SCHOOL OF FILM & ACTING

BOX OFFICE GHOST

It was another weekend absent of appealing options at the movies and the box office reflected the lack of fresh choices. The top film was the Neil Labute directed Lakeview Terrace which scored $15 million flat on the money meter…a $4 million abatement from last weeks #1, Burn After Reading, which slipped down to second place. Rounding out the top five were the horribly reviewed My Best Friends Girl, Igor and Righteous Kill.

The other film in wide release this weekend, Ghost Town, barely broke into the top ten just beating out The Dark Knight for 8th place.While it’s opened to rave reviews, I think the problem with Ricky Gervais’ first star vehicle for Paramount is that it’s a little lost on who it’s audience is. Judging by the trailer this film, it was made to look like a run of the mill semi-ridiculous, American romantic comedy that could star just about anyone. Unfortunately, the people who go to see innocuous romantic comedies go to see them for stars like Jennifer Aniston and Drew Barrymore, not necessarily a frumpy, yet impossibly witty forty-seven year old men best known as the architect of a British television classic. The involvement of Greg Kinnear certainly adds more star appeal, but rest assured Gervais is the star here and that’s ultimately a hard sell on this side of the pond, though not to this writer.

The worst part is, that given the cast, I’m not sure if there’s a way to repackage this to appeal to the masses. I think it will be much more successful on the British Isle because of the amount of reverence people have for “The Office” over there. Here in the States invoking that television title just brings up visions of Steve Carell and Rainn Wilson. Oh well, poor little Ghost Town, lost at the box office. Won’t someone come along and save it…probably not.

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