Casting the world’s box-office champ as a reluctant superhero should pay off big for Sony Pictures as the Will Smith action-comedy Hancock opens in theaters today. The Tuesday night screenings of the film (which started at 7 p.m.) brought in a very impressive $6.8 million, and Sony is projecting $100 million to $115 million for the 5 1/2 day July 4th weekend opening. The only other new major release going wide over the Fourth of July holiday period is Picturehouse’s family film Kit Kitteridge: An American Girl.
Directed by Peter Berg (Friday Night Lights), Hancock stars Smith as a conflicted and misunderstood superhero whose well-intentioned heroics usually turn out to be as destructive as they are helpful. Facing major backlash from the people of Los Angeles, the unconventional crimefighter agrees to change his public image with the help of a PR exec played by Jason Bateman (Arrested Development). Sony Pictures Imageworks handeld the lion’s share of the vfx work under the supervision of effects designer John Dykstra, who has won Academy Awards for Star Wars and Spider-Man 2. Ken Kee-Suk Hahn, the digital effects supervisor for Imageworks, most recently served as the digital effects supervisor on Spider-Man 3. Other shops contributing to the show include X1 FX, Furious FX, Eden FX and Luma Pictures.
Smith solidified his position as Hollywood’s most bankable star last year when his horror movie I Am Legend opened to an impressive $71 million in December. The part-time recording artist has also become an Independence Day weekend fixture. Indedendence Day and the two Men in Black Films are among the top ten films to open during the holiday period. Smith will next appear in the Sony/Columbia drama Seven Pounds, slated for release in December, and DreamWorks’ Steven Spielberg-directed The Trial of the Chicago 7 in 2009.
Despite the tough competition form Hancock and weekend barbecues, Disney/Pixar’s WALL’E will contunue to sparkle in theaters. The CG-animated film from Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton managed an impressive weekday draw of $9 million on Monday, an indication that the rest of the week will yeild healthy receipts. WALL’E has grossed around $75 million worldwide, but still has a way to go to recoup its $180 million production price tag.
