‘RoboCop,’ ‘About Last Night’ likely no match for ‘Lego Movie’
Two 1980s remakes, “RoboCop” and “About Last Night,” are poised to beat rival Valentine’s Day fare at the box office, but neither is likely to knock down last week’s massive chart-topper “The Lego Movie.”
The irreverent toy-based comedy should best all the newcomers with about $45 million in revenue from Friday through Presidents Day Monday. It opened last weekend with a massive $69 million -- the biggest debut of the year so far.
With “About Last Night,” from Sony’s Screen Gems label, comedian Kevin Hart will try to follow up on the success of his recent hit “Ride Along,” which partnered him again with William Packer, the producer behind those two movies and Hart’s “Think Like a Man.”
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“About Last Night” is expected to gross $25 million or more through Monday, according to those who have seen pre-release audience surveys.
Hart demonstrated his pull with filmgoers in January when Universal Pictures’ “Ride Along,” which co-stars Ice Cube, earned a robust $41.5 million over in its first three days in release. It has gone on to gross more than $100 million.
The few reviews that have appeared for “About Last Night” are largely positive, especially compared with the weak critical reception of “Ride Along.”
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A remake of the 1986 rom-com that starred Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, James Belushi and Elizabeth Perkins, “About Last Night” follows two new couples trying to figure out their complicated relationships. It was filmed almost entirely in downtown Los Angeles at a cost of just $13 million.
After opening on Wednesday, the $120-million “RoboCop,” an update on the 1987 sci-fi film, is expected to gross roughly $25 million through the holiday.
The modern spin on Paul Verhoeven’s original “RoboCop” comes from Brazilian filmmaker Jose Padilha, whose last effort was the violent foreign military action movie “Elite Squad: The Enemy Within,” a sequel to 2008’s “Elite Squad.”
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Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman plays the new RoboCop, also known as Alex Murphy. In the U.S., Kinnaman is best known for his work on the television crime drama “The Killing” on AMC.
“RoboCop” also stars Gary Oldman and Michael Keaton, along with Samuel L. Jackson as a conservative TV commentator. In this dystopian vision of the year 2028, robotics giant OmniCorp revives the critically injured Murphy as a cyborg to use him in its plan to bring its law enforcement technology to American streets.
The PG-13 flick is expected to perform well with teenage boys as an alternative the female-oriented movies in this week’s group of the new releases.
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Meanwhile, Universal Pictures’ teen romance “Endless Love” and Warner Bros.’ fantasy “Winter’s Tale” will compete for young female film fans.
“Endless Love” -- which stars Alex Pettyfer and Gabriella Wilde as the two lovebirds and Bruce Greenwood as a highly overprotective father -- could bring in $13 million to $15 million, after costing $20 million to make.
Starring Colin Farrell, Jennifer Connelly and Russell Crowe, “Winter’s Tale” is expected to generate slightly less than “Endless Love.” Farrell plays a burglar with supernatural abilities who tries to save a young woman played by Jessica Brown Findlay, best known as the late Lady Sybil Crawley from “Downton Abbey.”
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