Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl engage in a search for The Ugly Truth (reviews) about the opposite sex; With voice work by Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz the live action/3-D family pic G-Force (reviews) hopes to get plenty of laughs from secret agent guinea pigs; And yet another creepy looking kid tries to scare the heck out of adults--in this case its Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga in Orphan(reviews)
The real question for this weekend is: Can any of the new flicks unseat current worldwide champ Harry Potter? Judging by the reviews for all 3 pics the answer to that question is most likely no...
Pamela McClintock of Variety:
It will be girls' night out at the weekend box office as Sony's romantic comedy "The Ugly Truth" and Warner Bros. horror pic "The Orphan" compete for femme eyeballs, while Disney goes after tots with 3-D toon "G-Force."
Ultimately, it's a race for No. 2, since holdover "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is a shoo-in for the top spot at the domestic B.O.
"Half-Blood Prince" is fast closing in on the $200 million mark. Domestic cume through Wednesday was $185 million.
Overseas, the sixth installment in the Warners franchise was expected to jump the $300 million mark by Thursday.
"Half-Blood Prince" is expected to dominate internationally over the weekend, although it will have to compete in Japan with new entry "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs." Fox held off opening "Ice Age 3" in Japan, a lucrative market for the animated franchise, until now.
Among the new offerings at the domestic B.O., "G-Force" and "Ugly Truth" are showing the most strength and could find themselves in a close contest.
"G-Force" opens in 3,697 runs, of which 1,603 are 3-D locations. Pic, about a pack of guinea pigs who become government operatives, is the first 3-D title produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. Voice cast includes Sam Rockwell, Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz and Tracy Morgan.
Box office observers say "G-Force" will likely debut in the $20 million-$30 million range.
According to tracking, "Ugly Truth" has plenty of sex appeal to women. Romantic comedy, opening in 2,882 runs, stars Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler as a TV producer and carefree playboy who are forced to work together. Summer has turned into fertile ground for femme-driven comedies, including this year's hit "The Proposal."
From Disney, "The Proposal" has cumed $132.2 million domestically since its release on June 19, one of the best showings ever for a summer romantic comedy. It's remained on the top 10 chart, although it could take a substantial hit with "Ugly Truth" unspooling.
"Orphan," produced by Joel Silver, is trailing "The Ugly Truth" substantially in tracking, with young women saying they plan on seeing "Ugly Truth" first. Both are rated R.
But if word of mouth is strong, "Orphan" could pick up. Bad-seed storyline revolves around an unwitting couple who adopt a spooky Russian girl. Cast includes Vera Farmiga, Peter Sarsgaard and Isabella Fuhrman. Warners and Silver have waged an aggressive marketing campaign for the film.
"Orphan" and "Ugly Truth" were drawing ho-hum reviews, but both could provide palatable date-night fare for the weekend...
Nicole Sperling of EW predicts a second consecutive weekend box office win for the boy wizard over guinea pigs, rom-com, and troublemaking orphan
Next Up: Judd Apatow lines up an all star cast of Funny People; Carter Jenkins, Austin Butler and High School Musical's Ashley Tisdale meet the Aliens In The Attic.
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