off for those looking for something of higher quality than the latest blockbuster or else, the movie will just get lost in the shuffle.

Fortunately, there are a lot of people out there who are really interested in world politics these days (as seen by the success of some of the movies mentioned) as well as a morbid curiosity to know more about the tragic execution of Daniel Pearl. This aspect might also put off people who don't necessarily want to see or hear more about the brutal beheading, which could hurt the movie much like it did United 93, although A Mighty Heart certainly will be helped more by its starpower in the form of Jolie than that award-winning drama.

As with Babel, it's only being released into a moderate number of theatres, but it has a significant amount of buzz from Cannes and various prominent sources who have been following the movie ever since the first pics of Jolie as Mariane Pearl turned up. Some even feel that Jolie is a shoe-in for an Oscar nomination for the role, although the movie's being released so early that it's not likely to capitalize on such awards interest financially until its released on DVD.

Why I Should See It: Likely to give the world a chance to see the filmmaking talents of Michael Winterbottom and an awards-worthy performance from Angelina Jolie.
Why Not: It's a bit tedious to watch the search and investigation already knowing full well the results.
Projections: $6 to 8 million opening weekend and $18 million total.
COMPARISONS

Next week, the month of June wraps up with four very different movies, Pixar's 8th CG-animated feature film Ratatouille, Bruce Willis' return as Detective John McClane in Live Free or Die Hard, Michael Moore taking on the health care trade in SiCKO, and Michael Cunningham's star-studded chick flick Evening.