Dave McNary of Variety:
A trio of pics -- Nicolas Cage sci-fi disaster pic "Knowing," Julia Roberts romantic caper "Duplicity" and Paul Rudd-Jason Segel buddy comedy "I Love You, Man" -- are expected to fuel another strong weekend at the domestic box office.
All three have solid-to-strong tracking among their respective target demos.
Summit Entertainment opens "Knowing" in 3,332 theaters, making it the widest release of the sesh.
The new titles will likely push Disney holdover "Race to Witch Mountain" to No. 4 in its second weekend, although as a family film it has a competitive edge. "Witch Mountain" topped the box office last weekend.
Paramount and DreamWorks open "I Love You, Man" in 2,711 runs. Film follows in the footsteps of such titles as "Wedding Crashers" and "Pineapple Express." There's even a new expression to describe the genre -- "bromantic comedies."
Universal's "Duplicity," debuting in 2,575, pairs Roberts with Clive Owen. Pic marks a return to the sort of romantic fare on which the actress built her career.
U expects the film to debut with at least $15 million. Femme-driven films can have sturdy legs, so a big opening isn't required.
"Duplicity" is tracking best among women over age 25, but men could turn out, too. "I Love You, Man" will draw younger eyeballs, usually an advantage, and has received the best reviews among the three pics.
"Knowing" is showing the most interest among men. Cage has starred in a number of genre actioners, often with good results. "Ghost Rider" scored Cage his highest opening weekend at $45.4 million in February 2007.
Box office forecasters expect "Knowing" to perform more along the lines of "Gone in Sixty Seconds," which opened to $25.3 million, or "Con-Air," which bowed to $24.1 million.
Fox's male-driven actioner "Taken" has been the sleeper hit of 2009, along with Sony comedy "Paul Blart: Mall Cop." Summit and Par hope to continue that trend with "Knowing" and "I Love You, Man," while U will look to "Duplicity" to drive up the sort of grosses enjoyed by several femme-driven pics in the last year...
Joshua Rich of EW:
It'll be a tight fight for supremacy at the box office this weekend, as three big new releases -- the buzzy R-rated comedy I Love You, Man, the Julia Roberts spy movie Duplicity, and the Nicolas Cage sci-fi flick Knowing..
Reviews for Man seem strongest--While Knowing opens in the most theaters..Can Julia open BIG in her trademark genre?...
Next Week: It's a battle royale in the CGI animated Monsters VS Aliens--And the dopey looking The Haunting in Connecticut
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