Reject Report: Rush Hour 3 and Other Stuff with Stars from Hollywood

Posted by John Cairns (jcairns@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 9, 2007

The summer is almost over at THE REJECT REPORT and at movie theaters everywhere in the country. Coming this weekend is one of the last big movies of the summer, Rush Hour 3. That’s right, Jackie Chan, Chris Tucker and director Brett Ratner are back for what promises to be the least-anticipated sequel of the year. That is, if you believe the fan sites. The box office pundits, though, are predicting big things. But more about that later.

First, I should alert you to a movie that was rolled out in theaters all over America last night. It’s called Daddy Day Camp, and it’s one of those Cheaper by the Dozen-type movies that we’re used to seeing and which we are sick of. It’s the sequel to Daddy Day Care. This sequel from Sony Pictures stars Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., as Charlie Hinton, looking to expand his kid-friendly camp business. But trouble begins when his dad decides to get into the act and control things.

Anyway, I can tell you right now that this movie is a FLOP. It only did $773,000 in business on Wednesday for ninth overall, so I think this movie is going to be lucky just to finish in the Top Ten at weekend’s end. I also read somewhere that it was running at 2% at Rotten Tomatoes. No wonder it opened midweek! Anyway, that’s Daddy Day Camp.

Now, the much-anticipated Rush Hour 3 (!) (?) opens August 10. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker reprise their roles as LAPD detectives, roles that saw them engage in comical buddy-action-movie adventures in the first two films.This time they head off to Paris to work on a case there, doing battle with the Triads, a notorious crime family.

Now, despite what I keep reading from all these people who claim they are fed up with these Rush Hour movies, a lot of people are predicting big business. In fact, the figures I keep reading are around $55 million. So that’s my prediction. I am basing this prediction, in part, on the dearth of buddy action movies out there today. Besides, Bruce Willis’ movie did pretty good, and action movie fans are starved for entertainment, so I say $55 mil for Rush Hour 3. I don’t care what anyone else says. Besides, it’s scheduled to be in 3,778 theaters. That’s a lot of theaters, folks.

Three more movies opening wide:

Stardust, starring Claire Danes, Michelle Pfeiffer and Robert DeNiro, opens Friday. It’s a fantasy movie based on Neil Gaiman’s novella of the same name for DC Comics, and it’s about a chase to retrieve a fallen star. Various characters in the movie are chasing after this star. Fun stuff. A few other people are in it and I think this movie will do well enough to be in the Top Ten. I say $17 million.

Skinwalkers is a horror movie about a boy who discovers he is the grand prize in a war between two gangs of werewolves, and guess what? One of these tribes wants him dead. The movie is directed by James Isaac and rated PG-13.

And Becoming Jane opens in 600 theaters. The movie is based on the early life of Jane Austen and tells the story of the great untold romance of her early life. The movie stars Anne Hathaway as Jane.

Again, not many theaters for either Skinwalkers or Becoming Jane so I doubt it will be a Top Ten finish for either of them, but Becoming Jane could sneak in.

So finally, my predictions for this week:

See you Monday, as we go over how well Rush Hour 3 and these latest movies did at the box office!

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