Weekend Box Office: Halloween is 'It' for Jackson Pic

Halloween is usually a holiday where box office is quite low, and with the day falling on a Saturday, the grosses should be even lower than usual. Still, that won't stop the former King of Pop from being a number one thriller.

When Michael Jackson passed away at the age of 50 this past June, he was getting ready to stage his comeback tour, which would have begun in England. While he was rehearsing, cameras were rolling. Whether the footage was intended for a documentary of some sort is anyone's guess, but that is where two hours of it wound up in Kenny Ortega's "This Is It". Purchased for worldwide distribution by Sony Pictures from AEG Live for a whopping $60 million, "This Is It" has received a simultaneous worldwide launch in 90 countries that also includes IMAX runs and is touting itself as a two-week limited run (oddly enough, ad slicks for the film's DVD and Blu-ray release popped up on the same day the film hit theaters).

Reviews have been quite strong for the film, and the fans that purchased advanced tickets and have seen the film over the past two and a half days have really enjoyed what they have seen. As the film is geared obviously toward those who are fans of The Gloved One, it will be interesting to see if the support will help push the film outside of its fanbase. Sony and various wags around Hollywood have said that the film is poised to make $250-400 million worldwide in its first four days. The movie's okay-but-not-fantastic $20 million Wednesday global gross might dictate otherwise. Still, this will be "It" at the weekend boxoffice, no two ways around it. Playing in nearly 3,500 theaters, "This Is It" will probably moonwalk its way to a $25 million weekend and a five-day domestic gross of $38 million.

Last week's champ, "Paranormal Activity", should settle into the number two spot with no trouble at all. Watch for the highly-profitable frightfest to drop about 35-40% from last weekend to scare up around $14 million for the weekend and an overall gross of $83 million after six weeks. The other horror offering from last weekend, "Saw VI", should see its grosses drop by more than half. After last weekend's dismal $14.8 million opening, the film should grab about 65% less, or around $5 million for a lame ten-day take of just under $22 million.

Warner's "Where the Wild Things Are" will continue its downward slide to home video this weekend. Watch for Spike Jonze's kid flick to pull in another $8 million or so this weekend to bring its total up to around $65 million.

Next weekend, believe it or not, begins the 2009 holiday film season with Disney's mega-budget 3-D version of "A Christmas Carol" starring Jim Carrey.

Weekend Box Office: Is the "Saw" franchise losing its financial touch?

It looks like the durable "Saw" franchise might be showing signs of slowing down. Over the past several years, Lionsgate Pictures has opened a new "chapter" in the torture porn series on Halloween to big bucks and instant profitability, usually in the $30 million range. This year, however, proved to be a bit different. Whether it was due to direct competition from other genre films or whether audiences finally realized that enough is enough already, "Saw VI" pulled in an anemic $14.8 million from over 3,000 screens, less than half of what "Saw V" pulled in a year ago this weekend. And since these films drop like a stone in water as days tick by, watch for this entry to be the lowest grosser of the series to date.

Will this low gross really spell the end of the series? Probably not. A 3-D version of the next film is due in October of 2010, which will no doubt cause a spike in that film's gross as the gimmick did for the recent "My Bloody Valentine" and "The Final Destination". Sigh. I guess it is true what they say about a fool and his money: they were lucky to get together in the first place.

The weak performance of "Saw VI" was no doubt attributed to Paramount's stealth box-office hit "Paranormal Activity", which finally expanded to nearly 2,000 screens to nab a huge $22 million in its fifth weekend of overall release to bring its total near the $64 million. If the film can keep going after Halloween, the magic $100 million mark should be easy for the ultra-cheap thriller to get to.

The $100 million mark might be a difficult one to reach for last week's number one film, Warner Brothers' "Where the Wild Things Are". The expensive children's fantasy directed by Spike Jonze dropped roughly 55% to $14.5 million and a ten-day gross of roughly $54 million. Based on the name recognition, the studio was no doubt expecting more of a blockbuster.

After surprising everyone last week with a big opening, the Jamie Foxx/Gerard Butler thriller "Law Abiding Citizen" surprised the box office again by holding up rather well to deliver $12.7 million to bring its ten-day total to an estimated $40.3 million. Dropping only 39%, the film posted the third-smallest drop in this weekend's top ten. Adults that are no doubt uninterested in ghosts, serial killers or fantasy creatures have been the main driving force behind "Citizen"s sleeper success.

Fifth spot went to the Vince Vaughn comedy "Couples Retreat", which eased back only 35% to $11 million and an estimated gross of $78.2 million. The animated "Astro Boy" crashed and burned in sixth place with a small $7 million gross. The remake of "The Stepfather" held up reasonably well (down 44%) to land in seventh and pull in another $6.5 million for a $20 million gross after ten days.

Universal's "Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" was DOA in eighth place with a measly gross of $6.3 million. Apparently, those anxiously awaiting the new "Twilight" sequel will not jump at anything and everything that deals with bloodsuckers for a quick fix after all. The ninth and tenth spots went to two Sony hits, the animated "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" with $5.6 million ($116 million to date) and "Zombieland" with $4.3 million and a to-date gross of $68 million.

The other wide release of the week to crash and burn was Fox Searchlight's Oscar hopeful "Amelia", which pulled in an average $4 million from 800 sites. This was a film that had the star power, but not the reviews, to pull in the adult audience crucial to its success. Finally, the annual reissue of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" nabbed $130,000 from 105 locations, which may signify the final time the Henry Sellick stop-motion classic appears in theaters for quite some time.

This upcoming week, there is only one film debuting: the Michael Jackson concert documentary "This Is It". The Kenny Ortega-directed film debuts worldwide for a reported two-week run and should pull in huge numbers everywhere. How high is anyone's guess, but it is all but guaranteed that there will be a new number one film in town by Wednesday night ('This Is It' opens on Wednesday).

James Bond Will Return...in 2011

According to an article on the HDRoom.com website, the next James Bond adventure will commence filming in late 2010. While signing autographs on Broadway the other night, actor Daniel Craig said that the next film would start shooting at the end of next year, which would put in on track to be released in November of 2011. With the exception of 1997's "Tomorrow Never Dies", every new James Bond film since 1995 has opened in November to great box-office success.

The three-year gap between Bond 23 and the last film, 2008's "Quantum of Solace", might also help the overall quality of the final product. "Casino Royale" had a fully developed plot and characters to go along with the action, "Quantum of Solace" had minimal amounts of the former two and too much of the latter that was far too much like a Jason Bourne film. "Solace" did play better at home with the mindset that this movie was to "Casino Royale" what "Star Trek III" was to "Star Trek II": a third act. Does that excuse its debits? No. But it does make the disappointment a little hard to digest.

Since the screenwriters, including "Queen" and "Frost/Nixon" screenwriter Peter Morgan (which made me very happy), began work earlier this year on 007's next assignment, perhaps the lengthy pre-production period will bring forth a script worthy of "Royale" or even "Goldeneye".

Hopefully the time frame will also give the producers plenty of time to find a director who knows how to better handle the action. Marc Forster is a decent actor when it comes to smaller, more intimate stories (I loved "Stranger Than Fiction"). Big budget action films? Eh, not so much.

Possible candidate recommendations? "District 9" director Neil Blomkamp or perhaps "Slumdog Millionaire" helmer Danny Boyle? Better yet, how about bringing back Martin Campbell? After all, the man did direct "Goldeneye" and "Casino Royale". He does know a little bit about making a James Bond film work.

Weekend Box Office overview: The Horror! The Horror!

As we get closer to All Hallow's Eve, the movie studios continue to release more horror-flavored product to an already-overcrowded market. Two new horror films will hit the market and one will continue its roll out to theaters nationwide. Add two non-horror entries and a small reissue for an animated Halloween favorite, and you have a little something for everyone at cinemas this weekend.

Much like the "Friday the 13th", "Halloween" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" franchises, it appears that nothing can stop the "Saw" series from putting out new entries every year at this time. The 2004 original was a modest hit, but the second and third entries were even bigger successes. While the fourth and fifth films have opened big, they were a distant memory by their third weekend. Still, all of these films cost close to nothing to make and market. As long as they remain profitable, Lionsgate will continue to crank them out like clockwork (part seven is already in the works). Opening on over 3,000 screens this weekend, "Saw VI" should gross (no pun intended) around $22 million before making a quick dash to the video store.

"Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" is the other new horror film in town, which will provide horror fans not old enough to see "Saw VI" an alternate to get their weekend movie thrills from. Universal's marketing push has been modest at best for this PG-13 film starring John C. Reilly, and reviews have been less than kind. Still, vampires are a hot commodity these days, and "Vampire's Assistant" might drum up some business from those who are anxiously awaiting the next "Twilight" film. Opening in 2,754 theaters, watch for "Cirque Du Freak" to pull in roughly $8 million for the weekend.

After a month of platform release, Paramount's sleeper hit "Paranormal Activity" will finally be unleashed on screens nationwide this weekend. After 27 days, the movie has pulled in a large $38 million from a less than 800 screen count. And during the past week, it has traded places with "Law Abiding Citizen" for the number one spot at the box office. By expanding the film to nearly 2,000 screens, "Paranormal Activity" may give "Saw" a run for its money and for the number one spot. Watch for the Little Film That Could to pull in at least $20 million this weekend, if not more.

It's become a bit of a tradition for Disney to re-release 1993's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" to theaters for a weekend or two prior to Halloween. This year is no exception, although this may prove to be the last reissue the film sees for quite some time. It's been available on DVD for ages and the movie even made its Blu-ray debut last year as well. Heading back to 105 theaters, Jack Skellington and company might pull in $300,000 or so to bring the film's overall gross to the $75 million mark, a third of which has come from various reissues over the years.

With "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" cooling off and Buzz and Woody heading back to the Pixar/Disney vault, the box office might be receptive to a new computer-animated feature for families to check out. That movie would be Summit Entertainment's "Astro Boy", which arrives in theaters this weekend. Featuring the voice talents of Nicolas Cage, Kristen Bell, Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nighy and Freddie Highmore among others, the PG-rated reimagining of the Japanese cartoon hero might appeal most to the under-10 set, which many parents feel are too young to see the other "kids movie" currently playing across America, "Where the Wild Things Are". Debuting on roughly 3,000 screens, "Astro Boy" might land $10 million this weekend.

The last wide release of the weekend is Fox Searchlight's biopic "Amelia", directed by Mira Nair and starring Hilary Swank, Ewan McGregor, Richard Gere and Virginia Madsen. The drama about the famed aviator might prove to be a bit of a refuge to those uninterested in torture porn, ghosts, vampires, robot boys or singing skeletons (translation: adults). However, for a movie like "Amelia" to succeed, it needs strong word-of-mouth from critics. Judging by the 18% approval rating the film currently carries on the Rotten Tomatoes website, the film may be grounded before it can even take off (my friend Brett thought the film wasn't all that bad). Opening in roughly 800 theaters, "Amelia" might nab roughly $4 million this weekend.

Last weekend's champ, "Where the Wild Things Are", did well in its initial release, but that may have been due more to the marketing and director Spike Jonze's cult following than anything else. Word-of-mouth has been mixed from viewers, with many a parent a bit peturbed about the movie being "too dark" for its target audience. Still, the film has its champions (myself included) and the feedback from those people may keep "Wild" from fading too quickly (higher-priced IMAX tickets could help too). "Things" should see a 50-55% drop to around $15 million for the weekend, which would bring its 10-day gross to roughly $54 million.

Next weekend, the much-anticipated Michael Jackson performance film "This Is It" (too bad "Cirque Du Freak" was already used as a title) arrives, which will no doubt destroy everything in its path.

Video Avoid of the Week: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Despite what many may think, film critics do not go into each and every film expecting the meaning of life. First and foremost, we hope to be entertained. True, film critics do tend to champion independent and foreign films a bit more than your usual Hollywood blockbuster, but that's only because the smaller films need championing to reach a wider audience. Mainstream films have the marketing bucks behind them to achieve that. That doesn't mean that critics can't enjoy and support a mega-budget, mega-hyped Hollywood flick. Two of the best-reviewed films from this year (and rightfully so) were "Star Trek" and Pixar's "UP" (which is still my pick for film of the year). Neither of those count as independent or foreign films. They're as Hollywood as they come.

But then again, so is "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", which is easily my pick for the worst film of 2009. It pretty much represents all that is wrong with today's mainstream American cinema: bad plotting (something to do with destroying the sun and a giant robot with testicles) and acting (can't Megan Fox's character be a mute?), atrocious, overindulgent directing (Freud would have a field day both with Bay and this film), ADD-generation editing and an overall sense of bloat that makes the entire endeavour feel like you have an elephant sitting on your midsection for 150 long minutes.

Nothing works in this film: the jokes are painfully unfunny, it's misogynistic, racist (check out Amos & Android, I mean Skidz and Mudflap, if you don't believe me) and at times a bit confusing. Worst of all, it's boring, something you can't say about the 2007 original. That film didn't have the best characters or plot to speak of, but the effects were new and impressive and watching these tin cans kick the holy hell out of each other was actually-gasp!-fun. The sequel doesn't advance either of those aspects, which gives the film's possible saving graces (for me, anyway) a "been there done that" feeling.

I'm rather surprised that Steven Spielberg had anything to do with producing this film. I could see his influence -and the possible restraint placed on Bay- with the first film, but here? It appears that ol' Stevie helped conjure up the $200 million for the production, shook Bay's hand and said "son, you're on your own" prior to shooting. Michael Bay unleashed is not a good thing.

If you really feel the need to see robots kicking the crap out of each other for two and a half hours, go watch the original instead. Even if you've seen it before, you'll have made the right choice. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" will serve a purpose in the future, aside from being landfill: film schools can use the movie as a course on how not to make a popcorn film. Perhaps if students of said course learn from the multitude of mistakes Bay and company have made, the event film can become fun again. Rated PG-13. 150 minutes. Zero stars out of four.

I hate colds

Hi all,

Been busy the past week, first with a trip to New York City and then...ta-da! Dealing with a cold. New posts are on the way. Perhaps I should start with ten things I hate about cold and flu season (only ten?).

SF

Video Pick of the Week: "Drag Me To Hell"

The horror genre these days is in pretty bad shape. A majority of the output either wallows in sadistic gore (the endless 'Saw' series, Hostel, the 'Halloween' remakes) or are neutered by the more teen-accessible PG-13 rating. Even worse, horror films in general have forgotten to be two things in general: scary and fun.

Fortunately, two recent films have not forgotten. Based on what my friends have told me, the new "Paranormal Activity" manages to be both scary and fun without going overboard. The other film that offers fun with its frights is last summer's "Drag Me To Hell", which marked a very welcome return to the genre by "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi.

Alison Lohman plays a California bank employee named Christine Brown, whose life becomes a living nightmare when she refuses a request to extend the house loan (in the hopes of landing a job promotion) of an elderly woman named Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver). As things begin to unravel for Christine over the next three days, she becomes desperate to find a way to stop the curse and fight off a demon that has come to, you got it, drag Christine to hell.

Sure, the premise is a simple one and it doesn't sound all that much fun. But it is. Raimi, applying the formula of comedy and over-the-top horror theatrics (complete with intentionally cheesy visual effects) that made his "Evil Dead" series so great, never allows "Drag Me To Hell" be a downer for one second. It's tongue-in-cheek from start to finish, offering plenty of gross out moments, loud laughs and a healthy dose of well-placed scares, and the performances by Lohman, Justin Long (as her suffering fiance), Dileep Rao, Raver and David Paymer (as Christine's boss) are all quite good. Only in the last ten minutes does the film lose its momentum as it falls prey to predictability. At the point, however, I was having way too much fun to care all that much. Offering enough fun, frights and laughs to keep one entertained for 100 minutes, "Drag Me To Hell" is a nice alternative to the current sad state of the horror genre and makes for an ideal Halloween rental.

The film will be released on DVD and blu-ray disc on Tuesday, October 13th. Rated PG-13, 99 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.

See you in February, Sox

Yesterday, the Red Sox ended their season on a note that few, including the team, would find satisfactory. And while I might not be the biggest baseball fan around (I am more football and basketball), I think we should take a little solace in the fact that once again, the Boston Red Sox yet again did finish near the top of the heap in their division, even if they didn't go too much further beyond that. And, like many in Red Sox Nation have said time and again, there is always next year. In the meantime, thanks Sox for another season and we'll see you in February down in Florida.

In the meantime, go Patriots! Go Celts!

Weekend box office: Viewers 'Retreat' and something scary is showing a lot of 'Activity'

It should really come as no big surprise that the new Vince "No More Christmas films, please" Vaughn comedy "Couples Retreat" landed the top spot at the Columbus Day holiday weekend box office. It was the only film put into wide release by Hollywood studios this weekend, which is odd considering that this is a holiday weekend, and the film was on 3,000 screens. Forget the fact that the film was overwhelmingly panned by critics (a 13% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes is even lower than "Transformers 2"s rating), viewers apparently were in the mood to go and laugh at something...anything...this weekend (or at whatever their TV brainwashed into seeing). For its first three days, "Retreat" hauled in a whopping $35 million, which set a record for a live-action comedy in October (they will make a record for anything these days).

The real surprise story of the weekend box office isn't "Couples Retreat", however. It's The Little Studio Acquisition That Could, Paramount's instantly profitable thriller "Paranormal Activity", which expanded to a scant 159 theaters this weekend to land in fifth place by grossing an unreal $7 million. Budgeted at only $11,000 (according to IMDB.com) and picked up by Paramount a couple of years ago after playing the film festival circuit, the film's $44,000 per-screen -or four times its production budget- average was one of the best of the year, the result of an effective Internet campaign over the past few months staged by Paramount. Solid reviews and word-of-mouth from sold out midnight screenings did the rest. Whether the film will be able to sustain this momentum over the next few weeks leading up to Halloween is anyone's guess. With only the remake of "The Stepfather" (um...why?) next chapter in the vile "Saw" series to post any serious competition (exactly what type of 'person' continues to see these cinematic shitpiles?), I have a feeling that it will.

Last week's champ, the horror/comedy "Zombieland", held up quite well in its second lap with $15 million and a cume of nearly $48 million to date. Dropping only 39% (remember, horror films usually dip anywhere from 50-70% in their second weekend), the Sony hit is benefiting from positive word-of-mouth, which may be allowing it to cross over to audiences that might not typically go to the theater to see a horror film of any type. If it continues to hold up, "Zombieland" might see its final gross approach the $90 million range, possibly even near the magical $100 million mark. Sony's other smash it, the 3-D animated "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" hauled in another $12 million to bring its winning streak up to the $96 million mark so far.

In fourth spot was the return of Buzz and Woody as the "Toy Story" 3-D double feature pulled in another $8 million for a ten-day gross of $23 million. Despite being billed as a limited two-week run, don't be surprised if the toys stick around for another weekend or two.

Holdovers dominated spots six through ten for the weekend: the Bruce Willis dud "Surrogates" pulled in another $4.1 million and a cume of $32.5 million. "The Invention Of Lying" pulled in $3.3 million with $12.3 total. "Whip It" whipped $2.8 million to bring its total to $8.8 million. Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" added $2.7 million to its total gross, which is now just a hair over $9 million, and MGM's "Fame" pulled in $2.6 million for a $20 million cume to date.

Next week, the much-anticipated "Where the Wild Things Are" (a movie I am very excited about), the remake of "The Stepfather" and yet another film starring Gerard Butler, "Law Abiding Citizens" all debut.

Jamie Foxx and Taylor Hackford to take on Mike Tyson

Actor Jamie Foxx and director Taylor Hackford might be following up their award-winning collaboration on 2004's "Ray" with another biopic according to an article on the Dark Horizons website. This time, their subject would not be a musician but a rather infamous sports figure: Mike Tyson. Foxx has already received the blessing of the boxer, and he feels that "of all the biopics out there, (Tyson) has the most interesting story that no one has heard."

Despite following a story path that echoed your standard musical biography, Hackford's film "Ray" was still an involving and entertaining film that didn't shy away from showing the turbulent side of Ray Charles' private life, and Foxx's performance was certainly worthy of the Best Actor award he won that year. Hopefully, the two can combine their efforts to give us a compelling portrait of Tyson without glossing over the past the way Michael Mann and Will Smith did with their biopic about a boxer, the flawed but decent "Ali".

Check out Brett Michel's review of "Paranormal Activity"

Over at The Boston Herald.com, my friend Brett Michel has written up a review on the new horror film, "Paranormal Activity". Brett has been a contributing writer to The Boston Phoenix for the past few years (and will continue to do so), but this is his first review for the Herald. As is always the case with Brett's writing, the article is worth checking out.

"Seabiscuit" writer/director to take on "Venom"

According to various entertainment news reports around the web today, "Seabiscuit" writer/director Gary Ross will be writing the screenplay for and possibly directing "Venom", a "Spider-Man" spin-off movie for Sony Pictures. Ross is also currently penning a draft of the screenplay for "Spider-Man 4", also for Sony and is due in 2011. There is no word as to whether Topher Grace, who played Venom in "Spider-Man 3", will play the character in the spin-off film.

The news of Ross' involvement in both "Spidey 4" and "Venom" is very welcome news indeed. While I wasn't crazy about his 1998 feature "Pleasantville", I did love "Seabiscuit", one of the better sports dramas to come out of Hollywood in quite some time. I also thought his scripts for 1993's "Dave" and 1988's "Big" (co-written with Anne Spielberg) were first rate as well. Here's hoping Ross can bring the same level of character development and storytelling that he did to the aforementioned trio to both "Spidey 4" and "Venom".

Hell, anything would be better than the mess that was "Spider-Man 3" (or as I like to call it, 'Spider-Meh 3'), which was surprisingly penned by Sam & Ivan Raimi. Whether it was studio interference (nahhh!) or the fact that Raimi was planning on making the third one the last Spidey he would work on, "3" had none of the character or heart of the first two entries. Perhaps bringing Ross on board might steer things back in the right direction. At least I hope he does.

Time to face the music, Roman

According to an article at Yahoo! Movies, the Swiss Justice Ministry has denied bail to Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski, which brings him closer to being extradited to the United States after being on the lam from Uncle Sam for three decades. According to the Swiss, they felt that Polanski would be a "flight risk" if he was allowed out on bail (See? People can learn from other people's mistakes).

I like most of Roman Polanski's films. "Rosemary's Baby", "Knife In the Water", "Death and the Maiden", "Chinatown", "Tess" and perhaps his finest work to date, "The Pianist", all show that the 76-year old director is one of the motion picture industry's best directors. The Oscar he won in 2003 for "The Pianist" was not only well-deserved, it was well overdue.

His facing the judicial music is also something that is well overdue. It is possible to separate the art from the man (someone should point that out to the idiots who signed this joke). I love his films, but I think the bastard needs to serve his time in jail. Rape is rape, end of story. You do the crime, do the time. I don't care how many great films you've directed, you drugged and forced yourself on a minor. In my book, that would guarantee you a long stay at Shawshank Prison.

In the event that Polanski does come back to the United States and winds up doing jail time, he may end up spending his remaining days behind bars. A sad footnote to a rather accomplished artistic career. A footnote made even more pathetic given the fact that he was only looking at a 1 1/2-month sentence for the same crime back in 1978.

America's box office has turned into "Zombieland"!

As expected, Sony's horror comedy "Zombieland" landed in first place this past weekend at the American box office with a very healthy $24.7 million gross. The $25 million-budgeted film benefited from positive critical response and a great advertising campaign. And with positive word-of-mouth coming from viewers, look for the film to have some fairly solid legs in the weeks leading up to Halloween. It's too bad Sony didn't pick up "Shaun of the Dead" five years ago. Something tells me that they could have marketed that film a bit more effectively than Universal's Rogue Pictures did (that film grossed a small $14 million in the States).

As if the undead weren't enough to make Sony happy, their animated feature "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" hung tough against direct competition from the Pixar folks in week three by dropping only 37% for a $15.8 gross and a $81.5 total to date. At this rate, the $90 CG animated feature could finish with a gross north of $120 million in the States alone, proving once again that computer animation + 3-D + higher ticket prices = a big hit at the box office.

Speaking of Pixar, the 3-D double feature of the first two "Toy Story" films made more than I anticipated. Grossing $12.5 million from 1,745 screens, families didn't seem to be bothered by the double bill's three-hour runtime or the fact that both films have been available on home video for years. I'm not sure if the preview for "Toy Story 3" was an added incentive for people to see the double feature, but I am sure it didn't hurt matters much. The double feature is only playing until October 15th, so if you're interested in seeing these in 3-D, you better hurry up.

Fourth place went to the Bruce Willis sci-fier "Surrogates", which collapsed 52% for a $7.2 million weekend and a total of $26.3 million to date. Fifth place went to the Ricky Gervais comedy "The Invention Of Lying", which overcame a horrible ad campaign to nab $7 million for the weekend. Sixth place went to the Drew Barrymore-directed film "Whip It", which collapsed with only $4.6 million for the weekend. The film was well-received by critics and did brisk business the weekend before at nationwide sneak previews, but apparently everyone else could care less about a film that dealt with the sport of roller derby.

Seventh place went to the fast-fading "Fame" with $4.6 million and a ten-day gross of $16.5 million. Eight place went to the new Michael Moore film "Capitalism: A Love Story" with a so-so $4.4 million from 962 houses. Unlike his previous film "Sicko", "Capitalism" might have suffered from jumping on too many screens at once ('Sicko' opened in under 500 houses its first wide weekend). Plus, with many Americans feeling down enough thanks to the current recession, many most likely did not feel the need to spend $10 to be reminded of it.

In its third weekend, "The Informant!" slipped to ninth place and a $3.7 million gross. To date, the Steven Soderbergh film has pulled in $26.5 million. Tenth spot went to the Jennifer Aniston's romantic misfire "Love Happens" with $2.7 million and a cume to date of just under $19 million.

Oddly enough, the upcoming weekend has only one wide opening: the comedy "Couples Retreat" starring Vince Vaughn and directed by Ralphie from "A Christmas Story". Perhaps if Fox decided to release "Whip It" and Overture Pictures decided to expand the Michael Moore film on October 9th instead of the 2nd, both may have had a better chance to make an impact. Oh well, as Tom Bosley would say, that's Hollywood!

Weekend Box Office Preview: Buzz, Woody, Zombies and Captialism, oh my!

A quartet of films enter the already-overcrowded American box office marketplace this weekend, each reaching out to a different demographic in the hopes of grabbing a share of the cinematic pumpkin pie.

The biggest of the quartet has to be Sony Pictures' well-received horror comedy "Zombieland", which lands on nearly 3,000 screens. Directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin, "Zombieland" is the story of four people trying to survive in a world overrun by the living dead. The 81-minute arrives in theaters benefiting not only from a great ad campaign (the trailer was hilarious), but also from something rarely attached to a horror film: strong praise from critics (the film has a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes). With Halloween a mere 29 days away, the time is right for "Zombieland" to strike at the box office. After a big $9 million Friday launch, watch for the film to nab roughly $24-27 million this weekend.

Michael Moore is back in action, this time taking on the corporations and financial institutions largely responsible for the global economic free fall that has happened over the past couple of years. "Capitalism: A Love Story" is what you've come to expect from the Flint, Michigan filmmaker: an op-ed piece straight from the left guaranteed to rile up those who despise his work. It is also quite entertaining, at times deeply moving and thought provoking. The film's blockbuster grosses from 11 screens last weekend show that people may not be tired of Moore's views or films yet. And since everyone can pretty much relate to being dicked over by a bank or large corporation at least once or twice in their lifetime, Moore's scathing indictments might prove to be a bit cathartic. After grossing $1.6 million on Friday from 962 theaters, "Capitalism: A Love Story" might yield $6 million this weekend.

It's been a decade since we last saw Buzz Lightyear and Woody the Cowboy on the big screen, and this weekend brings the duo and all their friends back to the big screen in 3-D Digital with the double feature of "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2". With the third film coming out next June (a trailer is attached to this twin spin), what better time to get the promotional ball rolling than to reissue the originals to reacquaint audiences with the series. The three-hour running time of the double feature will limit showtimes and might prove to be just a little too much for the young ones to sit still for. Still, that won't stop them from begging their parents to take them to see the films. Friday saw a strong $3.8 million gross on 1,745 screens, which should allow the first weekend of the 2-week run to pull in roughly $13 million.

Ricky Gervais, the man who gave us the original version of "The Office" and the hysterical HBO series "Extras", takes another stab at a lead role in a motion picture with the new comedy "The Invention Of Lying", a film he co-directed. I missed his first shot at big screen stardom, 2008's blink-and-you-missed-it "Ghost Town", but I heard good things about it and do plan on seeing it one of these days. I had toyed with the idea of seeing "Invention" last week at a screening, but the ads Warner has been playing have been outright awful. Of course, I now hear that the film is actually quite good. Guess I can add this one to the "one of these days" lists as well. While I might procrastinate seeing the film, others might not. Friday saw a surprising gross of $2.7 mil from 1,700 screens, which might bring "Lying" to roughly $9.5 million.

The final new film opening wide this weekend is the Drew Barrymore-directed film "Whip It", which stars Barrymore, Ellen Page and Juliette Lewis. The reviews have been generally favorable from critics, and sneak previews held last Saturday across the country were well-attended. Yet, the film only pulled in $1.7 million from roughly 1,700 screens, which might yield the film around $5.5 million for the weekend. The lower-than-expected gross may prove yet again that no matter how good the film, there are just some subjects -like Roller Derby- that people don't want to pay $10 to watch in a theater.

As for the holdovers from last weekend, watch for Sony's smash hit "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs" to pull another $20 million following Friday's $5 million gross to bring its total to a huge $85 million to date. Watch for the big-budget Bruce Willis flop "Surrogate" to pull in $6 million and MGM's DOA remake of "Fame" to gross $4 million before each completely vanish from theaters next weekend.