Hellboy and The Golden Army (reviews) leads the way; While Brendan Fraser goes on a Journey to the Center of the Earth (reviews) a remake of the 1959 classic; And Eddie Murphy wants you to Meet Dave (reviews)....
Dave McNary and Pamela McClintock of Variety
Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's "Hellboy II: The Golden Army" will try to do hellish business at the weekend box office and overtake holdover "Hancock," although it could be tough.
Two PG family films also enter the scene -- 3-D action-adventure "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and Eddie Murphy comedy "Meet Dave" -- but neither has significant buzz, particularly the latter.
Universal opens "Golden Army" in 3,204 theaters, while 20th Century Fox and New Regency unspool "Dave" in 3,011.
"Journey," produced by New Line and Walden Media, will see the widest release yet for a 3-D pic. Warner Bros. opens the film in 854 theaters equipped with digital 3-D screens, as well as 1,957 conventional runs. Last fall, there were only 656 digital 3-D screens up and running when Paramount opened Robert Zemeckis' "Beowulf" in 3,153 runs.
"Beowulf" opened to $27.5 million on its way to cuming $82.2 million in the U.S., but higher-priced 3-D tickets, which cost $3-$4 more than a normal ducat, generated a significant chunk of the pic's overall gross.
"Journey's" appeal is that it's the first-live action film shot in digital 3-D to be released in theaters; it's also for kids. "Beowulf," which was rated PG-13 and played older, was shot with motion-capture technology.
"Journey," based on the classic Jules Verne tale, isn't expected to open as big as "Beowulf" but is predicted to outperform "Dave." Warners believes "Journey" will have good playability.
Tracking is tepid at best for "Dave," which could bring Murphy his lowest opening gross since the ill-fated "Adventures of Pluto Nash" in 2002. "Dave" may not hit the $10 million mark this weekend, although it could have an advantage in playing to smaller tots.
Murphy, who's loath to do much press for his films, didn't turn up for the premiere of "Dave" in Westwood earlier this week after he requested that Fox and New Regency throw the bash.
"Dave" features Murphy playing two roles: a spaceship made to look human and the ship's miniature alien captain.
With a production budget around $60 million, "Dave" was co-financed by New Regency, Fox and studio partner Dune Equity Management.
Murphy's last live-action comedy, DreamWorks' "Norbit," opened to $34.2 million in February 2007 on its way to grossing $95.7 million domestically.
While "Journey" and "Dave" go after families and kids, "Golden Army" will be the latest player competing for male attention.
U has extensively marketed the film, which reunites del Toro with topliner Ron Perlman, who starred in the 2004 "Hellboy." Chances are good that "Golden Army" will outpace the $23.1 million opening of "Hellboy." Film franchise is based on the Dark Horse Comics character, an alien demon who is raised on Earth and fights on behalf of the U.S. government.
The first "Hellboy" was produced by Joe Roth's Revolution and released through Sony. Universal acquired the property after Revolution shuttered. First film grossed $59 million domestically and $100 million worldwide.
While "Golden Army" is appealing primarily to men, older women are showing interest as well, according to tracking.
"Golden Army" is drawing strong reviews, harvesting an 82% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of Thursday afternoon. Early reviews for "Journey" are good as well, with the pic scoring an 89% fresh rating. "Dave" was lagging well behind with a 33% fresh rating...
Joshua Rich of EW:
Guillermo del Toro's comic-fantasy sequel has the edge against ''Meet Dave'' and ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' this weekend
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The only reason we had 3 new wide releases this week was so they can get out of the way of The Dark Knight!!
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