Box Office Preview: August 6 and August 13

The Box Office Preview features movies with teen and tween appeal opening soon. For the most part I won’t feature R-rated films, but occasionally there will be R-rated movies on teens’ radar and the rating will be noted. Limited release movies will be featured the week they get a wide release.

August 6

The Other Guys features Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg as two incompetent NYC cops who find themselves hot on the tail of some of the city’s biggest criminals. This buddy cop comedy from Adam McKay (Anchorman, Talladega Nights) may have the right combination of star power and broad humor to knock Inception from its box office throne.

The latest installment in the popular dance franchise, Step Up 3D looks to be its most extravagant venture yet. The plot in this is secondary to the all-out dance battles, which should be fantastic and the dance crews are packed with alums from teen favorites So You Think You Can Dance and America’s Best Dance Crew.

August 13

Julia Roberts stars in the big-screen adaptation of the Elizabeth Gilbert bestseller Eat Pray Love, which opens this weekend. A recent divorcee heads off on a journey to find herself in Italy, India, and Bali through food, spirituality, and romance. Though primarily for an older demographic, this will likely appeal to many older teen girls especially with Glee’s Ryan Murphy directing.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, based on the graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley, stars Michael Cera as a lovable doofus who must defeat the seven evil exes of his new love interest before dating her. Chock full of video game references, hip music tracks, and epic fight scenes, this film is made for the teen and twenty-something set and is being heavily marketed to them. (This is my most highly-anticipated movie of the summer, and maybe even the year!)

The Expendables (Rated R) is an action movie for action movie fans. Directed by Sylvester Stallone and starring himself and other action movie veterans like Jet Li, Steve Austin, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the movie focuses on a team of mercenaries sent to overthrow a South American dictator. But the plot hardly matters in this kind of mindless summer escape, which is perfect for older teens looking for a distraction.

Best bets

Maybe I’m being optimistic after a summer of so-so movies, but most of these actually look tolerable. My heart’s with Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, though, and I think lots of teens will fall for it as well.

Coming up

Paranormal romance parody Vampires Suck, Nanny McPhee Returns, the sequel to the 2005 kid’s charmer, Lottery Ticket, a comedy starring Bow Wow, The Switch with Jennifer Aniston and Jason Bateman, horror remake Piranha 3D (Rated R), the film adapation of the middle-grade novel Flipped, action thriller Takers, documentary-style horror film The Last Exorcism, and Going the Distance (Rated R), with Drew Barrymore and Justin Long

August 2nd, 2010  ♥  Box Office Preview, Movies  ♥  1 Comment »