ENGAGING CULTURE

Sorry I’m so late, but VBS has had us running around like crazy this week. In short, both of this weeks new offerings have big battles in their past to fight in order to win at the box office. The Incredible Hulk is my pick of the week, I’ll be seeing it tomorrow night and will turn in a review as soon as I can Saturday morning. But it is fight the bad taste that many people have in their mouths with Ang Lee’s 2003 version. Is it a remake, is it a sequel, is it a reboot of the series. A little bit of everything is probably right. I think that is whay they have geared the marketing into overdrive, to the point that some say they are giving away too much. I say it’s a two hour movie, they haven’t shown more than 4 minutes of footage. It’s only made me want to see it more.

The other movie opening this weekend is The Happening. It is battling M. Night Shamaylan’s recent bad track record. The Village, and Lady in the Water were awful movies and bombed in the box office. Plus Happening is getting awful tracking numbers and early reviews say it’s cheesy and greener than the Hulk. Steer clear, I see another disaster for M. Night in his first R-rated venture.

My HSX pick for this week is Wanted. With a new Red band trailer and some good buzz it is set to make some big waves and I think the stock will be climbing this week.

1. The Incredible Hulk - $60 Million
2. Kung Fu Panda - $35 Million
3. The Happening - $27.5 Million
4. You Don’t Mess With the Zohan - $19 Million
5. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - $13 Million