"Wulf" In The Fold

Let's face it. Of the three new flicks that are opening wide this week Robert Zemeckis' CGI/3-D enhanced Beowulf (reviews) is getting the most attention; There's the family friendly Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (reviews) brought to you by Zach Helm; Finally, it's another mind-bender from Richard Kelly as Southland Tales (reviews), held back, finally sees the light of day...

Pamela McClintock and Dave McNary of Variety:

In the widest domestic rollout of a digital 3-D film to date, Paramount will unspool Robert Zemeckis' big-budget "Beowulf" on roughly 740 3-D screens when it opens the violent animated epic in a total of 3,164 theaters this weekend. Film began playing in some locations Thursday evening.

"Beowulf," drawn from the 9th-century epic poem, also is getting an aggressive foreign day-and-date release.

Hollywood studios are investing heavily in 3-D releases, although there are still a limited number of screens equipped with the needed technology. That means a movie like "Beowulf" will still play mostly on traditional 2-D screens.

The weekend's other wide release is Fox Walden's G-rated family fantasy title "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium," starring Natalie Portman, Dustin Hoffman and Jason Bateman. Film was written and directed by "Stranger Than Fiction" scribe Zach Helm in his feature directorial debut.

New Line opens filmmaker Mike Newell's "Love in the Time of Cholera" in 852 theaters. Based on the acclaimed book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and adapted by Ronald Harwood, film toplines Javier Bardem.

Forecasters say "Beowulf," which cost $150 million to produce and was largely financed by Steve Bing's Shangri-La Entertainment, has a strong shot at the weekend crown, placing the box office haul at somewhere between $20 million and $25 million.

Shangri-La put up roughly $100 million of the film's budget, with Par making up the difference. Warner Bros. is a distribution partner on the film, and is releasing the pic internationally.

While "Beowulf" is the biggest test yet of digital 3-D, the first movies that will truly live or die on this technology are James Cameron's "Avatar" and DreamWorks Animation's "Monsters. vs. Aliens," both of which bow in 2009, when there are predicted to be many more 3-D screens.

"Beowulf," rated PG-13, employs the same motion-capture technology Zemeckis used in making "The Polar Express." Pic's ensemble voice cast includes Ray Winstone, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich and Robin Wright Penn.

While Par, Shangri-La and Warners are hoping to appeal to the same aud that made Warners' "300" a hit, they say "Beowulf" has to overcome the challenge of being an animated film meant for older auds, and not kids.

To that end, they are leveraging the 3-D factor in selling the film. Of the 741 3-D screens it will play on, 84 will be Imax 3-D screens...

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Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly:

The motion-capture epic should top the chart, but considering the erratic performance of recent releases, you never know...



"Southland"'s apocalyptic undertone may be hard for some to take-but as a fan of Kelly's I'm hoping that it does well enough--factoring in that it's had a 2-day head start.

Next Week: Will you be Enchanted or engulfed by the Mist?--Even as the Hitman comes gunning for us all.