Suckkkerrr Punch!!

This weekend promises something fairly exciting! Release of Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch... This is the first of the 15 'must-watch' movies of the year I am eagerly looking forward to (entire list: http://bucksandcorn.blogspot.com/2011/01/2011-beckons.html) and I am quite sure the wait would have been worth it! Baby Doll, Sweet Pea, Blondie, Rocket, these are just a few of the character names that the movie is going to throw at us, and if you have watched the trailer then you would be very well aware that these girls are going to be no pushovers. Lots of bang bang and boom boom await as the ladies prepare to fight their way out of an asylum in style. Zack Snyder's role in such kind of a genre has not been bad at all. His directorial works notably include Dawn of the Dead (2004), 300 (2007) and Watchmen (2009) and what will follow after Sucker Punch is nothing less than the next Superman movie. So we got a perfect director, a neat cast, an interesting story with a much more interesting 'alternate reality' plot to it, and now all we need are for these pieces to fit together beautifully so as to let Sucker Punch score well at the box office.

The weekend will also mark the first $100 million hit for the year at the box office. And it will be Johnny Depp ruling again though this time under the guise of the chameleon Rango. The unlikely second movie to reach that mark would be Adam Sandler's Just Go With It that has shown remarkable long legs to be only about $2 million short of touching $100 million at the US box office. So a weekend to look forward and a lot to talk about next time...

Rango to the Rescue

Are things looking up? For starters, Rango had the best opening weekend for the year with earnings of $38 million at the US box office. The animated chameleon could well be setting the pace to become the first movie of the year to hit the $100 million mark. Trust Johnny Depp to rescue things! Matt Damon starrer Adjustment Bureau did decently well with $21 million on its first weekend, though this is definitely nowhere close to the Bourne movies. The competition is getting tighter and there is a long list of movies releasing this weekend. Rango will be directly pitted against the animated flick Mars Needs Moms, though I expect the former to maintain its lead, thanks to the strong reviews it is gathering. There is a range of other genres to watch out for as well. Aaron Eckhart is starring in the sci-fi movie Battle: Los Angeles, though aliens targeting earth and attempting to destroy it is no longer a very novel concept. Then there is the movie adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre which stars the erstwhile Alice of Alice in Wonderland, Mia Wasikowska. And finally, the one that seems the most interesting of the lot, the old tale in a new light, Red Riding Hood. Red Riding Hood has an interesting touch of fantasy and horror to it, at least that is what the trailers appear like. A young girl in love with a woodcutter, a werewolf on the prowl, and a famed werewolf hunter... maybe a bit cliched but interesting nonetheless! A tough battle is on the cards this weekend...

Post-Oscars...

The Oscar ceremony was completed last Sunday and there were hardly any surprises, at least as far as the main award categories were concerned. The King's Speech picked up the best of the awards - Best Movie and Best Director apart from Colin Firth winning the Best Actor award for his portrayal of the stammering King George VI. Natalie Portman took the Best Actress award for her role in Black Swan, another well-deserved accolade. But the one award that deserved a lot of adulation was the Best Supporting Actor award won by Christian Bale for his role in The Fighter. To go back a few months, the trailer for the movie itself had piqued my interest and boldly I had made a prediction. Read the last line from my old post... http://bucksandcorn.blogspot.com/2010/09/it-is-100-for-stallone.html. This is what it says "Too early to say, but looking at the trailer I wonder if... Oscar buzz for Christian Bale?" Well, the prediction turned true and The Fighter has put another feather on this talented actor's cap. Christian Bale has hardly done anything wrong since he broke into the A-list of actors in 2005 with the role of the caped crusader in Batman Begins. What has followed have been various kind of roles ranging from the competitive magician in the classy The Prestige to the disgruntled rancher in the westerner 3:10 to Yuma to the portrayal of the legend Bob Dylan in I'm Not There. Another bumper commercial success with The Dark Knight was followed by the portrayal of the iconic character of John Connor making Christian Bale part of the Terminator Series. And now the commercial and critical success for his performance in The Fighter has been perfectly capped with the Academy Award. What's next? True to his ability to play an enormous range of characters, Bale would be part of a low-budget Chinese film, The 13 Women of Nanjing, on the Nanking Massacre that occurred during World War II when Japanese soldiers attacked the former capital of China. After this, Christian Bale would again reprise his role as Batman in The Dark Knight Rises, scheduled to be released in July 2012. Wow, that is some diversity! And the best part is that this British actor is only 37 with a long career ahead of him, one that no doubt going to continue to impress and entertain.

As for the movies of this weekend. March starts off with a range of movies, and some bigger and better names are now being heard, which is a good sign. The two big movies of this weekend would surely be the animated flick Rango with the voice of Johnny Depp behind the lead, and The Adjustment Bureau starring Matt Damon that has the blend of thriller and romance in it. One animated movie has already done reasonably well this year, the lesser known Gnomeo and Juliet, which has raked in $78 million so far and was #2 on the US box office charts for the last weekend, and Rango would be looking at keeping the interest in animated flicks still going. While both these movies may not take the box office by storm, it could mark the beginning of better things to come. Or so we can hope!

Oscar Night!

The weekend is more likely to be remembered for the Oscars than the movies that are releasing. Nicolas Cage's yet another attempt to produce a hit with Drive Angry 3D is more likely to fall short. Season of the Witch released earlier this year has hardly managed $25 million at the US box office, and now it seems another of Cage's movies will make us forget what an actor he was in the likes of Leaving Las Vegas and City of Angels. Hall Pass is the other release of the weekend starring Owen Wilson and its theme seems perfect for a B-grade comedy. Quite likely that many will 'pass' this one too! But a night of accolades beckons with the Oscars inching closer. In the past, the Oscar movies have not necessarily been commercial hits, but this time it seems to have been different. While Toy Story 3 and Inception have been massive hits, it has also been good to see the likes of True Grit, Black Swan and The King's Speech, all crossing the $100 million mark at the US box office, with the Oscar fever no doubt helping them along. The Fighter and The Social Network have also not been much behind, underlying the fact that movies praised by the critics and those loved by the audience may not be necessarily different. And this should also encourage big production houses to promote such low budget ventures (production budget of Black Swan was hardly $13 million and of The King's Speech was $15 million) and give them the reach these movies deserve. So a splendid night awaits. Colin Firth and Natalie Portman look favourites to walk away with the Oscars statues, but then the Oscars do have a trick up their sleeves at times... A glamorous night awaits!

I Am Number Four is not Number 1

The disappointing numbers continue to surface. While I Am Number Four, a young sci-fi movie based on a popular book, seemed destined to gain the top spot at the weekend box office, the numbers told a different tale. The sci-fi was pipped by Liam Neeson starrer Unknown that has drawn comparisons with Neeson's 2009 surprise hit Taken. To draw parallels, Taken had also been released earlier in the year (in January 2009) and had an opening US box office collection of $25 million. Backed by strong reviews, Taken went on to earn $145 million at the US box office while its worldwide revenues totalled $225 million. Unknown has done good business with earnings of $22 million at the US box office over the weekend, considering that its production budget would not have been huge, though its collections matching up with Taken in the long run remains a big question mark. The less said about I Am Number Four, the better. And that is how I intend to keep it. More interesting would be to watch the new Thor trailer that definitely has upped the anxiousness for the release of the movie. April seems so far far away....

Will Number Four bring back the spark?

It is becoming hard not to a stifle a yawn. I understand the big blockbusters are meant for the Summer period, but the run-in does not necessarily have to be so mediocre. At least this had not been the problem last year. Shutter Island had been released in February, Alice in Wonderland came in March. Things were bright and rosy then! Come to 2011, and the skies seem to have darkened. The first hope of a $100 million movie, The Green Hornet, is still struggling near the finish line. It had reached $92 million by last weekend but the sprint has rapidly become a stroll, and the $100 million mark now seems miles away. On the other hand, Black Swan managed to edge past the $100 million mark in the previous week at the US box office, and deservedly so on on the back of numerous Oscar nominations, making it the 28th movie released in 2010 to do so.

This weekend hopes rest with a young sci-fi flick I Am Number Four. The movie should appeal to the young crowd though a strong storyline would be much needed to make up for the absence of any starpower. Comparisons have been drawn with the immensely successful Twilight series, though I find these to be quite pre-mature. I Am Number Four has not created any buzz of the intensity that hounded the Twilight movies. But on the bright side, included amongst its list of producers are the likes of Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg, and many would agree that these guys usually know what they are doing. Tough to take a call on whether I Am Number Four would revitalise what has otherwise been a drab start to the year, but it would definitely ward off the other releases of the weekend, the thriller Unknown starring Liam Neeson and the comedy Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son starring Martin Lawrence. Even if this weekend does not go well, we have the Oscars to look forward to during the next weekend! (trying to stay positive...)

February... yawn!

January pretty much disappointed and I am sorry to say, but there is not much to look forward to in February either. Three weeks have not been enough for The Green Hornet to make $100 million, which is the biggest movie of this year so far. Last weekend, Jason Statham's The Mechanic opened to really lousy numbers while Anthony Hopkins starrer The Rite was surprisingly at the top of the weekend charts despite only earning $14 million. That is lame! There is some hope left with I Am Number Four, the sci-fi thriller that has piqued my interest, releasing on the third week of this month. But apart from that, I would not surprised if February remains a dud overall. Maybe the month is only meant for the Oscars after all. Some of the movies in the Oscars list could get a boost though if the awards come their way, and deservedly so. Colin Firth for best actor and Natalie Portman for best actress. Does that sound about right? Come February 27, and we shall all find out...