Pre-Summer Sell-Off

The Wednesday opening of the doc Earth (reviews) broke a record for the genre--And now today it's joined by 3 other wide openers:

The Soloist (reviews) brings Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx together hoping the combo will make beautiful box office; Ali Larter is Obsessed (reviews) over Idris Elba; While Channing Tatum (pictured )is Fighting (reviews) for box office street cred...



Pamela McClintock of Variety:

Earth Day was green in more ways than one for Disneynature's "Earth," which nabbed the best opening-day gross ever for a documentary (excluding concert films) in sowing $4 million at 1,804 theaters.

Many documentaries -- including "Fahrenheit 9/11" and "March of the Penguins" -- begin as limited releases and so can't be compared with "Earth." This weekend is a case in point as Sony Pictures Classics opens James Toback's "Tyson" in 11 theaters in New York and L.A.

"Earth" shares the marquee this weekend with three other new wide releases at the domestic B.O. -- Sony's stalker thriller "Obsessed," Paramount's "The Soloist" and Universal's "Fighting." It's the final sesh before summer kicks off at the box office May 1 with the release of 20th Century Fox's "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

"Obsessed," from Screen Gems, is the frontrunner heading into the weekend, according to tracking. Sony opens the pic, which stars Beyonce Knowles, Idris Elba and Ali Larter, in 2,541 runs.

After that, the forecast gets murky. "The Soloist," starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jaime Foxx, could find itself in a three-way race for No. 2 alongside holdover "17 Again" and "Earth."

Produced by DreamWorks, "Soloist" was originally set to open in late 2008. Par takes the drama out in 2,024 locations.

"Fighting," starring Channing Tatum, is trailing in the tracking. Film is from Rogue Pictures, which is now owned by Relativity Media. U markets and distributes all Rogue titles on behalf of Relativity.

The three new features will be going after different auds. "Obsessed" should get females, plus their boyfriends or husbands. "Soloist" will be driven by adults, while "Fighting" will go for male eyeballs.

Joshua Rich of EW:

Forget what the calendar says, box office fans -- summer's almost here! At the movies, that is. Just one weekend remains before Hollywood starts rolling out its big silly season blockbusters with [X-Men Origins: Wolverine] on May 1...

Also Next Week: Matthew McConaughey meets the Ghost of Girlfriends Past... And does anyone care about the Battle for Terra?