The summer movie season kicks off this weekend with the year’s first legitimate blockbuster. For most, a few mindless explosions are probably a relief after the early year’s issue-heavy movie schedule. Mission: Impossible III is poised to cash in on America’s need for a little fun, with the fourth widest opening in history. The Paramount Pictures film opens in a whopping 4,054 theaters, the fourth biggest opening for any movie all time.
Living in Tom Cruise’s shadow are a series of more easily ignored films. Another issue movie, this time for kids. Another horror movie, this time the ghosts are haunting history. Below is a detailed look at everything opening in theaters this weekend.
Limited Releases (Opening in fewer than 500 theaters.)
Two limited releases worth mention, the biggest being The Proposition play ing in 200+ films. It’s a Western set in the 1880’s Australian Outback. Described as a story of revenge, it stars Guy Pearce as a renegade wanted for murder. It’s gotten mixed reviews, but if you’ve got a taste for gunplay it’ll fit the bill. Also opening is One Last Thing, the new film from that kid who looks like Shia LaBeouf. Another movie with mixed reviews, one critic described it as “American Pie for the terminally ill”. Is that a good thing or not? It’s hard to tell.
An American Haunting (Opens in 1,667 theaters.)
An American Haunting is supposedly based on the true story of The Bell Witch of Tennessee, the story is of a spirit which attacked the wealthy and highly respected Bell family for four years, eventually causing the death of one of them. In 1818, the family began to experience disturbances on their property. At first, slight, unexplained noises, but the spirit began to grow, becoming aggressive and singling out the father, John, and his only daughter Betsy. The attacks on Betsy were vicious and unstoppable with her being brutally beaten regularly. If you’re interested in seeing how Satan interacts with carriages and bonnets, this is the movie for you.
Hoot (Opens in 3,018 theaters.)
Three middle-schoolers take on greedy land developers, corrupt politicians, and clueless cops in the mystery adventure Hoot based on Carl Hiaasen's Newbery Honor-winning book. Produced by Jimmy Buffett, Frank Marshall (Seabiscuit, Signs) and Walden Media (The Chronicles of Narnia, Holes), Hoot revolves around a Montana boy who moves to Florida and unearths a disturbing threat to a local population of endangered owls. Determined to protect his new environment, the boy and his friends fight to prevent the adults from making a big mistake.
Mission: Impossible III (Opens in 4,054 theaters.)
The next chapter in the life of Ethan Hunt. Brian DePalma and Jon Woo have headed the first few installments, “Lost’s” J.J. Abrams takes over for the series’ third theater trip. It’s a good change too, Abrams has this genre nailed down. Mission: Impossible III is head and shoulders above the other two Mission films, in fact the other two don’t really deserve to be associated with it. MI3 has a lot in common with the last great Arnold Schwarzenegger movie True Lies. A spy hides his identity from his wife; his wife gets dragged inadvertently into his world. But where True Lies played a lot of that comedically, Mission: Impossible 3 takes it deadly serious. If you’re going to borrow ideas for an action movie, taking a few cues from James Cameron isn’t a bad way to go. Abrams’ borrows liberally from some of Cameron’s biggest action bits, and then betters them to raise the stakes on Ethan Hunt as he’s ripped apart over the course of the film.
STILL IN THEATERS AND WORTH YOUR TIME: United 93, Ice Age 2
