Monday Morning Quarterback Part I

By BOP Staff

August 25, 2008

Why, God, why, isn't the Rocker playing anywhere in China?

New at BOP:
Share & Save
Digg Button  
Print this column

Bunnies aren't cute like everybody supposes

Kim Hollis: The House Bunny, the Anna Faris comedy that blurs the line between fiction and The Girls Next Door, opened to $14.5 million. If you're Sony, are you pleased with this result?

Reagen Sulewski: This is a pretty solid late-summer opening, considering how lousy and formulaic this looked. Dumb girl comedies are a tougher sell as well, so that's another way I consider this to have out-performed its baseline. Anna Faris is one of the few actresses I can think of playing this with the right level of irony to even make this palatable, so that's a nice feather in her cleavage as well.

Pete Kilmer: I think so, for the budget that this thing had I think a $14.5 million take is rather solid during these dog days of summer. Anna Faris has become THE go to girl for quickie comedies. The plus for that is that she is really quite good and makes these things watchable. If I was Sony, I'd lock her down into some projects.

Kim Hollis: I agree that it's a pretty solid little opening. Faris is completely charming and appears poised to have a nice-sized hit at some point very soon. For The House Bunny, we're looking at a profitable run followed by some good money when it hits DVD. It's really more of a DVD-type flick, anyway.

David Mumpower: I agree with Pete. In fact, I think it's time to allow for the possibility that Anna Faris is a box office draw, at least in these roles. Oddly, she's the modern day Goldie Hawn more than Kate Hudson is.




Advertisement



Scott Lumley: What exactly did this cost to make anyways? I'm going to go with somewhere between not much and diddly squat. This might already be profitable.

Sean Collier: Two straight-up comedies were released this weekend. Both were decidedly under-advertised, with been-there-done-that plots that wouldn't grab anyone's attention. Both were the first star vehicle for a talented but untested comic performer. Both seemed a little too dumb for grown-ups, but weren't exactly the talk of teen audiences. One of these films was named The House Bunny. It made $14.5 million. The other was named The Rocker. It made $2.8 million. Considering the two films were virtually interchangeable, Sony should feel like it won the Powerball.

Daron Aldridge: Kim's original question implies that the Girls Next Door isn't already fiction. Sony should be thrilled as they have the best box office opening ever for a film featuring the children of Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis and an American Idol runner-up.

Brandon Scott: Sony has to be happy and bouncin' like a bunny here. It's all but assured of being a money winner with a production budget at about $25 million. I would rather watch Girls Next Door (Kendra, you know my address), but I am kind of happy for Anna Faris. When you have been around as long as she has and really not proven yourself as an actress on your own (not that this appears to be an Oscar caliber performance or anything), its always nice to see someone have success. Early word is that this could catapult her into much larger roles in the near future, so congrats to her.

Jason Lee: Bunnies:1 Statham:0 With a score like that, I think Sony has to be happy. I mean, the only thing that could have made this better would have been a trailer showing Anna Faris kissing Scarlett Johanson. D'oh!


Continued:       1       2       3

     


 
 

Need to contact us? E-mail a Box Office Prophet.
Friday, April 26, 2024
© 2024 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.