Mar 15, 2008

Weekend Boxoffice: Slim Pickings

It looks like yet another animated family film, Dr. Seuss's Horton Hears a Who (which grabbed a 70% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes) will own the weekend. (Horton co-director Jimmy Hayward lists his top five animated faves.) And John Anderson's Variety review leads off with some Seuss verse:

A story of Horton, and people called Who -- but how many movies? It seems to be two! There's one that's quite Seussical, gentle and charming. The other stars Jim Carrey, brash and alarming! What auds will attend? Who has what it takes? Wee innocent children -- and moms with headaches!


Truth is, there's not much worth seeing. March is the dog days, when the best you can hope for is a smarter-than-average spring break picture like 21, Kevin Spacey and Robert Luketic's upcoming Vegas fantasy. Theater owners beg the studios to give them more pictures, and the indies complain that there's too much competition, but here's an open season, should anyone care to step in.

On the other hand, it doesn't make sense for two mid-market action thrillers without stars to chase after the exact same young male demo. (There's nothing aimed at women this weekend.) It looks like Rogue's Doomsday (which did not screen for critics) will win that unnecessary game of chicken against Summit's Never Back Down (33% Rotten).

Anne Thompson, variety.com

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