July 2008 Forecast
By David Mumpower
July 2, 2008
8) Meet Dave
God help us, people are laughing at this trailer. I don't know why and I wish it were not true. In fact, I wish evil fates upon those who do laugh at this trailer. I hope these fates occur before they show up in theaters, thereby allowing the movie a level of success. In fact, my dearest wish is for Meet Dave to be Love Guru'd, but I just don't think it is going to happen. Prove me wrong, North America! Listen to Scary Spice about Eddie Murphy!
9) Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
Some people are dismissing the first week per-venue average as representative of the $20-$25 ticket prices. Others are holding firm to the belief that the film was aided by showing in the five cities with physical stores of the American Dolls franchise. I agree with both of these lines of thinking and I also feel that we should be much more alarmed by the 51% drop in weekend two than would normally be the case. Playing in so few venues, the film should have held up much better if there was demand for it beyond the novelty fangirl obsession. Even so, I trust my wife and she tells me that little girls will eat this movie up. That makes it the marginal choice to not be the worst performer of any wide release in July. That honor instead goes to...
10) Space Chimps
Yes, I love the title, too. In fact, I always hear it in the Muppets voice used to announce the arrival of Pigs in Space skits. Even so, I struggle to envision a scenario wherein this movie is viewed as anything other than a novelty act by most consumers. Of course, I would have said the same thing about Alvin and the Chipmunks at this time last year and in fact probably did (repeatedly). The decision making process of children is a source of complete mystery to all of us, which is why box office tracking for kids' films is no more accurate than random number generation. If kids want to see Space Chimps instead of creepy little doll-girls from the prohibition era, good for them. And if they want to see creepy little doll-girls more, well, they can look forward to growing up and eventually enjoying repeated viewings of Mamma Mia, a movie highlighting the collective works of ABBA. The beauty of this is that the remaining members of ABBA are old enough to be the great-great grandparents of the kids I am now ceding to be lost musical causes.
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