New Movies to Crave: A Hydrated Pachyderm, Madea's Family and Spurlock Sells Out

By Chris Kavan - 04/22/11 at 10:57 AM CT

It's not joke that 2011 has been disappointing to Hollywood but last week finally saw a win in year-to-year ticket sales. Can Tyler Perry and a budding romance continue the trend? I have to admit, both movies with new wide-release dates hold little interest for me, but perhaps they can draw in the right crowd to keep the ball rolling.

1) Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold - Because I'm not enamored of either new releases, I'm going with a film that is only getting a limited release, but looks like a lot of fun. Morgan Spurlock was great in Super Size Me, and I have a feeling he's going to have a lot of fun examining advertising and product placement in society. I bet it will be quite entertaining, but underneath the fun will be a message - and one that when examined more closely, will go beyond the satire and really make you think. Give it a shot - for one day, keep track of how many ads, logos, slogans, commercials and products you actually see in everyday life. I guarantee you, it will be shocking.

2) Water for Elephants - I'm only giving this the edge because of Christoph Waltz and Hal Holbrook. From all indications, while this adaptation stays true to the source material, the two leads (Robert Pattinson and Reece Witherspoon) don't have much spark going on between them... which isn't a good sign for a romantic drama. We'll see if Twilight fans turn out or fans of the original novel. Me? Unless there's some great incentive, I doubt I'll be turning up for this one.

3) Madea's Big Happy Family - This probably has a better shot at winning the box office, if only because of reasons I can't fathom Tyler Perry continues to draw large audiences. I'm nowhere near the right demographic and I have yet to watch any of the Madea films, nor do I particularly want to. But I wish the best, if only so 2011 has another week to be proud of.

My best guess? Rio has a pretty good chance of repeating but the new entries may fill in enough niche markets to help win the weekend.