New Movie Releases and Box Office Predictions: Cars

This weekend brings with it the latest Pixar flick, and the first weekend for the latest in a long line of horror remakes. The summer starts to heat up a little, as that animated car movie is sure to sell a ton of tickets. More schools are letting out making more kids available to beg and plead to go to the movies, and what will they want to see? I'll let you answer that one.

The Omen. (2006, 105 minutes, R, horror, trailer) John Moore directs this straight up remake of the 1970's horror flick starring Liev Schreiber and Julia Stiles. This opened this past Tuesday, 06/06/06, and became the biggest Tuesday moneymaker ever with a tally of, get this, $12,633,666. Something tells me that total may have been fudged, just a little. I have heard the good, the bad, and the ugly about this one, I am hoping it falls somewhere in the vicinity of good.

Cars. (2006, 116 minutes, G, animated comedy, trailer) Can Pixar keep the streak of greatness alive? In my opinion the jury is still out. I have no doubt that I will be entertained, but I am not nearly as excited as I was for last year's The Incredibles, which may be my favorite Pixar flick. The commercials and trailers for this outing just don't entice me all that much. The animation looks gorgeous, but the idea of the talking car world, I don't know, I can't quite put my finger on it. The voice cast is good, including Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Larry the Cable Guy, Bonnie Hunt, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin, and Michael Keaton. I will definitely be seeing it, but my excitement level will be tempered.

A Prairie Home Companion. (2006, 105 minutes, PG-13, drama, trailer) This is the latest offering from Robert Altman. This film concerns the finale broadcast of a live radio show that was just cancelled by the station's parent company. It follows the cast and their families as the final show looms over them. I have seen a single commercial for this, and I think it looks pretty good. The cast is first rate, including Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Lindsay Lohan, Woody Harrelson, John C. Reilly, Kevin Kline, and Virginia Madsen. There's a lot of talent in there, hopefully the film lives up to the good advance word.

Also opening this week, but not near me:

• The Heart of the Game
• Los Lonely Boys: Cottonfields and Crossroads
• Psychopathis Sexualis

Box Office Predictions

On the encouragement of a comment from last week, I am going to take a stab at box office gross predictions. I am sure they will derive humor, but why not have a little fun? Anyway, there is one movie going into wide release this weekend, and one that came out Tuesday. I wonder if the Tuesday release, combined with its $12 million take will hurt what it will do this weekend? I would have to think it would, but we will see. Here is how the breakdown will go:

1. Cars .........................................$65 million
2. The Break-Up .........................$26 million
3. X-Men: The Last Stand ..........$24 million
4. The Omen ................................$19 million
5. Over the Hedge .......................$15 million
6. The DaVinci Code ...................$11 million
7. Poseidon ..................................$2.5 million
8. A Prairie Home Companion ....$1.5 million
9. An Inconvenient Truth ...........$1 million
10. See No Evil ...............................$800,000

What are you seeing this weekend?

Categories: News, Movies, Previews, Weekly