Weekend Forecast for Aug 19th Weekend: Part One
By Reagen Sulewski
August 18, 2005
In a summer that has puzzled studio execs, pundits and exhibitors alike, studios are apparently willing to try any trick in the book to get people out to the theater. These tricks include, apparently, bringing out stuff earmarked for straight-to-video, like this week's Wednesday opener.
You sort of get the feeling that Supercross came from a very old script. Like, 20 years old, because this looks a lot like some of those super-cheap, completely star-free movies about one sub-culture or another that used to come out in the day. This time, it's exposing the underbelly of the motocross world (finally!), and has some how finagled a 1,580 screen release despite starring no one anyone has ever heard of, with the exception of Aaron Carter, sibling of one of the Backstreet Boys, who had a brief and unspectacular music career of his own.
I suppose I should amend that, as Robert Patrick and Robert Carradine both have supporting roles in this film, but the target audience for this film, 14-17 year old boys, probably only has a vague idea of who they are. The director is Steve Boyum, a former stunt co-ordinator whose directorial crimes include Meet the Deedles and Slap Shot 2. He can burn in hell for the latter.
Scoring a remarkable 4% on the Tomato Meter as I write this, Supercross looks to be a film embraced by no one, except for the family of the cast and crew. Look for about $2 million from this film on the weekend, maybe, with about half a million coming from the Wednesday opening.
Stay tuned for the full weekend preview later this week.
Print this column
