Friday, March 19, 2010

Mutiny On The Bounty?

This weekend's box office offers up a trio of fresh wide releases Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler pair up for the rom-com The Bounty Hunter (reviews); Thor Freudenthal opens the Diary of a Wimpy Kid (reviews); Jude Law and Forest Whitaker are Repo Men (reviees)




Andrew Stewart of Variety

...Universal's "Repo Men" tracking strongly among males. Fox's "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" targets tykes with Sony's Gerard Butler-Jennifer Aniston starrer "The Bounty Hunter" tracking well with females.

After a disappointing launch for U's "Green Zone" last weekend at the domestic box office, studio hopes to fare better with "Repo Men," starring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker, bowing at 2,522 locations.

Meanwhile, Disney's 3D juggernaut "Alice in Wonderland," which overpowered the frame's fresh openings last weekend with a haul of $62.7 million, should continue to capture auds as it enters its third frame.

At the specialty B.O., Apparition launches its music biopic about 70s rock band "The Runaways," starring Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning, at 244, while Focus Features' "Greenberg," directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Ben Stiller, opens at three engagements.

"Repo Men," co-financed by Relativity Media, tells the story of a future society where mechanical organs can be bought on credit, and repo men are sent to collect its property if the owner can't pay. U said it expects R-rated pic, directed by Miguel Sapochnik, to land in the low teens.

Comedy "The Bounty Hunter," launching at 3,074 engagements, is about a reporter (Aniston), who becomes the next target of a bounty hunter and her ex-husband, played by Butler.

Fox launches its adaptation of the best-selling illustrated novel, "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," about a wise-cracking junior high school student, at 3,077 playdates. Pic is directed by Thor Freudenthal and toplines Zachary Gordon as the title character, and Steve Zahn and Rachel Harris as his parents.

Holdovers entering their soph sesh include Iraq war-themed "Green Zone," which launched with $14.3 million, and Paramount's laffer "She's Out of My League" with $9.8 million in its opening frame. Summit's Robert Pattinson-starrer "Remember Me" opened with $8.1 million and Fox Searchlight's "Our Family Wedding," $7.6 million...

Nicole Sperling of EW says:

'Alice' likely to hold off new releases for a third weekend...

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