It’s a painful weekend for Mike Myers. It might be admirable when you create a new character, while you have many the people love – ‘Austin Powers’ and ‘Wayne’s World.’ But it’s also very damaging for your career when it goes horribly wrong. Well, at least he didn’t directly damage the ‘Austin Powers’ franchise (yet) and he has enough future projects, with ‘Shrek’ 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. But this weekend is turning out to be a disaster. ‘The Love Guru’ only made an estimated $4.7 million this Saturday, down from the official $5.3 million Friday. If you add another (low) $4 million for Sunday, the (un)funny movie won’t end above $14 million this weekend.

The final Friday number for ‘Get Smart’ was a slightly lower than expected $13.4 million. Saturday seems to be up a bit to $14.5 million. Add a low $10 mill for Sunday and you’ve got a ‘Get Smart’ weekend total slightly below $40 million.

‘Kung Fu Panda’ and ‘The Incredible Hulk’ will both end the weekend above ‘The Love Guru’ with about $21 million per movie.

Mike Myers is a big name in Hollywood. But just how big? The first ‘Austin Powers’ in 1997 opened with $9.5 mill, the last in 2002 with $73 mill. But can he carry a new movie (character) into the twenties? The Friday box office numbers for the $62 million ‘The Love Guru’ don’t say so. It made an even lower than expected $5 million this Friday.

Steve Carell is a totally different story. He began to make a name for himself just a couple of years ago. He starred in some hits (‘Little Miss Sunshine’) and some mild flops (‘Evan Almighty’). But most of his movies didn’t flop as hard as ‘The Cat in the Hat,’ by his weekend competitor Myers. The first numbers for the $80 million TV adaptation are good though. Carell opened with about $14.5 million in ticket sales this Friday.

The last numbers indicate a good weekend for Carell and a low point for Myers. The final estimates for the weekend box office are a meager $14 million total for ‘The Love Guru’ and a decent $40 million for ‘Get Smart.’ Based on its budget + marketing, this isn’t looking good for Paramount (‘The Love Guru’). Time for another ‘Austin Powers,’ maybe?

We already saw how low the analysts set their expectations for this weekend, but what do the critics say? Is there any chance the reviews will benefit ‘The Love Guru.’ I really don’t think so. Maybe ‘Get Smart’? A slightly bigger chance. Let’s take a quick look at the actual quotes from the critics.

Continue reading The upcoming weekend in quotes, are these comedies worth the popcorn? And ‘The Get Smart Guru’

Sadly there aren’t any new tracking numbers floating around. But we do have a better idea of what to expect, just a little over a day before release. Last week’s tracking numbers indicated a soft launch for both ‘The Love Guru’ and ‘Get Smart,’ with the last one tracking a little higher. And while the expectations for Steve Carell’s movie are still in line with last week, Mike Myers doesn’t seem to be doing so well.

Both are rumored to have about the same budget, $80 million, but ‘The Love Guru’ might struggle to make some profit in the US alone. Most analysts are expecting a $20-$25 million opening, but some say it might not even top $20 million. An opening in the high teens will definitely be considered a failure by Paramount and won’t do Myers’ future projects any good.

‘Get Smart’ is doing better and would end the coming weekend with a little under $40 million. We will take a look at the reviews tomorrow, when most of the quotes are in, but it looks like the critics are projecting the same view. The first ‘The Love Guru’ reviews are burning and ‘Get Smart’ is doing just a little bit better. No, this won’t be a big weekend.

Would it be fair to say the two comedies releasing next week are rather low on buzz? I’d say so. ‘Get Smart’ has the ‘Speed Racer’ vibe going, it’s based on some TV show in the sixties nobody remembers. And ‘The Love Guru’ has the Mike Myers vibe going, which can be bad (’The Cat in the Hat’) or pretty good (’Austin Powers’).

At this point, Warner’s ‘Get Smart’ is topping the Mike Myers vehicle. Especially the older crowd (25+) prefers Steve Carell over Mike Myers at this point. With about the same budgets, around $80 million, this could be a tight race. Let’s have an early look at the tracking numbers to see their box office potential.

Continue reading Early ‘Love Guru’ and ‘Get Smart’ box office tracking

I always find it strange when award shows announce who they’ll give an award. Isn’t it supposed to be a surprise? Today MTV said they will give ‘man-child’ Adam Sandler a Generation Award, previously given to Jim Carrey (2006) and Mike Myers (2007). “A 30-something water boy, a brokenhearted `80s wedding singer and a rejected hockey player-turned-pro golfer … now that’s an impressive resume,” MTV president Van Toffler said, like he’s looking to hire Sandler.

He’ll get the precious MTV Movie Award for his “amazing contribution to Hollywood.” It’s probably not a bad promotion for his new $75 million ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan’ either, which will be out June 6.

The MTV Movie Awards will brighten up your TV set this Sunday.

MTV sure is desperate for a new ‘Austin Powers’ movie. Last month they caught up with Seth Green about a possible fourth movie and now they’ve got director Jay Roach talking. “I know Mike’s thinking about it, which is something of a move in a direction,” Roach said.

It’s all up to the big man, Mike Myers. “There isn’t a script like that or anything yet, but it’s something, that [is still alive]…he’s got other stuff to do too, and that one’s completely driven by Mike. If he wants to do it, I’ll definitely want to be involved,” Roach added.

He noted how he thinks these sequels shouldn’t be rushed. And I think we would all agree. Nothing worse than a bad excuse to make some money. He shared the same feeling for a follow-up of ‘Meet the Fockers,’ currently called ‘Little Fockers.’ “We’re just trying to find the right story that makes it worth doing again. We always talk about ideas for it, and it would be a great group of people to get back together, for sure.” Well, those aren’t the worst decisions to make I’d say.

Apparently, when Gisele Bündchen was talking about her appearance in ‘Austin Powers 4,’ it was just some wishful thinking. Boston.com ran an article on how she’d already gotten the script and her agent met with Mike Myers and director Jay Roach.

All bs, Seth Green says. “Gisele…the model??” he (almost) screamed. “If a script for ‘Austin Powers 4’ gets written and then it gets greenlit by whatever version of New Line is still making movies, and everybody agrees to do it, then we’ll have something to talk about.”

There have been rumors about ‘Austin Powers 4′ since the day part 3 got made. Mike Myers has talked about it on and off at press conferences, but nothing official came out of it. Now all hope gets squashed again, thanks Gisele!