Cinematical

The bankability of superhero flicks was proven once again this past weekend, with Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer taking the number one spot on its opening weekend and pushing Ocean's 13 down to number two. Sleeper hit Knocked Up refused to budge from its number three position and may require a Caesarean section. Here's last weekend's top five:

1. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer: $57.4 million
2. Ocean's Thirteen: $19.1 million
3. Knocked Up: $14.5 million
4. Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End: $12 million
5. Surf's Up: $9.3 million

Six of the twelve people who made predictions on last weekend's box office, including yours truly, earned perfect scores. I won't be letting this early success go to my head since last week saw only two films going into wide release and Nancy Drew never struck me as Top 5 material. This coming weekend will see the arrival of three films that are very different from each other, making the competition all the more interesting. Here's what we've got:

1408
What's It About: Based on a short story by the grand master of contemporary horror fiction Stephen King. John Cusack plays a debunker of paranormal phenomena who decides to spend a night in room 1408 of a New York City hotel, a room in which 56 mysterious deaths have occurred over the years, and no one has ever lasted more than an hour. Do you think anyone checked for a gas leak?
Why It Might Do Well: Cusack is joined by Samuel L. Jackson, an actor who automatically ups the cool level of any movie he's in, and even King himself liked this adaptation of his work.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Blowing a short story up to feature length requires a lot of padding, so how much of the author's work is left? Also, this summer's last big horror release Hostel II took a box office bath, so maybe audiences aren't looking for scares just now.
Number of Theaters: 2,500
Prediction: $50 million

Evan Almighty
What's It About: In this comedic sequel to Bruce Almighty, God (Morgan Freeman) commands Congressman Evan Baxter (Steve Carell) to build an ark in preparation for a great flood.
Why It Might Do Well: Carell is one funny S.O.B who proved with The 40-Year-Old-Virgin (which pulled in $109 million domestic) that he can carry a film to big box-office numbers.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Reviews have not been promising, with the film scoring only 27% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Number of Theaters: 3,500
Prediction: $25 million

A Mighty Heart
What's It About: Based on true events, Angelina Jolie plays Mariane Pearl, wife of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl who was kidnapped and eventually murdered while tracking down a story in Karachi, Pakistan.
Why It Might Do Well: Angelina Jolie is still very much on the A List, and the film looks like a thought-provoking alternative to everything else out there.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Summer movies are traditionally big on fun and fluff, which definitely does not describe this serious human drama.
Number of Theaters: 1,350 (considerably fewer than this week's other two releases)
Prediction: $8 million

Since my garage-sale crystal ball did so well for me last week, once again I will use it to peer into the future. I find I get the best reception while standing on my coffee table while wearing an aluminum foil helmet and with Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2005 tucked under one arm. Go figure. Here's my prediction for the coming weekend:

1. 1408
2. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
3. Evan Almighty
4. Knocked Up
5. Pirates of the Caribbean At World's End

Last Week's Prediction Rankings:
1. Matt: 16
1. Opp-Neg: 16
1. Chris: 16
1. Brad B: 16
1. Ray: 16
1. Bubba8193: 16
7. Tangoeco: 12
7. Gregory Rubenstein: 12
7. Tigerfan2014: 12
10. Los118: 11
11. Mario: 9
12. Ethan Stanislawski: 7

As always, please post your box office predictions by 5:00 PM on Saturday. One point for every top five movie correctly named, two points for every correct placement, and one extra point for the top movie. Make me proud, people.