Box Office - '17' Goes for $24 Million

For one of the few times this year, the weekend box office was disappointing. Not if you're Zac Efron's new body swap comedy, 17 Again, but otherwise, there were not a lot of congratulatory cigars being lit. The real evidence was the third place finish by Monsters vs. Aliens, now a month old. There just wasn't much else to watch.

17 Again did finish on top, slowing its $9 million Friday pace to end the weekend just north of $24 million. That's still a very good start, although the trouble is whether Zac Efron can give us any second weekend audience. I kind of doubt it; I think the film will be lucky to hold half its audience from this week. State of Play wound up in second place, with $14 million in receipts. That's about what was expected, so maybe Universal should have put it in a few more theaters, something that won't happen now with summer movies just two weeks away. The other new release, Crank: High Voltage was one of the bigger opening weekend flops of 2009, earning just $6 million plus in three days, despite tons of marketing. A key to its failure was almost certainly Fast & Furious, which managed to outdraw the brand new Jason Statham flick.

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Box Office - '17 Again' Dominates on Friday

For the first time in a long time, the early box office results are all over the road, making it difficult to predict where they'll go next. We said on Thursday that 17 Again would win the weekend, and with a $9 million opening day, according to Box Office Mojo, that's definitely going to happen. But who thought this would almost do $10 million in business on one day?

So can it hold that audience the way Hannah Montana did and flirt with $30 million this weekend? Probably not. But a $20 million prediction seems like a low figure now. $25 million is certainly possible, which cements Zac Efron's status as a star who can open a movie. State of Play had a slightly higher opening day that I would have expected, around $4.5 million. That could mean a $17 million weekend, and the way it's playing out, that should keep the film in second place for the weekend.

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Movie Review - 'State of Play'

State of Play Starring Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, and Helen Mirren Directed by Kevin Macdonald Rated PG-13

State of Play asks fascinating questions about whom and what the news media serve. Major corporations own plenty of daily metropolitan newspapers and those corporations answer to stockholders. Many of those stockholders, in turn, run the companies that make the news. So is it truth above all or truth above all but a few? The 21st century brings new issues into the news room with the sometimes uncomfortable marriage between traditional investigative journalism and an online headline-chomping animal that operates in the statusphere.Both of these concerns fire State of Play out of the gate like a can’t-miss thoroughbred; it’s immediately smarter than most of its contemporaries and the dialogue between Washington Globe newsroom vet Cal McCaffery (Russell Crowe) and his online adversary, the fresh-faced Della Frye (Rachel McAdams), bleeds sarcasm and grit. But the film stops paying attention to its central characters and shifts to the story they’re covering, a possible murder and cover-up inside the Beltway involving a senator (Ben Affleck) who goes way back with McCaffrey. And if there are questions about whether or not the news is too subservient to the companies pulling the strings, surely questions will arise about how far a reporter might go to protect a powerful friend.

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Fearless Forecast - Zac Efron Wins War of the Disney Kids

Disney icons go head-to-head this weekend as the second weekend of Hannah Montana takes on the new Zac Efron movie 17 Again. Now, 17 isn't a Disney movie, and that's kind of the headline: How can these kids do when they move on with their careers. Efron's in a different position than most, in that he could be famous without Disney's help because he's talented and possesses whatever that thing is that makes some people stars.

I don't expect 17 Again to blow the doors off of its opening weekend, but I do think it will wear the crown on Monday morning. It's in 3,200 theaters or so, which is big but not monstrous, so a $20-ish million weekend seems about right. Might be $17, might go up to about $22. But could it do that without Zac Efron? Not a chance. As for Hannah, she'll have a sophomore slump, but we saw that coming as the Saturday and Sunday figures rolled in last week. If it loses about 60% or so, that'll drop a $32 million debut to around $15 million. Believe it or not, that should still be good enough for second place. The other new releases are Crank: High Voltage and State of Play, which should both be in the $11 - $14 million range. Crank ought to perform better, even though it's barely making it to over 2,000 theaters.

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New International Trailer for 'State of Play'

There's a new trailer for State of Play, the new smarty pants political thrilla starring Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, and Rachel McAdams. The film is based on a BBC series made earlier this decade, and the new version was co-written by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Billy Ray, and Tony Gilroy.

I'm always interested in how that works. We don't know, at face value, if they wrote together, if they were working on parts of the script concurrently, or if one guy wrote a huge chunk of a new draft based on the other guy's script. They're not exactly the best fit, stylistically, so I'd be curious to learn how that went exactly. One thing I can say is they've good three damn good writers on the job. So take a look at the new trailer, but we must warn you, it is intended for international audiences, so if you're in the United States, it might not have the same impact. Just kidding.

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