Hello, Darkness, my old friend. It’s nice to talk to you again.

WHEN “QUALITY” WINS

Theoretically we are seeing “quality” do well this summer. Films that look like pieces of shit, films like T4, Wolverine, Angels and Demons and Land of the Lost have not played well, while The Hangover, Star Trek, and Up have found audiences like a motherfucker.

It’s easy to suggest from this then that people are responding to quality, or some such nonsense. My problem with that is that this is selective intelligence. Yes, Up is a great film, or nearly a great one, but people love Pixar, and it’s summer. Star Trek behaves like a summer blockbuster, and though it had strikes against it, it also had marketing muscle, and a studio hungry for a franchise. Warner Brothers sold the shit out of The Hangover. People responded. And are still responding. But the film is just good.

Currently the difference between Wolverine and Star Trek is $57 Million. On some level that might be word of mouth. But Wolverine is – as much as people may not have liked it or whatever – still making money. Terminator 4 – through international, etc. – is going to make money Angels and Demons is all about the bank internationally. The only film so far to really fall flat on its face is Land of the Lost. This is entirely Universal’s fault, ans they never cut a good trailer that included actual funny moments, of which there are a number in the film. (Imagine That might be a flop, but it doesn’t count. That was never a tentpole). The failure there was purely marketing.

The Brothers Bloom, one of the best films of the summer, hasn’t crossed $3 Million yet. If you open the door to “Hollywood quality” you’re talking about films that play well with a room. You know what really played well with a room back in the day? Sister Act.

CASH RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME: C.R.E.A.M. GET THE PREDICTIONS, DOLLAR DOLLAR BILL, YO.

We may have another crowd pleaser with The Proposal. We may have another flop with Year One. Neither can win the weekend from The Hangover, which – even if it takes second – is still the winner.

Let’s DO this:

1. The Hangover – $25 Milion
2. The Proposal – $23.5 Million
3. Up – $21.7 Million
4. The Taking of the Pelham 1 2 3 – $12.7 Million
5. Year One – $12.5 Million

Yeah, I might be going high (or a little low) on Year One. See you Sunday.