Time for another thrilling ‘Shoot ‘Em Up’ Reject Report

Posted by John Cairns (jcairns@filmschoolrejects.com) on September 6, 2007

It’s time for another edition of the Reject Report. This week we have quite a few movies on tap; we got Westerns, we got action, we got the brothers Solomon, we got a few things. But mostly, we got Westerns. This is shaping up to be one of those years where they roll out all kinds of promising Westerns at the movie theaters, and it all starts this weekend with 3:10 to Yuma.

The highly-anticipated 3:10 to Yuma is a remake of the 1957 film of the same name, and is directed by James Mangold. This project has been on again and off again for several years but now it’s finally gotten made, and Lionsgate is releasing it. It stars Russell Crowe as the bad guy Ben Wade, an outlaw who has been on a rampage in the American Southwest. Anyway, he’s captured, and Batman, uh, I mean Dan Evans (played by Christian Bale) offers to take him in on the 3:10 to Yuma. And that’s when all the action and drama begins.

So far I have heard big things about this movie and expect the box office to reflect that. The movie is being distributed by Lionsgate and will be in about 2,600 theaters, and I am thinking $21 million. I know there are some predictions that say it’ll be lower, but I think it’ll crack the 20s. Plus I think word of mouth will be good. The reason I heard for why this movie was released now was so they could beat to the gate The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. That flick stars Brad Pitt and is currently on the festival circuit. Meanwhile, 3:10 to Yuma is going wide right away, presumably because folks at Lionsgate want this movie to get all the buzz for Oscar time instead. Well, I think it’s gonna work out to some degree; we’ll see. This is getting one of the widest releases of all time for an independent film, eleventh overall (since 1982) according to Box Office Mojo. So it’s bound to get an audience.

Next on deck is a shoot ‘em up movie that, naturally, is called Shoot ‘Em Up. It stars Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti and Monica Bellucci. Well, that settles it, I have got to see this movie, just for the cast alone. New Line is releasing this film wide Friday.

The trailers have been loaded with action and violence so I have high hopes for this one. In it, a guy named Mr. Smith (Owen) is trying to protect a newborn baby from everyone who wants this kid dead. Why they want this kid dead, I do not know. Anyway, it sounds like a good excuse for action and violence.

I will go out on a limb and say $12 million for this flick, and again, I am on the high side of all the predictions here. But I think the action fans will be intrigued by this one. Besides, these actors have lots of serious movie fans. See, this is what distinguishes the fall from the summer. Guys like Steve Carell and Bruce Willis disappear, and we get movies featuring the likes of Paul Giamatti. Not bad.

Finally we have The Brothers Solomon and it’s a comedy featuring alumnus from Saturday Night Live. Unfortunately, you can put this one in the “yet another” SNL category, because a lot of these films with SNL guys in it are usually underwhelming- unless some guy named Will is in it. Then it turns out pretty good.

Unfortunately, this flick doesn’t feature Will Ferrell, but two other guys Will Arnett and Will Forte. They play two guys who lack social skills who want to make their father’s dying wish come true and find a woman who will have a baby for them. I dunno about you, but this doesn’t sound very good to me. I say $2 million, and I’m being REALLY generous.

That’s basically it for the wide releases; there are a number of smaller independent flicks opening this week in the big cities, or expanding wide, so you should watch out for those as well.

I have been going back and forth as to whether Halloween will hold off Shoot ‘Em Up for second. I finally decided what the heck, Halloween probably will finish second, so that’s that. So here are my final prognostications for this weekend:

That’s it! See you at weekend’s end as we do the final box office tally here at the Reject Report.

Read more articles by John Cairns