&Not too much has changed since Tuesday, but with Balls of Fury (Rogue Pictures) opening yesterday with just $1.7 million, it looks like our earlier weekend prediction might be a little high unless it's able to pick up the slack, something which might be hard with two new movies opening, vying for the same audience.

Rob Zombie's Halloween (Dimension Films) will be opening in over 3,400 theatres, a bit higher than our earlier projections, and though it still will be very frontloaded for Friday, it looks like a shoe-in to set a new Labor Day record based on early advanced sales. On the other hand, James Wan's Death Sentence (Fox Atomic) is getting even fewer theatres than projected, though it should still be able to find some spillover audience from Halloween.

The only other major change since Tuesday is that Mr. Bean's Holiday wasn't expanded into nearly as many theatres as originally thought, so Universal will have to contend with their other sequel, The Bourne Ultimatum, staying ahead of it this weekend, as it still holds strong in over 3,200 theatres in its fifth weekend, which is almost unheard of.

Updated Predictions (all four-day predictions) -

1. Halloween (Dimension) - $23.4 million N/A (up a million from earlier prediction)

2. Superbad (Sony) - $13.6 million -25% (up .1)

3. Balls of Fury (Rogue Pictures) - $11.2 million N/A (down $.6 million from earlier prediction)

4. The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) - $10.2 million -18% (up .5 and 1 slot)

5. Mr. Bean's Holiday (Universal) - $9.8 Million 0% (down .4 and 1 slot)

6. Rush Hour 3 (New Line) – $7.9 million -33% (same)

7. Death Sentence (Fox Atomic) - $6.3 million N/A (down .1)

8. War (Lionsgate) - $5.5 million -44% (down .3)

9. The Nanny Diaries (The Weinstein Company) - $5.3 million -30% (same)

10. The Simpsons Movie (20th Century Fox) - $3.0 million -31% (down .3)

Check out a preview of next week after the bump.

An announcement: At the behest and begging of my beleaguered editor and due to the general lack of comments and apparent interest in this column since it moved to the blog, the stripped-down format used last weekend will now be somewhat of the norm with a few modifications along the way. Essentially, we'll have an extended write-up about the weekend and then you can read a bit more about the new movies in terms of directors, writers, plot, etc. below that. The limited releases and Chosen One will now be folded back into this as it was in the past. Hope everyone's okay with these changes, and feel free to comment if you're not.

Labor Day, the last official weekend of the summer movie season, has often been considered one of the best times to catch one of the summer movies you missed, but up until recently, it was considered one of the worst times to release a new movie. That's changed a bit in recent years and genre flicks have done particularly well during the last weekend before everyone's back to school, which may be why three of the studios who specialize in genre will be trying to make a mark this year. Currently, the highest opening Labor Day movie is Jason Statham's The Transporter 2, which opened with over $20.1 million in four days, but it's not the most money a movie has made over Labor Day weekend, as that honor goes to M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense, which grossed $29.2 million over the four-day holiday in 1999, making more than its opening weekend four weeks earlier. (Check out past years' Labor Day stats)

This Week's Predictions (all four-day predictions) -

1. Halloween (Dimension) - $22.4 million N/A

2. Superbad (Sony) - $13.5 million -25%

3. Balls of Fury (Rogue Pictures) - $11.8 million N/A

4. Mr. Bean's Holiday (Universal) - $10.3 Million 4%

5. The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) - $9.7 million -20%

6. Rush Hour 3 (New Line) – $7.9 million -33%

7. Death Sentence (Fox Atomic) - $6.4 million N/A

8. War (Lionsgate) - $5.8 million -41%

9. The Nanny Diaries (The Weinstein Company) - $5.3 million -29%

10. The Simpsons Movie (20th Century Fox) - $3.3 million -25%

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and check back on Monday for final figures based on actual box office.

Despite the release of six new movies in wide or semi-wide release, Sony's comedy Superbad, produced by Judd Apatow, stayed on top for a second week in a row with $18 million, while Universal's The Bourne Ultimatum and New Line's Rush Hour 3 were in a tight race for second place as each brought in just over $12 million.

The big surprise of the weekend came in the form of Rowan Atkinson's comedy sequel Mr. Bean's Holiday , which beat all the other new movies opening this weekend despite opening in significantly fewer theatres.

With a respectable drop of 45% from its impressive opening weekend, the $20 million budgeted Superbad has grossed $65 million in ten days, while the Matt Damon action thriller ends its fourth weekend with $185 million in its coffers and Brett Ratner's third Rush Hour has grossed $109 million after three weekends.

Settling for fourth place, the Rowan Atkinson comedy sequel made an estimated $10.1 million in 1,714 theatres, opening just ahead of the Lionsgate action-thriller War, starring Jet Li and Jason Statham. More significantly, the Bean sequel had the second highest per-theatre average in the Top 10, with an estimated $5,900 per site, but that's still quite a bit behind Bean's opening ten years ago. War opened in fifth place though with only $121k between them, things might change by tomorrow.

The biggest change since Tuesday is that the Weinstein Company has managed to get The Nanny Diaries into about 800 more theatres than the earlier estimates, and there's definite interest for the movie among women over 20, either who read the book or not. The question is whether they'll rush out to see the movie this weekend or whether they'll trickle in over the next few weeks. Reviews certainly haven't been kind with just 27% on Rottentomatoes, but we'll have to see if that translates to the women who might be interest in this sort of thing.

The Lionsgate action-thriller War, starring Jason Statham and Jet Li, won't have that problem because they haven't shown their movie to anyone, though it's really just going to be appealing to guys, many of whom might just go see Superbad again. While War might do well on Friday, I wouldn't expect it to do too much business after that, allowing returning movies like Bourne Ultimatum and Rush Hour 3 to make up some ground by Sunday. Then again, it probably won't matter since Superbad will remain at the top by a fairly wide margin.

This Week's Predictions -

1. Superbad (Sony) - $19.5 million -41% (no change)

2. The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) - $11.5 million -43% (up .1)

3. War (Lionsgate) - $11.3 million N/A (no change)

4. Rush Hour 3 (New Line) - $10.7 million -50% (down .2)

5. The Nanny Diaries (The Weinstein Co.) - $10.2 million N/A (Up $2.2 million)

6. Mr. Bean's Holiday (Universal) - $5.8 million N/A (Up $.6 million)

7. Resurrecting the Champ (Yari Film Group) - $4.4 million N/A (Up $.3 million)

8. The Simpsons Movie (20th Century Fox) - $3.9 million -42% (Down .1)

9. Stardust (Paramount) - $3.5 million -38% (no change)

10. Hairspray (New Line) - $3.0 million -31% (no change)

11. The Invasion (Warner Bros.) - $2.8 million -54% (no change)

- Illegal Tender (Universal) - $1.1 million N/A (up .1)

- September Dawn (Slowhand Releasing) - $.75 million N/A (no change)

(Labor Day preview after the jump.)

The final programming details and line-up for this year's Toronto International Film Festival has been firmed up with a press release from TIFF that counts the number of films being shown as 349 with 55 countries being represented. Filmmakers bringing new films to the festival include Wayne Wang, Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking), Kenneth Branagh, Renny Harlin, and docs from Jonathan Demme and Julian Schnabel. Also, filmmaker Peter Bogdonavich will be presented with the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) Award.

Full press release follows:

Toronto - Organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival today announced final programming details, including the complete lineup of films and programmes for its 32nd edition running September 6 - 15, 2007. At this year's Festival, 349 films from 55 countries will screen, including 275 feature and mid-length films, 85 per cent of which are world, international or North American premieres, and 71 of which are feature directorial debuts. Highlights from today's announcement include Mavericks presentations from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and wife Rosalynn Carter, Bill Maher and Larry Charles, and Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Don Cheadle; Alain Corneau's LE DEUXIÈME SOUFFLE as a Gala Presentation; the first independent films from Wayne Wang (THE JOY LUCK CLUB) in ten years as part of Masters; cineastes' favourite Dialogues, featuring legendary actor Max von Sydow marking the passing of Ingmar Bergman with a presentation of Bergman's THE VIRGIN SPRING; Michael Moore's film CAPTAIN MIKE ACROSS AMERICA, the documentary MAN FROM PLAINS from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme (THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS), IN BLOOM by Vadim Perelman (HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG), JUNO by Jason Reitman (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING) and THE VISITOR by Thomas McCarthy (THE STATION AGENT) as Special Presentations; and Julian Schnabel's documentary LOU REED'S BERLIN as part of Real to Reel. Ticket Passes and Packages now on sale. Gala and Visa Screening Room tickets on sale August 25 at 10 a.m. Tickets on sale Wednesday, September 5 at 7 a.m. For more information, please visit tiff07.ca or call 416-968-FILM or 1-877-968-FILM. The Festival programme book and Official Film Schedule are available August 28.

This weekend historically is one of the worst possible weekends of the year to release a movie, right up there with the first weekend of January and the last weekend of April. Because we already know the weekend is going to be fairly craptastic, this week's column will be a bit stripped-down to allow the Weary Warrior a bit of a reprise. You can still check out some comparisons for the films below here.

On paper, the action-thriller War (Lionsgate) looks like the strongest contender, helped greatly by the premise of pitting two popular action stars, Jason Statham and Jet Li, against each other. Both Statham and Li are coming off moderate solo hits in 2006 with Crank and Jet Li's Fearless both opening over $10 million, and War, directed by rap video director Philip G. Atwell, is certainly going to be a first choice for younger guys who've already seen everything else in theatres. Still, it probably won't make enough to defeat last week's box office champ Superbad in its second weekend, while it also has to face The Bourne Ultimatum and Rush Hour 3 in their fourth and third weekend. With Bourne doing well due to sold word-of-mouth, it's likely it might keep War out of second place, though it will be a tight race with the Lionsgate action flick making between $10 and 12 million this weekend on its way to less than $25 million total after it gets slaughtered by the Labor Day options.

After being delayed for six months, the movie based on the best-selling novel The Nanny Diaries (The Weinstein Company) is brought to the big screen by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, the couple that brought you the Oscar-nominated American Splendour, with Scarlett Johansson watching over the kid of a rich and snobbish Upper East Side wife played by Laura Linney. Of the new movies, it should be a first-choice for many women and girls, at least those that aren't on vacation, although Johansson really hasn't proven herself as a box office draw. It probably won't be helped by what should be generally dismal reviews from critics either, so expect it to end up somewhere between $7 and 9 million this weekend with a slight chance of seeing $20 million total.

The same can be said for Mr. Bean's Holiday (Universal), the family comedy sequel that has British comic Rowan Atkinson reprising his popular, wacky character. It's been nearly ten years since the first Bean movie made Atkinson a star in this country, grossing $45 million, but Universal is opening the sequel in less theatres with very few hopes for a repeat. There really aren't that many movies in theatres for younger kids or families—granted, many of them are on vacation or back in school by now--although that didn't help Daddy Day Camp and this looks almost as bad, so look for it to end up somewhere between $5 and 6 million this weekend and under $15 million total.

Resurrecting the Champ (Yari Film Group Releasing)
Starring Josh Hartnett, Samuel L. Jackson, Alan Alda, Kathryn Morris, Dakota Goyo, David Paymer, Harry J. Lennix, Peter Coyote, Rachel Nichols, Ryan McDonald, Stephen Strachan, Teri Hatcher
Directed by Rod Lurie (The Contender, The Last Castle, "Commander in Chief"); Written by Michael Bortman, Allison Burnett, Rod Lurie
Genre: Drama, Sports
Rated PG-13
Plot: Denver Chronicle sports writer Erik Kernan Jr. (Josh Hartnett) discovers that a local homeless man known as "Champ" (Samuel L. Jackson) may in fact be a long-missing former heavyweight contender named "Battling Bob Satterfield", and he sees that as his chance to follow in the footsteps of his successful father by writing a high-profile cover story for the newspaper magazine.
Tagline: "Based on a true story, that was based on a lie." (Wow, that's kind of a plot spoiler.)

It's been seven months since I first saw Rod Lurie's latest movie at a jam-packed premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, and it's finally seeing the light of day. While usually, the Chosen One is reserved for limited release movies, I'm just too big a fan of this movie to not give it a bit of extra attention despite this week's column being somewhat streamlined. I'm going to save most of my thoughts for my review (though if you read the blog entry above or the interviews, it becomes obvious why I love it), but I'm kind of bummed and doubtful that anyone really knows this movie exists. You see, I really think this is a strong film—well-written, acted and directed—one that should be released in October or November when critics and awards groups are thinking about who deserves to be commended on their work, but it's being released instead at the ass-end of summer in one of the worst weekends of August, and a busy one with five other movies at that. That makes me somewhat worried about its box office prospects, and as much as I love it, I just don't think the older audiences who might enjoy it really know it exists, nor do I think that enough Samuel L. Jackson or Josh Hartnett fans go to see their movies in theatres to make them an obvious draw, despite me having gone on record that this is one of Hartnett's best performances to date. With that in mind, I do hope that those who enjoy quality films and those who trust the Weekend Warrior's taste and instincts (poor souls they may be) will give this a look this weekend over something like War or one of the other movies that have already been playing and making money in theatres. In fact, I hope that it does enough business to at least stick around through Labor Day weekend, because it'll have trouble making a mark when bigger movies open in September, and it's a movie with depth and emotion that really isn't seen enough in filmmaking these days.

Interview with Josh Hartnett

Interview with Rod Lurie

Review (Coming Soon!)

(More Limited Releases and Mini-Reviews after the jump)

NEW YORK, August 15, 2007—The 45th New York Film Festival will premiere 28 films when it runs Sept. 28-Oct. 14 at the Frederick P. Rose Hall, home of Jazz at Lincoln Center. The festival, presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and sponsored by Sardinia Region Tourism and The New York Times, also features three unique sidebars, three special event screenings and five retrospective films.

Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's Persepolis has been selected as the festival's Closing Night film. The animated coming-of-age story, based on Satrapi's popular graphic novel about her own childhood in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, won a Jury Prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. It features the voice talents of Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni, Danielle Darrieux and Simon Abkarian, several of whom are expected to attend the festival's Closing Night screening at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall on Sunday, Oct. 14. Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the film.

There aren't too many big changes since yesterday. The Judd Apatow produced Superbad (Sony) is still looking good to take the #1 spot over the weekend though the question is how much ground it can get over New Line's poorly-received sequel Rush Hour 3 in its second weekend? Might we see another Knocked Up or will the mid-August release put it more in 40 Year Old Virgin territory?

The big expansion this weekend is Miramax's pseudo-biopic Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway, which nearly doubles its theatres, which should be enough for it to creep into the bottom of the Top 10.

Updated Predictions -

1. Superbad (Sony) - $27.4 million N/A

2. Rush Hour 3 (New Line) - $22.6 million -54%

3. The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) - $18.4 million -44%

4. The Invasion (Warner Bros.) - $10.5 million N/A

5. The Simpsons Movie (20th Century Fox) - $5.8 million -49%

6. Stardust (Paramount) - $5.5 million -40%

7. Hairspray (New Line) - $4.3 million -33%

8. Underdog (Walt Disney) - $3.8 million -41%

9. The Last Legion (The Weinstein Co.) - $3.6 million N/A

10. Becoming Jane (Miramax) - $3.4 million +17%

As mentioned yestrday, I'll be writing a stripped-down version of the column for next week, but the bigger movies should be the Jason Statham-Jet Li action-thriller War and The Nanny Diaries, starring Scarlett Johansson, though neither is getting enough theatres to get them into the Top 2 for the weekend. Likewise, the Universal comedy sequel Mr. Bean's Holiday with Rowan Atkinson and Rod Lurie's Resurrecting the Champ are getting a moderately wide release, and movies like Illegal Tender and September Dawn will barely make a mark. One can expect a lot of dogs and bombs next weekend just from the nature of being released in such a late August weekend.

Welcome to the second half of August. The summer may as well be over as movies that studios don't know what to do with are unceremoniously dumped knowing that few people are around to see them. That be as it may, this is a slower weekend with just three new movies in wide release and tons of limiteds, yet we're likely to see New Line's Rush Hour 3 be knocked out of the top spot by what might be considered by some as an unexpected comedy hit. Then again, producer Judd Apatow's involvement with the high school comedy Superbad (Sony) will probably be credited for its success as he continues his unstoppable run as the king of comedy. Written by his Knocked Up star Seth Rogen with Evan Goldberg, and starring Michael Cera from "Arrested Development" and Apatow regular Jonah Hill, Sony has been campaigning this one into the ground among college-age males across the nation with tons of promo and preview screenings, and though the late August weekend might not be ideal for a huge opening weekend, it should do alright, and after a solid opening, expect it to be #1 for two weekends in a row.

With almost zero buzz going into the weekend, the Nicole Kidman thriller The Invasion (Warner Bros.), an obvious (though disguised) remake of the already remade Invasion of the Body Snatchers, is going into the weekend with lots of negative publicity from number of delays and the much-reported embellishments to the movie by producer Joel Silver's pals the Wachowski Brothers. While that might interest some of those who know about it, it'll put the film's potential fanboy audience on guard.

The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (Picturehouse)
Starring Steve Wiebe, Billy Mitchell, Walter Day, Nicole Wiebe, Steve Sanders, Robert Mruczek, Brian Kuh, Mike Thompson
Directed by Seth Gordon
Genre: Documentary
Rated PG-13
Plot Summary: This documentary examines the rivalry between two video game players as they vie to set a new record in Donkey Kong.
Tagline: "Don't get chumpatized"

We've featured a lot of serious documentaries in the Weekend Warrior over the last couple years, movies about very important topics and while Seth Gordon's The King of Kong might not be considered nearly as important as the Leonardo DiCaprio produced The 11th Hour, which also opens this week (see below), Gordon's flick is an endlessly fascinating and interesting film that explores the heated battle between two video game players to claim the Guinness world record in Donkey Kong. Yes, the arcade video game from the ‘80s. Video game legend Billy Mitchell held that record for over twenty years until Steve Wiebe, an unemployed family man from Washington State, broke the record and proceeded to have problems holding it, and he quickly learned that the system for judging and recording the high scores was flawed, sinc it was judged by a group of fans and friends of Mitchell. This hilarious doc, filled with dozens of odd supporting players, many of them Mitchell's minions, follows the competition between an undefeated champion and the unassuming challenger, and you might find find yourself appalled at what Mitchell gets up to in order to retain his record and his standing, even as Wiebe flies thousands of miles to face the elusive record-holder and defend the record he rightfully set before being undermined by Mitchell's shenanigans. It's a highly entertaining sports doc unlike any other and whether you're a fan of old school video games or not, you're likely to find yourself very entertained by a documentary that owes more to sports movies like "Rocky" than any existing doc. It opens in New York and L.A. this Friday and look for our interview with Seth Gordon later this week.

My Thoughts from the Tribeca Film Festival

An Interesting Article on the Rivalry from MTV

(More movies in limited release after the jump)

Going into the weekend, the New Line action-comedy threequel Rush Hour 3 will be opening in 3,778 theatres, about 500 more than our estimates and 600 more than Rush Hour 2. Still, there doesn't seem to be as much interest or support from the critics on this one, and it's still likely to wind up under $60 million for the weekend.

Matthew Vaughn's Stardust also gets more theatres but that just doesn't seem to be getting very much interest despite strong reviews, and it's still likely to end up with significantly less than $15 million this weekend.

Cuba Gooding Jr.'s comedy sequel Daddy Day Camp didn't do well on its opening day, grossing just $773 thousand, though it's likely to do better business over the weekend, being a family movie. Skinwalkers is still not looking good but should still end up around $1.4 - $1.5 million.

Updated Predictions -

1. Rush Hour 3 (New Line) - $56.4 million N/A

2. The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) - $33.3 million -52%

3. Stardust (Paramount) - $13.2 million N/A

4. The Simpsons Movie (20th Century Fox) - $12.0 million -52%

5. Underdog (Walt Disney) - $6.7 million -43%

6. Daddy Day Camp (Sony/TriStar) - $6.2 million N/A

7. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (Universal) - $5.8 million -45%

8. Hairspray (New Line) - $5.5 million -40%

9. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros.) - $5.0 million -47%

10. No Reservations (Warner Bros.) - $3.9 million -40%

-- Becoming Jane (Miramax) - $2.43 million +240%

-- Skinwalkers (After Dark Films) - $1.4 millon N/A

The second weekend in August is often the last potential weekend of the summer for a big hit, and Rush Hour 3, the action-comedy that reunites Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, is looking to make it three weekends in a row with a $50 million opener. Considering that the previous installment opened with over $65 million six years ago, that might be seen as a disappointment, but times have changed in those six years with neither of the movie's stars nor the action-comedy genre being nearly as big as they were back in 2001. (Then again, considering how badly we underestimated both The Simpsons Movie and The Bourne Ultimatum, you may want to just add $20 million to that prediction.)

Director Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) adapts Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess' fantasy graphic novel Stardust and though it will be of interest to Gaiman's comic and novel-reading fans, it's not getting a particularly wide release or strong marketing push, which means it will have a hard time making much of a mark against the high profile summer blockbusters. Still, with a lot of things dropping, expect it to wind up in a distant third place.

We'll get two featured movies this week, as I thought it would be fun to have two weeks in a row with a debut from a French filmmaker named Julie... but we also can't ignore Jeffrey Blitz's little indie that could, Rocket Science…

2 Days in Paris (Samuel Goldwyn)
Starring Julie Delpy, Adam Goldberg, Daniel Brühl, Albert Delpy, Adan Jodorowsky
Written and directed by Julie Delpy (co-writer of Before Sunset)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rated R
Plot Summary: While traveling in Europe, French photographer Marion (Julie Delpy) and her New York boyfriend Jack (Adam Goldberg) spend two days in her home city of Paris visiting her parents and encountering all of her ex-boyfriends, putting their relationship to the ultimate test.

If the thought of Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan traipsing through Paris is a bit much for you, then you might want to check out this feature film debut from Julie Delpy, who takes a similar approach to this as Richard Linklater did with Before Sunset (which Delpy co-wrote) to create a humorous travelogue of her city as seen through a couple spending two days there. Much of the humor comes from Adam Goldberg (a former boyfriend of Delpy's) playing her put-upon boyfriend who finds himself having to deal with all of her ex-lovers during their brief stop through her home and things get worse from there. It starts out very much like a situational comedy but it starts to get more serious and dramatic as things start to sour in their relationship. This festival favorite probably won't be to everyone's taste, because the thought of watching a movie about a deteriorating relationship while on vacation might hit a bit too close to some, but there's a lot of realism to the way this story is told, a lot of interesting ideas and some very funny moments with Goldberg and Delpy's real-life father who plays a similar role here. If you liked Before Sunset or broad situational comedies like The Money Pit or European Vacation, you might have fun with Delpy's debut which opens in New York and L.A. on Friday.

Interview with Julie Delpy (Coming Soon!)

Rocket Science (Picturehouse)
Starring Reece Daniel Thompson, Anna Kendrick, Nicholas D'Agosto, Vincent Piazza, Margo Martindale, Aaron Yoo, Josh Kay, Stephen Park, Maury Ginsberg, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Denis O'Hare, Jonah Hill
Written and directed by Jeffrey Blitz (Spellbound)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rated R
Plot Summary: Hal Hefner (Reece Daniel Thompson) is an introverted boy from Plainsboro, New Jersey who barely speaks up for himself due to his impenetrable stutter, but he allows himself to be recruited onto his high school debating team by the aggressive Ginny Ryerson (Anna Kendrick) which he hopes will help get him closer to her.

There've been a lot of indie teen comedies set in high school in the last few years, some good and some bad, but what differentiates Rocket Science from the pack is that a lot of it is loosely based on the real story of director Jeffrey Blitz (best known for helming the Oscar-nominated documentary Spellbound), who actually had a stutter in high school and who actually did get over it by joining the debating team. One figures that a lot of the other outrageous things that happen in the movie are fictionalized but it's a great foray into dramatic features for Blitz, one that should appeal to fans of Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach due to its quirky tone and the fact that the situations will certainly strike a chord for anyone who remembers the first time they fell in love and had their heart crushed. Adding to the fun is a quirky soundtrack by someone named Eef Barzelay, interspersed with well-placed Violent Femmes tunes, and though most of the cast are unknowns, you might be surprised to see Aaron Yoo of Disturbia in a key role very different from that one, as well as a brief appearance by man-of-the-moment Jonah Hill (Knocked Up and next week's Superbad). I don't want to give too much away, because I'm still hoping to find time to write a full review, but this is a very special movie with a great cast that might one day make this a movie in a similar mold as Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused in terms of new talent. (Blitz won an award for his direction at the Sundance Film Festival, but personally, I think it should be recognized for its sharp, smart script, which is one of the better ones this year.)

If you enjoy movies such as Wes Anderson's Rushmore or Noah Baumbach's The Squid and the Whale or the little-seen Mike Mills debut Thumbsucker, than you should enjoy Jeffrey Blitz's dramatic feature debut, which opens in New York and L.A. this weekend.

Interview with Jeffrey Blitz (by Max Evry) (Coming Soon!)

(More limited releases at the link below.)

What a difference a day makes in terms of updating the column and since it was just posted yesterday, there aren't that many changes in the numbers. The biggest changes are in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Transformers, which both lose over 800 theatres tomorrow, and Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony's El Cantante won't be opening nearly as wide as planned, so expect that to still end up outside the Top 10 with between $2.5 and $3 million. Otherwise, everything should be more or less the same as posted yesterday.

Updated Predictions -

1. The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) - $57.2 million N/A

2. The Simpsons Movie (20th Century Fox) - $33.8 million -54%

3. Underdog (Walt Disney) - $13.6 million N/A

4. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (Universal) - $10.5 million -45%

5. Hairspray (New Line) - $10.0 million -38%

6. Hot Rod (Paramount/SNL Films) - $9.7 million N/A

7. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Warner Bros.) - $8.9 million -50%

8. No Reservations (Warner Bros.) - $6.9 million -41%

9. Transformers (DreamWorks/Paramount) - $6.0 million -48%

10. Bratz (Lionsgate) - $5.2 million N/A

August kicks off with five new movies in wide release but the only one that will make any significant money or have any impact at the box office is the third chapter in the Matt Damon action-thriller trilogy The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal), making it two weeks in a row with a $50 million opening, as fans of the first two movies will finally learn the truth behind Bourne's past. It could push $60 million although its marketing campaign has been softened a bit by coming out so late in a summer full of bigger high profile movies.

With Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille gone from the Top 10, there's a pretty large opening for a kids/family movie to do well this weekend which may be why Disney's releasing Underdog, a live action talking animal movie based on the cartoon series. While it looks too dumb to bring in anyone over ten years old, it'll be one of the few choices for parents to bring their younger tots to see this weekend.

Blame It on Fidel (Koch Lorber)
Starring Nina Kervel-Bey, Julie Depardieu, Stefano Accorsi, Benjamin Feuillet
Written and directed by Julie Gavras (2nd unit on Amen) with Arnaud Cathrine
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Not rated
Plot Summary: Anna (Nina Kervel-Bey) is a spoiled 9-year-old girl from a wealthy family who must deal with the changes in her household when her parents become political activists, giving up everything to live in a poor, communal setting with strange bearded men from Latin America.

We're going with a very low-key film this week, one that's not likely to play many places besides New York and L.A. although it's another in a long line of great movies starring talented young newcomers this year, which began with The Italian and continued through Vitus and Joshua and Shane Meadows' This Is England last week. Based on the novel by Domitilla Calamai, this drama by Julie Gavras could only be dubbed a "commie-of-age" story because it literally deals with a young girl dealing with her parents' interest in communism during the early ‘70s following France's own political revolution. The material is handled with charming humor, as we see everything from Anna's viewpoint and that of her younger brother (played by adorable scene-stealer Benjamin Feuillet). They really don't understand what is going on in their house with all the changes being made, and because we only see what they see, neither do we, but it's fun to watch this story unfold and how they deal with the unknown. Nina Kervel-Bey is a delightful young find, bratty at times and sweet at others—a bit like a French Shirley Temple in some ways—and she really takes the audience on a delightful journey in this pleasant and charming first film from Julie Gavras. This very unique French film opens in New York at the Cinema Village on Friday.

(More limited releases after the jump. Sorry, but due to scheduling issues, the mini-reviews won't be added until tomorrow.)