Early Beginnings

June 15, 2005

It's been eight years since the monstrosity that was Batman & Robin killed the successful movie franchise. And now with Batman Begins the studio hopes that the franchise will be born again.

This film is taking a different approach than most summer blockbusters, as there is little in the way of star-power in the movie. None of the principle actors have proven themselves to be box office draws, and while there are some big names in the cast, they are mostly in secondary roles. While this would normally hurt a film's opening weekend, the name recognition of the franchise itself should mitigate that effect. Also helping are the film's reviews, which are currently sitting at 83% positive, better than almost all wide releases that have come out this year. The only real downside for the film is the lack of a really major arch foe for Batman to face.

Even so, the film should start out huge with $24 million tonight, $15 million tomorrow and $60 million over the weekend. The worst case scenario has the film even more front-loaded, pushing its weekend number so low that we see a 16th straight yearly weekend-to-weekend drop-off. But that is very, very unlikely.

On a side note, in just seven days Herbie: Fully Loaded opens, which stars Michael Keaton, who played Batman in the 1989 and 1992 films, and whom many consider the best actor to ever donned the cape. Not only that but Herbie: Fully Loaded also stars Lindsay Lohan, who was set to replace Scarlett Johansson in MI:3 until she was suddenly replaced by Tom Cruise's new girlfriend / PR gimmick Katie Holmes, who stars in Batman Begins. (It has come to my attention that Katie Holmes may not be in MI:3. Two other actresses, Michelle Monaghan and Keri Russell, have apparently signed on to do the film, two different reports suggesting its for the same role. Crazy.)

Why am I bringing this up? Well, to be totally honest it's because the NHL is still locked out and I'm dying for a good rivalry.

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Filed under: Batman Begins, Mission: Impossible III, Herbie: Fully Loaded