The Hour Is At Hand

Do you feel the Rush?

Director Brett Ratner and the boys return for Rush Hour 3 (reviews); Daddy Day Camp (reviews)--which opened on Wednesday may be another sign that Oscar winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. should fire his agent; Meanwhile the film adaptation of Neil Gaiman's fantasy novel Stardust (reviews) goes for the Harry Potter crowd; Finally the much delayed horror flick SkinWalkers (reviews) creeps into theaters... The film had it's premiere at Cannes last year! Can you say not a good sign...?

Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan In The Third Hour

Pamela McClintock and Dave McNary of Variety:

Returning the "Rush Hour" martial arts buddy franchise to the big screen was anything but a rush job, yet the wait seems to have been worth it for New Line and director Brett Ratner.

"Rush Hour 3," in which Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker reprise their roles as the comedic cop duo, has a clear shot at collaring the competish and cornering the weekend market. Pic opens today in 3,778 theaters, six years after the last installment played.

Paramount will have a much harder time luring auds to filmmaker Matthew Vaughn's fantasy epic "Stardust," which the studio admits is a tough sell. Ensemble cast includes Charlie Cox, Sienna Miller, Peter O'Toole, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes and Rupert Everett.

"Stardust," rolling out in 2,540 theaters, is the last release of the year from Par proper. Studio, which said the film cost $70 million to make, put up $35 million; the rest of the coin came from private equity.

On the family front, Sony and Revolution's sequel "Daddy Day Camp," playing in 2,332 theaters, shouldn't pose too much competition for Disney holdover "Underdog," which heads into its second frame.

"Day Camp," starring Cuba Gooding Jr., grossed $773,706 when it quietly opened on Wednesday. That's well behind the $1.7 million posted by "Underdog" on Wednesday, as well as far behind the $7.6 million opening-day take for "Daddy Day Care," toplining Eddie Murphy, in 2003.

After "Rush Hour 3," holdovers "The Bourne Ultimatum," "The Simpsons Movie," "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," "Hairspray" and "Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix" are expected to display plenty of strength as they compete with the rest of the new entries.

Thanks largely to a bountiful July box office, summer 2007 is looking to be the best on record, running 9% over last summer and 5% ahead of 2004, the previous record-holder.

Heading into its second frame, filmmaker Paul Greengrass' "Bourne" is close to breaking the $100 million mark at the domestic box office. Threequel had grossed $92.6 million through Wednesday, according to Rentrak...

The entire article can be found here

As an added bonus: Be sure to read McClintock's Wednesday article called Third time's the charm for summer-for more number crunchin'

Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly writes of the latest box office bout:

Expect the Tucker-Chan reunion to stop ''Bourne'' and far outpace other newcomers ''Stardust'' and ''Daddy Day Camp''...

...Taking over for Eddie Murphy in a second rate sequel--Cuba what were ya thinking?

Next Up: Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig prepare for The Invasion and the boys of Superbad make their mark!