And “Madagascar 3” with the upset! Last week, while everyone’s chips were on Ridley Scott’s “Prometheus,” the animated sequel took out the rest of the competition with $ 60 million in ticket sales.
Will kids flick make it two weekends in a row? Who knows. From”Men In Black” to “Snow White and The Huntsman,” the box office has been quite fickle-hearted as of late. Now, with the release of the big-screen adaptation of “Rock of Ages,” Noah Baumbach’s family film may be the next one-and-done victim. (Although, don’t count out Adam Sandler and Andy Samberg’s comedy, “That’s My Boy,” as the surprise underdog.)
Let’s take a look at the all predictions and reviews in Moviefone’s Weekend Movie Preview.
NATIONWIDE RELEASES
“Rock of Ages”
What’s the story? Starring a bevy of stars — Tom Cruise, Russell Brand, Julianne Hough, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Alec Baldwin and Paul Giamatti — the broadway hit-turned-big-screen musical follows the sing-song love affair between a waitress and busboy on the Sunset Strip.
Box-office prediction: The star-studded cast will definitely draw a crowd, but mixed reviews may pose a problem for “Rock of Ages.” If the revamped “Footloose” — which brought in paltry earnings — is any indication, then audiences have stopped believing (Journey joke!) in the ’80s. Hitting over 3,300 theaters, “Rock of Ages” could bring in $ 25 million this weekend.
PHOTOS:
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Ty Burr (Boston Globe)
“Rock of Ages” is exuberant, silly, overlong, sexist; <a href=”http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2012/06/15/rock_of_ages_review_tom_cruise_takes_on_axl_rose/?rss_id=Boston.com+–+Movie+news” target=”_hplink”>it’s clever in little matters and proudly dumb in the things that should count</a>.
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Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times)
The actors are having a lot of fun, <a href=”http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120613/REVIEWS/120619993″ target=”_hplink”>and the production values of the musical numbers are slick and high-spirited</a>.
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Andrew O’Hehir (Salon)
“Rock of Ages” is an effulgent celebration of fakeness. It isn’t trying to be real; <a href=”http://www.salon.com/2012/06/13/rock_of_ages_the_joys_of_total_fakeness/” target=”_hplink”>it’s trying to be faker than any fake thing has ever been before</a>.
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Owen Gleiberman (Entertainment Weekly)
Most of the numbers in Rock of Ages are flatly shot and choreographed, and they look as if they’d been edited together with a meat cleaver. With rare exceptions, <a href=”http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20483133_20587889,00.html” target=”_hplink”>they don’t channel the excitement of the music – they stultify it</a>.
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Nathan Rabin (AV Club)
A shameless crowd-pleaser where cardboard characters use the most overplayed and <a href=”http://www.avclub.com/articles/rock-of-ages,81230/” target=”_hplink”>ubiquitous hits of the 1980s to express the aching banality of their souls</a>.
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Guy Lodge (Time Out)
As with Shankman’s knowingly naff ‘Hairspray’, <a href=”http://www.timeout.com/film/reviews/91639/rock_of_ages.html” target=”_hplink”>the sheer performance gusto on display proves thoroughly winning</a>.
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Olly Richards (Empire Magazine)
Like every one of its songs, it makes a lot of noise about nothing much and cockily straddles awfulness and greatness. <a href=”http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/ReviewComplete.asp?FID=135940″ target=”_hplink”>It’s enormously entertaining nonsense</a>.
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Nick Schager (Slant Magazine)
If the Adam Shankman film’s debasement of its subject into campy kitsch is the unavoidable fate of all culturally dangerous art, <a href=”http://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review/rock-of-ages/6344″ target=”_hplink”>that doesn’t make it any less palatable</a>.
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Justin Chang (Variety)
Given the proliferation of high-school musicals and American idols on TV, <a href=”http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117947727?refcatid=31″ target=”_hplink”>the spectacle of aspiring young singers belting out an umpteenth cover of Journey offers little in the way of novelty value</a>.
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David Rooney (Hollywood Reporter)
[Shankman] succeeds in draining most of the fun from a vehicle <a href=”http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/rock-ages-review-tom-cruise-335511″ target=”_hplink”>that was all about the winking humor of its flagrant cheesiness</a>.
“That’s My Boy”
What’s the story? The father-son comedy imagines Adam Sandler, who became a father as a young-teen, reuniting with his now-grown boy for some screwball bonding.
Box-office prediction: When it comes to Adam Sandler, normal movie rules do not apply. His cross-dressing comedy “Jack and Jill” grossed over 74 million, despite being panned by critics. “That’s My Boy” may very well be its successor. Opening in over 3,000 theaters, the film could earn $ 23 million.
LIMITED RELEASES
If ex-SNL cast member comedies or ’80s musicals aren’t your thing, there’s a whole host of limited releases this weekend. Emily Blunt plays an unwitting matchmaker in “Your Sister’s Sister”; Ethan Hawke stars in the Parisian thriller, “The Woman in the Fifth”; a grieving couple seeks retribution in “The Tortured”; the anthology of rap unfolds in Ice-T’s “Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap”; “Patang: The Kite”, the story of India’s largest kite festival, earned an elusive four stars from Roger Ebert; Sasha Grey stars in the (surprise!) sex-thriller “The Girl From the Naked Eye”; in “Extraterrestrial”, a one night stand get even more awkward when the pair is faced with an apocalyptic scenario in; Mathieu Demy’s directorial debut pays homage to his parents with “Americano”.
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