What is it about the man-child Keanu Reeves? He's made a career out of gliding politely through Hollywood with the unwavering countenance of a mildly affronted college freshman and yet we keep coming back. Reeves and his mysterious gravitational pull return to the fray this weekend when Twentieth Century Fox unleashes the sci-fi remake The Day the Earth Stood Still. It's been five years since Reeves scored a No 1 opening weekend with The Matrix Revolutions and he should have little trouble returning to the top of the charts with the new film, despite the damning reviews.
Resistance is futile when a major studio throws its advertising muscle behind a movie and nothing, not even the freak snowstorms in New Orleans, will stop the crowds getting out to cheer on Klaatu and his mission to save humans from themselves. It's not overstating the case to call this remake of Robert Wise's 1951 movie an abomination, but the fact that there hasn't been an effects-driven action release for a while, not to mention the distinct lack of major new competition, means audiences won't be able to save themselves. US box-office pundits are predicting a $45-50m (£30-33m) opening weekend.
The Reeves factor, of course, will be a big deal too. The star has historically enjoyed a robust following among males, females, older and younger audiences alike and should be able to live up to the hype -
in the first three days at least. Fox expects a great start and its print and TV campaign is reminiscent of what the studio did for its 2004 hit The Day After Tomorrow. Nothing else is going to come anywhere near the $45-50m range this weekend, let alone one-third of that. The best of the rest may well be Four Christmases, the New Line comedy that Warner Bros inherited when it brought its ailing corporate sibling into the fold earlier this year. Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn have had a good run and could add a further $10m as the movie slips to second place in its third weekend for a rough $85m running total.
It's possible that the comedy Nothing Like the Holidays will have the clout to steal second place in its opening weekend. Overture Films, a relatively young US distributor that handled the Don Cheadle spy thriller Traitor and the Dustin Hoffman-Emma Thompson romance Last Chance Harvey, made a smart move boarding this Latino-flavoured release. The Latino demographic is the fastest growing entertainment consumer in the US and if the quality cast of John Leguizamo, Freddy Rodriguez, Alfred Molina and, er, Debra Messing can entice audiences, the movie could take $8m in its first three days. If it can establish a secure foothold, Nothing Like the Holidays could benefit from word of mouth to see it through the holiday season. That said, the movie's best prospects probably lie on the small screen: the fact that Overture Films is a fully capitalised company owned by Liberty Media, a vertically integrated giant that guarantees the movie a pay-TV run on its Starz cable platforms, doesn't hurt.
Based on daily grosses this week, Twilight looks good to occupy the fourth place and is expected to add a further $7m in its fourth weekend, bringing it close to $150m. As the only familiar movie in play for children, Buena Vista's Bolt should do quite well in its fourth weekend and add about $5m to bring its gross to roughly $85m. The animated children's movie Delgo will open today but distributor Freestyle Releasing has done little to raise the movie's profile and it will be lucky to take more than $4m.
Far from the madding crowd of the universal rollout, several arthouse titles will open in a limited number of cinemas. Warner Bros will release Clint Eastwood's much-admired Gran Torino and can expect a strong launch based on enthusiastic reviews and awards buzz. Eastwood missed out on any acting or directing Golden Globe nominations yesterday but that doesn't mean the Academy won't reward him with an Oscar nod or two come January. Miramax opens the drama Doubt, which will definitely benefit from its five Globe nods, including four for acting. IFC releases Steven Soderbergh's Che Guevara two-parter Che in its full four-and-a-half-hour glory. This is an engrossing story with a fine performance by Benicio del Toro, but the running time is intimidating and audiences will be few and far between.
