Reject Report: Mr. Magorium Versus Beowulf

Posted by John Cairns (jcairns@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 16, 2007

We have a race this weekend here at THE REJECT REPORT! In one corner, we have Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. And in the other, we’ve got Beowulf. Add to that mix all the usual movies plus Love in the Time of Cholera, and you have another thrilling weekend ahead at the box office!

Once again, welcome to all you Writers Guild people with time on your hands, and a big hello as well to all you CRAVE people tuning in to my predictions for the first time. I guess I am going to have to up my game and get these predictions right, for a change. Fat chance.

On to the latest movies.

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium is from the folks at Walden Media and Fox, and is rolling out on 3164 screens across the USA. It stars Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman and Dustin Hoffman. It’s the story of how Portman inherits this toy factory from her 243-year-old boss, Mr. Magorium, played by Dustin Hoffman. She isn’t too confident at first but with the help of Bateman and a young boy played by Zach Mills, she is able to handle running this magical toy store– and I do mean MAGICAL.

To me this seems similar to that movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory that brought in a heap of money its opening weekend. The problem is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory had a Rotten Tomatoes rating in the 80s. This one is in the low 20s. I also say its box office will be in the low 20s. Ouch.

Beowulf is in roughly the same number of theaters as Mr. Magorium. It’s directed by Robert Zemeckis and stars Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Angelina Jolie, and everyone else.This movie is part-real, part computer-animation, and heavy on the special effects as we see the big-screen adaptation of the famous poem about the sixth-century Scandinavian warrior.

This is interesting. They are releasing this thing in both 2-D and in 3-D, and this movie is highly anticipated by a lot of people. But apparently this thing is loaded with violence, so I doubt a lot of kids will be there. Still, I see this as the likely winner at the box office this week, at upwards of $28 mil. That’s my prediction for this weekend.

Finally, Love in the Time of Cholera opens in less than a thousand theaters and is based on the novel by Gabriel García Márquez. It stars Javier Bardem as Florentino Ariza, who embarks on this fifty-year quest for the love of his life (played by Giovanna Mezzogiorno). Anyway, I don’t see a lot of business for this one.

There are of course a few more limited releases and there are 518 sneaks of August Rush on November 17. That one goes wide next Wednesday. That’s right, we have a big Thanksgiving week coming up in the States with several movies rolling out on Wednesday.

Anyway here’s my predictions for the weekend box office:

And that’s your predictions for this week. By the way, I should also mention that I think this writer’s strike is going to have an affect on the way these movies get promoted. Usually these movie stars all show up on Letterman and Leno, and all these late-night shows. These are prime places for these stars to appear. How the heck are they supposed to promote their movies now? By going on the radio? By appearing on these morning news shows? Good question. I’ve read a lot of opinions out there that say this strike is bound to have an effect on how these new releases do. Let’s face facts; these new flicks need promotion, and they won’t get any free plugs on the Leno show or the Letterman show or anywhere else as long as this walkout continues.

Just a friendly reminder to all the union leaderships to get on with negotiating again already. These bleeping late-night reruns are just killing me.

Back with a look at the final weekend totals Monday. Until then, don’t bet on the movies.

Read more articles by John Cairns