New Movies and Box Office Predictions: 27 Dresses, Cloverfield, Mad Money

Last week saw a 2007 holdover take the top spot in its first weekend of wide release, it will face stiff competition as this weekend sees what could be the year's first blockbuster. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. January is typically a dumping ground as the new year gets underway, however, the hype has been building for this one film since last summer. That is something that you never see for a January release. Anyway, another weekend, another batch of movies to see!

27 Dresses. (2008, 107 minutes, PG-13, comedy, trailer) Katherine Heigl looks to continue the movie success she found with Knocked Up. I remember when she was just an alien sibling on Roswell. Anyway, this new film has Heigl playing a woman who is always a bridesmaid and never a bride, 27 times, as given away in the title. She has to come to grips with her sister marrying the man she secretly loves. Joining Heigl are James Marsden, Judy Greer, and Edward Burns.

Cloverfield. (2008, 84 minutes, PG-13, sci-fi/horror, trailer) The hype for Cloverfield has been building since the first anonymous trailer led into Transformers last July. Over that time there has been much speculation as to what this film was about. Well, it is a monster movie and the structure is Blair Witch in execution, being pieced together by found camcorder footage. I have avoided reading much in the way of details, I want to be surprised when I see it. The time is almost here.

Mad Money. (2008, 104 minutes, PG-13, comedy, trailer) Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, and Katie Holmes team up for director Callie Khouri in this comedic caper flick. The trio team up to steal soon to be destroyed money from the Federal Reserve for their own uses. Of course, the authoritied get alerted and comic hijinx ensue. The plot sounds a bit like an element from Danny Boyle's Millions.

The Kite Runner. (2007, 128 minutes, PG-13, drama, trailer) This film opened back in December and has been moving around ever since making it a hard target to catch on the big screen. Its original release had been delayed when the studio had to move the featured children out of Afghanistan for fear that they would become targets after the films release. It tells the story of childhood friends between which a wedge is driven. Years later one of them, who had moved to the US, returns to his homeland.

Also opening this week, but not near me:

• Blonde and Blonder
• Cassandra's Dream
• Day Zero
• Taxi to the Dark Side
• Teeth

Box Office Predictions
The Bucket List unseated the second National Treasure outing last weekend, will it live to see another frame from the top of the pile? The easy answer is no. Cloverfield is a shoo-in for the top spot. With all of the hype that has swirled about the monster flick there is no way that people aren't going to flock to it. The bigger question is how the rest of the list is going to play out.

Here is how I think the top ten field will play out:

Rank	Title	Box Office
1	Cloverfield	$42 million
2	27 Dresses	$21 million
3	The Bucket List	$13 million
4	Mad Money	$11 million
5	First Sunday	$9 million
6	Juno	$8 million
7	National Treasure: Book of Secrets	$6 million
8	Alvin and the Chipmunks	$4 million
9	I Am Legend	$4 million
10	One Missed Call	$3 million