Director Named for Sequel to 'Mirrors'

It was first announced that Fox was working on a sequel to Mirrors, the 2008 horror flick directed by Alexandre Aja and starring Kiefer Sutherland. That film did better than you probably would think, and that's why Fox believes there's more money to be made here.

However, we know Sutherland won't be back, and because he's not writing it - and he's always written what he's directed - we assumed Aja wouldn't be in the running to direct. Now Bloody Disgusting confirms our suspicions, saying that Víctor García will run the sequel. Who's that guy? Well, unless you saw Return to the House on Haunted Hill, you probably aren't familiar with his work. So you're probably not familiar with his work.

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Fox Looking Back Into the 'Mirrors'

I thought Mirrors would do better last summer, but as it happens, it earned way more money than I had believed. Even though it opened with only $11 million last August, it would up hitting the $30 million mark in the US, and raked in more than $40 million in foreign markets. I don't know what it cost, but I'm pretty sure director Alexandre Aja got an end-of-the-year holiday card from Fox.

So when I read there would be a part two, I can only think it was a by-product of the international territories boosting the overall profits. Yes, we're getting that strange hybrid, the sequel to the remake, although Bloody Disgusting doesn't mention if Aja - one of the great young minds in the horror genre - will direct the new installment.

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Box Office - 'Dark Knight' Second All-Time, Second This Weekend

The 31-day stranglehold on number one is over. The Dark Knight has finally surrendered the top spot at the U.S. box office, but it did not go quietly. In fact, while most every analyst predicted a drop to third place, the Batman sequel stood its ground and only slipped to second place, passing Star Wars on the all-time list of top-grossing movies in the process; it now only trails Titanic.

The new champeen is Tropic Thunder, which did not put up great numbers over its first five days. As a matter of fact, Pineapple Express, last week's number two film, opened more strongly over the same number of days. But the Ben Stiller comedy did outperform the rest of the field each day, so it sits with $37 million so far, according to Box Office Mojo, about five million less than I would have expected. The Dark Knight wound up in second place for two reasons: The new Star Wars movie, The Clone Wars, opened very soft, generating only $15 million, and The Dark Knight only lost 35% of its audience from the previous weekend. That number is significant because it represents the second-smallest drop in the top ten - for the movie that's been in the top then the longest - and that means, of course, that the Batman sequel is getting a lot of return business. The weekend's third new release, Mirrors with Kiefer Sutherland, opened in fourth place, ahead of Pineapple Express, which had a 57% freefall compared to last week.

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Box Office - 'Tropic Thunder' Suffering Olympic Fever?

We scoffed at last week's run-and-hide approach employed by Pineapple Express and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, hoping to avoid Olympic Fever by opening on Wednesday. It's hard to say whether or not the Olympics really would have caused a lot of damage to a traditional weekend, but we're not laughing this week. Michael Phelps has been in the water.

Yes, the swimmer's assault on history may come at the expense of Tropic Thunder. The new Ben Stiller-directed comedy co-starring Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. has not exploded the way a movie of its caliber normally would. There are really only two logical explanations: Michael Phelps and the Stiller Backlash that also sunk (pardon the pun) The Heartbreak Kid last fall. Tropic Thunder will most likely still be a big hit, but its numbers since Wednesday are nowhere near what I would've thought. According to Box Office Mojo, we're looking at $8.2 million on Friday and a three-day total of right around $20 million. The five-day weekend is below $40 million for the new comedy, which I predicted would beat the $41 million performance last weekend by Pineapple Express. It's still possible, because these numbers are just estimates, but if the prospective audience stayed home to watch Michael Phelps win gold medal number seven on Friday, why would they run out and watch a movie on Saturday when he's bucking for his eighth? The Olympic storyline has some teeth across the board this weekend, as nothing has done overwhelmingly strong business, and no, the teeth reference has nothing to do with our Olympic hero's constantly agape mouth. Star Wars: The Clone Wars opened in second place with an estimated $6.2 million, which would give it an opening weekend number in the $20 million range; Mirrors opened with $4.2 million, and is on pace to barely crack the top five horror movie openings in 2008; even The Dark Knight showed some vulnerability, although its $5 million Friday will still guarantee at worst a third-place weekend finish.

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What's New in Theaters - August 15, 2008

It's a very busy weekend at the movies, with three movies in wide release, and several more hoping to grab your dollars on a more limited basis. This is one of the last hurrahs for summer, and certainly, in terms of movies with tremendous financial potential, it's the last big weekend for at least a month.

Probably the most notable new release is Tropic Thunder, the new comedy co-written and directed by Ben Stiller, who also stars opposite Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. They play three of Hollywood's biggest actors whose war movie comes apart at the seams when the fake war they're fighting becomes a real war they don't know they're fighting.

(Check out the official Tropic Thunder site)

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a little complicated. There was an animated series called The Clone Wars five years ago, which made sense because we were between Episode II and Episode III in the second trilogy, and that's when the Clone Wars take place. In 2008, we have another animated series about the same thing, and this movie is kind of a preamble to that. Why doesn't George Lucas just do the last trilogy? You got me.

(Check out the official Star Wars: The Clone Wars site)

The third major release of the weekend is Mirrors. It's another Asian horror movie remake from a very talented member of the Splat Pack named Alexandre Aja. When the material catches up to his eye, look out. He's already made some good horror movies, but his ceiling is incredibly high. Mirrors stars Kiefer Sutherland as a security guard who believes the mirrors in the abandoned building he patrols are haunted. And evil. That's never a good combination.

(Check out the official Mirrors site)

The latest film from Woody Allen is the sultry romantic comedy Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Contrary to what you may think because of the high profile of its stars, Vicky is neither Penelope Cruz nor Scarlett Johansson. Scarlett is Cristina, all right, but Cruz plays a character named Maria Elena. Then who the hell is Vicky? That'd be British actress Rebecca Hall, one of the many women in this film who find themselves unable to deter or handle the desires of Javier Bardem.

(Check out the official Vicky Cristina Barcelona site)

Back in the 1970s, it was not uncommon to have a negative impression of California wines. After all, the French made the best wine, like the Swiss made fine timepieces, and Americans made the best Chinese food. But that impression changed after a Paris wine tasting in 1976. Armed with a really good cast that's anchored by Alan Rickman, Bottle Shock recounts the events leading up to one of the most significant days ever for people who tie sweaters around their necks and day trip into the Napa Valley wineries.

(Check out the official Bottle Shock site)

Luke Wilson hasn't played it safe over the past few years, branching out into independent territory both as an actor and even as a director. He seems comfortable in roles and films with lower expectations, whatever that means. Luke plays the title role in Henry Poole is Here, a man with not much going on in his world until his neighbors believe they see the impression of Jesus in the exterior wall of his house.

(Check out the official Henry Poole is Here site)

In the 1970s, it was believed that the French made the best wine. Now, they're gaining a reputation for making the best erotically-charged nouveau Hitchcock mysteries. I've already seen two this year, Roman de Gare and Tell No One (although there's not much sensuality in Tell No One). Now a French filmmaker who studied and later befriended Hitch as a writer for the influential French film journal Cahiers du Cinema has released A Girl Cut in Two. It's a great title, stars the electric and alluring Ludivine Sagnier, and comes to us from legendary French director Claude Chabrol.

(Check out the official Girl Cut in Two site)

That's a look at what's in theaters this weekend; choose wisely.