Although the question is a toughie: Would audiences rather see Jim Carrey and his slightly-less-rubbery face resurrect the same comic schtick for Warners’ Yes Man that made him a star or watch Will Smith save souls while running through the rain in Sony’s spiritual tearjerker Seven Pounds? Neither are getting stellar reviews — Owen Gleiberman gave Yes Man a B– while Lisa Schwarzbaum teed off on Seven Pounds, giving it a D — but they’ve both got big honking stars in ‘em. Someone’s gonna make money this weekend; let’s look at my picks for the Top Five:
1. Yes Man — $39 million
It’s been a while since we’ve seen Jim Carrey do that thing audiences expect from Jim Carrey: You’d have to go back to Bruce Almighty in 2003. As such, you can’t count on this one to make the $68 million Bruce did in its opening weekend. But people, they like the funny…especially if they’ve spent the last week battling the mall crowds.
2. Seven Pounds — $23 million
Since this isn’t a Will Smith-blows-stuff-up movie, one can’t expect it to blow up at the box office like I Am Legend or Hancock. But it oughta do a hair under The Pursuit of Happyness‘ $26.5 million opening—mostly because people don’t know what to expect from it. Happyness had that tearjerking trailer. This has obscure references to random weights and measures.
3. The Day the Earth Stood Still — $19 million
This Keanu Reeves flick will have another week of decent performance before buckling under the prestige-y weight of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the doggie weight of Marley and Me.
4. The Tale of Desperaux — $13 million
Without the Pixar pedigree, great reviews (like Bolt got), or the word “Shrek” somewhere in the title, it’s a tough go for a CG animated flick these days. Just ask Delgo. But desperate parents might call for Desperaux measures…just not in blockbuster amounts.
5. Four Christmases — $8 million
It’s been a pretty good run—$91.2 million and counting—and this’ll likely be Christmas‘ last week in the top 5.
So, there you have it. To borrow from the wise rogue himself, Han Solo, laugh it up, fuzzballs.
addCredit(“Melissa Moseley”)
will smith is the only trully bankable star in Hollywood and this picture I’ve heard is awesome! Lisa shwarzbaum says otherwise, but I tend to take what she says as a big dose of opposites, she says “terrible” and I hear “best ever!” so again u are wrong sir and will see will smith win the weekend and then cruise to 100 million
I would definitely flip # 1 and # 2. I don’t know anything about Seven Pounds, but the trailer makes it *look like* a thriller, so I suspect more folks will turn out for that than you think. I also don’t think Jim Carrey has a $40m opening left in him at this point. He needs some hits back under his belt before he can automatically expect that. I also think Earth and Despereaux might be closer. I expect Earth’s drop to be closer to 50% and the mouse will definitely outclass Delgo. Never underestimate cute mice.
I agree with Anthony. I never agree with Lisa on EW.com, or any other person in the media who reviews movies. I almost always have the opposite reaction from what someone in the media thinks of a film.
Hence, I will probably love Will Smith’s “Seven Pounds.”
Will Smith movies have been awful lately (Hancock and I am Legend both sucked!). I hope this one tanks just so he will take time to start making better movies. I just don’t understand his appeal.
I love Will Smith. Seven Pounds seems a bit confusing, but I’ll probably like it-just seeing him cry on the obscure preview makes me cry.
1)Yes Man-$39.5 million
2)Seven Pounds-$25 million
3)The Day the Eaarth Stood Still-$18 million
4)The Tale of Desperaux-$15 million
5)Four Christmases-$9 million
I definitely don’t think that Jim Carrey can pull off a $40 million dollar opening weekend anymore. Just look at what happened to “The Love Guru”-the old comics of the 90s simply don’t have the same appeal anymore. That being said, i highly doubt that anyone can trump Will Smith at the box office.
Both look quite terrible.
I hate n!ggers. Fu<k Will Smith!
I think you’re overestimating Jim Carrey and Will Smith’s power at the box office. The adverts for both don’t look too good, so I’d divide both of those estimates by 2.
WOW- major overestimation EW. The Box Office Junkie is kind of calling you out on this one… they got it way more accurate than you: http://theboxofficejunkie.com
For anyone who needs accurate numbers…
http://www.boxofficemojo.com
They track everything.
They were all overestimated. Interesting considering all kids are out of school now on winter break. I thought some like “Desperaux” would have bigger numbers… Maybe next week.
I thought The Tale of Desperaux would have done better it was a cute movie. I love this quote from that film http://www.entertonement.com/clips/51218/I-am-a-gentle-man
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