---

THE BATTLE CRY!
(If you have anything to say about this or anything else written in the column, feedback and Email is always welcome, and almost always responded to.)

There's been a lot of talk lately about movies not being screened for critics, including in this very column. Obviously, the ones least happy about the situation are critics, who are suddenly finding themselves with less movies to review which translates into less weekly income, and they've been very vocal about the matter. It's nothing new, as there's long been an attempt to curtail criticism of movies from getting out before people have a chance to shell out their own hard-earned money to see it for themselves, but there's a strange dichotomy being created by the current situation.

Obviously, most newspapers and magazines make a nice amount of money from advertising, but since there isn't a "cover price" to get on the internet after you pay your ISP, websites make almost all of their income from advertising. Ironically, online critics also get paid the least for writing reviews, because the internet has made it easy for anyone to voice and post their opinions on just about anything. That said, web critics also seem to have the most restrictions put on them about posting early reviews, which often is the easiest way for them to get hits and traffic, which translates into income from advertising views. Most people might not realize that the reason a lot of reviews don't show up online is because of strict embargoes sanctioned by the studios themselves.

But the thing is, why would critics even bother to follow them? Well, how about this for a concept? Not only are the studios controlling what movies the critics see these days, but they also play a large part in them getting paid at all! I know it's kind of mind-boggling, but really, it's movie advertising on sites like this which often help a site make enough money to pay critics like yours truly. People will often read newspapers and magazines despite the reviews, so they don't play that big a factor, but if you think about it, who are the biggest advertisers in places like the New York Times Arts section every Friday? Movie studios! I remember a well-known television critic telling me how his station doesn't allow studios to pay any of the expense to fly him to places like Cannes and Toronto. because it's considered a journalistic conflict of interest, except how does the network pay him for his work? Just see how many movie ads run during his nationally syndicated movie comments and figure it out.

Basically, what I'm suggesting is that the critics trashing all of the hard work involved in the production and marketing of bad movies being made by studios and their filmmakers, are often being paid by the revenue brought in from advertising of those very same movies. So really, who can blame a studio when they decide, "Hey, you know what? We're advertising our movie in your newspaper, magazine or website, and one way we're going to do that is by preventing you from running a really bad review to counteract it." So no matter how you slice it, there's always going to be a conflict of interests, because by being unfair to studio movies (or let's face it… being honest about them), critics are essentially spitting in the face of those who are paying them. Funny how that works.

---

THE CHOSEN ONE(S):

THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE (Picturehouse)
Starring Gretchen Mol, Lili Taylor, Jonathan M. Woodward, David Strathairn, Cara Seymour, Tara Subkoff, Kevin Carroll
Directed by Mary Harron (American Psycho); Written by Mary Harron, Guinevere Turner
Genre: Biodrama
Rated R for nudity, sexual content and some language
Tagline: "Show Some Restraint"
Story: The life of legendary pin-up model Bettie Page (Gretchen Mol) is explored, showing how a good Christian girl in Nashville got into the world of bondage and nude modeling.
REVIEW
HARD CANDY (Lionsgate)
Starring Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh, Jennifer Holmes
Directed by David Slade; Written by Brian Nelson
Genre: Suspense, Thriller, Drama
Rated R for disturbing violent and aberrant sexual content involving a teen, and for language
Story: A 35-year-old photographer (Patrick Wilson) meets a 14-year-old girl named Hayley (Ellen Page) on the internet, but when he brings her back to his apartment, the tables are turned in surprising and shocking ways.
REVIEW

Okay, okay. I know I'm breaking the one and only cardinal rule of this section by picking two movies to feature this week, but both of these movies, besides being well-scripted dramas, are about the empowerment of women in a male-driven world, and there is so much that links them together despite being very different types of films. For one thing, they both showcase awards-worthy performance by two actresses, one fairly young and one who has been around in nothing too significant. The former, Gretchen Mol, had the benefits of playing a real-life character, but that woman, Bettie Page, is such an icon to so many men and women both old and young, that it must have been a real challenge to bring her to life, especially not having met her. 19-year-old Ellen Page of Hard Candy had to play a 14-year-old who finds herself in a precarious situation, who has to try to turn the tables on her would-be attacker, but instead, she's created the type of classic movie character ala Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction that leaves you shaken up just thinking about her.

Fortunately, I had access to the directors of both films to ask them about the casting of these amazing actresses:

"We saw three hundred girls who read; they did two very disparate scenes in the film," Hard Candy director David Slade told me. "There were a few that were good, and a few that have gone on to become famous, but nobody really understood the role completely. The casting director showed us this tape of Ellen, and she was just phenomenal. Her acting was above and beyond all the adults she was around, and she was much younger then. She was sent the script and she really loved it; she was really passionate about it. But what they didn't tell us is that she just finished this film, Mouth to Mouth, and she had shaved her head for the role. With it being such a delicate subject matter there was a certain amount of nervousness for our producers, because she looked quite young, and she looked like a boy, because she had no hair at the time. She did it again with this wig on, and she still gave this phenomenal performance. We talked to her on the phone and we were even more convinced. David Higgins, whose initial concept this was, flew Ellen to LA so that she could be in the room with the financiers. She went to rehearse them and came in and knocked everybody away."

Obviously, because of Bettie Page's reputation, a lot of actresses were interested in playing her, but Notorious Bettie Page director told me why she thought Gretchen was so perfect for the role. "We already had a lot of people in, and I looked at a lot of tapes, every famous brunette basically," she said. "There were people who were great actresses, but didn't seem like Betty, and I went through many people. Then Gretchen came in, and everyone else who came into read it was straining at it, or trying so hard to be sexy or vampy or pushing the pin-up stuff, but with Gretchen, she was just born to play it. It was as natural as breathing. One of the things that makes great acting is that it's natural and unforced. If someone is straining to be sexy, it's hard to watch, and for her, it was effortless."

Harron also told us what interested her in telling Bettie Page's story: "I was very attached to the world of the ‘50s and I was interested in the sexuality of the ‘50s, and I felt very attached to the character of Bettie. You kind of get to know somebody and you won't want to let her go. The problem with official biographies is that it's limiting, in a sense of what they will say and what they will disapprove of, so you have a freer hand."

Both movies might be considered somewhat controversial because of their subject matter and the question of whether you think what the lead characters are right or wrong in their actions. "You take into the cinema, I think, very much what you walk away with," Slade admitted. "Although the characters in the film may preach, it was very much written not to preach to you. It was a film, which was not designed to take a point of view, which is not to say that we're morally bulletproof. Of course we're not, and nothing is. There is a preferred reading of this material, but we were very careful not to be preachy in this film. Hayley, the character, is a 14 year old girl, and at 14, her view of the world is very black and white. This is part of her character, she is not someone who has filled in the levels of grey. Therefore the decisions she makes is very hard and concrete. She is filled with the hormones and the passions of someone of that age, and therefore she's empowered by that, making these clear, solid decisions. She is going to do what she believes is right because she's 14 ­ not because of any moral stigma or anything that's dictating this, but because she's 14 and why the hell not?"

"I didn't get a chance to talk to her at all," Harron told me when I asked if she had any help from the real Bettie Page, who is still alive and living as a devout Christian somewhere in the U.S. "It's harder because there are certain things that I would have liked to ask her, not about being a pin-up, but about religion, because she talked a lot about being a pin-up. She gave so many interviews over the years that I don't think even talking to her now, there's much new she would say. But nobody asked her about her faith and I was interested in the course of that as soon as I heard she was from Nashville. From every encounter I had with country music stars—I used to write a lot about country music and I love Nashville—they were always Christian. Even when they were getting divorced and sneaking into motel rooms, they didn't stop being Christian when they were doing that stuff. People don't stop being religious. I never thought that she ever stopped being religious and went back to being religious. It was clear to me that she would have kept her belief in God all the way through. It was just at the end that she decided to go back in a big way."

"Bettie saw the film at the Playboy Mansion with Hef and his three girlfriends," Harron continued, when asked about getting the former pin-ups stamp of approval. "I think it was a little difficult. I think she liked Gretchen a lot. She said, ‘She's pretty. I was never as pretty as that,' and then the Senate hearings, she didn't enjoy that so much, bringing that back. I think that's still a sore subject and people said that she doesn't like the title. I think she feels that it's criticizing her, but it's not meant to be at all."

Both movies open in Los Angeles, New York and other cities this Friday. You can check out my interview with Ellen Page right now, and an interview with Gretchen Mol later this week.

---

NEW THIS WEEK:

SCARY MOVIE 4 (Dimension Films)
Starring Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Leslie Nielsen, Carmen Electra, Shaquille O'Neal, Dr. Phil, Bill Pullman, Chris Elliot, Molly Shannon, Michael Madsen, Chingy, Lil' John
Directed by David Zucker (Scary Movie 3, Airplane!, Top Secret!, Ruthless People, The Naked Gun, My Boss' Daughter); Written by Craig Mazin (Senseless, Scary Movie 3), Jim Abrahams (Airplane!, Top Secret!, The Naked Gun, Hot Shots!, Hot Shots! Part Deux)
Genre: Comedy, Horror
Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor throughout, some comic violence and language
Tagline: "The fourth and final chapter of the trilogy."
Story: After losing her husband George, Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) tries to get a job as a live-in caregiver, only to discover that the house is haunted by a vengeful spirit. Oh, yeah, and the earth is being struck by another alien invasion.
REVIEW

The spoof movie is a genre that has had a long shelf-life with plenty of ups and downs, but clearly, the height of its success came in 2000 when Scary Movie, a spoof of Wes Craven's equally tongue-in-cheek horror movie Scream, grossed over $42 million its opening weekend bringing instant cred to the Wayans family, who had been doing spoof and satire their entire lives. Few people liked the sequel it spawned the following year, but in 2003, the franchise was revitalized by the grandmaster of spoof comedy, director David Zucker, who was responsible for making the genre popular during the ‘80s and ‘90s. The PG-13 threequel ended up grossing over $48 million in its October opening, although it ended up grossing only $109 million total.

Going into its fourth installment, which focuses on spoofs of hit movies like War of the Worlds, The Grudge and Saw, it's not so much about just satirizing horror films as taking shots at all of pop culture, including things from the tabloids like the relationship between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

As much as the movies have changed, the two characters who have survived the changes are Anna Faris' Cindy Campbell and Regina Hall's Brenda Meeks. You can read more about Anna Faris in this week's Star Spotlight, but anyone who actually saw Scary Movie 3 may remember that Brenda died rather horrifically. (Maybe she'll be returning as a Grudge-like ghost?) Also returning is Zucker's long-time leading man Leslie Nielsen, who reprises his role as the President of the United States from the previous film, and coming back for the first time since the first Scary Movie, though in a different role, is Carmen Electra. The fourth movie's primary addition is Craig Bierko as Cindy Campbell's love interest Tom Ryan, based on Tom Cruise's character in War of the Worlds. Some may remember Bierko as Russell Crowe's arch-nemesis in last year's boxing drama, Cinderella Man. The film also features prominent roles by Shaquille O'Neal and Dr. Phil, recreating the basement scene from Saw.

For his second movie in the franchise, David Zucker is reunited with Scary Movie 3 writer Craig Mazin, but he also reunites with his long-time collaborator Jim Abrahams, who co-wrote many of his most popular spoof films going back to Airplane! Like the last chapter, they lessened the amount of nudity and swearing to get a PG-13 rating, which meant that it could bring in a lot younger audience, a move that has worked very well for movies like Fox's Date Movie, which opened in mid-February to make around $47 million.

The new non-Disney supported Dimension Films has not done as good a job getting word around as they did with the last installment, and the fact that Scary Movie 3 ended up with barely twice its opening weekend over its total run means that maybe it didn't meet up to expectations, so there's a good chance that even young people are getting sick of the dumb jokes. In its favor, it has a very funny trailer, as well as a series of very catchy spoof posters, so it will still be a good first choice this weekend despite having competition from Benchwarmers and Ice Age: The Meltdown. After all, the movie looks really, REALLY stupid and of course… all together now… this is the Year of the Stupid. This should make a great follow-up to both those films and an easy choice for the young crowd over Easter.

Why I Should See It: If you laughed your butt off at the last Scary Movie… or War of the Worlds… you'll probably already be lined-up for the sequel.
Why Not: The spoof movie genre is already getting kinda tired, because it's gotten way too easy to spoof other movies.
Projection: $32 to 35 million opening weekend on its way to $92 million.

THE WILD (Walt Disney Pictures)
Starring Kiefer Sutherland, Greg Cipes, Jim Belushi, Janeane Garofalo, Richard Kind, William Shatner, Eddie Izzard
Directed by Steve "Spaz" Williams; Written by Ed Decter and John J. Strauss (The Santa Clause 2, The Lizzie McGuire), Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin (Snow Dogs)
Genre: Family, Animated, Comedy
Rated G
Tagline: "A whole new breed of tourist."
Story: A bunch of zoo animals escape from the Central Park Zoo in search of a friend who was accidentally shipped to the wild, but they soon learn that New York City may be even wilder.

There used to be a time when we'd only get one or two computer animated movies a year, but with 2006 less than a third over, we get the fourth movie in the genre with at least four or five more to go. On the positive note, this one is being released by Disney, on the negative, it wasn't done in-house or with Pixar Studios, so it's likely to a minimal push from the company, much like was the case with last year's Britcentric animated film Valiant or Home on the Range the year before that.

Anyone who saw last year's Madagascar from DreamWorks Animation, which did decent business over Memorial Day weekend, might find the premise of animals escaping from Central Park Zoo to be rather familiar. Then again, this movie, produced by Canada's C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures and directed by Steve "Spaz" Williams, best known for the visual effects in movies like The Mask, was in development for almost ten years, so maybe the idea leaked out to DreamWorks. That essentially creates a similar situation as when Antz and A Bug's Life both came out within months of each other, but in this case, DreamWorks might win out. Either way, it's an important movie for C.O.R.E, being their first full CG film.

While the film does have a few known voice actors like William Shatner, who also provides his voice for the upcoming Over the Hedge, Kiefer Sutherland of "24" and Jim Belushi, none of them are enough to really sell the picture, as has been the case with other CG animated films.

Really, the best thing going for the movie is its G-rating, which should help influence parents to bring in their smaller children, at least on Friday and Saturday. Even so, the non-threatening rating didn't do much to help the Weinstein Company's Doogal just a few short weeks ago, and The Wild only has slightly more awareness, and it will mainly be relying on walk-in theatre business than people actually making an effort to go see it.

Why I Should See It: Gotta loves them animated zoo animals!!
Why Not: Because most people already saw this premise used in Madagascar, which also had a stronger comedy cast.
Projection: $9 to 11 million opening weekend on its way to $35 million.

KINKY BOOTS (Miramax Films)
Starring Joel Edgerton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sarah-Jane Potts, Jemima Rooper, Nick Frost, Linda Bassett, Josh Cole, Gwenllian Davies
Directed by Julian Jarrold; Written by Geoff Deane, Tim Firth
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving sexuality, and for language
Tagline: "How far would you go to save the family business?"
Story: After taking over his father's Northampton show factory, Charlie (Joel Edgerton) needs to find a way to keep the place solvent, so with the help of a London drag queen named Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor), he decides to start working on a line of stylish boots for men who like to dress up as women.
REVIEW (Coming Soon!)

For those of you who worry about Chiwetel Ejiofor being typecast as a bad guy after Serenity and Four Brothers or as a cop after Inside Man, rest assured that he can always pull out this British comedy as a calling card in case anyone ever worries that he doesn't have any range. Or he can pull it out (no pun intended) in case he has any trouble getting male roles and wants to try to steal some parts away from Mo'Nique or Queen Latifah. Yeah, it's another misguided British comedy produced by the people who brought us Calendar Girls, using a similar high concept premise as January's Brit-flop Imagine Me and You. This one at least has the benefits of the rather shaky cross-dressing pedigree that has included everything from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to the 2003 bomb Connie and Carla, and at least it co-stars Shaun of the Dead's Nick Frost as a homophobic factory worker to keep it from being completely worthless. Somehow, these movies end up becoming huge hits overseas, but they barely register once they hit these shores, and Kinky Boots should follow suit. It opens in select cities this weekend with hopes and plans at expanding nationwide. It probably won't happen.

Why I Should See It: There hasn't been a decent drag queen comedy since Priscilla Queen of the Desert. (Of course, there's probably a reason for that!)
Why Not: Chiwetel Ejiofor in drag. Not pretty.

---

STAR SPOTLIGHT: Anna Faris

My first instinct was to showcase Scary Movie 4 star Leslie Nielsen, because let's face it, the guy is a veritable God of Spoof Movies! Then again, he hasn't appeared in nearly as many Scary Movies as Anna Faris, and let's face it, he's not nearly as cute and huggable as the comic actress.

Of course, most people first heard of Faris when seeing her in the first Scary Movie, back in the days when she was still a brunette. It took some time before she would break away from that role to do more prestigious (sic) movies like Rob Schneider's The Hot Chick and the cult horror movie May. Then again, what other actress has been able to have small parts in two Oscar nominated movies? That's exactly what Faris did in her scene-stealing smaller roles in Lost in Translation and last year's Brokeback Mountain. (Few people even realized that Faris was the talkative wife of Jake Gyllenhaal's new male friend!)

Last year, she also starred in two movies with Ryan Reynolds, Just Friends and Waiting, neither which did particularly well, but both giving Faris' fans a wider range of her comic shops, as she almost stole the former movie with her performance as a wacked-out blonde pop star who plagues Reynolds' character.

Who knows if any of this will matter because the Scary Movie franchise has grown far beyond who actually appears in the movies, but it's still quite a feat that Faris has starred alongside Regina King in every single movie over the course of almost six years, something that should not be discounted as a reason for the franchise's popularity.

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Just Friends	11/25/05	2,505	$4.05	$9.19	$3,669	$32.19
Waiting...	10/7/05	1,652		$6.02	$3,645	$15.61
Scary Movie 3	10/25/03	3,505		$48.11	$13,727	$109.94
Lost in Translation	9/12/03	864	$9.86	$4.16	$4,819	$44.85
The Hot Chick	12/13/02	2,217		$7.40	$3,338	$33.86
Scary Movie 2	7/6/01	3,220	$13.51	$20.50	$6,367	$71.28
Scary Movie	7/7/00	2,912		$42.35	$14,543	$157.00

---

ALSO IN LIMITED RELEASE:

Here I thought I'd get a nice week off with only two wide releases, but instead, we get a ridiculous number of limited releases, with one or two good ones in the bunch.

When Richard Alfieri adapted his own play THE SISTERS (Arclight Films), itself based on Chekhov's "The Three Sisters," for the big screen, he was able to get an all-star cast including Maria Bello, Elizabeth Banks, Mary Stuart Masterson, Erika Christensen, Eric McCormack (from "Will and Grace"), and many more. It's about a dysfunctional family trying to come to terms with the ghosts from their past at a college on New York's Upper East Side, while revealing secrets that could potentially destroy them all. Mini-Review: Although the movie is a bit slow and uneven and Rip Torn spends most of the movie with a ridiculous accent, there's no denying that the real star of the film is Maria Bello, and she's absolutely astonishing, especially in her scenes with Tony Goldwyn. Likewise, Eric McCormack is at his cynical best, and overall, this very dark piece is sure to appeal to those who enjoy stageplays that mix biting humor with dark pathos. Rating: 8/10

" The Daily Show's" Rob Corddry stars as the title character in BLACKBALLED: THE BOBBY DUKES STORY, a comedy about a pro paintball player shamed out of the game for cheating, who tries to make a comeback with a group of misfits on his team. It opens at New York's Pioneer Theatre on Thursday. Mini-Review: What's most impressive about this well-done mockumentary by first-time director Brant Sersen is the comedic ensemble cast of mostly unknowns he's brought together to take a histerical look at a very strange pastime. Those looking for laughs on a par with Dodgeball will especially be impressed by the improvisational skills of Corddry et al, which often make you forget that it's all made-up for the movie. Rating: 8/10

Premiering at the Pioneer last night (!) was Ryan Schifrin's horror film ABOMINABLE (Freestyle Releasing) about a paralyzed man living in a cabin called in to action to save some college students from a monster. Mini-Review Coming Soon!

Distributed in conjunction with National Geographic, the Chinese drama MOUNTAIN PATROL: KEKEXILI (Samuel Goldwyn Pictures) by Lu Chuan is based on the real-life exploits of the volunteer rangers living in the Tibetan mountains of Kekexili, who try to stop poachers from killing the endangered antelopes of the region, something that often proves fatal. It opens in New York and L.A. Mini-Review: Nature lovers may enjoy the beautiful Tibetan scenery, but for the most part, this poorly written and acted drama is so dreary that the most interesting part of it is watching someone drown in quicksand. It makes you wonder why they didn't bother just making a documentary about the subject. Rating: 5/10

Opening at New York's IFC Center on Wednesday (after debuting in San Francisco last week), Caveh Zahedi's semi-autobiographical comedy I AM A SEX ADDICT (IFC Films) follows the filmmakers foray into the world of prostitution to satisfy his endless need for sexual pleasures. Mini-Review: Caveh Zahedi certainly has a way of instilling this semi-documentary with sexy humor that makes him seem like the second coming of Woody Allen, at times. It's kind of strange hearing this nerdy nebish's frank sexual fantasies and at times, he comes off like a sexist pig because the joke is only funny for so long, but there's something about his delivery which works in this movie's favor to win you over by the end. Rating: 7/10

Two days later, down the street at the Angelika Film Center, Sarah Watt's romantic comedy LOOK BOTH WAYS (Kino International), named best film at the Australian Academy Awards, follows the misadventures of a couple trying to connect. Likewise, MOZART AND THE WHALE (Millenium Films) stars Josh Hartnett and Radha Mitchell as an autistic couple who fall for each other despite the limitations of the disease they suffer. Written by Ron Bass (Rain Man), it opens in select cities.

For those married couples looking for a change, Gerard Depardieu stars in the French drama NATHALIE (Koch Lorber Films) as a man whose infidelities are causing friction in his marriage, until his wife (Fanny Ardant) hires a prostitute (Emmanuelle Béart) to seduce her husband and prove he's cheating, only to start a rather unconventional love triangle instead. LA MUJER DE MI HERMANO (Lionsgate) is another film about adultery, this one involving an attractive Spanish woman named Zoe who falls for her husband's brother, causing a chain of dark events. The former opens at the Cinema Village in New York, the latter opens in select cities.

Two music documentaries get limited theatrical releases this week before their impending DVD release. Opening at New York's Quad CInemas on Friday before its DVD release next Tuesday, April 18, is HERBIE HANCOCK: POSSIBILITIES (Magnolia Pictures), a documentary about the jazzman's recent collaborations with various musicians from different realms of pop and rock including Sting, Annie Lenox, Christina Aguilera and Paul Simon. Opening in select cities before its release on DVD, the documentary METAL: A HEADBANGER'S JOURNEY (Warner Home Video) follows the journey of anthropology major Sam Dunn, trying to find out why his beloved heavy metal music has gotten such a bad rap by interviewing some of the best loved metal artists of all time including Alice Cooper, Dee Snider, Ronnie James Dio and more.

For the religious set, there's PREACHING TO THE CHOIR (Freestyle Releasing), a musical dramedy about a pair of twins born in Harlem who go on two different career paths, one as a minister and the other as a gangster rapper. The Gospel tinged film, which opens in select cities, features R ‘n' B stars Earth Kitt and Patti Labelle.

---

THIS EASTER IN BOX OFFICE HISTORY:

Since this section has already been screwed up beyond hope due to the earlier Easter weekends, we may as well look at Easters past and see if any of the new movies have any potential. Considering that the biggest opening movie over Easter weekend was four years ago and that movie only made $30 million, one has to wonder if Scary Movie 4 has the stuff to beat it, although considering the success of the previous installment, we might be seeing a new Easter record holder by Sunday. The only other really significant movie that has opened on Easter weekend is the sci-fi classic The Matrix, which proceeded to redefine the action sci-fi genre over the course of the summer of '99. Other surprise hits have included the underwater action flick U-571, Disney and Walden Media's adaptation of the teen novel Holes and the Ashton Kutcher and Bernie Mac comedy remake Guess Who. There certainly seems to be a good amount of hits with comedies that would target an urban audience form Guess Who to Chris Rock's Head of State, Malibu's Most Wanted down to Cedric the Entertainer's Johnson Family Vacation, all which bode well for Scary Movie 4, as well. The most memorably bomb over Easter weekend had to be The Alamo although the comedy sequel The Whole Ten Yards, that very same year, comes very close. The only two family hits over the Easter weekend, Holes and The Rookie, were both from Walt Disney, though only the latter was rated G. Most of their business came on Good Friday, too.

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Panic Room	3/29/02	3,053		$30.06	$9,845	$95.31
The Matrix	4/2/99	2,849	$9.57	$27.78	$9,751	$171.38
Guess Who	3/25/05	3,147		$20.67	$6,569	$67.96
U-571	4/21/00	2,583		$19.55	$7,569	$79.07
Holes	4/18/03	2,331		$16.30	$6,993	$67.38
The Rookie	3/29/02	2,511		$16.02	$6,381	$75.60
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous	3/25/05	3,233	$3.06	$14.04	$4,344	$48.33
Romeo Must Die	3/24/00	2,641	$6.59	$18.01	$6,819	$55.97
Head of State	3/28/03	2,151		$13.50	$6,278	$37.79
Malibu's Most Wanted	4/18/03	2,503		$12.62	$5,041	$34.31
Bridget Jones's Diary	4/13/01	1,611		$10.73	$6,662	$71.50
Clockstoppers	3/29/02	2,540		$10.11	$3,980	$36.99

---

LET'S LOOK AT THE NUMBERS (final update 4.13.06):

The Good Friday-Easter weekend is notorious for its heavy frontloading, as most people take off from work and school to go to the movies on Friday, and the returning movies might find themselves facing a franchise juggernaut in Scary Movie 4, which continues the formula of the previous films, spoofing all of the biggest movies of the last few years. It will probably be the first and only choice for most teens and young adults on Friday, and should win the weekend, although the weaker marketing from the new Dimension Films might keep it from doing as well as the previous installment. It should take a big chunk out of the business for Ice Age: The Meltdown and The Benchwarmers, while the new Disney animated family film The Wild might have trouble getting business away from Ice Age: the Meltdown in its third weekend. Also, look for Fox Searchlight's political comedy Thank You For Smoking to make a big move up the Top 10, as it expands into more theatres and builds on its impressive word-of-mouth campaign.

TW	LW	Title	Weekend (in millions)	Change	# Of Theaters	Average	Week
1	New	Scary Movie 4	$37.6	N/A	3,602	$10,439	1
2	1	Ice Age: The Meltdown	$20.0	-41%	3,873	$5,164	3
3	New	The Wild	$12.0	N/A	2,854	$4,205	1
4	2	The Benchwarmers	$11.2	-44%	3,282	$3,413	2
5	3	Take the Lead	$8.0	-34%	3,009	$2,659	2
6	4	Inside Man	$5.2	-43%	2,472	$2,104	4
7	5	Lucky Number Slevin	$4.4	-40%	1,989	$2,212	2
8	10	Thank You For Smoking	$3.3	38%	1,015	$3,251	4
9	6	Failure to Launch	$2.3	-45%	1,950	$1,179	6
10	7	ATL	$1.8	-52%	1,315	$1,369	3
11	8	V For Vendetta	$1.6	-53%	1,380	$1,159	5
			Est. Weekend Total $107.40	Est. Avg. Drop-Off -35%		Est. Average PTA $3,378

Next week, three new movies open, including the movie version of the video game Silent Hill. Those interested in politics have a choice between seeing Michael Douglas in the thriller The Sentinel or Paul Weitz's irreverent comedy American Dreamz.

Copyright 2006 Edward Douglas

Take on The Weekend Warrior in the box-office related movie games at: