For the third year in a row, 20th Century Fox spoofs all of the movies of the previous year, this time making fun of 300, Stomp the Yard and really anything newsworthy from the world of pop culture and the tabloids in Meet the Spartans. Surely young audiences are getting sick of these easy-to-make spoof comedies. This one looking even more foul than Epic Movie, if that’s possible. Unlike the last two films, this one might have too much competition for the teen and college demographic with Rambo and other movies, plus it’s late marketing campaign might not help.

Diane Lane stars in the serial killer thriller Untraceable (Sony/Screen Gems), which uses an intriguing internet premise that combines the death traps of Saw with the intrigue of Silence of the Lambs. Unfortunately, Lane’s audience mostly consists of older women who might not be interested in a gory R-rated serial killer thriller even if they were part of the audience that helped films like "Silence of the Lambs" succeed, and this one might have too much trouble finding an audience with stronger fare in theatres.

Also this weekend, we get the obligatory January dance movie, following in the footsteps of Save the Last Dance, You Got Served and Stomp the Yard. How She Move (Paramount Vantage/MTV Films) was picked up from last year’s Sundance Film Festival, and it should be able to pick up some of the young urban audience that might not have much interest in the other movies, plus it has the benefits of being targeted to the same MTV audience that has gone to see many of the other movies mentioned. Unfortunately, it also doesn’t have a particularly strong marketing campaign compared to those others so it’s doubtful that its intended audience will know about this one.

Also, Tony Gilroy’s Michael Clayton, starring George Clooney, will indeed be given a wide re-release into over a thousand theatres in hopes of making a few more dollars with its recent Oscar nominations as will Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood which should finally make its move into the Top 10 with a decent expansion.

This Week's Predictions -

1. Cloverfield (Paramount) - $19.5 million -52%

2. Rambo (Lionsgate) - $16.7 million N/A

3. 27 Dresses (20th Century Fox) - $14.3 million -38%

4. Meet the Spartans (20th Century Fox) - $11.8 million N/A

5. Untraceable (Sony/Screen Gems) - $9.3 million N/A

6. The Bucket List (Warner Bros) - $8.6 million -39%

7. Juno (Fox Searchlight) - $7.5 million -25

8. How She Move (Paramount Vantage) - $4.6 million N/A

9. Mad Money (Overture) - $4.5 million -42%

10. There Will Be Blood (Paramount Vantage) - $4.4 million +47%

Last year, the month of January came to a close with the aforementioned Epic Movie (20th Century Fox) topping the box office with $18.6 million followed closely by Joe Carnahan’s Smokin’ Aces (Universal) with $14.6 million. Jennifer Garner appeared in Susannah Grant’s long-delayed romantic comedy Catch and Release (Fox) which bombed with just $7.6 million in sixth place, while Stephen Frears’ The Queen (Miramax) expanded nationwide into over 1,800 theatres and reentered the Top 10 with $4 million. The Top 10 grossed $82.3 million, an amount that should be bested due to the amount of new movies.

Rambo (Lionsgate)
Starring Sylvester Stallone, Julie Benz, Paul Schulze, Matthew Marsden, Graham McTavish, Rey Gallegos, Tim Kang, Jake LaBotz, Maung Maung Khin, Ken Howard
Written and directed by Sylvester Stallone (director of Rocky II through Rocky Balboa, writer of all the Rocky and Rambo movies, Cliffhanger, Over the Top, and Driven)
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Rated R
Tagline: "Heroes never die… they just reload."
Plot Summary: Having settled down to a simple life in the woods of Thailand, John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is called back into action when a group of missionaries hired him as a guide through the war-torn area to a refugee camp, but two weeks later, he learns that they never returned and it’s up to Rambo to save them from the brutal Burmese army.

Why I Should See It: If you really missed seeing Stallone as John Rambo…
Why Not: For some reason, a 65-year-old Rambo just doesn’t have the same weight (no pun intended) as one 20 years younger.
Projections: $16 to 19 million opening weekend but less than $45 million total.

COMPARISONS

Untraceable (Sony/Screen Gems)
Starring Diane Lane, Billy Burke, Colin Hanks, Joseph Cross, Mary Beth Hurt
Directed by Gregory Hoblit (Fracture, Primal Fear, Frequency); Written by Robert Fyvolent, Mark R. Brinker, Allison Burnett (Resurrecting the Champ, Feast of Love, Autumn in New York)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rated R
Tagline: "A cyber killer has finally found the perfect accomplice: You."
Plot Summary: A serial killer has been kidnapping people and killing them live on the internet, causing Special Agent Jennifer Marsh (Diane Lane) of the cybercrimes division to frantically have to solve the clues before the killer hits closer to home.

Review

Why I Should See It: If you think there just haven’t been enough serial killer movies made, here’s proof that you’re right.
Why Not: After seeing this one, you will pray that this is the last of them.
Projections: $9 to 11 million opening weekend and less than $30 million total.

COMPARISONS

Meet the Spartans (20th Century Fox)
Starring Diedrich Bader, Kevin Sorbo, Method Man, Ken Davitian, Jim Piddock, Sean Maguire, Greg Ellis, Crista Flanagan, Nicole Parker, Emily Wilson
Written and directed by Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer (Epic Movie, Date Movie)
Genre: Comedy
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "The Bigger the Hit, The Harder They Fall."
Plot Summary: The latest spoof comedy from "2 of the 6 writers of Scary Movie" tackles historical war epics ala "300."

Why I Should See It: Because you wondered what "300" might be like if it were funny.
Why Not: That’s not saying that this one WILL be funny. After all, the fact that the filmmakers have gotten to the point where they can crank out one of these a year makes you wonder if the quality could possibly get any worse.
Projections: $11 to 13 million opening weekend and less than $30 million total.

COMPARISONS

How She Move (Paramount Vantage)
Starring Tracey Armstrong, Clé Bennett, Nina Dobrey, Romina D'Ugo, Kevin Duhaney, Shawn Fernandez, Brennan Gademans, Jason Harrow, Jai Jai Jones, Tristan D. Lalla, Daniel Morrison, Dwain Murphy, Mya, Rutina Wesley
Directed by Ian Iqbal Rashid (Touch of Pink, Stag); Written by Annamarie Morais (Hotel Babylon)
Genre: Dance, Drama
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "Set your dreams in motion."
Plot Summary: After spending a few semesters at a private school, Raya Green (Rutina Wesley) must return home to the projects and in order to get out of there to avoid the traps inherent with living there, she joins a step dancing crew in hopes of making enough money from competing to leave the projects.

Why I Should See It: You’ve missed the dozen other dance movies over the last eight years or want to see another one.
Why Not: Who wants to go see movies about dancing rather than just going out dancing themselves?
Projections: $4 to 6 million opening weekend and $15 to 16 million total.

COMPARISONS

Unfortunately, we just didn’t have time this week to spend any amount of time writing about limited releases, although the key releases are Cristian Mungiu’s Romanian abortion drama 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (IFC First Take), which opens in New York and L.A. on Friday, and the concert film U2 3D (National Geographic), which opens in select cities on Wednesday.

Next week, the month of February kicks off with Jessica Alba seeing dead people in the horror remake The Eye (Lionsgate), Paul Rudd is ALSO seeing dead people in the form of Eva Longoria in Over Her Dead Body (New Line), plus also there’s the nature doc comedy Strange Wilderness (Paramount) from Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison Productions.

Copyright 2008 Edward Douglas