Months of speculation and internet rumors come to an end today as producer J.J. Abrams’ well-guarded CG creature is finally revealed in Cloverfield, Paramount Pictures’ giant monster movie that plays like a crosss between Godzilla and The Blair Witch Project. The weekend’s widest release, the pic bows in 3,411 theaters across North America, and should easily win the weekend over 20th Century Fox’s chick flick, 27 Dresses. Rabid Star Trek fans eager to see the first teaser for Abrams’ upcoming reboot of the film franchise alone should tip the scales.
Directed by television veteran Matt Reeves, Cloverfield has an enormous, unclassified animal crawling out of the ocean to attack New York City. The story is told from the point of view of a group of young friends who capture the destruction and general mayhem with a video camera. The movie’s creatures and other effects were created by Tippett Studio, with Double Negative and Fugitive Studios lending additional digital wizardry.
Reviews for the film have been mostly positive, especially among the fanboy bloggers who contributed greatly to the hype surrounding the production. However, the secrecy and ambiguous marketing may backfire with other moviegoers who aren’t quite sure what the movie is about just yet. Overseas success is all but written in stone, granted there’s room for more than one lumbering building crusher in Japan. Warner Bros.’ I Am Legend, an apocalyptic thriller that also takes place in New York City and features CG-animated baddies, has been the top performer abroad for the past few weeks.
The weekend offers more than one alternative for those seeking lighter fare. Grey’s Anatomy and Knocked Up star Katherine Heigl sees if she can carry a movie with 27 Dresses, a movie about a woman who’s been a bridesmaid 27 times and may lose the man she loves to her own sister. Also targeting female audiences is Overture Films’ Mad Money, which stars Katie Holmes, Diane Keaton and Queen Latifah as Federal Reserve employees who plot to steal money earmarked for destruction.
