8/7/2023 0 Comments Tower heist movie fullThe pic opened to $34.1 million last weekend after losing business because of the freak storm on the East Coast. 2 spot domestically, and is predicted to gross in the low $20 million range in its second weekend. The film, also starring Niel Patrick Harris, is packed with 3D gimmicks (think smoke rings).Ī Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas cost in the $20 million range to produce.ĭreamWorks Animation and Paramount’s 3D toon Puss in Boots has a good shot of besting Harold & Kumar for the No. Played by John Cho and Kal Penn, Harold and Kumar go on the search for the perfect Christmas tree after Kumar destroys the original. ( Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay opened to $14.9 million in April 2008.) Conservative estimates show the R-rated stoner comedy opening in the $18 million range, but it could hit $20 milion, thanks in part to the 3D factor. and New Line’s more modestly budgeted A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. However, Tower Heist could lose young men to Warner Bros. Tower Heist also should play well with African-American and Hispanic audiences because of Murphy and Pena, according to Universal. In the U.S., tracking - which has popped in recent days, due to a flurry of publicity by Stiller and Murphy - is strong among males of all ages followed by older women. Tower Heist also opens day and date in 21 countries overseas, including the U.K., Germany, Spain, Hong Kong and India. Rivals suggest Universal needs the movie to open to at least $30 million.ĬOVER STORY: Why Is Funnyman Ben Stiller Not Laughing? Imagine Entertianment’s Brian Grazer and Kim Roth produced the film with Murphy, while Relativity Media helped finance.Ī year ago on the same weekend, Warner Bros.’ comedy Due Date opened to $32.7 million at the domestic box office, and while Universal is using that film as a comp, the studio is lowering its weekend estimate to between $25 million and $30 million because of the soft marketplace. Besides a tense, unbelievable skyscraper car theft during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the film is short on comic funds, and bankrupts itself employing millionaire movie stars to castigate the rich.PHOTOS: Where Are the ‘Ben Stiller Show’ Alumni Now? Only Alda takes risks here, breaking bad and worse as the movie progresses, daring us to hate him. Stiller is hard to believe as a mastermind, and Murphy’s pounding a cliché. Stiller, Eddie Murphy, and Téa Leoni seem imprisoned in their shtick. Let us charitably say that this ensemble could have been brilliant in the Clinton years. From Josh’s out-of-character assault on Shaw’s prize possession to a concluding ploy riddled with stupidity and contrived coincidences, we walk away mad at ourselves for trusting the brilliant opening, swindled by a faked gambit.Īnd then there’s the cast. Instead, we get a film dumbed-down enough to make Jim Carrey jealous. Obviously topical, this upstairs/downstairs conflict might have inspired clever screenwriters to create something incisive and witty like Ealing Studios used to produce, something Alec Guinness might admire. His lack of remorse compounds the crime, obviating a desperate (and sometimes comic) revenge plot. The plot revolves around investment banker Shaw’s house arrest for embezzlement, as the wacky-but-cool building staffers realize their hard-earned pensions funds were among the money Shaw made disappear. Sadly, this is the last moment in the film when sophisticated narrative ideas entertain us. Meanwhile, we’ve met the relevant players, glimpsed the setting, and get the game. “By the way, checkmate,” the rich man tells his finance-challenged foe. When they do come together, after Josh arrives at the building to solve potential problems, it’s at Shaw’s waiting car. Both prepare for their days across a cultural chasm: Shaw in penthouse and Josh in his tiny Brooklyn flat. We watch Josh (Ben Stiller), a super-efficient super for a posh apartment building, play electronic chess with Arthur Shaw (Alan Alda), the film’s Hollywoodized version of Bernie Madoff. Even this mega-watt cast can't save Tower Heist from its dumbed-down plot and contrived conclusion.ĭespite the staleness of its casting, Tower Heist opens full of sparkle and snap.
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