Whether the state of the union requires Americans to make personal sacrifices and cut back in 2007 remains to be seen, but don’t expect Hollywood to take a similar approach. Between now and the start of the summer movie season (Spider-Man 3 opens May 4), the movie capital plans to release over 50 motion pictures. And this doesn’t even take into account the 2006 limited releases that have yet to open here (Venus, Peter O’Toole’s potential Oscar vehicle, is slated to debut locally on February 9, while The Good German, starring George Clooney, and Miss Potter, with Renee Zellweger, should make their way here within the next few weeks). Here, then, is a checklist of what we can expect to flood our multiplexes.
JANUARY 26: A teenage werewolf (Agnes Bruckner) is torn between loping with her pack and hanging with her regular-joe boyfriend (Hugh Dancy) in Blood and Chocolate… In Catch and Release, a woman (Jennifer Garner) mourning the sudden death of her fiancé finds comfort by bonding with his friends (Timothy Olyphant, Kevin Smith and Sam Jaeger)… Like Date Movie and the Scary Movie franchise, Epic Movie riffs on every recent blockbuster, including ones featuring characters named Harry Potter, Wolverine and Borat… In Smokin’ Aces, Jeremy Piven plays Buddy “Aces” Israel, an unctuous magician whose decision to testify against the Vegas mob finds him the target of assorted thugs; Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia and Alicia Keys also star.
FEBRUARY 2: A protective mom (Diane Keaton) tries to insure that her youngest daughter (Mandy Moore) ends up with the perfect man in the comedy Because I Said So.
FEBRUARY 9: The formative years of Hannibal Lecter are explored in Hannibal Rising, starring Gaspard Ulliel as the budding cannibal… Eddie Murphy essays at least three roles in Norbit, playing the title sad sack, a domineering Big Momma and a Chinese restaurant owner.
FEBRUARY 14: Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls is the latest release from you-know-who; here, he puts aside his Madea dress and concentrates on writing and directing this film about the romance between a lawyer (Gabrielle Union) and a mechanic (Idris Elba)… A former 80s pop star (Hugh Grant) and an eccentric plant lady (Drew Barrymore) team up in an attempt to write a hit song in the romantic comedy Music and Lyrics.
FEBRUARY 16: Writer-director Billy Ray, whose Shattered Glass deservedly landed on numerous 10 Best lists, returns with Breach, with Ryan Phillippe as a novice FBI agent ordered to spy on a seasoned operative (Chris Cooper) suspected of being a mole… Based on Katherine Paterson’s award-winning children’s book, Bridge to Terabithia centers on two kids (Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb) who create their own magical kingdom… The popular Marvel Comics hero Ghost Rider arrives on the big screen in the form of Nicolas Cage; he plays Johnny Blaze, the motorcycle daredevil whose pact with Satan turns him into a flaming-skull creature at night.
FEBRUARY 23: A former NASA employee (Billy Bob Thornton) courts controversy when he builds a rocket on his own property in The Astronaut Farmer… Abandoned by his wife, a bluesman (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to heal — and reform — the battered town wildcat (Christina Ricci) in Black Snake Moan, writer-director Craig Brewer’s first film since his acclaimed Hustle & Flow… The comedy Gray Matters centers on two close siblings (Heather Graham and Tom Cavanagh) who decide they each need to spend less time together and more time seeking ideal partners… Taking his periodic break from slapstick comedy, Jim Carrey headlines The Number 23, a psychological thriller about a man who’s convinced that the book he’s reading — the one that ends badly — is based on his own life… A spin-off of Comedy Central’s Reno 911!, Reno 911!: Miami finds the wacky band of cops heading to Florida to tackle terrorists.
MARCH 2: A high school student (Ryan Pinkston) adept at telling lies is startled when his fibs start coming true in the comedy Full Of It… The Hills Have Eyes 2 returns to the New Mexican mountain range where a clan of cannibalistic mutants resides; this time, their potential dinner consists of members of the National Guard… Four middle-aged men (John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence and William H. Macy) decide to head out on the highway on motorcycles in the comedy Wild Hogs… Inspired by a true story, Zodiac, directed by David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club), focuses on the efforts of the police (repped by Mark Ruffalo) and a pair of journalists (Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr.) to track down a serial killer roaming the streets of San Francisco.
MARCH 9: Forced to earn money when his wife (Amanda Peet) quits her job to raise their baby, a stay-at-home dad (Zach Braff) has trouble adjusting to the working world in Fast Track… Recently arrived in the United States, a young man (Kal Penn) from Calcutta tries to merge his new home with his Indian heritage in The Namesake… Writer-director Mike Binder, whose feature The Upside of Anger was one of 2005’s best (and most unsung) releases, returns with Reign Over Me, in which a dentist (Adam Sandler) who lost his family on 9/11 tries to get back on track with the help of his former college roommate (Don Cheadle)… Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City), 300 centers on an epic battle between the Spartan and Persian armies.
MARCH 16: Chris Rock writes, directs and stars in I Think I Love My Wife, a loose remake of Eric Rohmer’s 1972 French hit Chloe In the Afternoon; Rock plays a man who’s married to a workaholic (Gina Torres) but starts eyeing another woman (Kerry Washington)… After being set up as a patsy, a former Marine sniper (Mark Wahlberg) tries to clear his name in the action yarn Shooter… While attempting to save our planet from extinction, eight astronauts encounter other challenges in the sci-fi tale Sunshine, from director Danny Boyle (28 Days Later).
MARCH 23: The creative team behind Saw bands together again for Dead Silence, in which a newlywed (Ryan Kwanten) returns to his hometown to solve the mystery behind his bride’s grisly murder… A roadside prophet (J.K. Simmons) warns a salesman (Guy Pearce) of his impending doom in First Snow… A janitor (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) at a bank becomes involved in a heist in The Lookout, co-starring Jeff Daniels and Wedding Crashers pistol Isla Fisher… New Line Cinema founder Bob Shaye takes the director’s chair for The Last Mimzy, a sci-fi yarn about two children who gain incredible intelligence through a stuffed rabbit… Pride is based on the true story of Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard), who created an African-American swim team in a Philadelphia slum… TMNT stands for “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and it’s an attempt to jump-start the kiddie franchise that was so prevalent during the 1990s; the plot concerns the efforts of the martial arts masters to prevent monsters from taking over the world.
MARCH 30: Two figure skaters (Will Ferrell and Jon Heder) who have been banned for life from the sport find a way to compete again in the comedy Blades of Glory… In Disney’s animated flick Meet the Robinsons, an inventor teams up with a family from the future to take out a dastardly thief named the Bowler Hat Guy… An expert (Hilary Swank) in debunking religious phenomena can’t explain why the Biblical plagues are ravaging a Louisiana town in The Reaping… The legendary Werner Herzog directs Christian Bale in the Vietnam War drama Rescue Dawn, about a US pilot who struggles to stay alive after his plane gets shot down.
APRIL 6: Are We Done Yet? is both the sequel to the surprise box office hit Are We There Yet? as well as a remake of 1948’s Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House; Ice Cube (in the Cary Grant role) plays the family man trying to make a go of it as a suburban homeowner… Two B-styled films — Death Proof, directed by Quentin Tarantino, and Planet Terror, helmed by Robert Rodriguez — make up Grindhouse, an homage to exploitation cinema… The Hoax, the latest from director Lasse Hallstrom (Chocolat, The Cider House Rules), is the based-on-fact tale of Clifford Irving (Richard Gere), the writer whose Howard Hughes autobiography turned out to be false.
APRIL 13: A moody teen (Shia LaBeouf) subjected to house arrest suspects that one of the neighbors is a serial killer in Disturbia… The ghost of a high school student (Justin Chatwin) who’s been killed under mysterious circumstances tries to solve his own murder in the supernatural thriller The Invisible… An investigative reporter (Halle Berry) poses as different women — both online and off — to determine whether an ad executive (Bruce Willis) is also a murderer in Perfect Stranger… In the comedy Spring Breakdown, three 30-something women (Amy Poehler, Parker Posey and Rachel Dratch) who were once the school geeks end up at the beach during a college spring break, whereupon they once again try to fit in with the cool kids… A secretary (Molly Shannon) copes with the death of her beloved pooch in Year of the Dog.
APRIL 20: Jonathan Kasdan (Lawrence’s son) serves as writer and director (and Dad picks up an executive producer credit) on In the Land of Women, in which a heartbroken writer (Adam Brody) leaves L.A. and moves to Michigan, whereupon he gets involved with a single mom (Meg Ryan) and her two daughters… The “war on terror” takes center stage in The Kingdom, in which a crack team of federal agents (Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper and Jason Bateman) must track down a terrorist mastermind in the Middle East… A Jersey girl (Scarlett Johansson) is hired by a wealthy Manhattan couple (Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney) to look after their son in The Nanny Diaries.
APRIL 27: In the wake of Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story comes Balls of Fury, a comedy set in the world of underground ping pong tournaments… Wrestling champ “Stone Cold” Steve Austin stars in The Condemned, in which 10 killers are stranded on a remote island and ordered to fight to the death, all for the entertainment of Internet viewers who can download the skirmishes… A rising district attorney (Ryan Gosling) matches wits with an engineer (Anthony Hopkins) who may have tried to kill his own wife in Fracture… In the long-delayed Pathfinder, a Viking warrior (Karl Urban) raised by Native Americans must take sides when a major battle ensues between the two factions.
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2007.
