Broad comedy, teen tale to light up silver screen this weekend
A broad comedy (“Taxi”), a sports picture (“Friday Night Lights”), a teen tale (“Raise Your Voice”) and an offbeat work (“I Heart Huckabees”) are the top titles arriving on this Columbus Day weekend. The new motion pictures (with release dates subject to change) playing at a theater near you include:
– “Friday Night Lights” with Billy Bob Thornton (“The Alamo”) in a fact-based, 1988-set tale about the physical and emotional problems that develop in a Texas town where the residents and students are obsessed with winning high school football games. It’s based on the 1990 book by Philadelphia author Buzz Bissinger and provides a showcase role for country singer Tim McGraw as a hard-drinking former football star who continually abuses his son for making mistakes on the playing field. Peter Berg (“The Rundown”) directed.
– “I Heart Huckabees” with Dustin Hoffman (“Rain Man”), Lily Tomlin (“Nashville”), Jude Law (“Cold Mountain”), Naomi Watts (“The Ring”) and Mark Wahlberg (“Boogie Nights”). The creative R-rated ensemble comedy concerns an environmental activist (Jason Schwartzman of “Rushmore”) who hires a couple of “existential” detectives who specialize in helping clients discover their place in the universe. The premise wears very thin by the end, but director David O. Russell (“Three Kings”) provides numerous compelling moments in a tale about discovering what’s really important in life.
– “Raise Your Voice” with Hilary Duff (“Cheaper By the Dozen”) as a young singer from a small town who discovers the depth of her talents while attending a performing arts school in Los Angeles. British actor Oliver James (“What a Girl Wants”) co-stars in the PG-rated teen tale, which also features John Corbett (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) and Rebecca DeMornay (“Risky Business”).
– “Taxi” with the dream team of Queen Latifah (“Bringing Down the House”) and Jimmy Fallon (TV’s “Saturday Night Live”) in a PG-13 remake of a French comedy about a clumsy cop who convinces a fast-driving taxi driver to pursue some foreign bank robbers. Tim Story, who enjoyed a sleeper hit with “Barbershop,” directed.
At the buck$ office
“Shark Tale” took a huge bite out of the box office last weekend.
The computer-animated underwater picture, featuring the voices of Will Smith, Robert De Niro, Jack Black, Renee Zellweger and Angelina Jolie, opened with more than $49 million.
According to the Associated Press, the 10 top-grossing films last weekend were:
1. “Shark Tale” ($49.1 million)
2. “Ladder 49” ($22.8 million)
3. “The Forgotten” ($12 million)
4. “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow” ($3.4 million)
5. “Mr. 3000” ($2.6 million)
6. “Woman Thou Art Loosed” ($2.5 million)
7. “Shaun of the Dead” ($2.4 million)
8. “Resident Evil: Apocalypse” ($2.3 million)
9. “First Daughter” ($2.15 million)
10. “Cellular” ($2 million)
Coming soon!
The titles scheduled to open Oct. 15 include “Shall We Dance” (a feel-good tale with Jennifer Lopez, Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon), “The Machinist” (a psychological thriller with Christian Bale and Jennifer Jason Leigh) and “Team America: World Police” (an outlandish farce involving heavily armed puppets created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone of “South Park”).