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

David Mumpower: Speaking on behalf of the "Layer Cake sucks" crowd, here is what I see when I look at Daniel Craig's body of work. He has several total failures such as The Golden Compass, The Invasion and (presumably) Cowboys and Aliens. His Oscar bait projects such as Infamous and Defiance earned no Oscar nods. And every time someone has taken a chance on casting him in a project where he wasn't James Bond, there isn't a lot of hindsight data to support the decision. I have no debate that simply by being the mega-abs iteration of 007, he's famous. And I guess he is technically a movie star since we all know who he is. In terms of box office, however, he has as little natural drawing power as any name actor I can ever recall. In point of fact, his presence in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo troubles me as I wonder his overall unpopularity will prevent the trilogy from breaking out in terms of box office the way that I would have expected had they cast pretty much anyone else.

Is there any other kind?

Kim Hollis: Crazy, Stupid Love earned $19.1 million over the weekend. What do you think of this result?

Edwin Davies: I think this is a really strong result, personally. These sort of mid-budget comedy-dramas that don't have immediate hooks beyond the cast are the type of films that can get lost in the summer shuffle, especially one which has been so over-stuffed with comedies anyway, and I can easily imagine a scenario in which this film opens to less than $10 million. If word-of-mouth is strong, this could comfortably end up in the $60-$65 million range, and even if it isn't, this start more or less guarantees that it will make its modest budget back.

Also, Emma Stone is very pretty. This has little to nothing to do with how I feel about the performance of the film, but I feel it needs to be said, lest we forget.

Matthew Huntley: It's solid and commendable, and I think the word-of-mouth will be strong given the reviews, but I'm surprised the movie cost nearly $50 million to produce. If the movie has any hopes of earning a profit sooner rather than later, it needs to drop by 40% or less next weekend. I think it can do it.

Jim Van Nest: It certainly falls right in line with what we're seeing from rom-coms here lately. There seems to be a $20 million ceiling that these films will no longer exceed on opening weekend. Aside from Tyler Perry films, these types of movies may start to become the easiest to predict. It actually has me wondering what it would take to have a romantic comedy really break out at the box office...or have we seen the end of that possibility as more and more people are willing to wait for DVD to see these types of movies?

David Mumpower: Steve Carell has clearly discovered his niche as a box office draw. These well intended character studies that double as romantic comedies are his wheelhouse, with the performance of Crazy, Stupid Love providing the latest demonstration . A quadruple bill of Date Night, Dan in Real Life, Get Smart and this would provide a tremendous amount of entertainment, most of it highbrow to boot. I am a bit surprised that the combination of Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling isn't as appealing to consumers as the idea of Tina Fey with Steve Carell and yet I also understand the logic of it. Carell with Fey indicates an uncomplicated romantic comedy while Crazy, Stupid Love's marital stress may not feel like the appropriate level of escapism in a country where 60% of marriages fail. Still, $19.1 million is a steady result and another indication that North American audiences have developed trust in Steve Carell as a performer.

Continued:       1       2       3       4