Four On The Floor...

Weekend Openers
Your mission: Predict the opening weekend (Fri-Sun) totals for this week's releases. The deadline is Friday night at Midnight EST.



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This weekend brings us four drastically different movies from totally different genres: A suspense thriller, a sci-fi adventure, a always fun horror movie, and a sports hero film that is based on a true story.

Well that about covers it. Later.

As if I could get away with that. I mean I could - nobody actually reads this stuff anyway.

From the director of American Gangster (it says so right on the poster) and the movie that brought Russell Crowe into the mainstream limelight - Gladiator, Ridley Scott brings us Body Of Lies. The story is about a CIA operative played by Leonardo DiCaprio (who seems to pop up in movies every two years) who uncovers a lead on a major terrorist leader suspected to be operating out of Jordan. Now I don't know what Mr. Jordan has been doing since his retirement - but I am pretty sure he is spending more time on the golf course than supporting terrorist activities. Yeah, I know - lame joke. It's late - I'm tired - Sue me.

Make no mistake about it - I am a big Bill Murray fan, so when I saw on the previews that he would be in The City of Ember, it immediately gained mucho popularity points. Now whether this film goes along the path of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (a movie I loved - but I nobody else did) or one of his many movies where he actually steals to show remains to be seen. Here he plays the mayor of the City of Ember, an underground city that has flourished for generations of the surface of the earth becomes uninhabitable. The problem is, the city might generator is failing and it is up to two teenagers in a race against time to find the mystery behind the city before the lights go out on The City of Ember - Permanently.

It just wouldn't be October if we didn't throw some good horror movies into the mix now wouldn't it? The Great Pumpkin delivers us Quarantine, where a television reporter (played by Jennifer Carpenter of "Dexter" fame) and her cameraman (played by Steve Harris) respond with the Los Angeles Fire Department to a 911 call from a small apartment building. Needless to say, someone in that building was infected with something pretty nasty and the CDC has a few things in mind for the gang. Sounds just what the horror movie buff (played by Me) ordered.

Finally, we have The Express, the story of Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. That in itself is an admirable task, but the story shows how Davis (played by Rob Brown) overcame seemingly insurmountable obstacles to become a monster running back for the Syracuse Orangemen. Set in the 1960's - Davis broke one racial barrier after another to help alter the way fans look at men of his color. The story of Ernie Davis is truly amazing, but there is NO way I am buying Dennis Quaid as a football coach. Just ain't gonna happen.

Magnificent Seven Results!

BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA             ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Grimm                               $29.00     $21.04    $7.96
Ryan                                           $18.50   $10.50
LJ                                             $14.47   $14.53
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NICK & NORA'S PLAYLIST              ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Grimm                               $12.00     $14.55    $2.55
Ryan                                           $14.87    $2.87
LJ                                              $8.12    $3.88
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APPALOOSA                           ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
LJ                                   $5.01      $7.43    $2.42
Grimm                                           $1.95    $3.06
Ryan                                            $1.70    $3.21
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AN AMERICAN CAROL                   ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Grimm                                $3.81      $3.96     $.15
Ryan                                            $2.46    $1.35
LJ                                              $6.48    $2.67
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A FLASH OF GENIUS                   ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Grimm                                $2.32      $2.92     $.60
Ryan                                            $5.20    $2.88
LJ                                              $5.63    $3.31
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BLINDNESS                           ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Ryan                                 $2.00      $5.00    $3.00
Grimm                                           $5.78    $3.78
LJ                                             $15.52   $13.52
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HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS                 ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Ryan                                 $1.40      $4.60    $3.20
LJ                                              $6.25    $4.85
Grimm                                           $6.36    $4.96
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TOTALS    BHC     N&N     APA     AAC     FOG     BLI    HTLF
Grimm    7.96 +  2.55 +  3.06 +  0.15 +  0.60 +  3.78 +  4.96 = 23.06
Ryan    10.50 +  2.87 +  3.21 +  1.35 +  2.88 +  3.00 +  3.20 = 27.01
LJ      14.53 +  3.88 +  2.42 +  2.67 +  3.31 + 13.52 +  4.85 = 45.18

Grimm wins the big weekend to take over first place and prove his movie predicting prowess to his so-called competitors.

Magnificent Seven (or not)...

Weekend Openers
Your mission: Predict the opening weekend (Fri-Sun) totals for this week's releases. The deadline is Friday night at Midnight EST.


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Due to fact that we have SEVEN freaking movies this weekend, my previews will be short and to the point. (I hope.)

Fresh off starring in 2007's hit Juno, Michael Cera stars as a high school student (surprise!) in Nick & Nora's Infinite Playlist. A member of the high school band The JerkOffs, Cera meets up with Kat Jennings, a college bound girl who asks him to be her boyfriend for five minutes. Just more proof the nerds get all of the hot chicks. POWER TO THE POCKET PROTECTOR!!

Due to the fact we haven't had a good western in awhile - and nothing says western like Renee Zellweger and Viggo Mortensen, we are given the Ed Harris directed Appaloosa. Two friends hired to police a small town suffering under the rule of a rancher find their job complicated by the arrival of a young widow. Harris delivers every time he is on screen and with Jeremy Irons also in the cast, this has possibilities. Renee, you had me at "Howdy..."

Simon Pegg has his fans and I must admit - I greatly enjoyed Shawn Of The Dead back in 2004, but I have not went out of my way to catch any of his recent work, aside from his scene stealing in Mission: Impossible III. I know - shame on me. This being said, in How To Lose Friends & Alienate People, Pegg stars as a British writer struggling to fit in at a high-profile magazine in New York. I'm not sure this will be a break out movie for Pegg - but with each movie he is in, his efforts keep improving.

The cast listing of Beverly Hills Chihuahua should make you want to see the movie. Drew Barrymore, Andy Garcia, Cheech Marin, George Lopez, Edward James Olmos - doggone it, couldn't they have pulled their efforts into something useful? The great folks at Disney brings us the story of Chloe, a ritzy Beverly Hills Chihuahua who finds herself lost while on vacation in Mexico and needs assistance in order to get back home. Anyone smell a Benji rehash with famous people as talking pooches? Me too.

A doctor's wife becomes the only person with the ability to see in a town where everyone is struck with a case of instant blindness in the appropriately titles Blindness. Julianne Moore stars as the wife who keeps her ability to see a secret from those around her as the town crumbles around her. Mark Ruffalo and Danny Glover also star in this film that has me morbidly curious.

Should I be scared that they are making a film making fun of Michael Moore? Have we seriously run out of things to make fun of? Oy. Trace Adkins as the freaking Angel of Death? Wha? Actually, that might just be the funniest thing about An American Carol where an anti-American filmmaker who is out to abolish the Fourth of July holiday and is visited by three ghosts who try to change his perception of the country. Enough with the spoofs for crying out loud - give some movies I WANT to see!

If anyone could star in a movie about windshield wipers and make it remotely interesting - Greg Kinnear could do it. In the movie Flash of Genius, Kinnear takes on Detroit automakers who he claims stole his idea for the intermittent windshield wiper - no matter what the costs. So the next it rains just hard enough that you need your wipers, but light enough you don't need them all of the time - take a moment a think Mr. Kinnear.

Sappy Action Drama Results!

EAGLE EYE       ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Grimm           $29.15     $32.47    $3.32
LJ                         $23.40    $5.75
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MIRACLE ST.ANA  ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Grimm            $3.47      $6.88    $3.41
LJ                         $17.60   $14.13
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RODANTHE        ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Grimm           $13.41     $12.47    $0.94
LJ                          $8.50    $4.91
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TOTALS          EAGLE     MIRACLE        RODANTHE
Grimm           $3.32   +   $3.41    +     $0.94   =   $7.67
LJ              $5.75   +  $14.13    +     $4.91   =  $24.79

Yes, you read that right. $13 million people went to see Richard Gere. Must be a plenty of unhappy housewives out there.

C'mon people. Don't just LET me have it.

Sappy Action Drama Triple Play

Weekend Openers
Your mission: Predict the opening weekend (Fri-Sun) totals for this week's releases. The deadline is Friday night at Midnight EST.


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I must confess, I haven't heard of two of these movies until now.

Shia LaBeouf, fresh from being a sidekick to Mr. Indiana Jones, gets the lead role and joins up with his Disturbia director D.J. Caruso in the movie Eagle Eye. The plot consists of LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan are strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they never met. Threatening thier lives and their family, she pushes the two into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, using the technology of everyday life to track to control their evert move. As the situation escalates, these two ordinary people become the country's most wanted fugitives who must work together to discover what is really happening - and more importantly, why. Whoa. Looks like Julie Chen from that Big Brother show finally hit the big time! Gonna give this one bonus points for the inclusion of Michael Chiklis and Billy Bob Thornton into the movie - both BOB faves.

Spike Lee brings his latest project to the big screen with Miracle At St. Anna in a movie I have seen absolutely no commericials for - never a good sign. Set in 1944 Italy, the story revolves around four black American soldiers who get trapped in a Tuscan village during World War II. Not many of the lead actors are recognizable, however it should be noted that John Turturro, John Leguizamo and D.B. Sweeney will be appearing in some capacity.

Because you know we haven't had a good sappy love story in awhile, along comes Nights in Rodantha. And while I happen to like the skills of one Diane Lane, I really, truly could have done without Richard Gere - who at the age of 59 will still somehow manage to show off his butt to the camera. Gere plays a doctor who is travelling to see his estranged son encounters the unhappily married Lane while see is tending to her friends North Carolina Inn. Looks like the doc is making some house calls! Ugh.

Righteous Women Burn Family Results

RIGHTEOUS KILL  ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Ryan            $16.28     $16.20    $0.08
Grimm                      $15.39    $0.89
LJ                         $11.68    $4.60
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TYLER PERRY     ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Grimm           $17.38     $13.21    $4.17
Ryan                       $12.90    $4.48
LJ                          $8.97    $8.41
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BURN AFTER      ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Grimm           $19.12     $16.88    $2.24
Ryan                       $14.80    $4.32
LJ                          $9.65    $9.47
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THE WOMEN       ACTUAL      GUESS     DIFF
Grimm           $10.15      $7.90    $2.25
Ryan                        $6.80    $3.35
LJ                          $4.66    $5.49
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TOTALS         KILL     PERRY      BURN      WOMEN
Ryan          $0.08  +  $4.48  +  $4.32  +   $3.35  = $12.23
LJ            $4.60  +  $8.41  +  $9.47  +   $5.49  = $27.97
Grimm         Disqualified due to late entry.

I just wanted the world to know that I would have won this week - however, rules are rules and I really only have that one rule so I had better stick to it.

Ryan gets the first 5 pointer of the season and looks to extend his lead next week.

This Week Cancelled

Due to the wind storms from the remnants of Hurricane Ike, I have been without power for most of the weekand as a result without internet access. Also, I have been in a training class for most of this glorious week so I therefore will have to cancel Box Office Openers for this weekend.

I will have the results up from last week as soon as possible.

Don't ask how I was able to post this message. It involved three cases of motor oil, the cell phone of my wife, and a band saw.