Will Smith Save The Last Action Hancock?
The reviews aren’t great. The genre’s iffy. Will Smith’s the star.
As far as box-office business goes, everything should be fine.
Big things were expected, per usual, of Smith, and his less-than-usual latest, Hancock, opening Wednesday.
“I think it’s going to be another Will Smith gigantic opening weekend,” says box-office expert Paul Dergarabedian of Media by Numbers.
Dergarabedian predicted Hancock could make $75-$80 million from Friday-Sunday, and expected the film to clear $100 million, easy, over its first five days, from Wednesday-Sunday. An opening of that size would lift Hancock, the tale of an unconventional superhero, right into the airpspace of Iron Man.
Box Office Guru’s Gitesh Pandya sees a slightly more modest opening weekendmaybe $65 million from Friday-Sunday. But he also sees an overall huge five-day grossmaybe as much as $110 million.
Like Dergarabedian, Pandya’s betting on Smith, and not necessarily the movie, a superhero, action, comedy, drama hybrid that recently was compared tooh, cruelest of putdowns!The Last Action Hero by Variety.
“It’s going to be a very big Will Smith opener because of star power and the action,” Pandya wrote in an email.
As for the second weekend…
Suggested Pandya: “It should play out more like Men in Black II or Wild Wild West.”
MiB II and Wild Wild West are two of the lesser-loved entries on Smith’s Internet Movie Database page. But they’re also two of the 11 films that Smith has helped push past the $100 million markMiB II grossed $190.4 million in 2002, per Box Office Mojo; Wild Wild West, mechanical spiders and all, came away with $113.8 million in 1999.
“Will Smith can open any movie,” Dergarabedian says.
Smith’s reputation says he’s especially good at opening movies over the Fourth of July, which just so happens to be Friday.
Hancock will be Smith’s fifth Independence Day-timed release. Of his others, each, with the exception of Wild Wild West, grossed at least $190 millionthe heftiest, Independence Day, appropriately, weighed in at $306.2 million.
This Fourth of July, however, could be Smith’s trickiest yet.
For one thing, the holiday falls on a Friday. Dergarabedian wonders if firework shows and other activities will keep audiences away from theaters on one of Hollywood’s favorite date nights. (The original Men in Black, which costarred Smith and which also ran into a Friday Fourth of July back in 1997, made out okayit ended up grossing $250.7 million.)
For another thing, Hancock is Smith’s worst-reviewed Fourth of July movie on record at Rotten Tomatoes since, well, Wild Wild West. At one point today, the movie’s Tomatometer reading stood at a chilly 32 percent, with 23 positive reviews outflanked by 50 “rotten” ones.
The Chicago Tribune called Hancock a “D-list project.” The Los Angeles Times found it “bizarre and unsatisfying.” The word “mishmash” was broken out by more than one critic. Roger Ebert (”a lot of fun”) and the New Yorker (”by far the most enjoyable big movie of the summer”) helped represent the minority opinion.
In the end, none of it may matter. At least not for the next several days.
Says Dergarabedian: “A Will Smith movie on the Fourth of July is about as sure a bet as you can get…I think it’s bulletproof this weekend.”
USA gives series order to The Starter Wife
Good news for Debra Messing and all of the others involved in the miniseries The Starter Wife. After garnering some pretty decent ratings and several Emmy nominations, USA Networks has given a full series order to the comedy-drama based on the successful novel by Gigi Levangie Grazer.
Former Will & Grace star Messing will return as Molly Kagan, the former Hollywood wife who is now experiencing a second chance at life after her recent divorce. Also returning will be the executive production team of Grazer, Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott. There is no information as to when filming will begin for the premiere season of The Starter Wife or when the first episode will air.
Wife was nominated for ten Emmy awards this year, including Outstanding Lead Actress in a Movie or Miniseries for Messing’s performance and Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Movie or Miniseries for Judy Davis. Davis won for her performance.
Vanessa Hudgens Heads Back to Texas
Vanessa Hudgens Heads Back to Texas
Drawing a close to her weekend back home in Studio City, Vanessa Hudgens made her way to Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday afternoon (February 17).
The High School Musical hottie, who was guided through the terminal with the help of a few security personnel, is headed back to Texas to continue filming her new movie “Will”.
As previously reported by , “Will” is a comedy/drama/musical filming in Austin, co-starring former Friends actress Lisa Kudrow and singing legend David Bowie.
A synopsis of the film tells: “A high school outcast’s bond with a popular girl over their shared love of music results in them assembling a rock group that looks to win their school’s upcoming battle of the bands competition.”
Lost’s Perrineau joins The Unusuals
Just last week, Harold Perrineau was wondering why his character was killed off on Lost, wishing the producers hadn’t blown Michael up with the freighter. He wasn’t out of work for long. Harold Perrineau has just been cast on a new ABC comedy/drama called The Unusuals. The pilot, which could be a mid-season replacement on ABC, is an hour set in a New York City police precinct.
Harold will play Detective Leo Banks, an agitated cop who’s so afraid of being shot or attacked that he’s never without his Kevlar bullet-proof vest. (Does he wear it in the john?) Sounds potentially funny. The writer of The Unusuals is Bones’ Noah Hawley and the executive producer is Peter Tolan (Rescue Me, The Larry Sanders Show), so there will be an emphasis on humor. Maybe not full-out Barney Miller, but still funny.
By the way, if there are any doubters that Lost has definitely killed Harold’s character, listen to what writer Damon Lindelof said about Michael. “He sacrificed his own life to redeem himself for past mistakes and to help the Oceanic 6 get off the island.”
And if that wasn’t an obit, Harold himself has commented on his Lost exit, which he believes is final. “I’m disappointed, mostly because I wanted Michael and Walt to have a happy ending. I was hoping Michael would get it together and actually want to be a father to his kid and try to figure out a way to get back [home]. But this is [the producers’] story. If I were writing it, I would write it differently.”