The birds fly to the top!

First it was rodents in the movie Rango that got things moving in the right direction, and now it is left to the macaws and other exotic birds to spark things up on the US box office. Rio did pretty well, considering the disappointing numbers floating around this year, and put up a good show with $39 million on its opening weekend. The reviews have not been bad either and maybe this is what the box office wanted, a bit of dance and music, a bit of romance, a bit of colour, and maybe now the sense of belief shown by the flightless macaw Blu would seep into the movie-going audience as well. That good things (read movies) are just around the corner! Scream 4 did not do too bad either taking in the second spot on the US box office last weekend but I don't figure it to stay there for too long. A fourth movie of a slasher series, these kinds usually die out soon. If past numbers are anything to go by, this weekend should witness strong opening numbers for the next movie in Tyler Perry's Madea series, called Madea's Big Happy Family. And competing with it would be the drama Water For Elephants, which is making the rounds more because of the presence of the Twilight star, Robert Pattinson. Pattinson would be romancing his 10-year senior Reese Witherspoon in this movie and going by the popularity of both these stars, the opening numbers should be good, though where it goes from there is tough to say. And of course, expect the macaws to be there in this fray, fighting for the top berth. If you have seen the movie then you would know, birds do not give it that easy!

Scream for the Birds!

Where are we now? In the middle of April. Two $100 million earning movies. One potentially on its way to make it soon (talking about Hop). And most importantly we are on the verge of the summer season to begin. In comparison with last year, 2011 frankly has hardly been anything great. By about the same time last year, Alice in Wonderland had become a monstrous hit with earnings already exceeding $300 million, Valentine's Day had appealed to the romantics with revenues of more than $100 million, Clash of the Titans despite its not so rave reviews was appealing to the worldwide audience and How to Train Your Dragon was already on the way to hit the $200 million mark and was talked about being Oscar-stuff. Film studios are going to have their hopes pinned on the mega releases lined up for the summer session if this year has to catch up. But before we enter the month of May, there are still a few movies trying to win the hearts of the audience. And Rio is a strong contender amongst this weekend's releases. An animated movie, with colourful birds, songs and dances, and exotic settings of Brazil, the ingredients have been carefully put in by Carlos Saldanha who has previously seen success with the Ice Age series. But will it be enough? If the numbers from Friday are anything to go by, Rio will easily be on top of the US charts by the end of the weekend but is unlikely to reproduce the numbers of the Ice Age series. There is still that feeling of connection missing from this movie, the soul that was very much present in the animated movies of last year that met with such incredible critical and commercial success. On the heels of Rio would be Scream 4, the fourth movie of the horror series that made white screaming masks quite a hit. Scream series has had its share of loyal followers in the past and the movies have done well commerically with Scream 3 being the only one not to make it to $100 million earnings at the US box office. But it has been 11 years since the release of Scream 3 and that seems quite a long time to reignite the series. The loyal followers would have moved on, new ones will be hooked to a range of other horror flicks that have emerged since then, and Scream 4 would have to put together a good script if it has any chance of recreating the magic of the old movies of the series. So let us hope the mediocrity that seems to have stemmed into Hollywood this year so far is broken soon. Fingers crossed!

A 100 at last....

The previous weekend saw the tough ladies of Sucker Punch being knocked to second spot by the wimpy kid of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules. So with $19 million on its first weekend at the US box office, Sucker Punch did not have the opening I was hoping for, though I enjoyed once again the oomph brought in by Zack Snyder in the way he shoots his movies. Laded with heavy music and zooming in on the smallest of objects, the altogether different style of shooting makes his movies more enjoyable and engrossing. Cannot wait to see what kind of a tone Mr. Snyder would be bringing in to the Superman movie that he is working on now. Hope more of this continues! Moving on, Rango and Just Go With It did eventually notch up the $100 million at the US box office though the overall collection for the first 3 months still remain short when compared to the previous year. String of new movies releasing this weekend to take on the burden of giving a push to the revenues. And all aimed at a different group of audience. Jake Gyllenhal is starring in the thriller Source Code that has a very gripping theme (time travel always fascinates!) though its trailer somehow failed to spark the interest that a classic sci-fi can do (watch trailer of the yet-to-be-released Super 8 if you do not get me). Hop, the story about the Easter Bunny's son, would be aimed at the family audience while the horror flick Insidious would be targeting the other segment who love the spooks and the chills. Movies now raining in thick and fast and more importantly we are inching towards the favourite time of the year... the summer season!