By Chris Kavan - 02/04/11 at 10:24 AM CT
I have a prediction: Hollywood is not going to recover from their downward spiral this weekend. Since December box office totals have been pretty dismal compared to last year. Even though Oscar-caliber films The King's Speech, True Grit, Black Swan and The Fighter are putting up impressive numbers, Hollywood has no great blockbuster title to buoy big numbers. This weekend doesn't look to improve on this trend.
1) Sure, you have James Cameron's name to throw around, but Santum is no Avatar, even in 3D. If you're claustrophobic, you might want to stay away as this involves diving, deep inaccessible caves and becoming trapped. While the film has been getting high marks for effects (this is Cameron after all) it has been getting low marks for acting and dialogue. I can see this opening at the top, but I only expect modest to decent numbers.
2) In what looks like Single White Female for the teen set (much as Swinfan was a teen-centric Fatal Attraction), The Roommate will try to make every college student do a background check on their next roommate before approving them. This looks to me like another generic thriller featuring pretty people and since it finally got a rating of PG-13, I can't even hold out hope for much skin. Guess I can hope for an unrated DVD? If this breaks the top 5 I will consider it a win.
That's all for wide releases - in limited you have two big-name actresses trying out their dramatic chops. Halle Berry looks to bounce back to her Monster's Ball days of glory with Frankie and Alice while Natalie Portman balances comedy with drama in The Other Woman. If you're lucky enough to have one playing near you, check them out and report back. I'm most interested to see if Berry can still impress after her string of commercial embarrassments, and I hope she can.
We'll see who comes out on top this week and if the Oscar-contending films can still pull in the crowd.
