Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow director Roland Emmerich is back with another big-budget, vfx-laden epic in 10,000 B.C., a tale of prehistoric man that offers mammoths, terror birds, saber-tooth tigers and other menacing animals brought back from extinction thought the miracle of CG animation. Despite some unkind reviews, the movie should ride its pervasive marketing campaign and impressive 3,400-theater rollout to a box office win during a frame that offers little serious competition.
Not to be confused as a remake of the classic 1966 Ray Harryhausen project One Million Years B.C., 10,000 B.C. follows the adventures of a young mammoth hunter who must make a perilous journey to secure the future of his tribe. Putting her stamp on the film is visual effects supervisor Karen Goulekas, who has collaborated with Emmerich on his version of Godzilla and his toungue-in-cheek creature feature Eight Legged Freaks before earning a BAFTA for her work on The Day After Tomorrow. Shops that contributed to the film’s extensive visual effects work include Motion Picture Company (MPC), The Senate VFX, Double Negative and Machine FX.
Also opening in wide release today is Disney’s Martin Lawrence family comedy College Road Trip, which is expected to make a respectable but modest bow, and the Lionsgate’s The Bank Job starring Jason Statham. The heist flick is getting mostly positive critical response and stands to do well, though a conservative release in 1,600 theaters ensures a slow-burning fuse.
Making its North American debut in limited release is CJ7, a Chinese sci-fi comedy from director Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle). The movie is reportedly the first live-action Chinese production to include a completely CG character. Budgeted at around $20 million, it is one of the country’s most expensive films. This second collaboration between Chow’s Star Overseas and Sony Pictures Ent. tells the story of a poor laborer and his son, who have their lives turned upside-down with the arrival of a cute, little alien. Effects were created by Hong Kong vfx shop Menfond Electronic Art, which contributed to Disney’s 3-D reissue of Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The weekend’s other limited releases include HBO Film’s period pic Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, IFC Films’ Paranoid Park form director Gus Van Sant and Warner Independent Pictures’ drama Snow Angels, the latest film from diretor David Gordon Green (Undertow, George Washington).
