“A New Test for Studios: The August Box Office”
The NY Times looks at potential August box office here:
Is G.I. Joe a movie star? Can Nora Ephron still cook? Will Quentin Tarantino save the Weinstein brothers (or vice versa)?
These and other weighty questions — weighty, at least, for folks around here — are likely to be settled in the next few weeks as Hollywood heads into what promises to be an unusually nervous month at the box office.
August has typically been a dumping grounds for big budget movies that didn’t turn out well. There’s still some of that reflected in this August’s schedule, but also some interesting movies out that will try to connect with audiences. Here’s the schedule from BoxOfficeGuru.com:
Aug 7 G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Paramount
Julie & Julia Sony
Paper Heart (LTD) Overture
A Perfect Getaway Universal
Aug 14 Bandslam Summit
District 9 Sony
The Time Traveler’s Wife Warner Bros.
Aug 21 Inglourious Basterds Weinstein Co.
Post Grad Fox
Shorts Warner Bros.
Aug 28 The Final Destination Warner Bros.
H2 Weinstein Co.
Here’s the Times’ analysis of every studio’s slate for August:
UNIVERSAL
Universal appears to be lying low through August, with only “A Perfect Getaway,” a thriller from its recently sold Rogue Pictures unit, on its schedule.
SONY
Over at Sony Pictures, next weekend brings a test for Ms. Ephron and her “Julie & Julia,” another comic drama, which stars Meryl Streep as the chef Julia Child and Amy Adams as her young emulator, Julie Powell.
Sony, Hollywood’s fifth-ranked studio in terms of market share, needs something to brag about. “Angels & Demons” was the last Sony release to top $100 million at the domestic box office, with about $134 million in ticket sales after its May release.
PARAMOUNT
For Paramount, what is most at stake in August may be pride. The studio is ranked second at the box office, just behind Warner Brothers, and had enormous hits with “Star Trek” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” But Paramount has been fighting to ward off potential embarrassment foretold by online predictions that its “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra,” from the director Stephen Sommers, will be dead on arrival next weekend.
WARNER BROS.
Warner Brothers, having had an entirely expected summer hit with “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,” and an unexpected one with “The Hangover,” has devoted August to a pair of films from its New Line unit — “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and “The Final Destination,” a 3-D sequel — along with “Shorts,” a family film from the director Robert Rodriguez.
20TH CENTURY FOX
20th Century Fox did well with “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian,” and “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs,” and this month has a comedy, “Post Grad,” directed by Vicky Jenson, best known for her work on the animated “Shrek” and “Shark Tale.”
DISNEY
At least a bit of pride is also on the line at Walt Disney. On Aug. 14 that company will learn whether even the attentions of John Lasseter, its animation star and creative director, can make a hit of his favorite filmmaker, the Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. Disney is putting its muscle into the national release of Mr. Miyazaki’s “Ponyo,” which includes the voices of Tina Fey, Matt Damon and Liam Neeson, among others, in the English-language version.
And then there’s the case of the Weinstein brothers:
Harvey and Bob Weinstein, the company’s founders, are backing the Aug. 21 release of Mr. Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” an exceptionally bloody World War II action film that stars Brad Pitt.
For the Weinsteins, it is also about the future. To have resources for an Oscar push for their “Nine,” a musical due from the director Rob Marshall in November, they need more than Mr. Tarantino gave them with “Grindhouse,” which took in about $25 million at the domestic box office when the Weinsteins released it two years ago.
I’ll go with District 9 being the big B.O. winner in August.
How about you?
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