WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Big Cars, Big Names, Big Money

Friday was my birthday. Every year when my birthday roles around, there are two things I wonder about. The first is whether all the snow will be gone by that day and the second is what horrific mess Hollywood will unleash on my special day. You see, April is considered in the industry to be the biggest dumping ground for films after January and the first week of April is the worst of all. This year was no different and nothing was expected to fare well. Certainly no records were expected to be smashed. Hollywood will learn a new lesson though now. April should not be dismissed and Vin Diesel should never be underestimated.


I’m sure no one at Universal saw this coming. They brought back the original cast of a waning franchise and instead of pulling in modest returns that would eventually justify its budget, FAST AND FURIOUS pulled out of the garage and way up in front of the rest. Not only did it outpace the entire domestic gross of the last installment, it also boasts the biggest April opening weekend ever and the second biggest opening for any film outside of the summer or holiday seasons and frames, behind THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST. It’s $20K per screen average exceeds every other title in release but its true test will be longevity. Fast out of the gate does not always mean a first place finish in the end. Still, if I was wearing a hat right now, I would tip my it to Universal; you definitely pulled a fast one on me and have left me somewhat furious.


This weekend’s only other Top 10 debut fell in line with expectations, as ADVENTURELAND opened in sixth place. The film stars TWILIGHT sensation, Kristen Stewart but she cannot open pictures yet and this is hardly her picture to open. Someone should have told helmer, Greg Mottola that teenagers don’t like their movies with perspective, just profanity. Meanwhile, indie favorite, SUNSHINE CLEANING snuck into the Top 10 in its fourth week of release. In its widest expansion yet, the film seems to have reached its saturation point, seeing its per screen average dip below $4K.


Two sophomore efforts debuted to solid starts this weekend in the art house world. LES CHORISTES director, Christophe Barratier returns with PARIS 36. Opening on just 7 screens, this amusingly theatrical romp pulled in an average of over $10K. And you would think that after making a splash and directing Ryan Gosling to an Oscar nomination in their first effort, HALF NELSON, that Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck would be looking to make bigger inroads toward Hollywood but they played things very indie with SUGAR. Unfortunately, the baseball film opened on 11 screens to the tune of a mediocre average of under $7K. Good word of mouth will be needed for both to flourish.

NEXT WEEK: April tries to earn back its reputation as a garbage month with DRAGONBALL: EVOLUTION (2100 screens). Seth Rogen will try to fly without a mustache in the second comedy this year to have a mall cop as a protagonist in OBSERVE AND REPORT (2500 screens). Neither will be able to trump Miley Cyrus though. HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE will be rolling out on over 3000 screens. Cover your ears; the screaming girls are coming this way.

ADVENTURELAND

Written and Directed by Greg Mottola
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig and Ryan Reynolds


James Brennan: I’m amazed at how small my pay cheque is.
Joel: Well, we are working the jobs of pathetic, lazy morons.

Step right up! Step right up! Toss the ring on to the milk bottle and win a giant panda for your sweetheart! Ring toss not your game? Throw a ball and knock the hat off the dummy then. Win yourself a stuffed banana with googley eyes! But if you’re really looking for high stakes risks, try this game on for size. Go to college; make plans for the summer between your graduation and start of graduate school; watch it all fall apart at the last second; and then get yourself a job running games at the dilapidated amusement park you used to frequent when you were a kid. See if you’re smiling at the end of that one. This game is just as impossible to win and the prizes are nearly just as lame. Yes, there is plenty of supposed adventure to be had inside the safe confines of ADVENTURELAND, the name of both the aforementioned amusement park and the new movie by Greg Mottola, but the real adventure is waiting outside the supposed greatest place on earth. You just don’t know it yet.


The premise just vaguely described is actually the plight of one James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg, THE SQUID AND THE WHALE). Being a young man and therefore inevitably naïve, he thought he had everything figured out. He was ready for a summer trek through Europe. He was ready to get an apartment in New York City and attend grad school in the fall. He was ready for everything except for the unpredictability of life. ADVENTURELAND may take place in 1987 but not much has changed as far as lofty ambitions being crushed by the harshness of real life goes. And this is the lesson that James must learn in what is described as one of those summers where it seems like nothing significant really happens but yet in hindsight ends up being momentously character building. For the viewer though, there really isn’t that much happening in this slice of life picture. The kids go to work, they smoke a lot of drugs and they hang out at lame yet popular local spots. Fortunately, love is in the air to make everything go that much faster.


Eisenberg and his young love interest, Em Lewin (Kristen Stewart, TWILIGHT) are two talented and compelling young actors. It is their presence that carries ADVENTURELAND from mildly bland mediocrity to slightly elevated decency. I realize that this is hardly a compliment but the remaining characters are hardly developed and ADVENTURELAND is often extremely unadventurous. Still, this lack of activity is precisely what gives the film its meaning. James and Em have put their lives on hold as though they believe that have no other choice. Their lives are just another amusement park game that is rigged and cannot be won under any circumstances but yet they keep playing because they cannot see that there are other games, other parks, other lives just waiting for them to pursue. Their childish profession only further exaggerates their halted development but their introduction to each other’s lives shows them both possibilities they had never imagined. James is a sensitive guy who never gets the girl and Em doesn’t believe she deserves a guy like James. Yet here they both are, enjoying each other. How did this happen and what else is waiting?


Mottola, who struck it big Hollywood styles last time out with SUPERBAD, took a decidedly much quieter approach with his follow up and comparisons would be entirely unfair. Like the summer that changed everything but only did so in retrospect, ADVENTURELAND is an adventure that is only fully appreciated when you realize just how much of its tone and themes have stayed with you long after the park has shut down for the night. After all, the real adventure of life only comes once you stop trying to delay it with excuses and obligations and take the themes out of the park.