Weeknd Preview: Will The Back-Up Plan Work or Lose?

It's time for some box-office predictions! This weekend, it'll be neck and neck again, but The Back Up Plan should be a smidgen over the classic How To Train Your Dragon. The rom-com should be at Number 1 with 17 million, an alright go, for J. Lo.

How To Train Your Dragon has a chance of beating Plan. It will all depend on how well it does on Sunday. If it comes in Second Place, it should have 16 million,. Not bad for a 5 week old film that was dubbed a bomb a mere few weeks ago.

The Losers won't be a complete loser, but it'll have to have some hidden strength to top Dragon and Plan. Still, it won't be a complete loss: it's almost guranteed to top 10 million. A Third Place debut with 12 million should be alright for Warner Bros.



Date Night should hold steady, down to Fourth Place with 11 million. The comedy should have a total of 85 million, alright for both stars involved and a career high for Tina Fey.

Either Oceans or Kick-Butt should make it to 5th place. I'll give it to Oceans though, just due to the fact that Kick-Butt is guranteed to drop hard. That nature-doc should go to Fifth Place and get 9 millon.

The weekend will do alright, though Iron Man 2 will give it a nice boost in a few weeks.

SYS

DVD Review: My Neighbor Totoro

Ghibli delivers! That's the main thing I can say about Totoro, one of the greatest films ever. Hayoa is a defenite filmmaker and this is the perfect slice of how great he can be.

Satsuki and Mei move into a new house in Japan, only to discover two small spirits who lead the girls to..Totoro, the keeper of the forest. However, the girls mother is getting sicker and sicker and soon Totoro (and a Catbus) will become more and more important to he girls...

The animation of this film will leave you breathless and the entire film reminds you fo E.t. or (For modern comparision) How To Train Your Dragon. The girls seem real, showing Hayoa Myizaki's knowledge of chuldhood. This would be kept up in the almost equal film Ponyo. The film itself boats great visuals pacing and heart. Easily one of the best movies ever, it's quite a charmer and will leave you breathless.

Rating: 9.3 out of 10 or A+

SYS

Film Review: Clash of The Titans

I just can't hate a film where 3 giant scorpions duke it out while humans try to escape their claws. That's too much fun to resist. Though it has atrocious 3D, this film overall is better than the norm.

After seeing his adoptive parents killed, Perseus learns Hades plans to unleash the Kracken to destroy all of humanity. Percy and a ragtag group of men go off in search of their destiny...

This film is fun. Fun, fun fun fun FUN!!! The Kracken is an example of this. If a smile dosent come to your face when you see him, it's amazing. Perseus is also a fun ride. He may not act well, but he does his job as a warrior right. Liam Neeson does well and scorpions...well their perfect.

The 3D though, is an abomination. I love 3D and I feel like in How To Train Your Dragon, Alice In Wonderland and especially Avatar, 3D was used to advance the story. Like Alice, this film was CONVERTED to 3D. Unlike Alice, they thought of doing 3D, 11weeks before it came out. Watching the film in 3D is like drinking Near Beer or a Diet Soda. Not the full monty and many will get it if you dress it up like the real thing. Many asked for refunds actually after the screening. If I hadn't seen it in XD, I would've joined them.

Despite that, this is one fun ride and it's a good time overall..just see it in 2D!



One final note: best cameo of the year is in here. Just wait until you see it.

Rating: 7.4 out of 10 or B

SYS

Box Office Report: Clash A Huge Fight, Marry Does Fine

Clash of The Titans was a hit this weekend with 61 million. My prediction was dead on for the epic. The film couldn't outpace the gigantic 300, though it's still a hit since it made back half of it's 125 million dollar budget. It seems the 3D conversion was worth it.

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too? was able to muster 29 million. The film is the 3rd biggest Tyler Perry opening weekend ever behind Madea Goes To Jail and Madea's Family Reunion. It seems to be continuing the red hot streak Tyler Perry has had for years now.

How To Train Your Dragon held wonderfully, making 29 million and dipping only 33.7%, better than Monstrs VS. ALiens from last year. It's gone from being 16 million behind the film to 12 million. It's now made 92 million, a stellar gross which could go to about 175 million.

The Last Song performed alright, if frontloaded. It made 16 million over the weekend and has made 25 million since Wednesday. It's frontloaded nature is similar to another Nicholas Spark adptation, Dear John.



The weekend was the biggest ever in April and has put the year up 17% from last year.

SYS

Weekend Preview: Who will Clash, Marry, Sing and Train?

This weekend is going to be huge. No one can deny it. Another 3D epic enters at the forefront, as do a Tyler Perry and Miley Cyrus/Nicholas Sparks flick. Meanwhile, Alice and Dragon will try to get any remaining dollars to their 3D screens.

Clash of the Titans has a massive marketing and 3D on it's side to make it easily win the weekend. A godo question, though, is how big will it get? I place my bets at 60 million, but many have actually put it at beating Fast & Furious's record for highest grossing april weekend. To do that, it'll have to make 71 million or more. That MAY be achievable, though only 1600 3D screens limits it's potential to REALLY break out like Alice In Wonderland. Still, expect some nice returns this weekend for around 61 million. If succesful, WB will be converting Inception to 3D for it's July 16th release.

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too comes in, becoming the 1st non-Madea Tyler Perry film to get a sequel. Although no reviews are up at the time of this writing, plenty will still come out to see Tyler's latest film. Expect something in the high-20's, a very fine opening. If it does break 30 million, though, expect Why Did I Get Married As Well in 2012/2013. A 28 million weekend will make that a reality.

How To Train Your Dragon, last week's underperformer, is expect to take a small dent this weekend. It's been doing grand during the week, so a tiny drop this weekend. A drop of about 22% should give it a 34 million weekend. Expect tiny drops throughout April, since no family films come out until late April withh Brendan Fraser's Furry Vengeance.



The Last Song should do decent, if unspectacular. It made 5 million on Wednesday, exactly on target with my predictions. A 3 million Thursday and a 22 million weekend will give it a 30 million 5-day gross, fine for Miley's first film without Hannah Montana in the title. It remains to be seen though if this qualifies as a hit by Disney's standards.

Alice In Wonderland keeps on chugging in it's 5th weekend., as it reached 300 million yesterday. A 13 million weekend this week will give it a robust 314 million total, giving it a defenite chance of entering the 350 million dollar club.



The rest of the Top 10 will be held up by Gerard Butler, Wimpy Kids and Hot Tubs, all of which should have decent dips thanks to Good Friday. There's a chance of beating the biggest April weeknd this week..but we shall see.

1) Clash of The Titans- 61 million
2) How To Train Your Dragon- 34 million
3) Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too- 28 million
4) The Last Song- 22 million
5) Alice In Wonderland- 13 million

SYS

Film Review: How To Train Your Dragon

Dreamworks. The company that has always had to compete with PIXAR. Most of the time, these guys get a bad cred. You can blame that on duds like Spirit, Shrek The Third and Madagascar 2. But with films like Shrek 1 & 2, Over The Hedge and Kung Fu Panda, these guys show they can do great cinema. They just need to get talented people to work on their films. This one has Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois in the director's chair. These guys worked on the classic Lilo & Stitch. So is it any wonder this is the best dreamWorks adventure yet?

Hiccup (Jay Bruchel) is a small viking on the island of Berk. While his friends are always battling dragons, he's working with Gobber (Craig Ferguson) as a blacksmith. However, he catches the rarest of all dragons: a Night Fury. But when he see's it for the first time, he just CAN'T kill the little critter he dubs Toothless. And thus, a classic film friendship is born.

Let's face it. This story has been told time after time again. But...this one just seems fresher, perhaps because this is the first pet that, y'know, kills people! Toothless, however, comes off more cute than ferocious. In fact, he has some of the best expressions that I've seen in animation in a LOOOOOOOOOONG time. He and Hiccup do make good buddies.



The voices in the film are really well, Jonah Hill and Craig Ferguson being stnad-outs. Gerard Butler also does well as Hiccup's father. Jay is alright as Hiccup, much better than I thought he would be thanks to those pesky TV commercials. Toothless, thank goodness, has no voice actor. That's probably for the best as he does perfectly fine here silent.

The animation also does well here. The background are beautiful and the dragons look really good too. This film just gets everything right, fromt pacing to action to animation. A highly reccomended ride in 3D or 2D!!



Rating: 9.0 out of 10 or A

SYS

Deathly 3D

The 3D phenomenon continues as Warner Bros has given Clash of the Titans and both of Harry Potters Deathly Hallow films the 3D treatment. Clash has been moved a week as not to compete with the 3D blockbuster how to Train Your Dragon.

SYS