The Reject Report Goes to War. Seriously.

Posted by John Cairns (jcairns@filmschoolrejects.com) on August 23, 2007

It’s Reject Report time again and if you feel like skipping this week’s column and going on a vacation, I don’t blame you. The Dog Days are officially here. It’s not blockbuster material this week, folks. We have Mr. Bean’s Holiday, and we have nannies, and we have WAR, and we have- well, you get the picture. This definitely is shaping up to be a slow week. It seems like a weekend to see all those blockbusters you haven’t seen yet- or those good hard-to-find movies that are lurking out there. And to be fair, these new movies don’t look so bad either.

So here goes.

WAR gets the widest release this weekend of all the new films, in 2,200 theaters. It features Jet Li and Jason Statham. Or should I say, it’s Jet Li VERSUS Jason Statham. Li plays a hitman and Statham plays a renegade FBI agent, seeking vengeance for the murder of his partner. These two go at it in a wild action movie. There’s guns, violence, fight scenes, martial arts, knives, motorcycles- you name it. Fun stuff for the action crowd. Interesting to me (as a Canadian): it was filmed in Vancouver. I say this is going to be the box office champ this week, but it’s not going to be a blockbuster. I say $20 million.

The Nanny Diaries (MGM/Weinstein) is showing in 1,800 cinemas and is yet another in a long line of Scarlett Johansson movies. This one is based on the bestselling 2002 novel by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus. It’s about this strapped-for-cash NYU student who ends up working for this upper-crust family to make ends meet so she could achieve her career goals, and it turns into the job from hell. Funny stuff. The movie also stars Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti and Chris Evans. I say $15 million.

Mr. Bean’s Holiday is the latest in the popular line of movies and TV shows featuring Rowan Atkinson as the amusing Mr. Bean. Here, he heads off to France for a bunch of madcap vacation adventures. How many movies have been set in France this year? Seems like a lot. There was Ratatouille, and Rush Hour 3, and this one. Atkinson said this is going to be the last appearance for Mr. Bean, who certainly seems like a relic of the 1990s by now. Anyway, $12 million is my prediction.

Resurrecting the Champ stars Samuel L. Jackson. Enough said. The flick also stars Josh Hartnett. He plays a sports reporter who finds this guys who finds this guys down on his luck on the streets, and then discovers he used to be the Champ. So he tries to restore this guy’s name and reputation and help turn his life around. It’s based on an LA Times magazine piece by J.R. Moehringer. Interestingly, it was filmed in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. But something tells me this won’t do more than about $8 million.

Finally, September Dawn is the controversial movie/love story about the events leading up to the Mountain Meadows massacre of 120 people in Utah during the late 19th century. The movies stars Jon Voight, Terence Stamp, and Jon Gries and should sneak into the top 10 somewhere even though it’s not in as many theaters as these other movies. I say $3 million.

So here’s my bean-counter (Bean?! Counter?) projection for this weekend:

See you after the weekend when we find out who wins the “war” at the box office.

Read more articles by John Cairns