Couples Retreat Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A slow-roll platform release is a high-risk strategy, but Paramount has really hit on something with Paranormal Activity. The movie expanded from 30 to 160 screens this weekend, accompanied by good reviews and hype that Paramount marketers almost killed themselves building on the internet, and was greeted with a $44,000 per-screen average, amounting to a fairly eye-popping $7 million weekend. It wouldn't have worked if the movie weren't pretty good, and the momentum is sure to fade as the movie expands further, but still: kudos all around. It would have been easy to dump this little gem into a few theaters and let it die (see: The Midnight Meat Train.)

The weekend's only new wide release, Couples Retreat, capitalized on its cast and bright-colored marketing to the tune of $35 million -- a strong October bow, and par for the course for Vince Vaughn, who can open a rom-com like nobody's business. Chris Rock's documentary Good Hair opened at 186 screens and lurks down at number 14 with just over a million bucks. I must admit it's hard to come up with a good analogy to a doc about black women's hair directed by a superstar comedian, box-office-wise. Maybe Dave Chappelle's Block Party? ($6.2 million on 1200 screens, with a similar per-screen average.)

The holdovers did respectably, with the possible exception of The Invention of Lying. Ricky Gervais's subversive comedy took a 52% hit, though it will still end up beating Gervais's last stateside star vehicle, Ghost Town. Zombieland, this fall's little horror comedy that could, held up quite well in second place, approaching $50 million after two weeks. And I wonder if Disney will hold true to its promise to pull the 3-D Toy Story double feature out of theaters after this week; the movies are still doing well, dropping less than 40% and pulling in $7.7 million in their second re-release weekend.

The full top 10 after the jump.

Sometimes it feels good to get your buttons pushed. Couples Retreat shamelessly trots out a stable of tired old nags and magically transforms them into shining young thoroughbreds by the time they reach the finish line. To stir more creaky metaphors into the mix, Couples Retreat reminds me of an Old World grandmother, happily offering up the same old recipe with gentle but insistent persuasion, urging you to "eat, eat!" And you end up eating far more than you ever thought you would, because old recipes taste really good when fresh ingredients are used.

With Couples Retreat, the filmmakers gently but persistently prod, saying "Laugh, laugh!" and you end up laughing far more than expected. The set-up feels familiar: four couples, all at different stages of their relationships, go on an island retreat intending to have fun in the sun, but instead are forced to undergo counseling. In the process, they discover new truths about themselves, everyone laughs, everyone has "a moment." The End. Roll credits. Except that this time, the premise doesn't give away the major pleasures of the movie.

That's because longtime friends Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau collaborated on the sly, brutally frank, and funny script with Dana Fox, creating a solid framework that allows the performers breathing space to do their thing. Vaughn, Favreau, Jason Bateman, and Faizon Love play the men; Malin Akerman (in her best performance to date), Kristin Davis, Kristen Bell, and Kali Hawk are their romantic partners. Jean Reno is a mystical "couples whisperer." Old Vaughn / Favreau accomplice Peter Billingsley makes his feature directorial debut. What really ties everything together is crack comic timing, and a willingness to embrace warmly some of the colder, less pleasant truths about relationships.

This being Halloween month it does my heart good to see that the walking dead rule the box office. The horror comedy Zombieland took top honors, finally pushing Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs to number two after the animated comedy had enjoyed two weeks at number one. Here's the top five:
1. Zombieland: $24.7 million
2. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs: $15.8 million
3. Toy Story / Toy Story 2: $12.5 million
4. Surrogates: $7.2 million
5. The Invention of Lying: $7 million

Just the one film going into wide release this week:

Couples Retreat
What's It All About: A comedy about four couples heading to a tropical paradise for sun, sand and surf. Unbeknownst to most of them, however, is that participation in the resort's couples therapy is mandatory.
Why It Might Do Well: The cast includes Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, and Kristen Bell, all of whom I have found entertaining at one point or another.
Why It Might Not Do Well: There are only three reviews posted so far so this isn't very scientific, but Rottentomatoes.com is giving this 0%.
Number of Theaters: 3,000
Prediction: $22 million

The good news for Peter Billingsley is that we should (hopefully) move past all the Ralphie/Christmas Story references once the guy makes his second film, but since Couples Retreat marks the actor-turned-producer-turned-director's debut behind the camera, he'll have to hang in there a little while longer while folks like myself use the iconic Christmas movie as a segue to his new ensemble comedy set in the unbelievably beautiful Bora Bora.

Moviefone sat down with the director in Bora Bora, where some lucky bloke was sent to interview the stars of the film (and no, it wasn't me or else you would've heard about it continually while I was soaking up the rays with Malin Akerman on one arm and Kristen Bell on the other). That said, Billingsley did talk a bit about the film, about how hard it is to actually shoot in a place as remote as Bora Bora and what it was like to star opposite Jason Bateman on an episode of Little House on the Prairie (a career highlight for Billingsley, or so he says).

You can watch the interview after the jump, and all of Moviefone's interviews with the entire cast right over here. Couples Retreat hits theaters this weekend.

Poor, poor Benicio Del Toro. A former resident of last February, last April and this coming November, his take on The Wolf Man has been bumped back to next February now. That's right: for all the re-scheduling and re-shoots, Joe Johnston's version of the classic monster movie has all but lapped itself on the release slate, hoping to serve as R-rated counter-programming on February 12th, 2010 to Valentine's Day fare and maybe rake in the kind of opening weekend that Friday the 13th had this year ($40 million -- albeit followed by a steep 80% drop in attendance).

Carriers
A decent looking tale of an apocalyptic plague and four friends attempt to survive it. If you've read The Stand or seen the mini-series based on it the idea seems kind of similar. Chris Prine, the new James T. Kirk stars and I thought the faces drawn on the surgical masks were a nice touch. Things start getting germy on September 4.

Couples Retreat
Four couples head to a tropical resort where they learn that couples' therapy is a mandatory part of the program. The impressive cast includes Vince Vaughn, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, and Kristen Bell. The retreat commences on October 9.

Planet 51
There's a new full length trailer for this animated comedy about a human astronaut landing on an alien world that looks strikingly like an American suburb. The residents of the planet see the visitor as a threat and it looks like there's probably a decent message for kids about prejudice, but this one doesn't thrill me. The idea is cute and they get points for the use of The Killers' song "Spaceman" but it didn't have me laughing. Planet 51 touches down on November 20.

The title may be generic, but the cast is not. Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Jason Bateman, and Faizon Love accompany their significant others -- Malin Akerman, Kristen Davis, Kristen Bell, and Tasha Smith -- on a vacation to paradise in Couples Retreat. There is a catch, however: intensive sessions of relationship therapy are mandatory and counselor Jean Reno doesn't take "no" for an answer. The first trailer is up at the Fruit Factory (AKA Apple.)

While there's a degree of over-familiarity with the basic premise, the trailer is very promising, edging into the naughty side of PG-13. (According to Erik Davis' post on the movie last year, that's the rating they're aiming for.) Bateman and Bell make for a good, edgy couple of Type A-personalities on the brink on break-up who ask three other couples to come along on their retreat to save money. Old friends Vaughn and Favreau have great chemistry, of course, and have worked with Bateman before. I'm not a huge fan of Akerman or Davis -- they're both lovely and have bright personalities but not a lot of comic snap. Seeing Reno as a buff instructor makes me giggle. Favreau wrote the script, based on an idea by Vaughn, and another old pal, Peter Billingsley, makes his directorial debut.

Couples Retreat is heading for release on October 9, a crowded date on the release schedule: The Informant (drama), Night of the Demons (horror), Whip It (comedy), and Zombieland (horror comedy) are also due out that day. Does the concept or the cast -- or the trailer -- grab you?

The first image from the comedy Couples Retreat has popped up over at USA Today, and it shows our four happy couples posing for the camera, all excited to be working on their relationships. Peter Billingsley (aka Ralphie from A Christmas Story) makes his directorial debut here (off a script written by Jon Favreau) after working as producer on several projects -- and the film stars his friends Vince Vaughn and Favreau (who've teamed up on screen plenty of times now), as well as Jason Bateman, Kristen Bell, Malin Akerman, Kristin Davis, Faizon Love and Kali Hawk.

The film tells of one couple (Bateman and Bell) in need of relationship therapy who, in order to save costs, invite three other couples to join them at a couples retreat. Vaughn says this of the plot: "Jason and Kristen are Type A's struggling to have kids. Faizon and his wife (Kali Hawk) have just separated, and he is dating a young girl from Foot Locker. Me and my wife (Malin Akerman of 27 Dresses) are swamped with the kids and work. Favreau and Kristin Davis are secretly not completely faithful to each other." Vaughn also stressed that while there will be sexual gags, this won't be an R-rated foul-mouthed parade. USA Today says to expect a PG-13. No release date yet, but expect this to hit theaters sometime next year.

If you've seen Death at a Funeral, I'm sure you were thinking: Forget Ewen Bremner, Alan Tudyk, and the rest of them! I want an urbanized remake of Chris Rock! If you did, you should be overjoyed to learn that The Hollywood Reporter has posted that Rock is producing, starring, and co-writing (with Aeysha Carr) an "urban reworking" of the comedy. It's supposed to be "a hysterical, completely new reimagining" of the original, but while words like "hysterical" and "urban" are perfectly good for a film, I'm getting Guess Who twitches. But man, I'd love to be wrong.

Meanwhile, after taking an almost decade-long hiatus from the big screen, Variety reports that Lauren Hutton has signed on for David Duchovny's The Joneses, along with Glenne Headly and Gary Cole. The movie is just like you'd assume it to be -- what life is really like for "The Joneses" -- that infamous family we all have to keep up with. They look all perfect with their trend-setting, but behind the surface ... hopefully the skeletons aren't of the sexual dysfunction theme.

And Kali Hawk, who last appeared in Lovers & Haters, has picked up a spot on the Couples Retreat.

And Brianne Davis, fresh off of Prom Night, has nabbed a lead in an indie called American Virgin, alongside Rob Schneider and Jenna Dewan.

If you want to broaden the appeal of a romantic comedy, it helps to grab an array of actresses -- like say, a girl who is not only known as a modern Nancy Drew, but also a hot-tempered Hero, a woman who starred in one of the hot rom-coms of 2008 (Sex and the City), and a girl who can smack down baddies in an alternate time of superheroes and impending doom.

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Kristen Bell, Kristin Davis, and Malin Akerman have signed on for a new film called Couples Retreat. Now Akerman, at least, has had some iffy luck with this genre, so here's what ups the ante -- it's written by Iron Man Jon Favreau, and will be directed by collaborator Peter Billingsley (better known as the Christmas Story kid). So, it's not your everyday comedy. In fact, "rom" has been completely left off the genre placement of this project so far, but it is a comedy about romance. (Is there a difference?!)

The story involves four couples working on their relationships at a tropical island resort, so who are the men in romantic peril? Jason Bateman gets to be married to Bell, Favreau is also co-starring as Davis' husband, and Vince Vaughn gets to canoodle Malin. As for the fourth, Faizon Love is attached, but there's no word on his leading lady.