This Weekend at the Box Office

First and Foremost, Response to Comments:

1) The Chick Flick
This type of movie, I have to admit greyslev, is one of my least favorite genres. I am not a chick, therefore this type of movie is not really directed toward me anyway, but since it exists (and after Sex and the City's success, I think we'll see a lot more popping up) I should comment on it. I do have the guilty pleasure chick flicks that I find pretty entertaining in their humor (see: The Truth About Cats & Dogs), in their pop culture icon status (see: She's All That), or, I have to admit, in cheezy, romantic value (see the height of the genre: Pretty Woman). Some people include musicals in this area, but I disagree and file them under their own category.

2) Bad Movies
There is a dilemma here. While a lot, maybe most, of the movies I see are bad, some sink so low that they actually come back up as entertaining (see because you probably haven't: Get Over It). Then there are the movies that are not worth the time, and I love the examples given by Anonymous of Gigli and Battlefield: Earth.

:::Sidenote::: For those of you who don't watch E!, John Travolta turned down the role of Billy Flynn (Richard Gere) in Chicago to do Battlefield: Earth, a movie based on a book by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Chicago won best picture in 2002.

As for today...

How Wanted is WALL-E?

I know I promised a movie review, but it's going to have to wait. Today I am making predictions for this week's box office.

This weekend is going to bring some tight competition between star-studded Wanted and Pixar's WALL-E. While Wanted features James McAvoy, just off Academy Award nominated (and in my opinion incredibly overrated) Atonement, a red hot, and apparently overly tattooed, Angelina Jolie, and Mr. Consistent Morgan Freeman, I think WALL-E is going to pull this one out.

Its G rating will make it a sure hit with families, as long as they aren't too worn out from Kung Fu Panda and Get Smart. Panda is a few weeks old already though, and Get Smart is targeting a little bit older of an audience with PG-13, so I think the way will still be clear. Also, Pixar, coming off of Ratatouille, can pretty much do no wrong. Their simple formula of cute animated character who longs to find his greater place in the world, or in WALL-E's case the universe, puts up big every time. I think everyone is familiar with the successes of Cars, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Monsters Inc., and, can't forget the classic gem that started it all, Toy Story. This project though is not backed up by any kind of star power unless you count Jeff Garlin or Sigourney Weaver.

So that's my prediction for this weekend. Wanted will definitely come in at a solid second doing a nice amount of business for Universal, and throwing some more distribution dollars to Paramount, who has already hit the billion dollar mark for domestic box office (reaching the mark a couple of weeks earlier than their record-setting last year).

Let me know what you think. Can Wanted, which has gotten some good early reviews (83% right now on rottentomatoes) capture first place with big moves, big effects, and big names, or will family fun win this weekend with WALL-E?