I'm going to start by saying welcome to a brand new edition of the "Weekend Releases" post being introduced here at SSMB (that's a link to our main site for those of you who don't know what the SSMB is. It's pretty cool). I will be your guide through the wonderful world of upcoming releases from here on out - also, I'm more funny than my older brother, so you should have more fun...or maybe I just think I'm more funny?..or is it funnier? - anyway, I am Andy Schopp and I look forward to our adventure together! And what better movie to kick off our first post than...some dime-a-dozen rom-com that not too many people really care about in "Playing for Keeps"...
"Hyde Park on Hudson" and "Lay the Favorite" will also get official theater releases this week, though both in limited variety. And seeing as how neither of them is particularly inspiring anyway, we'll just spend our time on the one film opening in wide release this weekend.
We open our first week of December with the romantic comedy, "Playing for Keeps", which stars Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Dennis Quaid. Now, I don't think I will be in the top Google searches for my breaking news flash but, I'd say it's safe to assume that this movie will not be in any sort of awards talk come next month. You may be thinking, why would this movie release in the full flow of so many other things in Oscar season!? I have an answer: I have no flippin' clue... Honestly, it was probably released now because it has no real competition. What else is going to stand in its way this weekend?
Before we jump the gun too much though, I do need to smack you with some facts real quick. "Playing for Keeps" is opening in 2,700 theaters this weekend and is the third American-made movie by director Gabriele Muccino. His earlier works include "Seven Pounds" and "The Pursuit of Happyness". So it does seem that there is some previous content there that could at least raise the brow a touch. That being said, the movie is currently sitting at a big fat 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, though that's only due to a small handful of reviews. I imagine it will rise to the 50% range if it's a decent flick, though that's still not very encouraging.
Keeping with the theme of these posts and looking into some box office numbers for the weekend - though I probably won't get nearly as technical with it as was done in the past - I feel like I can safely say that "Playing for Keeps" probably won't be the movie to dethrone "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2" - and that's even knowing that Twilight is looking at somewhere near a 60% drop again. It projects at something like $6MM this weekend, but even that could be a stretch for "Playing for Keeps". And because of that, I really have no idea what will come out on top this week. What is going to be stronger? Maybe "Playing for Keeping" can take the top spot, there just isn't a clear favorite otherwise. But what do I know? I'm just a guy looking at a bunch of numbers, hoping that I'm right about some of the stuff I write down...
I'm gonna go ahead and say that I personally don't have much interest in seeing this movie. I might catch it in theater by accident or if someone else invites me, but other than that I feel like I will probably just give this one a rental down the road, and that's if I ever get the urge to do that much. I think unless you really need to see a romantic comedy this weekend, it might be okay to give this a pass.
Let me know yours insights and opinions on this one. I'd like to hear if anyone has anything different to say about this film!
"Hyde Park on Hudson" and "Lay the Favorite" will also get official theater releases this week, though both in limited variety. And seeing as how neither of them is particularly inspiring anyway, we'll just spend our time on the one film opening in wide release this weekend.
We open our first week of December with the romantic comedy, "Playing for Keeps", which stars Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel, Uma Thurman, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Dennis Quaid. Now, I don't think I will be in the top Google searches for my breaking news flash but, I'd say it's safe to assume that this movie will not be in any sort of awards talk come next month. You may be thinking, why would this movie release in the full flow of so many other things in Oscar season!? I have an answer: I have no flippin' clue... Honestly, it was probably released now because it has no real competition. What else is going to stand in its way this weekend?
Before we jump the gun too much though, I do need to smack you with some facts real quick. "Playing for Keeps" is opening in 2,700 theaters this weekend and is the third American-made movie by director Gabriele Muccino. His earlier works include "Seven Pounds" and "The Pursuit of Happyness". So it does seem that there is some previous content there that could at least raise the brow a touch. That being said, the movie is currently sitting at a big fat 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, though that's only due to a small handful of reviews. I imagine it will rise to the 50% range if it's a decent flick, though that's still not very encouraging.
Keeping with the theme of these posts and looking into some box office numbers for the weekend - though I probably won't get nearly as technical with it as was done in the past - I feel like I can safely say that "Playing for Keeps" probably won't be the movie to dethrone "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2" - and that's even knowing that Twilight is looking at somewhere near a 60% drop again. It projects at something like $6MM this weekend, but even that could be a stretch for "Playing for Keeps". And because of that, I really have no idea what will come out on top this week. What is going to be stronger? Maybe "Playing for Keeping" can take the top spot, there just isn't a clear favorite otherwise. But what do I know? I'm just a guy looking at a bunch of numbers, hoping that I'm right about some of the stuff I write down...
I'm gonna go ahead and say that I personally don't have much interest in seeing this movie. I might catch it in theater by accident or if someone else invites me, but other than that I feel like I will probably just give this one a rental down the road, and that's if I ever get the urge to do that much. I think unless you really need to see a romantic comedy this weekend, it might be okay to give this a pass.
Let me know yours insights and opinions on this one. I'd like to hear if anyone has anything different to say about this film!