The Roommate
Release Date:
February 4, 2011
On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 158/171 |
Max Braden |
This did manage to be creepier than Single White Female because you know stalkers exist in college and there seems less of an escape. |
In August 1992 Columbia Pictures released Single White Female, a thriller starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh, which opened at number two for its weekend and made moderately decent $48 million. Leigh played a new roommate so obsessed with Fonda that she copied her style, hairdo, and went after Fonda's boyfriend. Basic Instinct, released earlier that year, featured a similar theme, and 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley explored it from the male angle. This year Sony takes the story to college with The Roommate.
Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights) stars as a freshman at college who meets her roommate, played by Leighton Meester (Gossip Girl). The roommate is initially nice but of course becomes obsessive and ultimately dangerous, going after Minka's boyfriend (Cam Gigandet, Burlesque) and her friend (Alyson Michalka, Easy A). Billy Zane appears as a skeevy professor.
This is screenwriter Sonny Mallhi's first writing credit; he previously served as executive producer on the horror films Shutter, and The Strangers. It's also the first major directorial effort for Denmark-born Christian E. Christiansen, who was nominated for an Oscar in 1997 for his short film At Night.
The Roommate opened to dismal reviews but won opening weekend against Sanctum (and the Super Bowl) with $15 million at 2534 sites. (Max Braden/BOP)
