Summer in a Nutshell
Or at the movie theater, if you check out these highlights of the season
By Andy Klein
Every year, the smaller summer film release dates swirl in eddies around the presumed tentpole blockbusters. Even the major studios, with their ridiculous advertising and promotion budgets, wisely avoid opening two big films the same week. Sometimes - say, with something as predictably huge as Revenge of the Sith - no one wants to open a big film the next week.
Last year was the first one I can recall in which my top two films were both big action spectaculars - the summer release Batman Begins and King Kong in December. This year, the "big" movies have so far disappointed. The season kicked off on May 5 with Mission: Impossible III, whose $47 million opening - given the track record of Tom Cruise and the franchise - was perceived as a letdown. That's a lot of money; but, with less than $110 million after three weeks, it seems to be running out of steam.
The closest thing to a blockbuster production the following week was Poseidon, but its relatively low commercial expectations proved accurate. Last week's The Da Vinci Code (reviewed on page 32) will be the first major hit of the summer; with $77 million in three days, it should surpass M:I III by the end of next weekend. Of course, it kind of sucks, so it's conceivable that it won't have legs, Tom Hanks and 40 million readers notwithstanding.
Week 4's biggie is X-Men: The Last Stand (reviewed on page 30), which will have to be really, really awful to tank, and there's no reason to think it will be awful, though Brett Ratner replacing Bryan Singer in the director's chair is a tad worrisome. The biggest thing in Week 5 is the far less sure-shot The Break-Up, whose appeal may have more to do with its connection to the tabloid-chronicled personal lives of stars Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston and not-in-the-filmers Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Non-sequel comedies are always a crapshoot - who would have predicted that the Vince Vaughn/Owen Wilson - starring Wedding Crashers would end up last year's sixth highest grosser? - but director Peyton Reed's filmography doesn't inspire confidence. (This is a guy whose best movie was Bring It On.)
It may be hurt by the big - the only - release of Week 5 1/2: The Omen, which is having an extremely rare Tuesday opening, in order to exploit the date 6-6-06 ... a strategy that could backfire. It's a remake of a 1976 hit that isn't particularly well remembered, and director John Moore's last remake, The Flight of the Phoenix, tanked badly a year and a half ago. On the other hand, sight unseen, I'll give the film points for the droll casting of Mia Farrow as protector of the Antichrist 38 years after Rosemary's Baby.
Three days later, we get the surest hit of the summer: Cars is the latest animated offering from Pixar, whose previous six films have averaged nearly $250 million each, domestic. Amazingly, they've also all been great.
Perhaps it's fear of getting run over by Cars that has led the big studios to back off for a few weeks: The biggest entries for Weeks 7 and 8 are The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift; the supernatural romance The Lake House, reuniting Speed couple Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock; the Jack Black vehicle Nacho Libre; and Adam Sandler's Click, which appears to be a feature-length version of a remark someone made passingly in Richard Linklater's Slackers.
The next certified sure thing is Warner's Superman Returns, which opens on June 30 (see feature, page 20). With this most enduring of franchises overdue for the sort of refurbishing Christopher Nolan gave last year's Batman Begins, it will have to be truly awful not to do huge business, and with Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, the first two X-Mens) at the helm, it really shouldn't suck.
Only a week later, Disney releases another of the summer's certain hits, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, sequel to the monster 2003 smash, with director Gore Verbinski and the three leads all returning, including, of course, the faboo Mr. Depp.
Since the goal is to have your entire run during the summer, there are only a few potential biggies spread across the second half of the season: M. Night Shyamalan's Lady in the Water (July 21); Miami Vice (July 28); Oliver Stone's necessarily grim-looking World Trade Center (August 9); and - can we avoid mentioning it? - the potentially classy and magnificent Snakes on a Plane (see story on page 17), with Samuel L. Jackson and a bunch of reptiles.
Of course, this is a fraction of what's coming out, though dates tend to be far less solid for the smaller indie releases. My pick for June 2 is the French District 13 (see story on page 22), which is filled with Jackie Chan-like action. Prime among the year's items to look forward to is A Prairie Home Companion, Robert Altman's gazillionth feature (June 9), with Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin doing more of the sister shtick that was a high point of this year's Oscar ceremony.
On July 7, Warner Independent releases Richard Linklater's rotoscoped adaptation of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly; this animation technique grew irritating in Linklater's 2001 Waking Life, but hopefully the new project's stronger narrative structure will help. I'm curious about Pulse, the latest Americanized remake of a Japanese horror film, since Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2001 original seems untranslatable to an American setting.
Jet Li's American films have generally been a step down from his Hong Kong/Chinese work, so it's encouraging to see him return to Asia for Fearless (August 4), an ode to real-life martial-arts master Huo Yuanjia (1869-1910). Plus, it's directed by the great Ronny Yu, whose incredibly eclectic filmography includes The Bride with White Hair, Bride of Chucky, Formula 51, and Freddy vs. Jason.
Only seven months after his triumphant comeback with Match Point, Woody Allen will have Scoop in theaters on July 28; Scarlett Johansson once again stars, but this time it's supposed to be funny. I also have hopes for Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep (August 4), his first feature without screenwriter Charlie Kaufman. Gael García Bernal plays a graphic artist whose life seems mixed up with his dreams. Charlotte Gainsbourg is his fetching neighbor.
Finally, the last two weeks of summer are, as always, a sad dumping ground for unpreviewed horror films, formulaic uplifting sports films, and raunchy comedies - I recommend a vacation.Published: 05/25/2006
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