By Chris Kavan - 09/02/11 at 11:39 AM CT
You could say Labor Day weekend is truly summer's last gasp - one final weekend to have fun. Unfortunately for Hollywood, this doesn't usually involve sitting in a theater but rather one last day at the beach or camping or other activity. After two soft weeks, I don't think this weekend will see much of an improvement.
1) Apollo 18 continues the trend of "found footage" by taking us on the "unofficial" final moon mission... while explaining why we've never been back to the moon (cue theremin here). This project has been back and forth - first it was summer 2011, then Feb. 2012 until landing in September. While the previews I've seen make this look somewhat intriguing, I'm getting a bit tired of this genre. I would say this is worth a look at home, but I can't get excited about seeing it on the big screen.
2) If you want a bit of espionage in your life, The Debt has plenty of drama and thrills to serve up. The cast, including Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain and Ciarán Hinds brings that mix of young talent with heavy-hitting veterans. Plus, who doesn't like some good old-fashioned Nazi hunting by secret agents? I want this to do good, but it has had a pretty low-key presence, so I don't know how big of audience it will attract.
3) After the somewhat success of Pirahna 3D, it looks like scary aquatic beasts in 3D is the new cash grab. Hence Shark Night 3D, which looks about as bad as the name suggests. Yet for fans of campy horror, this is pretty much as good as it gets... well until Piranha 3DD hits in November. We'll see if sharks can match a school of fish at the box office.
So we'll see if the extra day off will help the box office blahs, or if The Help can once again fend off the newcomers and continue its run at the top spot.
