ComingSoon.net - The Weekend Warrior

Your Weekly Guide to New Movies for June 30, 2006
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 final projections based on actual theatre counts.

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.)

The internet is annoying the hell out of me lately. I don't know why. Maybe because I spend too much time poking around, seeing what's going on with other web sites, but also because there's this new breed of Hollywood bloggers, mostly made up of former print people who think they have the right attitude to survive in the world of the internet.

Some of them have some interesting ideas—I'm a fan of David Poland's Hot Button, because he does seem to get it, while still having enough of a foot into "old Hollywood" to know how things work—but others just seem to think they can say whatever they want and be taken seriously.

I certainly appreciate the chance to see former print critics like the Daily News' Jami Bernard starting up Blogs to be able to share their thoughts on a regular basis without having to shell out half a buck to read them, but then there are a lot of Johnny Come Latelys--and I use that term knowing that they could turn around and say the same thing about me--but with all of these new sites and writers, there doesn't seem to be that many new ideas. It's just the same junket interviews, reviews, or commentary on why this or that movie is going to suck or be great. It's really like all the bad parts of print journalism are making their way online just to prove that they can keep up with the internet groundbreakers.

And even many of those sites are in a holding pattern as they try to provide the same info on the same movies that can already be found on every other site, rather than finding the next big thing. The amount of competition to try to be the first to post new info or the first review of every cool summer movie can also get tiring, because it seems to be more about being first than writing something actually worth reading.

The way things are going, it seems obvious that movie lovers who go online to find info are eventually going to get tired of it, because all the secrets and twists of these movies—the reason why people rush to see movies early--are being revealed without much care, and it's impossible to go to even the most mundane sites without worrying about spoilers.

Anyway, as much as I try not to toot ComingSoon.net's horn, I honestly think that you will be seeing a lot of cool new things here in the next year or two, as we continue to try to evolve and introduce new features to the ever-crowded internet entertainment business. We'll see how many of these new online journalists last through the summer once the big movies are gone and they find themselves having to write about the less-interesting pre-Oscar fall films. Personally, I can't wait for this summer to be over. (That didn't take very long, did it?)

THE CHOSEN ONE:

THE MOTEL (Palm Pictures)
Starring Jeffrey Chyau, Sung Kang, Jade Wu, Samantha Futerman, Alexis Kapp Chang
Written and directed by Michael Kang (debut)
Genre: Drama
Not Rated
Tagline: "Out of Place in the Middle of Nowhere"
Story: Ernest (newcomer Jeffrey Chyau) is a 13-year-old Chinese-American living in a seedy sex motel with his mother and younger sister. He's in love with the older Christine (Samantha Futerman) who works at a nearby restaurant, but he doesn't stand a chance until he befriends a drunken would be ladies man (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift's Sung Kang) who offers to help Ernest woo her.

While there was a chance that the World Cup might waylay my chances at seeing enough movies to pick one this week, it was a nice surprise to discover this Sundance favorite, another great coming-of-age story ala Michael Cuesta's recent Twelve and Holding. It's a great showcase for new talent starting with filmmaker Michael Kang, who was the second unit director on Wayne Wang's Because of Winn-Dixie, and who is able to tell a really nice story that often defies expectations and predictable plot points. Kang's best thing going is newcomer Jeffrey Chyau, who brings such a wonderful warmth to the nerdy Ernest, that you can't help but love him, even when he's not being very nice to others. His love interest is played by Samantha Futerman, who appeared in Rob Marshall's Memoirs of a Geisha last year, but the best scenes really are the ones between Chyau and Sung Wang, who just played Han in Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. In this, he plays a ladies' man who befriends Ernest, and it's a very full emotional role, as we learn more about his past, why he's drawn to the motel and why he likes hanging with the kids. (Jade Wu is also great as Ernest's strict mother, which furthers the stereotypes of Asian mothers made famous by Margaret Cho.) The Motel is certainly a pleasant surprise from the production team behind Mike White's The Good Girl and last year's pleasant surprise You, Me and Everyone We Know, but it's not so surprising that it's distributed by Palm Pictures, who've proven this year that they're willing to get behind movies that offer more challenging looks at love and relationships than anything in Hollywood. The Motel is another addition to their roster of quality films that don't fit into the normal mold.

The Motel opens at the Film Forum in New York on Wednesday with special appearances by director Michael Kang and actor Sung Kang over the weekend.

NEW THIS WEEK:

"Oh, you're much sexier than Cyclops.. I promise."

SUPERMAN RETURNS (Warner Bros.)
Starring Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint, Parker Posey, Sam Huntington, Kal Penn, Kevin Spacey
Directed by Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, The X-Men, X2: X-Men United, Apt Pupil); Written by Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris (X2: X-Men United)
Genre: Action, Drama, Superhero
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "You Will Believe a Man Can Fly… Again!" (Well, it might as well be, right?)
Story: Superman is back! After mysteriously disappearing for five years, the Man of Steel (Brandon Routh) is back, but things have changed, Lois Lane (Kate Bosworth) having moved on. One thing that hasn't changed is that Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) is still planning to take over the world, this time using Superman's own heritage against him.
Mini-Review: There are a number of things blatantly obvious from watching Bryan Singer's mega-million budget revival of what was arguably the first superhero, but the main one is that he really loves the character as he was depicted in the comic books and Richard Donner's late ‘70s movie. This love and all the money he was given to make this movie has allowed him to make one of the most amazing looking movies I've ever seen. Every scene takes advantage of the technology and the width of the screen to create a spectacle on par with some of Alex Ross' more amazing paintings. While Bosworth seems far too young to be the mother of a 6-year-old, much like Julia Styles in The Omen, she delivers on the emotions, especially in the more dramatic and romantic scenes with Brandon Routh, who does just as good a job channeling the late great Christopher Reeves. Still, it's Kevin Spacey who steals the movie with his Lex Luthor, playing it over-the-top but not comical or cartoonish, which is far too often the case, and Parker Posey keeps up with him as Lex's girlfriend Kitty, thanks to some great one-liners. As great as the overall movie looks and feels, it ends up feeling way too long, because far too often, it gets sidetracked into moments that are too jokey or reverential to the original source material without adding anything to the story. The movie could have been 20 minutes shorter and been a great movie, but as it is, it's only very good. It's also not too difficult to figure out the "big twist," and it's revealed far too early in the story to really be effective. Rating: 8/10

1938 - DC Comics published the first comic book starring Superman, the creation of Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel, which would start the age of the superhero
1952 "The Adventures of Superman" TV show starring George Reeves first airs
1978 1987 The late Christopher Reeves stars in four Superman movies, the first one being a defining movie directed by Richard Donner
1993 - 1997 - "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman," a different take on the character with Dean Cain and Teri Hatcher
2001 "Smallville," a drama based on Clark Kent's teen years in Kansas debuts on The WB

So goes the history of one of the most iconic comic book characters ever created, and though the character has been kept alive in cartoons and on "Smallville," it's now been almost 20 years since the last movie starring the Man of Steel. Not that Warner Bros hasn't been trying, since for over a decade, it has hired the likes of Tim Burton and Kevin Smith, and even McG, to reintroduce the character who died a sad death in 1987 with the disastrous Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Warner Bros. successfully revived the Batman franchise with last year's Batman Begins, another character whose fourth installment nearly killed it, and after all the time, effort and money spent to get this revival off the ground, they're hoping to replicate that success.

Finally, the job of reviving the character was given to director Bryan Singer, fresh off the overwhelming success of his X-Men movies, the 2003 sequel earning over $200 million. Singer is an avid fan of the character and the Richard Donner movies, so he leapt onto the project, accumulating a production budget that crossed the $200 million mark months ago, and Wednesday finally sees the release of the culmination of the years of effort put into reviving the character.

Obviously, with such a rich publishing history and plenty of ventures into other media, Superman is a hugely recognizable world icon, up there with Mickey Mouse. Even more than the Spider-Man and X-Men movies, it's not going to matter so much about the star power of the individual members of the cast. That said, the most interesting casting decision by Singer was bringing on a newcomer for the coveted role of Clark Kent/Superman, that being soap opera star Brandon Routh, who makes his movie debut in Superman Returns. Maybe it's because Routh bears more than a passing resemblance to the late great Christopher Reeve, who played the role in the first four movies of course, which makes Routh so good for the role.

His choice for Lois Lane is just as daring, because Kate Bosworth is only 23-years-old, and she has a kid, which might seem strange. Bosworth certainly hasn't made that many movies, her biggest roles being in the 2002 surfing movie Blue Crush and the romantic comedy bomb, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton. She also appeared in the biodrama Beyond the Sea, which was written, directed and starred Singer's choice for the villainous Lex Luthor, Academy award-winning actor Kevin Spacey. (Go down to our Star Spotlight on Spacey's illustrious career.) He's joined by indie darling Parker Posey, best known for her appearances in Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, but she also has a bit of experience with the superhero genre, having starred as one of the baddies in Blade: Trinity. Kal Penn, best known as Kumar from the pothead classic Harold and Kumar, plays another one of Lex Luthor's henchman, a small part that doesn't allow him to do his normal wacky comedy routine.

This is a big movie for Warner Bros, their second attempt in two years to revive one of their potentially huge franchise characters. Last year, Batman Begins had a weaker than expected opening, making only $73 million in its first five days, but it went on to make over $200 million total, so it was deemed successful. Superman Returns cost a lot more to make and has to make a lot more money to be profitable.

Although it's been 19 years since the last Superman movie, there's a certain amount of sequel factor to Superman Returns, which is meant as a follow-up to the earlier movies while also being considered a fresh start. Batman Begins was also a new origin story, while Superman Returns isn't, expecting that everyone knows his backstory. The good thing is that it doesn't have the baggage of Batman, which was fairly oversaturated with spin-offs and merchandise after the success of the movies in the late ‘80s, early ‘90s. When Batman and Robin flopped both critically and commercially, it left a lot of bad taste in the mouths of comic and superhero fans. By comparison, the equally awful Superman IV was way back in 1987, so people have had more time to forget about it, not to mention the fact that few kids and teens will have ever seen it.

Then again, that may also be a bad thing because there may not be as many kids and teens interested in what they may consider "their father's superhero." True, Superman is one of the most recognizable comic characters the world over, but the appeal of this will probably be weighed more towards guys over 20, rather than the coveted teen market.

In many ways, this movie this might have more in common with Peter Jackson's King Kong, another ridiculously expensive labor of love from the director of a mega-blockbuster, which had been hugely hyped for months, but then only made $66 million in its first five days. At least Singer's movie ended up under the three-hour mark, but its two-and-a-half hour length may limit the number of screenings. On the other hand, parents might feel safer taking their kids to see this because it won't be nearly as dark or violent as either Batman or King Kong.

This is a strange release date for Superman Returns, not the Wednesday opening, but opening the week before 4^th of July, because the holiday won't have much of an effect in its opening. Sure, some people may have Monday off, which could keep Sunday from having the normal drop-off, but many people use the long weekend to get away, rather than seeing movies.

Obviously, Warner Bros. wanted to have as much time for the movie to make some money before Disney's new Pirates of the Caribbean movie opens. Because most schools are out for summer, there's no reason why the movie can't do a lot of business on Wednesday and Thursday, probably more than Batman Begins, which opened two weeks earlier. (You can read more comparisons for the 4^th of July and Wednesday openings in This Weekend in Box Office History.)

Of course, Warner Bros. is following the tradition of opening the movie slightly earlier, giving it 10pm preview screenings in some theatres on Tuesday, which will usually be added into its Wednesday opening day total. Then there's the IMAX factor, which has played a large part in the success of many recent Warner Bros. movies, and in this case, it's going to offer an added bonus of 20 minutes of 3-D footage just for those who see it in the larger format. The higher ticket price and capacity of IMAX theatre will certainly help drive up the theatre average when compared to last year's War of the Worlds.

The press have had a field day harping on Singer's sexuality after an early poster, many claiming this to be the gayest superhero movie ever, though it's doubtful that anyone who actually sees the movie will get that out of it. Still, while early reviews have been good, there have been naysayers, not that critics really matter when it comes to a huge event move like this one. Of course, the biggest stopgap for Singer's Superman will be Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest which opens on July 9, and the question is whether it'll be able to recover after the latter dominates that weekend.

Why I Should See It: A true comic book and pop culture icon as envisioned by the director of the greatest superhero movie to date (X2: X-Men United)
Why Not: Most of the people going to see this will not have been born when the previous good movie (Superman 2) was released.
Projection: Expect an opening day between $23 and 26 million, another $12 to 14 million on Thursday and $66 to 69 million over the weekend, adding up to around $130 million in its first week, if you include the 4^th of July holiday on Tuesday. If it has any life beyond Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, it could end up making $250 to 260 million by summer's end.
(Update: Superman Returns made approximately $21 million its opening day, including Tuesday previews, which is slightly less than expected, though its adding another 100 theatres on Friday and should still come close to my prediction for the weekend.)

"And I'd like to thank Tilda Swinton for allowing me to look like her for this film."

"And I'd like to thank Tilda Swinton for allowing me to look like her for this film."

THE DEVIL WEAR PRADA (20^th Century Fox)
Starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker, Emily Blunt, Adrian Grenier
Directed by David Frankel (episodes of "Sex and the City" and "Entourage"; Written by Aline Brosh McKenna (The Laws of Attraction)
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Fashion
Rated PG-13 (for some sensuality)
Story: After graduating from college, Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) wants to be a journalist in New York, so she takes a job as a personal assistant to Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the stern editor-in-chief of top fashion magazine "Runway," not knowing what she's in for.
REVIEW

In 2003, Lauren Weisberger's novel The Devil Wears Prada told the story of a girl fresh out of college who got a job as assistant at a hugely-popular fashion magazine, forcing her to deal with a tough, stern and often clueless boss. The fact that Weisberger worked in the same sort of role at Vogue Magazine made many people think that the character of Miranda Priestly was supposed to be her former boss, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, but Weisberger flatly denied it. Regardless of the similarities, women took the book to heart keeping it on the New York Times bestseller list for six months, and it became an international hit translated into 26 languages.

A book like this is rife for a movie adaptation, and it seems like a no-brainer to offer it as counter-programming to Superman Returns, because there will be plenty of women not so interested watching a man in tights and cape, however fashionable they may be. It's also not that big a leap for director David Frankel, who worked for years on the HBO hit sitcom "Sex and the City," which probably has a decent-sized crossover audience with Weisberger's book.

The good thing going for the movie is that it has an excellent cast, being another great fish-out-of-water makeover movie for Anne Hathaway, best known as the lead in the hit Disney movies The Princess Diaries and its 2004 sequel The Princess Diaries 2. Last year, she made a bit of a break, starring in the straight-to-video drama Havoc and the award-winning Brokeback Mountain, but Prada is certainly the type of movie that might appeal to her fans.

Really, though, this movie is all about Meryl Streep, the 13-time Oscar nominee who has been having a very busy year, having just appeared in Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion, which is doing decent business. Playing Miranda Priestly is quite a departure from her character in the musical-comedy or in last year's romantic comedy Prime with Uma Thurman, but this is the kind of movie that should appeal to her older female fans as well. Streep isn't known for her ability to open movies big at the box office, since her movies often open in select cities before expanding wider, though her involvement in this movie brings it a lot more credibility among movie connoisseurs, and her portrayal of Priestly will certainly be the primary draw. (Next up for the actress is providing a voice in the WB animated film The Ant Bully in late July.)

Miranda's assistants are played by Stanley Tucci and Emily Blunt. Tucci has had some scene-stealing roles in movies like the American remake of Shall We Dance and in Steven Spielberg's The Terminal, opposite Tom Hanks. Blunt, the young Brit beauty, is not as well known here in the States, but she made waves with the indie drama My Summer of Love, which gained her a number of awards in her homeland. Playing Andie's boyfriend is hunky man of the moment, Adrian Grenier, best known as Vince Chase on the popular HBO sitcom "Entourage." (Frankel also directed that show, hence the connection.)

It's hard not to compare the movie to last year's In Her Shoes, starring Cameron Diaz, because that was also based on a popular book, adapted by no less than Susannah (Erin Brockovich) Grant and Curtis (8 Mile) Hanson, but the marketing for Prada had been far more solid, not only from the commercials and the trailer, which literally was just a 3-minute clip from the movie, but also because the fashion aspect makes for great tie-ins with various magazines and newspapers. Basically, every publication that has a fashion section—except Vogue--has been able to showcase the movie and it stars.

Usually, when you have such a huge movie like Superman Returns, studios will stay far away, but in this case, Fox felt like it could offer a bit of counter-programming to fashion-conscious women, which thankfully is a large percentage of them. It's not the first time they've done that, as last year they offered the ensemble comedy The Family Stone against King Kong and Walk the Line against Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Three years ago, Disney released The Lizzie McGuire Movie against Singer's X2: X-Men United, hoping that Hillary Duff's young female fans would rather see that, but Kate Hudson learned this doesn't always work when her Alex and Emma opened against The Hulk.

In this case, Fox has a strong movie which will get decent reviews based on a popular book, which didn't, and it has a solid cast to support the movie, all of which should help it do decently against its powerhouse opposition.

Why I Should See It: It's a funny inside look at the world of fashion and publishing with a bit of dueling scene-stealing from Meryl Streep and Stanley Tucci.
Why Not: Even if you haven't read the book, it's not hard to figure out where this movie is going.
Projection: $14 to 16 million opening weekend on its way to $55 million.

"I'd like to see Ms. Meryl Streep make *this* face."

"I'd like to see Ms. Meryl Streep make *this* face."

STRANGERS WITH CANDY (THINKFilm)
Starring Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Carlo Alban, Maria Thayer, Greg Holliman, Ian Holm, Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew Broderick, Allison Janney, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Directed by Paul Dinello; Written by Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert
Genre: Comedy
Rated R (for sexual content, language and some drug material)
Tagline: "Going to high school for the first time is always scary... Especially the second time around."
Story: Acting as a prequel to the Comedy Central sitcom, lesbian junkie Jeri Blank (Amy Sedaris) is out of prison, but when she returns home, she finds her father in a coma, and she decides to return to high school and graduate.
REVIEW

Between 1999 and 2000, the sitcom "Strangers with Candy" aired on Comedy Central. The creation of three former members of the Second City comedy troupe. Amy Sedaris, Paul Dinello and Stephen Colbert, the show poked fun of high school dramas and "After School Specials" with the story of middle-aged Jeri Blank (played by Sedaris) who tries to escape her troubled past by returning to high school with disastrous results.

Over five years later, they decided to revive the characters for a movie that acts as a prequel, and they were able to bring on an impressive cast including Sir Ian Holm (The Lord of the Rings), married couple Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Alison Janney from "The West Wing," and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, fresh off his Oscar win and villainous role in Mission: Impossible III. Of course, Colbert himself has become quite a star, having gone on to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" before being given his own political comedy show.

The movie was bought by Warner Independent Pictures at the Sundance Film Festival, but after a disagreement involving rights and clearances, the movie was dropped and then picked up by indie THINKFilm, who has released a lot of daring movies in the last few months. This one will get a release in New York on Wednesday with an expansion throughout July, hopefully finding the fans of the original show.

Why I Should See It: Sedaris, Dinello and Colbert have perfected their comedy routine, having worked together for years.
Why Not: Jeri Blank is pretty disturbing to watch for an entire movie.

STAR SPOTLIGHT: Kevin Spacey

In honor of the great Sir Anthony Hopkins finally losing his place as the greatest movie villain ever, we shine this week's spotlight on Academy Award winning actor Kevin Spacey who plays Superman's arch-nemesis Lex Luthor in Superman Returns.

Clearly an actor's actor, the 45-year-old thespian spent most of his early years on stage, doing various theatre productions before making the move to television and movies. He first started getting noticed in the early ‘90s for scene-stealing roles in movies like James Foley's adaptation of the David Mamet play Glengarry Glen Ross and the Hollywood thriller, Swimming with Sharks, but it wasn't until the fall of 1995 where things really started happening for Spacey.

Spacey had the luck of being teamed with two young directors now considered some of the best in Hollywood, first playing the limping Verbal Kint in Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects and then playing the serial killer John Doe in David Fincher's Se7en. Spacey would be nominated for a supporting Oscar for the role of Kint, which he would win, and both directors would go onto huge things later in their careers. Of course, Singer returned the favor by hiring Spacey to play Luthor in this week's mega-milllion blockbuster Superman Returns.

Those prestigious roles and the Oscar win allowed Spacey to get a few key roles in prominent book adaptations like L. A. Confidential and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which he followed with the more commercial action thriller, The Negotiator.

In 1999, Spacey starred in Sam Mendes' directorial debut American Beauty, which ended up sweeping the Oscars, including a win in the leading actor category for Spacey, which further upped his credibility as an actor. A few months later, Spacey starred with Oscar winner Helen Hunt and nominee Haley Joel Osment in Pay It Forward, but it wasn't particularly successful, either critically or commercial.

The next year, Spacey starred in the comedy K-PAX, playing a man who believed himself to be an alien, and the movie had the biggest opening of any of Spacey's previous movies. When Spacey appeared in Lasse Hallstrom's The Shipping News, based on the novel by Annie Proux (Brokeback Mountain), later that year, it was assumed that the movie would be reaping Oscar gold, but it was thrashed by critics and barely made much of an impact at the box office.

Likewise, Spacey's next big picture, Neil Jordan's The Life of David Gale, might have had some Oscar hopes if it hadn't opened in February, but Spacey's real labor of love was the Bobby Darin biopic, Beyond the Sea, which he wrote, directed and starred in, opposite Kate "Lois Lane" Bosworth. Although it made a little bit of money in limited release, it also didn't receive any Oscar nominations.

Spacey's movie schedule has slowed down a bit in the last few years as he's focused on running London's Old Vic theatre, of which he is the artistic director, and he spent some time filming Superman Returns in Australia. Spacey's return as Lex Luthor will certainly remind people why they love to loath him as the bad guy.

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Beyond the Sea	12/17/04	383	$0.58	$1.34	$3,501	$6.14
The Life of David Gale	2/21/03	2,002		$7.12	$3,555	$19.69
The Shipping News	12/25/01	434	$6.64	$1.31	$3,011	$11.41
K-Pax	10/26/01	2,541		$17.22	$6,774	$50.32
Pay it Forward	10/20/00	2,130		$9.63	$4,521	$33.51
American Beauty	10/1/99	706	$10.21	$8.19	$11,601	$130.06
The Negotiator	7/31/98	2,436	$2.88	$10.22	$4,195	$44.69
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil	11/21/97	824		$5.23	$6,347	$25.11
L.A. Confidential	9/19/97	769		$5.21	$6,775	$64.62
Se7en	9/22/95	2,441		$13.95	$5,715	$100.12
The Usual Suspects	9/15/95	874	$9.40	$3.02	$3,455	$23.16
Glengarry Glen Ross	10/2/92	416	$0.07	$2.10	$5,048	$10.69

THIS WEEK'S "GUEST-PERT":

This week, we have a very special guest, because when I needed to find an expert to talk about Superman Returns, there was only person who I knew to ask, ComingSoon.net's own reviewer extraordinaire Scott Chitwood, who has been going on and on about Superman for over a year now. (Some may also know Scott from TheForce.net, because Scott's also CS' own resident Star Wars expert.) Although Scott has visited the set and talked to just about everyone involved, I wanted to talk to Scott before he had a chance to see the movie. I knew he was looking forward to the movie, but I wanted to know how much.

"For me, personally, I'm anticipating Superman Returns as much, if not more, than I was Revenge of the Sith last year," he told me. "I've actually been a Superman fan longer than I've been a Star Wars fan, even before A New Hope hit in 1977. When the Donner film followed in 1978, I was in heaven. Two mediocre prequels preceded Revenge of the Sith, so I had my expectations well tempered, but Superman Returns has one big advantage better writers. I'm hoping that makes all the difference."

I also asked Scott about where his love for the character comes from, the comics or the movies. "To be quite honest, I haven't been impressed with the Superman comics very often," he said. "I'm more of a Marvel Zombie. However, I'm a big fan of the first Donner film. Between the John Williams score, Christopher Reeve's performance, and the great story, it was brilliant. As a kid I would have told you that Superman 2 was even better, but watching it again over 25 years later, it doesn't hold up quite as well. (I still love General Zod!) I watched ‘Lois & Clark' a bit when it first aired, but quickly lost interest, and I also watched the first season of ‘Smallville' religiously but I've only checked in and watched it a few times since."

Since Scott is one of the few people who was able to visit the set of the movie, we wondered what he hoped to finally see on the big screen. "When we visited the art department with [production designer] Guy Dyas, the paintings that intrigued me the most were the ones showing Superman visiting the remains of Krypton. You could see the remnants of cities clinging to the rocks. It was eerie and exceptionally cool. That's what I wanted to see most, but it has been removed from the film, unfortunately. Hopefully it will appear on DVD."

Two issues have been thrown at Singer's labor of love by those critical of the movie, the first one being the cost of the movie that has surpassed $220 million. Scott didn't think it was an issue. "If Warner Brothers can make their money back, then they'll seem like the smartest businessmen on the planet," he said. "I think it was really important for them to do this relaunch right. The first film had to be a homerun or else there wouldn't be a second film, there wouldn't be more merchandising, and there wouldn't be more profits. If they hadn't thrown sufficient money into the project, then it would have been even riskier. The $200 million is really an investment in the series over the long run, and I think if anyone can put all that money back up on the screen, it's Bryan Singer."

And what about the running time, still being over the 2-and-a-half hour mark even after edits? "If the story really engages me, then I don't care how long the film is. I'll certainly feel like I'm getting my money's worth. My only concern for the movie is that a longer running time means fewer showings in a day, which leads to lower box office. I'm hoping the film does really well."

As the father of two, Scott also had some insights into how the younger generation might accept a new movie starring the Man of Steel. "Let me put it this way. As I'm writing this, my 4 1/2 year old son is wearing Superman Returns underwear and playing with a Superman fishing rod. My 1 1/2 year old was also at the Toys R Us the other day, grabbed a Superman Returns cape off the shelf, and walked up to me and said one of his first sentences - 'I need this!'"

"I'll screen the movie first and then decide if it's appropriate for the 4 1/2 year old," he told me when asked about whether the PG-13 rating might keep parents from bringing their kids. "I may do like I did with him for Revenge of the Sith. I'll take him out of the theater for popcorn and potty breaks at the parts that are too intense for him. I think we're going to try and see the 3-D version here in Houston, too."

Thanks, Scott! And look for his full review right here on CS!

ALSO IN LIMITED RELEASE:

Chris Paine's documentary WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? (Sony Pictures Classics) examines the historic rise and fall of General Motors' EV1, an electric car which should have been the answer to all of the problems with the environment, but was waylaid by the conflict of interests that had with the major oil companies. It opens on Wednesday in New York and L.A.

Opening at the Pioneer Theatre on Wednesday is Kyle Henry's thriller ROOM about a Texas mother (Cyndi Williams) having trouble making ends meet to support her family who starts having blackouts and visions of a mysterious room, which sends her on a manic quest to find it. Mini-Review: Strange and often freaky, this slow character-driven thriller is certainly an original, and most of that comes from the very unique performance by Cyndi Williams, who really sells it. Good luck trying to figure out what is going on, as she searches fro this mysterious room of her visions. There's certainly a decent amount of vision involved with Kyle Henry's debut, though the execution often leaves a bit to be desired. Rating: 6/10

John Greenhalgh and Jon Hyam's documentary RANK (IFC Films) is all about the sport of bull riding as it chronicles the competition in Vegas at the PBR World Championship, where the winner goes home with a million dollars. It opens at the IFC Center in New York.

After playing at the New York Asian Film Festival, Takashi "Audition" Miike's fantasy epic THE GREAT YOKAI WAR (Media-Blasters) will play at the Anthology Film Archives for a week. It follows the story of a ten-year old boy chosen to be a "Kirin Rider," which means climbing to the top of "Great Goblin Mountain" to claim a legendary sword, meeting all sorts of strange creatures along the way. Mini-Review: All the drugs done by Takashi Miike finally catch up to him, as he comes up with his zaniest, funniest and most exorbitant movie yet, complete with a menagerie of wacky creatures that seem to be influenced by either Sid ‘n' Marty Croft or Gwar. Somewhere along the way it goes from kiddie fantasy to a full-on commercial for Kirin Beer, but it's still pretty impressive what Miike's imagination can come up with when given a decent budget to play around with some fancy CGI. Surely this is the kind of family fantasy-adventure J.K. Rowling might have come up with if she were Japanese…and completely insane. Rating: 8/10

Opening at the Cinema Village on Friday is THE BLOOD OF MY BROTHER (Lifesize Entertainment), a documentary by Andrew Berends that examines the results of a single death in Iraq and how it affects the mourning family, to show how those killed in bombings and the like are more than just numbers or news stories, but that they're real people.

THIS WEEKEND IN BOX OFFICE HISTORY:

Superman Returns falls in an odd week, because in theory, it's 4^th of July weekend, though the actual Independence Day holiday lands next Tuesday. This means that most people will be working on Friday, but not so many on Monday, which could help business over the weekend.

The last two years movies have been released on the Wednesday before the 4^th of July and in both cases, it helped them build word-of-mouth to insure solid weekend turnouts. Spider-Man 2 currently holds the record for a 4^th of July opener on top of being the biggest Wednesday opening with $40.4 million, though with the holiday following on a Sunday, its business was weighed more towards the early part of that run. By comparison, the Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise reunion for last year's The War of the Worlds, opened slightly softer but was benefited by the 4^th following on a Monday so that weekend business increased from its opening days. (It made almost half as much as Spider-Man 2 its opening day.)

Oddly, the next two biggest 4^th of July openers, the two Men in Black movies starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, were actually hurt by the 4^th of July falling earlier in their runs because it minimized their weekend takes. (The sequel only made slightly more than the original exactly five years later.)

The last time the 4^th fell on a Tuesday was 2000 where two movies starring big box office draws, George Clooney and Mel Gibson, were released. Clooney's The Perfect Storm, directed by Wolfgang Peterson, won out, earning almost twice as much as Gibson's turn as The Patriot, which opened on the Wednesday to less than great reviews.

Of course, the 4^th of July is a great time for franchises, a category which Superman obviously falls into, the holiday having helped the last two Terminator movies do well, not to mention a couple of highly hyped disaster films like Roland Emmerich's Independence Day and Michael Bay's Armageddon.

Either way, Superman Returns has some heavy boots to fill, as the movies that open over this weekend often end up being the biggest movies of the summer, although the amount of moviegoing business over the holiday tends to be overestimated.

Title	Release Date	Theater Count	Previous Box Office (in millions)	Weekend Box Office (in millions)	Average	Total Box Office
Spider-Man 2	6/30/03	4,152	$64.26	$88.52	$21,232	$371.17
War of the Worlds	7/1/05	3,908	$35.68	$64.88	$16,602	$234.28
Men in Black II	7/3/02	3,557	$35.09	$52.15	$14,661	$192.40
Men in Black	7/1/97	3,020	$33.06	$51.07	$16,911	$250.15
Independence Day	7/5/96	2,882	$11.12	$50.23	$17,429	$306.17
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines	7/4/03	3,504	$28.35	$44.04	$12,569	$150.35
The Perfect Storm	6/30/00	3,407		$41.33	$12,131	$182.60
Armageddon	7/3/98	3,127	$18.10	$36.09	$11,541	$201.58
Terminator 2	7/5/91	2,274	$20.54	$31.77	$13,971	$204.84
The Firm	6/30/93	2,393	$13.07	$30.48	$12,737	$158.35
Apollo 13	6/30/95	2,197		$25.35	$11,538	$172.07
The Wild Wild West	7/2/99	3,342	$13.27	$27.72	$8,294	$113.81
The Patriot	6/30/00	3,061	$9.32	$22.41	$7,321	$113.30

LET'S LOOK AT THE NUMBERS: (final update 6.29.06)

Two new movies open this week, both with a certain amount of anticipation, though the difference in budget, marketing and potential audiences for Superman Returns and The Devil Wears Prada will probably make a major difference in how they'll do this weekend. Oh, who are we kidding? Warner Bros. first Superman movie in almost twenty years is going to kick ass this weekend, after opening on Wednesday with previews on Tuesday night. It probably won't beat Spider-Man 2's 4^th of July weekend record, but it will hope to duplicate the success of last year's War of the Worlds.

(Update: Superman Returns made approximately $21 million its opening day, including Tuesday previews, which is slightly less than expected, though its adding another 100 theatres on Friday and should still come close to my prediction for the weekend.)

The Devil Wears Prada should be more than suitable as counter-programming for women from 15 to 50, as it pits The Princess Diaries' Anne Hathaway against Meryl Streep, as the ruthless editor of a New York fashion magazine. Though Superman Returns may get some women with its mushy romance/relationship stuff, the women who read the book and those into fashion will probably go check this out instead.

That doesn't leave much room for the returning movies to do much business, so expect some hefty drop-offs this weekend.

Last 4^th of July weekend, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise teamed up to remake HG Wells' War of the Worlds, which made $65 million over the weekend, and its only competition, Martin Lawrence's Rebound, wasn't very much competition. The top 10 ended up making $129.6 million, and the number of bigger returning movies in theatres should allow the box office to continue its upward trend.

TW	LW	Title	Weekend (in millions)	Change	# Of Theaters	Average	Week
1	New	Superman Returns	$67.6	N/A	4,065	$16,630	1
2	1	Click	$19.5	-51%	3,748	$5,181	2
3	New	The Devil Wears Prada	$15.5	N/A	2,846	$5,446	1
4	2	Cars	$14.0	-40%	3,706	$3,778	4
5	3	Nacho Libre	$6.5	-49%	3,082	$2,109	3
6	6	The Lake House	$5.2	-42%	2,645	$1,966	3
7	5	Waist Deep	$4.5	-52%	1,006	$4,473	2
8	4	The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift	$4.3	-56%	2,666	$1,613	3
9	7	The Break-Up	$3.3	-48%	1,906	$1,731	5
10	8	Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties	$3.0	-42%	2,150	$1,395	3
11	10	X-Men: The Last Stand	$2.2	-52%	1,558	$1,412	6
			Est. Weekend Total $145.60	Est. Avg. Drop-Off -48%		Est. Average PTA $4,158

Next week, easily the most anticipated movie not only of the summer but of the year, no, of the MILLENIUM!! Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Let's hope it doesn't suck or I'll be too busy crying to write.

Copyright 2006 Edward Douglas

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