
The Reject Report Accepts a Weekend ‘Proposal’
Box Office By John Cairns on June 19, 2009 | Be the First To Comment
Welcome to yet another edition of the Reject Report and the big question this weekend is whether or not either one of these two movies going out in wide release — The Proposal and Year One – has what it takes to even get past The Hangover.
I think it’s a fair question because, from where I sit, it is definitely shaping up to be one of the worst weekends of the summer, if not the year, as far as new releases are concerned. Most people out there seems to think that Year One is going to be garbage, and The Proposal doesn’t sound too much better to a lot of people. I guess people could seek out that new Woody Allen movie Whatever Works, but that is in very limited release. So, I guess it’s either these two flicks I just mentioned or a repeat visit to The Hangover or Up again, or something else. Maybe it’s time to check out the DVD rack at the video store.
It’s strange. You’d think this was February, not June, at the theaters with the lineup we have this weekend — a romantic comedy and a movie about two tribesmen. In fact, June has been a really down month for new releases in general, so far. Don’t worry, though. The Transformers sequel is next weekend and that’s bound to save Hollywood from the abyss, but for now life is dull at theaters.
On to the two new movies in wide release:
Year One is a comedy starring Jack Black and Michael Cera, and it’s directed by Harold Ramis. Judd Apatow produces this flick that is rolling out in 3,022 theaters. It’s about these two primitive guys from the time of Moses, and they are banished from their tribe and they end up going on this journey where they stumble into Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Abraham… you get the picture. It’s Year One, it’s Biblical times.
What this flick needs is a holy miracle to be a hit, from what I hear about it. The buzz about this movie seems to have been getting worse by the week and the critics are crucifying the movie (pardon the obvious pun). Now, granted, I am sure there are people out there who are in the mood to see another comedy movie at the cinema. The question is whether they want to see THIS one. In any event I am predicting $19 million for Year One. Another issue is that they cut this movie to get it down to a PG-13 rating, and you know what a lot of people think about THAT. They think it means it’ll be a watered-down, unfunny movie. Suffice it to say, I am one of those who are not impressed with what I hear of this flick.
Next is The Proposal, and it’s a movie that I dunno whether I am impressed with or not. It stars Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds as this couple who are getting married. Basically, Bullock’s character gets her assistant to marry her in order to avoid being deported back to Canada.
I think this movie will find an audience consisting of the date crowd and other lovebirds who are in need of a romantic comedy to go to. But I have worries about the movie. For one thing, I notice on the trailers on TV that they are showing a bunch of quotes praising the movie, and I notice the quotes are all from that notorious quote whore, Pete Hammond. That’s a sure sign of doom right there, but another big worry has been the fact that Sandra Bullock has been going around telling the press that she has this big nude scene in the movie. From what I gather, though, the nude scene isn’t even all that revealing. As I said last week, I find that whenever there’s hype about a big “nude scene” in a movie, that’s usually a sign that the movie has nothing else going for it.
Anyway, we’ll see what happens with The Proposal. In fairness, I have heard some people say the movie is pretty good, and the sneak previews seemed to get a good turnout last week. But there’s no real consensus. The only consensus is that this is definitely going to be better than Year One. Also, this is only in just over 3,000 theaters ( a little more than Year One), so this is not shaping up to be a blockbuster. I am predicting a haul of $25 million, which SHOULD BE ENOUGH to put an end to the big Hangover that has been going on at the box office the last two weeks.
So that’s what we are in store for this weekend. Who knows, these two movies could end up doing better than this, but I kind of doubt it. I think everyone is waiting for next weekend to arrive so they can go see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. This weekend is kind of the calm before the storm.
The likely result for this weekend, as I see it:
- The Proposal $25 million
- The Hangover $22 million
- Up $20 million
- Year One $19 million
- The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 $13 million
- Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian $5.9 million
- Land of the Lost $4.7 million
- Star Trek $3.1 million
- Imagine That $3 million
- Terminator: Salvation $2.9 million
So I am predicting The Hangover to finally fall to second place. I better be right this weekend, because this movie has burned me with my predictions two weeks in a row already.
That about does it for me for this week. See you at the end of the weekend as we figure out who won the weekend at the Reject Report.
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