Box Office: Three-Way Battle
The female skewing comedy “The Proposal” will go head to head with the male-skewing comedy “Year One” this weekend, but the real question is whether either one can stop the sleeper hit “The Hangover’ from holding onto first place for the Father’s Day weekend. Most experts give the Sandra Bullock rom-com with Ryan Reynolds the edge over the ancient-times comedy “Year One” starring Jack Black and Michael Cera, with Gitesh Pandya at
predicting a tight spread of $22 million vs $20 million. Either number would be Sandy’s best opening ever, not adjusted for inflation. Her last true romantic comedy, the terrible “Two Weeks Notice” seven years ago (“Miss Congenialty 2” was not a rom-com, though its predecessor confusingly was) opened at $14 million. This one I give
and it rates a rotten 39 percent favorable at
. The RT score for Harold Ramis‘s “Year One” is an alarming 19 percent and Kyle Smith disses it with
. And then there’s “The Hangover,” which Gitesh predicts will enjoy another excellent hold, topping the charts in a squeaker at $23 million. “The Proposal” apparently enhanced its prospects with last weekend’s sneak previews. On Father’s Day, Fox will sneak “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” exclusively in 3-D. Sneaking, a fairly rare practice these days, is a highly unusual move for a second sequel and suggests Fox is concerned the title is underperforming in its tracking. “Ice Age” opens on Wednesday July 1 opposite Michael Mann‘s “Public Enemies” with Johnny Depp as John Dillinger.
