Fireproof Tagged Articles at Cinematical

"Man, this is gonna tick off the devil."

There are movie trailers, there are epic movie trailers ... and then there's this new trailer for a movie called C Me Dance, which is brought to us by the folks behind Praise Band: The Movie. Yes, like Kirk Cameron's box office champ Fireproof, C Me Dance is another one of those Christian-themed blockbusters -- and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that -- except, well, you go ahead and try to explain what the hell (no pun intended) is going on in this flick. There's a pretty girl and she just wants to dance, but then the Devil shows up and fights this girl's overweight father out in front of the house. What in God's name is ... wait, let me stop there.

C Me Dance will apparently arrive in theaters this Friday in 14 states, and if it's not playing in your area then you can fill out a form to make sure it does. Oh, and this isn't an April Fool's joke either; C Me Dance has an official website and an IMDb page ... so there! 4 out of 5 Doves! And check out this marketing note from the website: "This movie is a chick flick with a manifested devil. This will attract a wide demo of men and women." Why, because women like the chick flick stuff and guys are the devil? I'm all for feel-good movies, except when the "good" is removed, thrown at a wall, burned and buried so no one can ever find it. But maybe I'm being a little too harsh -- check out the trailer below and see if you can figure out what's going on.

C Me Dance hits theaters on April 3rd.



[Thanks Patricia!]

When we were kicking around ideas for year-end superlative Cinematical Sevens, I was proudly tasked with chronicling the year's finest in big-screen mayhem, violence, destruction and other such shenanigans. When I was kicking around ideas for said feature between me, myself, and I, there were too many titles to leave off the list, so instead of highlighting only a mere couple of movies, I've opted to sort these puppies out by specific manner of cinematic excess.

So there.

1. Most pervasive destruction - The Joker may have terrorized Gotham to the tune of a destroyed hospital, a wrecked helicopter, a sunken SWAT truck, a toasty fire engine, and a golden district attorney, but even he can't top the Cloverfield monster's swath of destruction across the real-life Gotham. Statue of Liberty? Gone. Brooklyn Bridge? History. Central Park? Adios. And that's not including all the Hollister stores that our protagonists might've fled to. (On a smaller scale, though, Inside's lady in black terrorizes a pregnant woman on Christmas Eve to the point of all but painting every last wall in her house with the blood of her victims. Gotta love the French!)

Here are this weekend's box office success stories in the indie film world:

1. Frontrunners (Oscilloscope)
2. Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classics)
3. Fireproof (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
4. Religulous (Lionsgate Films)

Caroline Suh's documentary Frontrunners (pictured), which follows four teens running for elective office at a prestigious high school in New York City, had its world premiere at South by Southwest and was acquired for distribution by Oscilloscope, founded by Beastie Boy Adam Yauch, in July. Opening at one theater in New York, the film earned $7,400 over the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo, the third highest per-screen total among limited releases. That's a very good accomplishment for the fledgling Oscilloscope.

Jonathan Demme's drama Rachel Getting Married expanded from 27 to 69 theaters in selected cities across the country (including mine) and increased solidly to a per-screen average of $10,464. It's earned more than $1.75 million so far. I saw it on Saturday and was disappointed by its utterly ordinary, overly familiar dysfunctional family routines and excessive padding for what is a very thin story, but a ton of people showed up for the early afternoon screening, so I guess everyone loves weddings and the promise of battling sisters working out all their problems in a single weekend.

On the "pro" side of religion, Fireproof, a drama starring Kirk Cameron, added even more theaters (up to 905 now) and dropped very little, percentage wise, totaling more than $20 million in four weeks of release. On the "con" side, Religulous, a doc by Larry Charles featuring Bill Maher, dropped a few theaters (to 504 locations) yet still burst past the $9 million mark, a remarkable performance for a documentary.

Winners
Rachel Getting Married (Sony Pictures Classics)
The Duchess (Paramount Vantage)
Fireproof (Samuel Goldwyn)

Riding a wave of positive buzz and the rising stardom of Anne Hathaway, Jonathan Demme's Rachel Getting Married crushed all comers, earning $33,667 per screen at nine theaters in New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Hathaway appeared everywhere to promote it, even gamely spoofing herself as host on Saturday Night Live. (Loved her as Mary Poppins!)

Too much attention may be paid to Keira Knightley's ribs, but she was undoubtedly the reason that The Duchess made $7,047 per screen as it expanded to 127 locations in its third week. Keira and costume dramas seem to be the right fit; I wouldn't be surprised if this one drew an older audience that consistently attends British historical flicks.

Still ignored by the mainstream press (in contrast to Bill Maher's Religulous), faith-based Fireproof dropped just 40.5% (about the same as Eagle Eye) and took in $4,776 per screen at 852 theaters in its second week. So far the film has grossed more than $12 million. Was it ever advertised on TV? Or was the marketing done entirely through church groups? Whatever the case, with a reported budget of only half a million dollars, Fireproof appears to be a healthy success story.

Sex Still Sells
Elegy (Samuel Goldwyn)
Frozen River (Sony Pictures Classics)

Elegy, the 'old professor in love with a younger woman' adaptation of a Philip Roth novel starring Ben Kingsley and a sometimes naked Penelope Cruz, is in its ninth week of release and still playing in 70 theaters. The theater count is dropping, but the film has grossed more than $3.3 million.

Not a lot of people liked Eagle Eye (I thought it wasn't bad, myself), but at least it broke up the box office monotony a bit. Its $29.2 million finish is the highest weekend gross for any movie since the first weekend in August (The Dark Knight's third week at the top). A combination of strong marketing and Shia LaBeouf's draw probably did the trick for the film, which had a slew of bad reviews to overcome.

The Nicholas Sparks weeper Nights in Rodanthe took in $13.6 million for second place. That is actually almost precisely in line with Sparks' hit The Notebook, but that film hung around for weeks back in 2004, buoeyed by strong word-of-mouth. That seems unlikely for the more soap opera-ish Rodanthe.

Sneaking its way to fourth place on just over 800 screens is a movie called Fireproof, which you may not have run across unless you're a regular churchgoer. (We literally have not mentioned it here on Cinematical.) The Christian-themed movie starring Kirk Cameron had the second best per-screen average in the top 10, demonstrating the continued potency of marketing to religious audiences. Spike Lee's more obliquely religious Miracle at St. Anna, on the other hand, flopped with $3.5 million and 9th place.

A bit below the top 10, in semi-wide release, the Chuck Palahniuk adaptation Choke performed unspectacularly with $1.3 million on 435 screens. Still further down you'll find one of the year's most undignified crash-and-burns: Neil Burger's The Lucky Ones, about three soldiers returned from Iraq, which landed in 25th place with $208,000 on 425 screens, for $489 per screen. Ouch.

Find the full weekend estimates after the jump.

Unsurprisingly, the Samuel L. Jackson thriller Lakeview Terrace won box office honors last weekend with a solid $15 mil. Of the week's two wild cars, one fizzled (Ghost Town), while the other prospered (Igor). Lesson learned: Never underestimate adorable hunchbacks.

1. Lakeview Terrace - $15.0 million
2. Burn After Reading - $11. 0 million
3. My Best Friend's Girl - $8.2 million
4. Igor - $7.8 million
5. Righteous Kill - $7.4 million

This week's openings:

Eagle Eye
What It's About: Shia LaBeouf is forced to do all sorts of nasty things by an unfriendly cell phone caller.
Why It Might Do Well: LaBeouf is insanely popular, and so is talking on your cell phone wherever you go (including screenings of Eagle Eye).
Why It Might Not: Reviews have not been kind, but most PG-13 LaBeouf fans could probably care less.
Number of Theaters: 3,300
Prediction: $26 million