The Reject Report Walks Hard

Posted by John Cairns (jcairns@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 21, 2007

It’s a weekend of movie treasures here at THE REJECT REPORT! We have a ton of new movies coming up. We have the National Treasure sequel, we have Walk Hard, we have Charlie Wilson’s War, P.S. I Love You, Sweeney Todd, etcetera. Plus we have Atonement and Juno going wide — or at least, wider.

On to the movies.

Start with this week’s latest blockbuster, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, starring NIcolas Cage. It’s the sequel to the 2004 movie National Treasure, also starring Cage. He plays Benjamin Gates, a treasure hunter who finds his great-great grandfather accused of being a co-conspirator in the assassination. So it’s up to Cage to search to clear his family’s name — and in his quest he uncovers the President’s book of secrets, containing all the answers to every conspiracy theory out there ranging from JFK to he missing minutes of the Watergate tapes — you name it. So that’s what this movie is about. Ed Harris is in it, and Diane Kruger is in it — and I’m impressed because I saw both of them live on the red carpet in Toronto at the screening of Copying Beethoven! But I digress.

This is your box office winner this weekend unless something bizarre happens. I think this one should get about $50 mil, unless people have really soured on Nicolas Cage. Cage has kind of been flopping in the last few years — sort of the male version of Nicole Kidman. This is in 3,832 theaters, is a Disney release, and is produced by Jerry “C.S.I.” Bruckheimer.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is the latest from funnyman Judd Apatow who already took on the issue of pregnancy in Knocked Up and the theme of friendship in Superbad. Here, they take on… Johnny Cash. This looks to be a takeoff of Walk the Line, with the whole life story of Dewey Cox and his rise to fame. John C. Reilly stars as Dewey Cox and Jenna Fischer is in the movie, too.

My prediction is this should get around $22 million. It seems every Judd Apatow-produced movie out there does well, but only modestly well. And this one doesn’t have a big name in the lead, so I don’t think the box office will be quite so good at this time of year. Jake Kasdan is directing this flick and it’s being released by Sony/Columbia into 2,650 theaters.

Charlie Wilson’s War is the true story of playboy congressman Charlie Wilson, played by Tom Hanks. This guy supposedly conspired with this renegade CIA agent (played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman) to aid the Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Julia Roberts plays a Texas socialite in the movie.

This is being billed as an Oscar contender but I don’t see it getting any more than $14 million. I think the audience for this sort of movie is kind of limited to the serious-movie crowd. It’s being released by Universal into 2,574 theaters.

P.S. I Love You is a chick flick starring Hilary Swank and Lisa Kudrow. Well, that’s it, then, I can skip this one! Just kidding. Hilary plays Holly Kennedy, whose husband Gerry passes away. But it turns out this guy has planned ahead and sent his widow letters from the grave — all designed to help her get her life back on track. How thoughtful. Anyway, I say $8 million for this flick. Hey — girls need their movies, too.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is the much-anticipated movie version of the Tony Award-winning Stephen Sondheim musical. The movie, directed by Tim Burton, stars Johnny Depp as Sweeney Todd. He’s a man sent to prison down in Australia for a crime he didn’t commit. Todd then comes back to plot revenge against the judge who sent him away, but in the meantime opens up a barber shop where he, ahem, not only gives his customers a shave and a haircut but also a throat-slashing. Helena Bonham Carter is in the movie as well as Mrs. Lovett.

It’s not in as many theaters as the rest (1,249 to be precise), but I think it may do some good business, because a lot of people are interested in the movie. So I say $14.5 mil for Sweeney Todd.

Some Oscar contenders are expanding wide in roughly 300 theaters each:
The Kite Runner follows a young boy born into wealth, who leaves his childhood friend behind in Afghanistan and who returns years later to the war-torn country to try and find him.

Juno stars Ellen Page as an offbeat teen having to deal with an unplanned pregnancy. The movie is directed by Jason Reitman, and will go even wider on Christmas Day.

And finally, Atonement is about a young 13-year old who accuses the lover of her older sister of a crime he did not commit, impacting on a lot of lives. Keira Knightley, James McAvoy and Saoirse Ronan star.

So that’s a ton of movies opening up this weekend or coming to a theater near you. And of course, I Am Legend and the Chipmunks are still going strong, too. Here’s what we are expecting in box office results this weekend.

There you have it! See you later this weekend as we go through the damages for the weekend’s movies here at THE REJECT REPORT.

Read more articles by John Cairns