An outfit belonging to costumed crime-fighter Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson) comes out of retirement in Zack Snyder's adaptation of Watchmen.
Photo courtesy Warner Bros. Only one wide-release movie opens Friday as Hollywood makes way for the long–awaited release of Watchmen. Comedies and horror have so far fueled 2009's box office boom, with ticket sales jumping 17 percent ahead of last year's numbers.
Touching ground as the year's first big-budget superhero film, Zack Snyder's R-rated adaptation of the beloved Watchmen graphic novel is expected to continue the hot streak. Movietickets.com reports that 64 percent of 2,522 moviegoers polled plan to see the film this weekend. If Snyder fans turn out in force, Watchmen, despite middling reviews, could approach the $71 million opening-weekend take raked in by the director's 2007 action epic, 300.
Dennis Quaid's crime story The Horsemen and Tokyo!, partially directed by Michel Gondry, also open Friday, in limited release. While Watchmen has its flaws, it earns our pick-of-the-weekend recommendation.
What do you think? Rate this week's new movies below.
Watchmen
Synopsis: Set in an alternate-history version of 1985, the United States and the Soviet Union approach nuclear annihilation as superheroes fight amongst themselves and do their bit to save humanity. They include psychologically marred Rorschach (played by a convincing Jackie Earle Haley), Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode). Zack Snyder directs the adaptation of the Hugo Award-winning graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
Rated: R
The Horsemen (limited)
Synopsis: Dennis Quaid stars as a police detective and father of two who unearths a serial killer who is basing his murders on the biblical prophecy of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Jonas Åkerlund (Spun) directs.
Rated: R
Tokyo! (limited)
Synopsis: Three filmmakers tackle Japan's most intriguing metropolis. Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) follows a young woman who turns into a chair. French director Leos Carax (The Lovers on the Bridge) portrays a sewer-dwelling hermit. South Korea's Bong Joon-ho (The Host) relates a love story between a recluse and a pizza-delivery girl.
Rated: R
Now in Theaters
Chun-Li (Kristin Kreuk, left) flies into ass-kicking mode to overpower hoodlums in Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.
Photo: Patrick Brown/© 2009 Capcom Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
Synopsis: Bangkok street fighter Chun-Li (Kristin Kreuk of TV’s Smallville) goes after a crime syndicate with the help of Interpol cop Charlie Nash (Chris Klein). Neal McDonough plays the villainous Bison for director Andrzej Bartkowiak (Doom). Michael Clarke Duncan co-stars.
Rated: PG-13
Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
Synopsis: Nick, Joe and Kevin Jonas jump around in 3-D in footage from the band's 2008 Burning Up tour. Directed by Bruce Hendricks, who also documented Miley Cyrus' Hannah Montana concert tour.
Rated: G
Slumdog Millionaire Synopsis: Oscar-winning picture tracks a former street kid from Mumbai who triumphs on India's TV game show version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. by flashing back to his ghetto childhood for the correct answers. On the verge of winning the big jackpot, the uneducated "slumdog" prompts suspicions among cops and society at large. Dev Patel and Frieda Pinto star for director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later).
Rated: R
Photo courtesy Fox Searchlight
Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail
Synopsis: Madea returns as the gun-toting grandmother who needs an attitude adjustment. This time she blows up at a judge after a high-speed freeway chase and gets tossed in jail, where she befriends prostitute/addict (Keisha Knight Pulliam). Perry stars, writes and directs, with Derek Luke as the hard-driving D.A.
Rated: PG-13
Fired Up
Synopsis: In search of girls, two high-school football stars (Nicholas D'Agosto, pictured above left, and Eric Christian Olsen) join a summer cheerleading camp and get more than they bargained for. Sarah Roemer (pictured above right) co-stars. TV scribe Will Gluck (The Loop) directs.
Rated: PG-13
Friday the 13th
Synopsis: Remake of the 1980 horror flick revisits Crystal Lake, where Clay (Jared Padalecki) searches for his missing sister (Amanda Righetti) in the woods. Hockey-masked Jason Voorhees' (Derek Mears) awaits. Marcus Nispel (2003's Texas Chainsaw Massacre) directs the script from Freddy vs. Jason co-writers Mark Swift and Damian Shannon. Danielle Panabaker co-stars.
Rated: R
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Synopsis: Romantic comedy features Isla Fisher (Wedding Crashers) as a shopping addict who climbs out of credit card debt with a little help from her handsome colleague (Hugh Dancy). P.J. Hogan (My Best Friend's Wedding) directs. Joan Cusack, John Goodman and John Lithgow co-star.
Rated: PG
Coraline
Synopsis: Director Henry Selick's (A Nightmare Before Christmas) helms the world's first 3-D, stop-motion animation feature. Based on the storybook classic by writer Neil Gaiman (DC Comics' Sandman series) the fairy tale/nightmare unfolds as discontented Coraline Jones (voiced by Dakota Fanning) walks through a secret door in her new house to find a trippy alternative universe — until her "Other" parents decide to keep her there forever. Teri Hatcher voices the mothers, John Hodgman does the fathers. Ian McShane co-stars as Mr. Bobinsky.
Rated: PG
Photo courtesy Focus Features
Review: Coraline's Stop-Motion Surrealism Dazzles, Terrifies
Director Henry Selick wraps Neil Gaiman's novella in an astonishing 3-D world. The eye-pleasing adaptation wows with whimsy even as it delivers a dark message about modern life.
Rating:Slideshow: The Handmade Tale: Coraline's Inventive DIY Effects
See how the moviemakers brought the book's amazing imagery to the big screen.Video: Gaiman Calls Coraline the Strangest Stop-Motion Film Ever
In an exclusive interview with Wired.com, the American Gods author praises the movie's creative team.
He's Just Not That Into You
Synopsis: Based on a best-seller by Sex and the City TV writers Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo, the movie follows a group of Baltimore singles looking for love in all the wrong places. Ensemble cast includes Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Scarlett Johansson, Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Connelly, Kevin Connolly, Justin Long, Ben Affleck and Bradley Cooper.
Rated: PG-13
Taken
Synopsis: Liam Neeson plays an ex-CIA agent who chases a gang of Albanian thugs through the streets of Paris after they kidnap his daughter for the sex-slave trade. Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen co-star. Written by Luc Besson (Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita) and Robert Mark Kamen (Fifth Element), the action piece is directed by Transporter cinematographer Pierre Morel.
Rated: PG-13
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
Synopsis: Kevin James stars as a single dad/security cop who dispenses justice at the suburban mall as mall rats young and old berate him. When a gang of crooks takes hostages at the shopping center, the chubby Everyman gets off his Segway and saves the day. The comedy, which James co-wrote with Nick Bakay, co-stars Jayma Mays and Keir O'Donnell.
Rated: PG
