New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

We have something important to discuss with you. Are you sitting down? Okay. Deep breath.

Kim Hollis: Knocked Up earned $29.3 million this weekend from 2,871 venues. How much of a surprise is this three-day performance?

Reagen Sulewski: It's a mild surprise. I hadn't expected the jump from Steve Carell to Seth Rogen in Apatow's films to be so smooth.

Kim Hollis: It beat tracking and was a few million over my own personal expectations. I'm frankly thrilled to see audiences embrace Apatow once again. Also, I was just noticing that 57% of the audience was female, with 56% over 30, so it appealed to a much different set than your typical sex comedy.

David Mumpower: Knocked Up stars a television actress and a guy who isn't Hollywood pretty in even the most generous meaning of the word. Becoming the fifth largest R-Rated comedy opener of all time with this motley crew is an impressive feat. This is twice in a row that Apatow has spun straw into gold. He's well on his way to becoming a Hollywood legend.

Reagen Sulewski: He's hit on a pretty simple but genius idea, really - combine the frat boy comedy with chick flick themes.

David Mumpower: That's a great point, Reagen. It's the most unlikely demographic combination since Rush Hour.

Kim Hollis: You've really gotta credit the marketing on this one. It reached out to exactly the right people. It would have been so easy for both this and The 40 Year-Old Virgin to just be cult flicks for Apatow fans. It's a testament to his writing ability and sense of humor that he keeps knocking it out of the park.

Tim Briody: "Don't let him near the kid, he wants to *rear* your child" is the funniest line from a movie trailer so far this year. It's nice to see a comedy breakout based on being genuinely entertaining. Wild Hogs appealed to older audiences, and Blades of Glory was the still-hot Will Ferrell and Napoleon Dynamite, and neither looked as funny as this.

David Mumpower: Apatow also announced this weekend that Knocked Up co-star Harold Ramis is going to direct his next production, and it will star Jack Black. He seems to have a core group of featured players for his movies, and reusing this eclectic but talented bunch has put him on the fast track to being the next Jerry Bruckheimer.

Reagen Sulewski: So his explosions will be full of heart?

David Mumpower: Wouldn't you hate to be the guy from Fox now having to explain why he wasn't able to market Undeclared? It's exactly this group of people minus Heigl.

Kim Hollis: Yeah, Knocked Up was almost like watching a movie where the Freaks grew up and were dealing with the beginning of adult life (especially since Rogen, Jason Segel and Martin Starr were part of the core group of friends). It's a nice progression.

Reagen Sulewski: Obviously we need to convince Tim Minear to switch to films as well.

Maybe Mr. Brooks should have played a little soccer for wider ranging appeal

Kim Hollis: There were a couple of other new releases this weekend whose successes were less laudable. Mr. Brooks, the movie where Kevin Costner finally confessed to being a serial killer, earned $10 million, while Gracie managed $1.4 million with a miserable per venue average of $1,160. What are your thoughts on these two performances?

Reagen Sulewski: I think that this was potentially the only real interesting use for Costner these days other than another sports movie. If he has an opening weekend larger than that in the next five years that isn't either him as a villain or an athlete, I'll be surprised.

David Mumpower: Mr. Brooks did exactly as well as I expect, which is to say it did nothing much. As John Hamann pointed out, Costner's track record is much better than this historically but this project never seemed to be anything more than an opportunity for him to play against type. Gracie is a sweet, personal story for the Shue family and I wish it had done better, but it wasn't to be.

Reagen Sulewski: Gracie basically hit the floor for a wide released film that was actually marketed. That's about 15 people per screening.

Kim Hollis: Really, both movies did about exactly what I expected. Costner doesn't really have a following anymore, and Gracie was pretty tough to market. It probably should have started as a limited release.

David Mumpower: I disagree, Kim. It's Mr. Brooks I am surprised didn't start in limited release. This seems to be an Oscar candidacy attempt for Costner, at least in theory. Starting it wide while ignoring its likelihood to be gone in a month is a poor decision on the part of MGM.

Joel Corcoran: I hardly noticed either of these two movies, though Costner playing a serial killer is intriguing. And I think y'all are right - Gracie should've been a limited release.

Kim Hollis: If nothing else, the producers of Goal 2 ought to be re-thinking their release strategy right about now.

Continued:       1       2       3