Dave McNary of Variety:
Will comedy fans support a more serious Adam Sandler?
That's the key question as Universal opens Judd Apatow's "Funny People" at 3,008 playdates amid widely varied box office forecasts ranging from the low 20s to the mid 30s.
The consensus is that "Funny People" will out-perform the second frames of Disney's 3-D toon "G-Force" and Sony romantic comedy "The Ugly Truth" as well as the third sesh of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."
Fox's PG-13 family comedy "Aliens in the Attic," starring Ashley Tisdale, has been positioned in the mix as a counter-programming play, with 3,105 locations, and should launch in the low teens. And Freestyle's going after horror buffs with home-invasion thriller "The Collector" at 1,325. Pic is unlikely to approach last weekend's $12.9 million launch for "Orphan."
But the focus is squarely on "Funny People," which co-stars Seth Rogen and Apatow's wife Leslie Mann.
On the plus side, Sandler's box office track record is sterling, with 10 titles that have surpassed the $100 million mark in domestic grosses. And U's extensive promo push has highlighted the pic as Apatow's third helming effort, after major hits with "Knocked Up" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."
But "Funny People" has downbeat elements: Sandler's character deals with a disease, while the pic sports a running time of 150 minutes and an R rating -- though the rating didn't seem to hurt "The Hangover," now nearing $250 million after two months.
U distribution chief Nikki Rocco notes that the "Funny People" campaign is aimed at positioning the title as a more serious comedy as tentpole season begins winding down....
Nicole Sperling of EW:
Judd Apatow-Adam Sandler teamup is money in the bank; [about $35 mil]
The last time Sandler did a dramedy (2006 pic Click) I thought turned out to be a mixed effort at best....Though I think Funny's longer running will eat into its bottom line more than anything else will...
No matter how much $$ Funny brings in Apatow has reason to smile....
As the blockbuster season hits the home stretch for '09: Channing Tatum, Dennis Quaid, Sienna Miller, and Marlon Wayans lead GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra into the box office battle; Amy Adams and Meryl Streep are Julie & Julia; It's anything but A Perfect Getaway for Steve Zahn and Milla Jovovich under the helm of David Twohy...
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