Wild' ride at box office

Warner Bros. is getting in touch with its wild side with Spike Jonze's "Where the Wild Things Are" entering the frame at 3,735 locations. The live-action fantasy stars newcomer Max Records as the boy who runs away to a realm populated by talking beasts.

Universal hopes auds may still feel a little punch-drunk love for last week's top earner "Couples Retreat" in its soph sesh at 3,009 playdates. Last week's box office event "Paranormal Activity," with $7.9 million at 160 playdates, expands to 800 after an online poll allowed users to vote to bring the pic to their city. Budgeted at $11,000, Paramount's horror pic has cumed a staggering $12.5 million as it enters its fourth frame.

Overture's action pic "Law Abiding Citizen," starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler, opens wide this weekend at 2,889. Butler's two other pics this year, Lionsgate's "Gamer" and Sony's "The Ugly Truth," have cumed domestically $20.5 million and $88.9 million, respectively.

Sony's PG-13-rated horror-thriller "The Stepfather" bows at 2,734, and could lure scare-loving teen girls with "Gossip Girl's" Penn Badgley co-starring in the remake.

But the pic will face competition from strong word-of-mouth for "Paranormal." Meanwhile, Sony has two strong holdovers in "Zombieland" and "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs," totaling $51.9 million and $99.5 million, respectively. "Zombieland" dropped 40% last weekend in its soph sesh, while "Cloudy" continued to perform well with younger auds in its fourth frame, declining only 27%.

Studio expects both pics to lose traction in a competitive frame as "Zombieland" goes head-to-head with another R-rated pic, "Citizen," while younger auds may opt a different kiddie lit adaptation with "Wild Things" instead of "Cloudy."

Based on Maurice Sendak's classic picturebook, "Wild Things" began production in 2006, weathering creative differences between Jonze and the studio along the way. Jonze's highest-grossing pics have been Grammercy's "Being John Malkovich" ($46.4 million) and Sony's "Adaptation" ($32 million).

Warner expects PG-rated "Wild Things," co-produced by Legendary Pictures, to perform in the mid-20s, with an added boost from 145 Imax screens. Studio said tracking is strong among those who grew up reading the book, including college-age auds and young adults, as well kids and teens.

"Couples" should perform well in its soph sesh after breezing through as last week's frame topper with $34.3 million. Pic put up strong mid-week numbers, earning $4 million Monday, dropping to $2.6 million Tuesday and $2.3 million Wednesday.

"Couples" is the only comedy in the marketplace but will likely decline 45%-50% with so many fresh titles.

Disney's 3D toon re-release "Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" grossed $7.8 million in its second frame, enough to persuade the Mouse to extend the toons' slated two-week run until Nov. 2.

Prior to its wider expansion on Nov. 2, Sony Pictures Classics is adding Chicago, San Francisco and Boston markets for Brit pic "An Education" after last weekend's strong $159,017 on just four screens.

Focus continues a slow rollout for "A Serious Man" in its third frame, adding 54 engagements in markets including Atlanta, Denver, Detroit and Houston. The Coen brothers' latest earned $459,318 at 21 playdates last weekend with a per-screen average of $21, 872.

With period drama "Bright Star" totaling $2.8 million as it enters its fifth frame, Apparition bows its second release, action-comedy "Black Dynamite" in limited release at 70.

Vivendi will launch its Stateside response to First Look's "Paris, je t'aime," which cumed $4.7 million in 2007, with similar portmanteau "New York, I Love You" at 125 engagements.

On the foreign front, Disney/Pixar's "Up" looks likely to be the top performer for the second straight frame as the Mouse House continues to roll the toon out gradually to coincide with holidays and vacations in individual markets.

"Up" is now the year's fifth best performer internationally with over $260 million already banked. It should be near the top in its second weekend in the U.K. and launches in Hungary, Italy, Poland and Sweden.

"Where the Wild Things Are" won't launch outside the United States until an Oct. 30 opening in Italy while "Stepfather" begins hitting major international markets in mid-November.

Universal is launching "Couples Retreat" in Russia, the Ukraine and the U.K. The laffer opened in Australia and New Zealand, where it's drawn $4 million in its first week.

"The Ugly Truth" will open in Hong Kong and Spain with Sony's romantic comedy poised to see its international cume top the $89 million domestic total.

Disney's "G-Force" should generate family coin with launches in France and Germany, which should lift the kidpic's total foreign gross to somewhere near the $118 million domestic cume.

And Disney's also launching "Surrogates" in Holland, with about $40 million in foreign grosses so far for the actioner, which has yet to open in about 50% of the world.

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Zombieland

Zombieland
Directed by: Ruben Fleischer
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin
Running Time: 1 hr 25 min
Rating: R

Plot: An old burger at a Gas n’ Gulp gradually turns the entire world population into either zombies or zombie chow. Meet the only four survivors to this gruesome apocalypse: Columbus (Eisenberg), Tallahassee (Harrelson), Wichita (Stone), and Little Rock (Breslin).

Who’s It For? Horror fans unite! WOOOOO!

Expectations: A tad high. Between the rockin’ trailer and Harrelson as a top zombie-killer, I honestly expected this to be some sort of second coming of horror.

SCORECARD (0-10)

Actors:
Woody Harrelson as Tallahassee: Give me a moment to clean the drool off my keyboard…there, better. Harrelson is the greatest bad-ass, zombie murdering, Twinkie seeking, Southern drawling, snake skin coat wearing…hold on, sorry; more drool. Can this character be any cooler? The answer is a resounding hell no. Harrelson rocks this roll with joy and pizzazz. Should you be overjoyed when Tallahassee backs over a zombie head for good measure, and it pops like a zit? Probably not, but you will be anyway. So much fun!
Score: 10

Jesse Eisenberg as Columbus: Eisenberg is the freakishly sensitive, old fashioned romantic, Warcraft nerd who has somehow managed to survive the zombie apocalypse by adhering to a strict set of personal rules. The rules are hysterical in their strait-laced pragmatism (“Always wear your seatbelt,” “Limber up”) and Columbus is the perfect, tidy complement to Tallahassee’s wild-eyed cowboy. Against all odds, Columbus is the only character who still has faith in humanity and a willingness to trust other people, and Eisenberg portrays this with relative ease.
Score: 9

Emma Stone as Wichita: Wichita survives with her little sister, Little Rock (Breslin), in tow, because she was a con artist pre-zombieland. She’s smart, she’s practical, and she’s tough. Sure, the character makes some decisions near the end of the film that don’t quite mesh with who she’s been all along—turning on all the lights in the amusement park? Really? Why not just advertise “Free Meal”?—but it’s forgivable. Stone is fun to watch because she somehow manages a weird blend of girl-next-door and danger, and she keeps up with Harrelson and Eisenberg. Right on!
Score: 9

Abigail Breslin as Little Rock: Our little Abigail is growing up…not so much that it doesn’t give us thrills of joy when she blasts a hole in the ceiling just to show Tallahassee that she’s capable of removing his head, but still. Breslin is always our little sweetheart, except this time she has a shotgun. If it sounds totally bitchin,’ that’s because it is. Drop everything and go see this movie.
Score: 9

Talking: The writing is fantastic and funny. There are so many choice lines—nothing that could seep into everyday vernacular, except maybe “Nut up or shut up”—that it’s one big smorgasbord of strong, quick writing. The screenwriters, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, obviously adore the hybrid genre of horror/humor, which tends to be the red-headed stepchild of mainstream horror. It is written with joy and love and it comes across as not only an homage to zombie gore, but a love-letter to zombie fans everywhere.
Score: 9

Sights: The movie puts a lot of love and effort into the special effects, and the result is nothing short of spectacular. I never thought that watching a zombie stripper barfing up black zombie vomit in slow-motion could ever be done that creatively, but the whole opening sequence is phenomenal. The way this movie is edited is one of the slickest, most original I’ve seen in a long time and if you can stomach the gore, it is well worth the price of admission all by itself.
Score: 10

Sounds: The soundtrack is a playful blend of everything from heavy metal to classical—it’s as eclectic and unique as everything else in Zombieland. When Harrelson is jamming out to the Ghostbusters theme song, I may have actually died and gone to heaven.
Score: 10

PLOT SPOILERS

Best Scene: The flashback of Tallahassee and his “puppy”; the climax, where Tallahassee takes on fifty zombies all by himself; the scene that demonstrates why Columbus values strong cardio; so many.

Ending: As expected, but perfect nonetheless.

Questions: What took so long?

Rewatchability: I could’ve sat through it a second time right off the bat.

OVERALL
I’m going to badly mix my metaphors here, but if a horror movie could be like a group of dolphins frolicking together happily, it’s Zombieland. The movie is an hour and twenty-five minutes of bouncy, zombie, survival horror joy. The movie loves its characters and its subject matter and that translates into an incredibly enjoyable movie experience. Was I a bit spoiled at the sneak peak? Well, yes. There was a whole row of zombies sitting behind me, including one gigantic, and bloody zombie clown. The whole theater hung on every word and cheered and enjoyed a general camaraderie you don’t usually get with your average movie-going audience. When the two bone heads across the way started yapping during a crucial scene, there was a chorus of angry “SSSSHHHHHH” and one guy yelling, “Shut up over there!” We, the audience (bone heads notwithstanding), were locked in. Zombieland not only sold us on the premise, but wined and dined us and took us home to mother. This is one of those rare times when you won’t mind giving your money to Hollywood, because the filmmakers did more than just try. They lovingly sculpted something artful and fun for the horror genre and they did so with their fans in mind. Bravo!
Final Score: 9/10

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