Flick Face-Off: Hellboy 2 vs Journey 3D

It’s been a few weeks since I did one of these, mainly because I knew that the only thing that could bring down 4th of July weekend powerhouse Will Smith’s Hancock movie was Will Smith’s Hancock movie. Nobody wants to go up against that. They don’t even bother to counter-program with something girly, mainly because Will Smith is just so darn likable, that if you’re going to see a movie between your hot dogs and your fireworks, it’s going to be something with Will Smith in it. Anyway, despite a lot of bad buzz about its script and its big twist long before it even got to the screen, Hancock cleaned up last week without any competition, bad script or not. ‘Nuff said.

Anyway, we’re here to talk about Hellboy 2: the Golden Army and Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (I won’t even mention Eddie Murphy’s Meet Dave… that man was so much funnier before he acquired a foam latex prosthetics and spirit gum addiction… not to mention the desire to be every character in every film he makes). I’m rooting for Hellboy 2, because Guillermo del Toro can do no wrong in my book and the movie just looks amazing and fun. I loved the last one more than I ever thought I would and this one looks even better. I’m interested in Journey to the Center of the Earth too, but not nearly as much (I’m a sucker for 3D eye candy). Brendan Fraser looks to rebuild his career as the big movie star of late summer 2008 between this and the new Mummy film and I say good for him! I love Brendan and while not every movie he’s in is all that great, I enjoy seeing him because I believe he’s talented enough to make just about anything he’s in entertaining, whether it’s comedy or drama or action/adventure. He and Nathan Fillion should be the manly blockbuster movie heir-apparents to Harrison Ford, but don’t get me started on that. In the end, the more kid-friendly Journey 3D has a chance to balance the scales on what should have been a Hellboy 2 dominant weekend at the box office. I think Hellboy 2 is going to draw a solid $40 and Journey 3Da good $35, but it could go either way. It’s so hard to tell with movies that aren’t anchored with huge stars or high-demand concepts. They both have high concepts, but while both take two very different peeks at our underworld, it might not be enough to get people into theaters outside of the comic-book geeks and the moms who want to shut their kids up for 2 hours out of the summer heat as they nurse a crush on dreamy Brendan Fraser.

Okay, I’ll mention Meet Dave after all. Less than $8 million. And don’t expect much more than than in the following weeks. Sorry Eddie.

By the way, 2 weeks ago, I was once again wrong (there’s something to be said for consistency), but I was wrong both ways at once. I over-estimated Wall-E by about $20 million and under-estimated Wanted by about $20 million. I enjoyed both films and I think they’ll end up being the biggest surprises of the summer, with Wall-E possibly grabbing a Best Picture nod and Wanted actually garnering a franchise when all the money is counted…