Coming Soon! - The Weekend Warrior

Preview and Projections for the Weekend of April 1, 2005
By Edward Douglas -

Greetings and welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly guide to the weekend’s new movies. Tune in every Tuesday for the latest look at the upcoming weekend, and then check back on Friday for any last minute updates and reviews.

It’s hard to believe, but this weekend marks the start of my third year at ComingSoon.net, so I just want to take this time to thank the greatest editor and boss in the world for allowing me to take up so much of his site’s space every week. Of course, he’s off in Europe right now, so we’re all learning quickly all that he does on this site every day. It ain’t no April Fool’s that maybe April 1^st should be commemorated as “Editor Appreciation Day”! Even though he might not even see this, I just want to thank him and all of the faithful CS readers who have made me welcome here and read this column every week for the last two years.

WEEKEND PROJECTIONS - final update 3.31.05

For the second year in a row, April kicks off with a movie based on a comic book, this time being Frank Miller’s Sin City, a star-studded mostly black-and-white crime film, co-directed by Miller and Robert Rodriguez (Once Upon a Time in Mexico) with a scene guest-directed by Quentin Tarantino. With more anticipation among males and comic fans then any other movie since February’s Constantine, the movie should defy the odds of its genre and R-rating to open in first place. But first, on Wednesday, there’s Queen Latifah’s latest comedy Beauty Shop, a spin-off from the successful Ice Cube and Cedric the Entertainer Barbershop comedies. Opening into a market full of comedies for women and the urban audience, it may have trouble getting past last week’s #1 comedy, Guess Who. (Update: Less than 12 hours after stating this, MGM got the comedy into at least 300 more theatres for the weekend, which gives it a stronger chance to pull second place.) After a successful limited run, Mike Binder’s The Upside of Anger starring Kevin Costner and Joan Allen opens nationwide in just over a thousand theatres; the good reviews and positive word-of-mouth should help it finally move into the Top 10.

TW	LW	Title	Weekend (in millions)	Change	# Of Theaters	Average	Week
1	New	Sin City	$27.5	N/A	3,230	$8,514	1
2	New	Beauty Shop	$13.5*	N/A	2,659*	$5,077	1
3	1	Guess Who	$12.8	-38%	3,147	$4,067	2
4	3	Miss Congeniality 2	$8.5	-40%	3,183	$2,670	2
5	4	Robots	$8.0	-39%	3,026	$2,644	4
6	2	The Ring 2	$6.5	-52%	3,179	$2,045	3
7	5	The Pacifier	$5.4	-34%	2,851	$1,862	5
8	11	The Upside of Anger	$5.1	173%	1,111	$4,590	4
9	6	Hitch	$2.7	-37%	1,859	$1,425	8
10	7	Hostage	$2.4	-43%	1,728	$1,360	4
			Est. Weekend Total $92.30	Est. Avg. Drop-Off -14%		Est. Average PTA $3,429

*Having made $2 million on Wednesday, Beauty Shop is looking like it will fall close to my $13.5 million prediction or slightly higher.

BEAUTY SHOP (MGM Pictures)
Starring: Queen Latifah, Kevin Bacon, Djimon Hounsou, Alicia Silverstone, Mena Suvari, Little JJ, Andie MacDowell, Alfre Woodard, Bryce Wilson, Wilmer Valderrama, Golden Brooks, Sherri Shepherd
Directed by: Billie Woodruff (Honey)
Genres: Comedy
Rated PG-13
Theatre Count: 2,659

Queen Latifah reprises her role from Barbershop 2: Back in Business as sassy stylist Gina Norris, who has now moved down to Atlanta. When her annoying boss (Kevin Bacon) at the fancy salon where she works goes too far, Gina decides to set up her own business, bringing along the shampoo girl (Alicia Silverstone) and many of their clients. In her new beauty shop, women have a lot on their mind and they’re not afraid to speak out about it.

After three sequels in the month of March, we get a spin-off from a movie that was a bit of a phenomenon when it opened back in the slow month of September 2002. The first Barbershop was an immediate hit among the African-American community, earning over $20 million in just 1,600 theatres. Last February, MGM released the sequel Barbershop 2: Back in Business, which earned more money opening weekend but not as much overall. More importantly, it introduced Queen Latifah’s character Gina Norris.

The previous year, Latifah was quite hot, following her critically praised performance in the Oscar winning Chicago with the Steve Martin comedy hit Bringing Down the House. Later that year, Latifah helped bring a lot of people into theatres to see another comedy franchise, Scary Movie 3, her cameo being prominently featured in the trailer and commercials. Still, Barbershop 2: Back in Business would be the high point for the Queen in 2004, as she followed that with the Labor Day comedy bomb The Cook-Out, which Latifah co-wrote and produced. Her pairing with Saturday Night Live’s Jimmy Fallon for Taxi, directed by Barbershop’s Tim Story, a few months later didn’t do that much better. Latifah still seems to have a solid fanbase, having hosted a successful talk show for many years, but she definitely needs to be in the right vehicle for them to give her movie a chance.

For this spin-off, she’s joined by a varied cast of new characters including actress Alicia Silverstone, best known from the comedy Clueless and music video appearances, and Alfre Woodard as one of the stylists at Gina’s beauty shop. Kevin Bacon follows his highly praised role in the indie drama The Woodsman with a silly role as the salon’s effeminate owner who clashes with Gina, and Oscar-nominated Djimon Hounsou from In America and last month’s Constantine plays the shop’s upstairs neighbor and Gina’s love interest. Andie MacDowell (Sex, Lies and Video Tape) and American Pie’s Mena Suvari play the beauty shop’s clients. Unfortunately, none of the names on that list will do much to offer Latifah the support she will need to pull-off off this movie helmed by Billie Woodruff, director of the hip-hop dance movie Honey with Jessica Alba (who stars in Sin City this week).

Granted, the first two Barbershop movies had a built-in African American base, but the guys who saw that movie won’t be interested in this spin-off, which will try to target the women who flocked to empowerment films like Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Except that this doesn’t look nearly as funny, and it comes out at a time where there are already plenty of comedies and other fare for women, both black and white. Beauty Shop could try to capitalize on the comedy market boom or it could just get lost in the shuffle with so many other choices, including last week’s new comedies. It’s bad enough that last October, there was a movie with a similar plot that was originally going to be called Beauty Shop. That movie, Hair Show, didn’t very much business in theatres, although granted, it didn’t have a star on the scale of Latifah either.

MGM didn’t have much luck with their last urban comedy, Soul Plane, and the promotion for this sequel hasn’t been much better. It probably won’t matter, since audiences seem to be down on sequels, maybe since many of them are obviously being done only for the money. Beauty Shop opens early on Wednesday in fewer theatres than the last Barbershop movie, maybe in hopes of building some word-of-mouth for the weekend, although the early opening could also work against it, much like it did with Taxi.

Related Comparisons
Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Taxi	10/8/04	3,001	$0.62	$12.03	$4,009	$36.61
The Cookout	9/3/04	1,303		$6.22	$4,773	$11.54
Bringing Down the House	3/7/03	2,801		$31.10	$11,104	$132.68
Clueless	7/21/95	1,653	$5.27	$10.61	$6,419	$54.79
Barbershop 2: Back in Business	2/6/04	2,711		$24.24	$8,942	$64.96
Barbershop	9/13/02	1,605		$20.63	$12,852	$75.07
Diary of a Mad Black Woman	2/25/05	1,483		$21.91	$14,771	$48.26
Hair Show	10/15/04	38		$0.20	$5,304	$0.30

Why I Should See It: Queen Latifah is always likeable and entertaining, and Beauty Shop seems like a decent vehicle to match her personality.
Why Not: If you’re not a woman, you’re better off going to see Sin City.

Bottom Line: In a year where sequels are being met with yawns and disinterest, this weak spin-off of Barbershop may have a hard time making any kind of mark in a box office so full of comedies that look a lot funnier.

Projection: $3 to 5 million on Wednesday and Thursday, $12 to 14 million on the weekend and less than $35 million total.

SIN CITY (Dimension Films)
Starring: Bruce Willis, Clive Owen, Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Jaime King, Brittany Murphy, Rosario Dawson, Devon Aoki, Alexis Bledel, Benicio Del Toro, Elijah Wood, Josh Hartnett, Marley Shelton, Carla Gugino, Nick Stahl, Michael Clarke Duncan, Michael Madsen, Rick Gomez, Jason Douglas, Mackenzie Vega, Katherine Willis
Directed by: Frank Miller (“Sin City” creator), Robert Rodriguez (Despearado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Spy Kids, From Dusk til Dawn) and guest director Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2, Jackie Brown)
Genres: Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rated R
Theatre Count: 3,230
Tagline: “Walk down the right back alley in Sin City and you can find anything.”
Mini-Review: This stylish and stylized film perfectly captures the nature of Miller's gritty graphic novels, but the over-the-top performances from everyone except Willis and Owen makes the whole thing far too cartoonish and unrealistic. Still, it's an entertaining and mostly satisfying experience. Rating: 7 out of 10

Frank Miller’s black and white crime comic Sin City comes to the big screen telling three stories about hard luck cases: Bruce Willis plays Hartigan, an aging cop trying to save a young girl from a pedophile; Mickey Rourke plays Marv, a not-so-smart hulk of a man who goes on a rampage when the woman he loves is murdered; and Clive Owen is Dwight, whose desire to defend his girlfriend’s honor goes horribly wrong.

If you were to ask a comic book fan who they thought was the most influential comic book creator of the last twenty years, chances are that Frank Miller would be one of three or four names you would hear. Movie buffs might only know the name if they paid attention to the credits of Robocop 2, which was written by Miller, but they may be more familiar with his influence than they think. Tim Burton’s Batman movie was heavily influenced by Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns, the mid ‘80s comic that redefined superheroes as darker characters, and much of the Daredevil movie was influenced by Miller’s groundbreaking run on the comic book.

Sin City started as a serialized black-and-white comic in the pages of a Dark Horse anthology in 1991, meant to capture the feel of the old ‘50s crime and detective comics. It wasn’t too long before Miller started telling longer stories that were then collected into graphic novels, from The Dame Wore Red (which isn’t adapted in the movie) to Big Fat Kill, and then That Yellow Bastard. Unlike Alan Moore, who sold most of the movie rights of his graphic novels to the highest bidder and then walked away, Miller held onto his property with both hands until the right opportunity came along. Finally, he was given the chance to make Sin City into a movie and be involved every step of the way.

To help him with his first directing venture, he acquired the services of one of the most respected director of the last decade, Robert Rodriguez, who has taken “DIY” to the next level, shooting, editing and scoring most of his films on his own. Rodriguez has brought his indie ethic to the creation of two popular franchises, El Mariachi/Desperado for the grown-ups and Spy Kids for the kids. The third chapter of both trilogies came out in 2003 with Spy Kids 3-D earning over $100 million and Once Upon a Time in Mexico making about half that a few months later. His desire to help Miller realize his vision got Rodriguez into trouble with the Director’s Guild, so he quit. After that bumpy start, they were able to make the film for roughly $45 million mostly in Rodriguez’s Austin green screen studios, lovingly recreating the look and feel of the comics.

To add to the directorial stew, Rodriguez corralled his long-time buddy Quentin Tarantino to direct a scene in the movie. Tarantino is to film what Miller is to comic books, having brought his own grim and gritty take on the crime world to cinema with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, the latter being heavily influenced by some of the same influences that drove Miller to do Sin City. He’s also been a long-time friend and collaborator to Rodriguez, having written the screenplay and appeared in From Dusk to Dawn. Both directors had segments in the 1995 anthology Four Rooms, too. Recently, Tarantino further expanded his fan base with Kill Bill, a two-part revenge epic starring Uma Thurman, which earned over $120 million combined in North American theatres alone. Rodriguez even composed some of the music for Kill Bill Volume 2.

Rodriguez and Tarantino
Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Once Upon a Time in Mexico	9/12/03	3,282	$23.42	$7,137	$55.85
From Dusk Til Dawn	1/19/96	2,004	$10.24	$5,110	$25.07
Desperado	8/25/95	2,027	$7.91	$3,902	$25.53
Kill Bill Vol. 2	4/16/04	2,971	$25.10	$8,450	$66.21
Kill Bill Vol. 1	10/10/03	3,102	$22.09	$7,121	$69.82
Pulp Fiction	10/14/94	1,338	$9.31	$6,958	$107.93

Sin City has such a big ensemble cast that one couldn’t possibly list all of their achievements and films, but they’re essentially broken down into three groups:

The Good Guys!
Of course, the big star of the movie would have to be Bruce Willis, coming off the rather disappointing opening for his action-thriller Hostage, but still a highly recognized action star with a strong draw for male moviegoers. Willis seems perfectly cast for the role of Hardigan, which takes him back to his Die Hard days, as well as being a throwback to his role as a hardboiled boxer in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Clive Owen, who plays the debonair Dwight, comes to this straight off his Oscar nomination and Golden Globe win for his role in Mike Nichols’ Closer with Julia Roberts and Jude Law. That film put his star back on the ascendant after box office flops like King Arthur and Beyond Border. Mickey Rourke may not be so familiar to younger audiences, although he was a solid leading man in the ‘70s and ‘80s, having starred in films like Barfly, Angel Heart, Rumble Fish, Diner, and the erotic thriller 9 1ž2 Weeks with Kim Basinger. Most recently, he had a role in Rodriguez’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and he next appears in Tony Scott’s bounty hunter film Domino, starring Keira Knightley.

The Bad Guys!
What would the grimy world of Sin City be without a suitable array of villains? These aren’t just your typical bad cops and mobsters, although there are some of those, too. Some of the casting choices might seem odd like The Lord of the Rings’ Elijah Wood playing the unassuming Kevin, a mute serial killer who eats his victims, and Terminator 3 star Nick Stahl playing a yellow-skinned pedophile who plagues Willis’ Hardigan. One of the stars prominently featured in the posters and ads is Benicio Del Toro, who plays the woman-beating Jackie Boy Rafferty who gives Owen such a hard time. Del Toro has not been in that many movies since winning the Oscar for Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic, so it should be a treat seeing him in this type of film. Michael Clarke Duncan has experience as a mob boss from playing the Kingpin in Daredevil, so playing the mob enforcer Manute is not much of a stretch. Michael Madsen, who has been so pivotal in Quentin Tarantino’s films going back to Reservoir Dogs, also has a small role as Bruce Willis’ partner.

The Dames!
Most of Miller’s Sin City stories revolve around the hot, often scantily-clad women of the town and what the men will do for them. The most prominent character in the movie is stripper Nancy, as played by Jessica Alba, who already has the fanboys by the balls from her starring role in the Fox drama “Dark Angel.” Her knack for skimpy clothing and shaking her booty in movies like Honey should both be put to good use in this role, and she’ll continue her comic book run by playing Sue Storm in the summer’s Fantastic Four movie. Likewise, Rosario Dawson gets to play another tough character, not unlike she did in Oliver Stone’s Alexander; she is Gayle, the leader of Sin City’s prostitute-run red light district “Old Town”. Brittany Murphy, who has starred in popular movies like Eminem’s 8 Mile and the romantic comedy Just Married with Ashton Kutcher, plays Shellie, the barmaid, and Jaime King plays Goldie, the woman whose death Marv tries to avenge. Carla Gugino, another Rodriguez regular, makes a startling transformation from her motherly role in the Spy Kids movies to playing Marv’s lesbian parole officer, who shows off quite a bit of skin in the movie.

The Cast!
Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Hostage	3/11/05	2,123		$10.21	$4,811	$23.18
Tears of the Sun	3/7/03	2,973		$17.06	$5,737	$43.63
Closer	12/3/04	476		$7.71	$16,193	$33.99
King Arthur	7/9/04	3,086	$8.43	$15.19	$4,924	$51.80
Honey	12/5/03	1,942		$12.86	$6,620	$30.00
The Rundown	9/26/03	3,152		$18.53	$5,880	$47.59
21 Grams	11/21/03	291	$3.31	$1.22	$4,206	$16.43
The Hunted	3/14/03	2,516		$13.48	$5,359	$34.23
8 Mile	11/8/02	2,470		$51.24	$20,745	$116.13

Sin City is more than just the typical superhero comic book movie that audiences have gotten used to, even though it’s being marketed as such. In some ways, it’s a bit like Road to Perdition, the Tom Hanks crime drama which was based on a graphic novel, but more stylized to look and feel like the original Miller graphic novels. Still, it comes out at a time when people are a bit skeptical after comic book bombs like Elektra and Catwoman, and some might be turned off by the fact that the movie is (mostly) black-and-white film. There haven’t been that many movies done in black and white in recent years, except maybe Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and the Coen Brothers’ The Man Who Wasn’t There. To some, it might look a bit weird, something that kept people away from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow last September. That film was meant to look like an old serialized sci-fi film, and its director also shot the entire film on green screen to everything except the actors in the computer. A few months before that, Hellboy based on the comic book by Frank Miller’s pal Mike Mignola, led the box office with just over $20 million. It opened in a busier weekend (see below) with far less star power and buzz than Sin City. Besides its strong cast and appeal to the comic book crowd, Sin City also adds the draw of Rodriguez and Tarantino fans.

Still, there’s very little for women here. Besides being more violent even than Kill Bill, although in a stylized cartoon-like way, the women in the movie spend most of the movie parading around in next to nothing. It’s no surprise that it got the movie an R-rating, but it won’t really matter, since there should be more than enough guys over 17 bringing in business. (When ComingSoon polled our readers on their most anticipated April movie last week, Sin City received 60% of the votes with Jessica Alba’s character drawing the most interest. Anyone surprised?)

Dimension has been going all out promoting the movie with strong commercials, trailers and one-sheet posters in theatres, and the movie even was featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly’s spring movie guide. So far, reviews have been good, which doesn’t usually mean much going by Sky Captain, but the reviews that will really matter are the ones on the sites that the comics and movie “fanboys” call home, places like ComingSoon.net, joblo.com and AICN, all whom have raved about Miller’s movie.

Related Comparisons
Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Constantine	2/18/05	3,006		$29.77	$9,903	$71.18
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow	9/17/04	3,170		$15.58	$4,915	$37.76
Hellboy	3/26/04	3,028		$23.17	$7,653	$59.04
Road to Perdition	7/12/02	1,797		$22.08	$12,267	$104.05
Daredevil	2/14/03	3,471		$40.31	$11,613	$102.54
From Hell	10/19/01	2,305		$11.32	$4,911	$31.60

Why I Should See It: Sex! Violence! Naked Women! Miller, Rodriguez and Tarantino! Willis, Owen and especially Jessica Alba! What’s not to love?
Why Not: When Jessica Alba is the least annoying actress in a movie, you know you’re in trouble, and some people just may not have the stomach for Frank Miller’s type of “fun.”

Bottom Line: With comic book movies making a comeback with Constantine, Frank Miller’s Sin City has enough of a fan base among comic fans, which added to the fans of Rodriguez and Tarantino should allow Sin City to do well, although any chance of legs will depend on whether they are able to appreciate the very different film they’ve made. (Update: Expect the midnight shows tonight to skew the weekend towards an opening day upwards of $11 million.)

Projection: $26 to 28 million opening weekend on its way to $65 million.

"Mom! What do you mean I can't date the director?!"

THE UPSIDE OF ANGER (New Line Cinema)
Starring: Joan Allen, Kevin Costner, Erika Christensen, Evan Rachel Wood, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Mike Binder, Tom Harper, Dane Christensen, Danny Webb, Magdalena Manville, Suzanne Bertish, David Firth, Rod Woodruff, Stephen Greif
Directed by: Mike Binder (HBO’s “The Mind of the Married Man”, Blankman, Indian Summer, Londinium)
Genres: Romantic Comedy, Drama
Rated R
Theatre Count: 1,111
Tagline: “Sometimes what tears us apart helps us put it back together.”
MY REVIEW

Terry Wolfmeyer (Joan Allen) is the mother of four girls, who starts drinking heavily when her husband leaves her. When she starts hanging out with a has-been baseball player turned radio DJ, played by Kevin Costner, the shaky relationship with her daughters gets even worse, since they blame her for their father leaving and don’t appreciate her new choice in men.

The Upside of Anger is the latest film from actor/director Mike Binder, who might be best from his short-lived HBO sitcom “The Mind of a Married Man.” For his first major theatrical release in some years, Binder follows the lead of Alan Ball and David Mendes’ American Beauty, creating a dark family dramedy with an all-star cast. It’s by no means his first feature film, as he directed Damon Wayans’ superhero bomb Blankman and a few direct-to-cable movies. His next movie will be Man About Town, starring Ben Affleck and Bai Ling, but at least for this movie, he has a solid cast.

First of all, there’s Kevin Costner, a bonafide box office superstar during the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, who has starred in many films that have stood the test of time and become classics. Costner had been branching out in recent years with the Western Open Range and the thriller Dragonfly, but The Upside of Anger brings him back to familiar territory, playing a baseball player like he did in earlier movies like Bull Durham, Field of Dreams and For Love of the Game. Costner has been laying low in the last few years, enough so that his return to the romance genre of films like Message in a Bottle should bring his older female fans back into theatres.

Although Costner is the bigger draw, The Upside of Anger is more of a vehicle to showcase the talents of Joan Allen, who received her third Oscar nomination in 2000 for her role as the first female Vice Presidential candidate in The Contender. After that, she disappeared for four years, before resurfacing last year for a key role in the espionage-thriller sequel The Bourne Supremacy. This year, she stars in three highly praised independent films including this one. A few weeks ago, she starred in Campbell Scott’s Off the Map, which opened in limited release, and this summer, she’ll appear in the Sundance film Yes. Many critics have praised her performance in The Upside of Anger, some already even thinking that she may be one of the names called when they announce the Best Actress Oscar nominations in ten months.

Each of the four young actresses who play Allen’s daughters have gotten kudos for their previous work. The youngest daughter is played by Evan Rachel Wood, who received a Golden Globe nomination for her part as an out-of-control teen in Thirteen, and Erika Christensen has done pretty well for herself after making her debut in Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic. Kerri Russell is best known as the WB’s “Felicity” and red-headed Alicia Witt has appeared in movies like Tom Cruise’s Vanilla Sky.

Older moviegoers should appreciate The Upside of Anger, because it reflects on the realities of life rather than being a movie about action or high concept comedy. It’s been quite sometime since there’s really been a strong offering for this audience, and they tend to be more influenced by reviews than younger audiences. New Line wisely gave this a platform release in major cities to help the movie stir up interest and word-of-mouth. So far, it has earned over $4 million in less than 170 theatres. This weekend, it expands into over 1,000 theatres, and while its per-theatre average may decrease in the bigger cities, Costner’s presence should be enough to bring out many of his older female fans in the new territories. It’s also the only recent movie that might be deemed perfect for the dating crowd, since it has things to appeal to both genders.

Related Comparisons
Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
The Bourne Supremacy	7/23/04	3,165		$52.52	$16,595	$170.45
The Contender	10/13/00	1,516		$5.36	$3,536	$17.80
Open Range	8/15/03	2,075		$14.05	$6,771	$58.33
Dragonfly	2/22/02	2,507		$10.22	$4,077	$30.06
Thirteen Days	1/12/01	2,029	$0.64	$9.78	$4,820	$34.57
For Love of the Game	9/17/99	2,825		$13.04	$4,616	$35.17
Message In A Bottle	2/12/99	2,538		$16.71	$6,584	$52.80
The Bodyguard	11/27/92	1,717		$16.61	$9,674	$121.95
Field of Dreams	5/5/89	633	$2.94	$5.42	$8,562	$62.20
Bull Durham	6/17/88	1,238		$5.00	$4,046	$50.88
Blankman	8/19/94	1,615		$3.72	$2,303	$7.39

Why I Should See It: Joan Allen and Kevin Costner give performances that many critics have deemed their best in years.
Why Not: 47-year-old Mike Binder writing a part for himself where he gets to sleep with 23-year-old Erika Christensen is just plain wrong!

Bottom Line: Four months into 2005 and there hasn’t really been a strong romantic comedy or drama for older adults. The combination of Kevin Costner and Joan Allen should certainly intrigue many of the people outside big cities who have been looking for something a bit different than the comedies and horror movies that have been so pervasive.

Projection: $4 to 5 million in its first weekend of wide release on its way to $25 million.

UNDER THE RADAR

Do you live in a major North American city? If so, there are a number of limited release movies worth checking out. And if you don't live in one of the cities in which these movies open, look for some of them to hit your area sometime in the next few months.

Opening in New York and Los Angeles:
DUST TO GLORY (IFC Films)
LOOK AT ME (Sony Pictures Classics)

Director/surfer Dana Brown (Step into Liquid) sets his eye and camera on the Baja 1000, a thousand-mile race involving 270 different types of vehicles that takes place annually in Mexico. That same year, stuntman Mike “Mouse” McCoy decided to ride the grueling race solo on his motorcycle, something that had never been accomplished before. His story and others are documented in Brown’s latest film, which has a platform release this weekend.

Mini-Review: Racing fans should enjoy director Dana Brown's amazing footage of the race, but to others, this coverage of the annual festival might be a bit of a snore, as it features a lot of racers trying to get us excited about this rather reckless and irresponsible sport. Rating: 7 out of 10

The French drama Look at Me is about 20 year-old Lolita Cassard, an overweight girl who has trouble getting the attention and love of her father, a famous philandering author. Things get more complicated when her singing teacher learns who her father is, and she and her writer husband starts hanging around in his circles. This Cannes selection from French director Agnès Jaoui (The Taste of Others) and her writing partner Jean-Pierre Bacri, who play Lolita’s singing teacher and father respectively, opens in New York and Los Angeles this Friday. MY REVIEW (Coming Soon!)

Opening in New York:
KONTROLL (ThinkFilm)

WARRIOR'S PICK: Set entirely in the Budapest subway system, Nimród Antal’s Kontroll combines action with horror and comedy to show the daily lives of Hungarian ticket inspectors who spend their entire lives underground. Hungary’s selection for the 2004 Oscars and an official entry in Lincoln Center’s “New Directors/New Films”, Kontroll opens at New York’s Angelika theatre on Friday and in Los Angeles on April 22. MY REVIEW

Opening in Dayton, Ohio:
DALLAS 362 (ThinkFilm)

Scott Caan, one of the feuding brothers in Ocean’s 11 and 12, wrote and directed Dallas 362, about a guy named Rusty, who is always getting into trouble with his best friend Dallas (played by Caan). When his mother starts dating a therapist, played by Jeff Goldblum, she urges Rusty to try to get help from him in finding more meaning to his life, causing friction in his friendship with Dallas. Dallas 362 will open at Neon Movies in Dayton, Ohio on Friday, move to Austin and Columbus later in April, and then open in Los Angeles in May.

THIS TIME LAST YEAR

Last April also kicked off with a comic book movie as Mike Mignola’s Hellboy was turned into a feature film directed by Guillermo Del Toro (Blade II) and starring Ron Perlman. Despite little star power and heavy competition, most notably from the Rock’s remake of Walking Tall, it came out on top with an opening weekend of $23 million in just over 3,000 theatres. The revenge action-thriller Walking Tall came in second with a $15 million opening weekend, obviously hurt from opening in the same weekend as the better promoted action film. For family audiences, Disney rolled out their latest and possibly last non-CG animated film, Home on the Range, which earned just under $14 million in more theatres than the other two theatres, ending up just below its prime competition, Scooby Doo 2. Julia Stiles starred in the girls’ fantasy The Prince and Me, an obvious attempt at mimicking The Princess Diaries, which grossed $9.5 million over the weekend for sixth place. The fact that the four new movies combined totaled more than $60 million with two other returning movies still making money showed that the days of April being a bad month for new movies was officially over.

Next week, Cliver Cussler’s Sahara comes to the big screen, and Jimmy Fallon stars with Drew Barrymore in the romantic baseball comedy Fever Pitch.

Copyright 2005 Edward Douglas