Fred Claus Attempts To Laugh Off Lambs

By Scott Gwin: 2007-11-09 19:40:05

It's November and a good two weeks before Thanksgiving, therefore Hollywood is joining grocery stores and Wal-Marts all over the nation by breaking out the Christmas goodies way too early. Screw the the truly important things about the season, anyone jumping into the fray this early is out for one thing: cashing in. But, where will all the box office money go?

My favorite for box office victory this weekend is the holiday option. The Studios have made a regular habit of rolling out Christmas movies in November. This year Fred Claus [Read the CB Review] is leading the charge. It's the story of how Nick Claus brings his self-centered younger brother Fred to visit him at the North Pole in the hopes that a few weeks working on the toy line with the elves will somehow encourage troubled Fred to get his act together.

To balance out all that holiday cheer Robert Redford will try to trump Fred with his political pandering...er...political thriller Lions For Lambs [Read the CB Review]. Anyone interested in non-action-movie Tom Cruise or movies that are out to remind you how ignorant and dispassionate you are about everything going on in your government will no doubt turn out for this movie. Everyone else will likely stick to the softer, happier Fred Claus or last week's favorite American Gangster [Read the CB Review].

And there's the enigmatic and practically invisible P2. Co-written and directed by a guy who once starred in a horror movie, it has all the earmarks of a less-than-mediocre horror flick. Girl gets stuck in parking building. Girl gets captured by stalker parking lot attendant. Girl and stalker attendant chance each other around parking building in various states of undress trying to kill each other. Oh, and it's set on Christmas Eve (y'know, to appeal to people looking for a holiday movie).

Studios still haven't figured out that horror doesn't work out so well once Halloween has come and gone. Look at the box office disaster that was last year's Black Christmas [Read the CB Review]. Expect P2 to be a few notches down in the top ten from the other two new comers.

Speaking of post-Halloween horror failures, After Dark Studios is having another go this weekend at their three-night-long Horror-fest. Last year's After Dark's Horror Fest: 8 Films to Die For saw the inside of 400+ theaters but only made off with around $2 million. This year After Dark's untimely festival is only getting into 320 theaters and will be pushing it to break that $2 million mark. Of course, these horror movies are made for the lowest of budgets by filmmakers trying to break into the horror film genre so even $1 million will probably be a profit. To boot, it looks like Hollywood could use new horror directors. Now that Rob Zombie has apparently made horror flick remakes acceptable, there's a whole slew of studios no doubt ready to rehash for cash.

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