Crowd Control

This week brings an unusually large number of high profile releases into the box office mix:

Stranger Than Fiction (reviews) offers up the team of Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson; The film A Good Year (reviews) marks a lighter turn for Russell Crowe as he teams up once again with director Ridley Scott; It's another spook fest for Sarah Michelle Gellar in The Return (reviews); Hot off his success in The Prestige a few weeks ago, Christian Bale helps bring about Harsh Times (reviews) as both Executive Producer and star. Written and directed by David Ayer (Training Day-2001) it looks intense. Meanwhile, last week's champ, Borat (reviews) goes wider, as does possible Oscar contender Babel (reviews).

Ian Mohr of Variety sets the weekend cineplex table for us:

Fox is getting a do-over of sorts this weekend on its left-field hit "Borat."

After dramatically slashing the number of prints on the pic for its opening frame, Fox still wound up at No. 1. Now the studio will expand the R-rated pic to 2,566 engagements to try and mop up any B.O. bucks it missed by cutting its print count.

Studio, meanwhile, sends its "A Good Year" into a frame filled with arty pics, which include an expansion of "Babel" and the lit comedy "Stranger Than Fiction."

With "Borat" the frontrunner for the frame, Fox feels that, with word of mouth swelling, pic will play as well outside the primo urban centers where it raked in huge per-playdate numbers last frame. With "Borat" taking in over $3 million on Monday and Tuesday, pic should easily fend off any competish to land at No. 1 again.

"Borat" will also likely prevail on the foreign front after a socko international launch of $18.6 million at only 993 playdates in 17 markets last weekend, with U.K. auds accounting for nearly two-thirds of that total.

Fox, meanwhile, will be shooting for more urbane auds with Ridley Scott's "A Good Year," the story of a London trader who opts out of the fast lane for life at an inherited chateau.

Pic, starring Russell Crowe and going into 2,066, is tracking slightly better with females over 25. But it's one of a handful of pics heading into the fall fray this frame that will try to tempt upscale auds.

Paramount Vantage has "Babel," the starry ensemble pic that will move from 35 to 1,251 playdates.

Pic, which has taken in $5.2 million in two limited release frames, will roll out in fewer engagements than "Year" and Sony's "Stranger" but may be able to draw more interest with a cast that includes Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael Garcia Bernal.

Sony will bow "Stranger," starring Will Farrell as a man who finds his fate dictated by a novelist, on 2,264.

Studio previously handled a similarly arty litpic, "Adaptation," which it bowed in limited release in 2002. But Sony sees "Stranger" as having broader appeal.

"This film is far more accessible to a wider audience," Sony distribution [President] Rory Bruer said. "It's still smart and fresh, but in every screening, audiences have embraced the film."

MGM rolls out the gritty cop drama "Harsh Times" in 956 precincts. Pic played Sundance this year

Continued...

Despite all of the competition out there Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly had no problem also saying: "Borat" will repeat at the top...

The crowded and diverse) field sets up for an interesting mid-November weekend at the movies.