Which of the two bullet riddled action movies will top the weekend box office? It’s Russell Crowe and Batman (Christian Bale) versus Clive Owen and Paul “Sideways” Giamatti in a gun battle for box office supremacy. Meanwhile, Halloween looks to avoid the typical second weekend pitfalls of horror films past; The Brothers Solomon stumbles into limited release and what happened to Hatchet?
3:10 To Yuma is one of the best films of the year. The western, starring Crowe and Bale, previewed last weekend and is garnering terrific buzz. Critics have been showing the film love all week. Rotten Tomatoes has it at 89% positive. I saw it last weekend and was floored by how awesome Crowe is and how James Mangold has become a very good director.
The film has to overcome the resistance of modern audiences to westerns, a big hurdle. On the bright side, star power can be terrific tool at the box office. Though Crowe has been questionable at the box office, teaming with Batman star Bale eases the star power load. Bale has yet to show he can open anything without a cape and cowl, but he is rising fast and 3:10 To Yuma could be a box office proving ground for him.
Shoot’Em Up did have the early tracking advantage thanks to a smart, funny trailer that got out early. Unfortunately, the trailer hype may have peaked too soon. The film has faded behind 3:10 To Yuma in overall audience tracking. However, the Clive Owen-actioner does hold a slight demographic advantage. Younger males are going for Shoot’em Up over Yuma by a slight margin.
The difference maker could be the second weekend of Rob Zombie’s Halloween. All three films are R-rated and chasing similarly male audiences. If Halloween follows the pattern of most recent horror hits, the second weekend drop should be substantial, but even if it drops nearly 60% in its second week that is still some rich market share.
So which of the new releases has to share market with Halloween? Shoot’Em Up seems the likely victim of the scheduling gods. Similarly, young, urban and ultra-violent, Shoot’Em Up is splitting audience with Halloween and that will likely cost it the top spot as 3:10 To Yuma coasts on its older demos and what it can pull of the younger crowd.
The comedy The Brothers Solomon is a box office non-factor this weekend. Starring Saturday Night Live’s Will Forte and former Arrested Development star Will Arnett, the film combines Dumb and Dumber with a touch of Knocked Up, but without either of those films’ highly-appealing and box office proven stars.
Finally, this was supposed to be the weekend that Anchor Bay Entertainment went wide with the horror spoof Hatchet. However, with three high profile R-rated movies in the marketplace, Anchor Bay has smartly downgraded Hatchet to a platform release, opening on only 70 screens this weekend with hopes of expanding further in a few weeks. Next week looks a little more friendly; however Resident Evil: Extinction hits screens in two weeks.
