"Proposal," "Year One" face off at box office
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Hollywood has a shot at getting back into the win column this weekend, as a pair of wide releases are poised to perform solidly at the box office.
Disney's romantic comedy "The Proposal," starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, has drawn positive early reviews and keen interest among females. That alone should get "Proposal" a $20 million-plus bow without even popping the question over possible date-night business.
Audiences attending sneak previews of the film last weekend were predominantly (78 percent) couples. If that translates into a broad range of demographic groups attending its opening, "Proposal" has the best shot at preventing Warner Bros.' comedy behemoth "The Hangover" from three-peating atop the domestic box office.
An opening in the range projected for "Proposal" also would represent a personal best for Bullock, whose box-office high was the $17.6 million debut of "Premonition" in March 2007.
This weekend Sony releases "Year One," a comedy set in biblical times. Jack Black and Michael Cera star as two hunter-gatherers banished from their primitive village.
"It's a funny concept -- the very first road trip," Sony distribution president Rory Bruer said.
Harold Ramis ("Analyze That") directed "Year One," and produced the film with Judd Apatow. Rated PG-13, "Year One" is tracking best among young males and is expected to open with about $20 million.
Collectively, the weekend's three-day gross receipts will be compared with a $143 million year-earlier session topped by the $38.7 million opening of Warners' "Get Smart." Paramount's "Love Guru" also bowed during the 2008 session but contributed less than $14 million.
'HANGOVER' HOLDING ON
The combined box office from this weekend's new wide releases could well match that from the year-earlier debutantes. But it's the latest frame's strong holdovers that could carry the industry to its first year-over-year weekend uptick in four sessions.
Warners' R-rated "Hangover" dropped a skimpy 27 percent last weekend and is likely to ring up another $20 million or more during this frame. Disney/Pixar's animated "Up" is likely to tally a similar gross its fourth frame.
It will bear watching how Sony's remake of the hijacking thriller "The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" holds up over its sophomore session. But the Denzel Washington/John Travolta drama ought to be able to gross north of $10 million and round out the weekend's top five in solid fashion.
"It's looking to be another hard-fought weekend," Disney distribution chief Chuck Viane said.
Among this session's new limited releases is Sony Pictures Classics' Woody Allen-directed comedy "Whatever Works," starring Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood. It opens in nine theaters in New York and Los Angeles.
On Sunday, Fox will offer sneak previews of the animated sequel "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs" in 325 locations.
Since the summer season kicked off May 1, flat business has diminished a once-strong improvement in year-to-date box office grosses to less than 6 percent through last weekend, according to Nielsen EDI. The uptick is a bit more modest than it might otherwise be because 2009 has one fewer weekend as the result of calendar fluctuations.
(Editing by Sheri Linden at Reuters)
