December
18
Weekend Boxoffice: Smith vs. Carrey
What's interesting about this weekend's match-up is that one star who is off his game is starring in a role that is inside the audience sweet spot. That's Jim Carrey in Yes Man (which grabbed 35% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes so far). The other, Will Smith, is starring in a movie, Seven Pounds (which earned 33%), that pushes the edge of what audiences want to see him do. (UPDATE: The NYT's A.O. Scott eviscerates it.) Here's Variety's b.o. forecast.
And, continuing another trend, the animated movie The Tale of Desperaux could do better than the films starring expensive movie stars (it scored 41% on the Tomatometer). But while Will Smith is getting his $20-million price these days, at this point, Jim Carrey is willing to take his money on the back end--and will likely earn a pretty penny. Moviegoers like Carrey best when he's funny. Duh. It's when he goes dark that he tends to get into trouble--Cable Guy, for example, The Number 23, The Majestic. Stars are usually rewarded for doing what their fans want them to do--until they get tired of the same old same old.
Just to make sure he keeps folks guessing, Carrey also has some artier movies on tap, such as I Love You, Phillip Morris, in which he conducts a prison affair with Ewan McGregor. (CAA is selling it at Sundance.) Here's Carrey's profile in The Atlantic.
Here's Fandango's latest poll:
64% of moviegoers on Fandango say they will see Seven Pounds’ Will Smith in any new movie, regardless of the subject matter;
72% say that The Dark Knight was the film “most overlooked” by today’s SAG Awards nominations for the Best Ensemble Cast category;
53% say they’re more likely to watch the 81st Annual Academy Awards with Hugh Jackman as this year’s host.
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What is your obsession with Rotten Tomatoes? It appears that any internet dick with a computer can log in there and have their "review" counted. You're a enormously talented person- why cite such a retarded site? It's like using Wikipedia for research. A sure sign of the end of intelligence as we know it.
Posted by: Don Murphy | December 18, 2008 at 10:23 PM
you would prefer metacritic?
Posted by: Variety.com * | December 18, 2008 at 11:43 PM
I don't understand why an extremely intelligent person in the year 2009 (almost) thinks an aggregation of critics, especially online ones in their mother's basements, are a reflection of anything other than a waste of bandwidth.
Posted by: Don Murphy | December 19, 2008 at 07:03 AM
Believe it or not, much as I decry the loss of that halcyon era when critics had an enormous impact on film culture, the younger generation ONLY looks at critics on that front page of Rotten Tomatoes (and to a lesser degree, the more discerning metacritic), which performs the crucial service of keeping criticism vital on an international platform. Film reviews travel the internet thanks to these aggregators, which are the gatekeepers of information in this digital age.
Hopefully folks do click in and read the individual pieces instead of looking at the numbers. Those numbers do reflect an average, though, of how well a movie was received. Most of the time it doesn't matter with a Will Smith or Jim Carrey movie unless those reviews were say, in the 30s. And I dare say Don that you get a kick out of it when one of your movies scores in the 60s or 70s. It does mean something.
Posted by: Variety.com * | December 19, 2008 at 08:24 AM
Young people can't tell the difference between mental diarrhea and insight, nor can they pick an Oscar winner, they only know what they like.
These movies wil not do well at all anyway, nobody under 30 cares about either of these actors anymore. 7 Pounds is just awful, and Carrey is not in the safe funny roles like 'Dumb', or 'Me, Myself, & Irene'. He is in 'Bruce Almighty' types, a Disney-fied novocaine flick. The kind of movie you forget hours after seeing it.
Posted by: Tim | December 19, 2008 at 10:42 AM
While 'Yes Man' should do well, its trailer shows Carrey's face as a web of cracks. While actors like Depp look eternally young, Carrey looks every one of his years and more. Will that have any effect on his post-'Yes Man' career?
He's a comedian so he doesn't need matinee idol looks, but those trailers are terribly unflattering to his face. It not only makes him look old, but makes the audience that grew up with him realize how old they are too. Nobody like to be reminded of that.
Posted by: Rachel | December 19, 2008 at 12:48 PM
I am not sure why criticism should remain vital. Every arsehole has an opinion so why should anyone care?
Posted by: Don Murphy | December 22, 2008 at 02:14 PM
On your blog, Don, ypu select the film sites that you think are better than others. That you like. Those of us who respect your opinion check 'em out. Critics have authority, put in the time to think about what they've seen, have writing chops. Most of us have critics we respect and enjoy reading. Don't we? That said, with the demise of newspapers it's changing and new ways of exchanging this info will emerge. "Critics" may well become any peers whose opinion we respect. But the quality of cultural discourse may decline. Or not ---presumably we will find the good people who are still writing, if not getting paid.
Posted by: Variety.com * | December 22, 2008 at 04:43 PM
Gosh, Don, why don't you just deal with lame critics the way you deal with people who get in the way when you try to whitewash Wikipedia articles about you: Lie about what they've done and post a message on your forum asking for basement-dwelling sociopaths on the internet to help you stalk them? http://www.donmurphy.net/board/showthread.php?t=28938
Posted by: Charles Martin | January 15, 2009 at 08:11 AM