SPEARE'S TIPS - The Films of 5/28

[Buscemi]

He was on the last season of Growing Pains. By then, people had stopped watching since Kirk Cameron's huge ego had become well-known by then.

[W]

I never understood the disdain for casting a white guy in the role of The Last Samurai... He was an ex Civil War soldier that was sent to train Chinese troops and subsequently falls in love with the culture and people, he wasn't a Chinaman. I haven't seen it yet, but isn't that what Lawrence of Arabia is, basically, just English army instead of Union/US?

[Buscemi]

Japanese, W. The samurai is in Japan.

[W]

You know what I meant...

[numbersix]

You're right, W, it is about an American who ends up in Japan. I guess the racism argument is not about the casting, but about writing a story in which the troubles of a nation can only be solved when an Americn comes in and somehow makes it better. The same argument has been applied to Avatar. Don't think they really stand up as arguments though.

[W]

Well, the Americans come and help to eff things up in the first place by training the "evil" army as musketeers.

[Shrykespeare]

BOM Friday Estimates:

Sex and the City 2, $13M ($27.2M 2-day)
Shrek Forever After, $11.4M
Prince of Persia, $10.2M
Iron Man 2, $4.4M
Robin Hood, $2.8M

Guess I was wrong this time. Oh well.

[J.I.]

Well you predicted Shrek Forever After to win the weekend and it most likely will.

But this has been an awful May at the box office.

[undeadmonkey]

seriously upset that i dont have more shreks on my slates. it's holding pretty well. better than shrek the third did. and your right it has been a pretty uneventful May. here's hoping for a more exciting June.

[J.I.]

So now both Sex and the City 2 and Prince of Persia will struggle to, if not miss out on, the $100 million mark. And Sex and the City 2 will make less in its opening 5-days than the original made in its first three days.

Wow, it looks like the disappointment that is Shrek Forever After will end up doing something that no other movie in the series has done: win three weekends in a row.

[Shrykespeare]

BOM Sunday Estimates (Fri-Sun)


Top 5:
5 points - Shrek Forever After, $43.34M
4 points - Sex and the City 2, $32.13M ($46M incl. Thu.)
3 points - Prince of Persia, $30.17
2 points - Iron Man 2, $16M
1 point - Robin Hood, $10.3M

So I was right about Shrek 4, and missed it by only 6%. I was actually almost spot on with SATC2, it was just PoP where I goofed. Still, not bad. Iron Man 2 is now up to $274M, and, though it may take 2-3 weeks to get there, it most likely WILL reach that coveted $300M plateau. It won't outdo the original, though, and it certainly won't catch Alice in Wonderland for #1 for the year.

Robin Hood and SATC MAY reach $100M, we'll see. Prince of Persia, if I had to bet money, probably won't. Date Night currently stands at $93.4M and will also probably fall just short. Still, I would say that film exceeded its expectations.


PTA:

5 points - Micmacs
4 points - Shrek 4
3 points - Sex 2
2 points - Prince of Persia
1 point - Please Give

No word yet on Survival of the Dead, but I'm not hopeful. Gotta love those Frenchies!


User Ratings:

Prince of Persia - 6.9
Sex and the City 2 - 3.8 (no surprise)
Survival of the Dead - 5.5
Micmacs - 7.3

[Shrykespeare]

BOM has now gone official with its weekend results (both 3-day and 4-day). The PTA points as laid out above stand. Survival of the Dead only manages a $2,188 PTA in 20 theaters.

[silversurfer19]

Didn't Iron Man beat Please Give for the final PTA point?

[Shrykespeare]

I stand corrected. Good catch, Mr. Radd.

[Chienfantome]

I love those frenchies indeed, Shryke