Shrek Forever After – The saga of that lovable green ogre adds what is its final chapter, and not a moment too soon. Each Shrek film has increased its opening weekend revenues: Shrek (42.3 million), Shrek 2 (108 million), Shrek 3 (121.6 million). I find it hard to believe that Shrek 4 can keep this upward trend in motion. Statistically, Shrek 2 was the peak of the series. It grossed over 120 million more than Shrek 3 despite lower opening weekend numbers. I think most fans of the series were disappointed with the third film and aren’t expecting much from this final installment. Therefore, I predict that it will barely pass the $100 million mark in its opening weekend.

MacGruber – Saturday Night Live is a great TV show. It is filled with current cultural happenings and has endured for 35 seasons and nearly 700 episodes. It has spawned several feature films, but none of them has met with particular success, The Blues Brothers and Wayne’s World are the only ones that have cracked the 50 million mark. Critics have given MacGruber mixed reviews, saying that the film is very crude and feels a bit like it was thrown together with duct tape and paper clips but many conclude that despite it’s shortcomings it is very funny. I think that MacGruber will be the best SNL adaptation of the past decade… Oh, wait, it’s the only one of the past decade besides The Ladies Man.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time – I’m not sure what to think about this movie. I’ve never played the game, and 16th century Persian history doesn’t exactly get my engine revving. However, I want to like this movie. I want it to be the next in a line of successful adventure movies from Disney like National Treasure and Pirates of the Caribbean, but video game adaptations have never fared well at the box office. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider is currently the only one to ever gross more than $100 million. I think that statistic stands to be broken, but I’m afraid it still won’t be as successful as Disney hopes.

Another fun little factoid. Both of the films opening to wide release next week were shot in Morocco. One is supposed to be 16th century Persia and the other is modern day Abu Dhabi, but I guess to our undiscerning Western eyes, all deserts look the same. I had no idea that Morocco was wild about movies but it’s good to know.

Three years ago when I first heard about this movie, I thought the idea was good. The plan was, as far as anyone on the outside could tell, to tell the story of Robin Hood as if he were some sort of double agent, by day he would be the dutiful Sheriff of Nottingham, just a guy doing his job. But in the shadows, he would be Robin Hood. The movie would be called “Nottingham”, and in it, Robin Hood would battle the excesses of the opulent government by working from the inside to bring it down. Originally, Russell Crowe was slated to play both Robin Hood and the Sheriff which would concur with that plot line. That looked like a good idea for a movie, it was something that I’ve never seen before. But then last February, the story broke that the film would be called simply Robin Hood, the lead character would no longer be the Sheriff, and that Crowe would no longer play the role of the sheriff, but only Robin Hood. Also Scott said that the plan was to give the sheriff a very minimal role, because he’s not the villain, instead the black hat goes on the entire country of France.

At that point I was confused and disappointed and stopped reading the news about new cast members and seemingly a half a dozen rewrites because I was sure that they had relied on their collective past successes and simply taken the easy route to making several million dollars. After all, people will line up to watch this film simply because of the star power. They lost the nerve to bravely do something unique and intelligent, wanting instead to simply sell tickets. After watching all the previews and featurettes and interviews, I can’t even muster enough excitement to put together a good prediction. I’m just expecting two hours of Gladiator in tights. It may be the best most expensive Robin Hood film yet… but it’s still the same old story we’ve seen dozens of times.

You can watch the trailer below if you’d like. Personally, I’m gonna pass on this one, and if I go see anything the week of its release, I’ll probably take my wife to see Letters to Juliet or Iron Man 2 for the second (or third) time. Predicted score: 63

Click here to watch trailer

So even though Marvel has only released a very basic plot summary, that doesn’t keep fanboys like me from postulating based on what I have been given. First of all, the trailer presents several new faces, so to avoid any confusion, let’s break the characters down.

Returning Characters

Robert Downey Jr. – Tony Stark (a.k.a. Iron Man), billionaire, playboy, genius.
Gwyneth Paltrow – Pepper Potts, Tony’s personal assistant and love interest. She will be promoted to Stark Industries C.E.O. in this film.
Jon Favreau – Happy Hogan, the director reprises his role as Tony’s bodyguard, friend and chauffeur.
Samuel L. Jackson – Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and recruiter for the Avengers. While his appearance in Iron Man was brief, a 30-second post-credits scene, he should get more screen time this time around. Also he is worth noting because Samuel L. Jackson is also signed onto to reprise the role in eight more Marvel movies, including Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Avengers.
Don Cheadle – If you are thinking that the actor playing James “Rhodey” Rhodes looks different you would be right. Terrence Howard lost the role over a combination of salary issues and concerns about on-set behavior. Believe it or not, Terrence Howard was actually the highest paid-Actor in Iron Man, that’s right, more than Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, or Robert Downey Jr. I’m very glad that the people in charge of casting saw the need to have a “real” actor in the role (instead of a rapper turned actor like Common, Will.i.am, or LL Cool J), so they offered it to Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda, Traitor) who graciously accepted. In Iron Man 2 Rhodey gets the chance to fight alongside his friend as War Machine.

New Characters

Justin Hammer – Played by Sam Rockwell (Frost/Nixon, The Green Mile), Hammer and his company are a competitor of Stark industries. I think he will be enlisted by the U.S. Government to help them create Iron Man type suits so that National Security doesn’t become privatized. Greed will get in his way as he sees a chance to get rid of his competitor and blame it on a government accident.
Natalie Rushman (Black Widow) – Played by Scarlett Johannson (The Other Boleyn Girl). This character could go all over the place. In the comics she is Natasha Romanoff and she goes from trying to kill Iron Man to saving his life to fighting as a hero. You can see from some of the trailers that she is trying to get a position within Stark Industries against the advice of Pepper. I believe that she will and it will come out that she is really she is one of the world’s greatest spies and master of disguise and wants to steal Stark technology. But she will have a change of heart and will later work with the Avengers. I could be way off, but that’s my guess.
Ivan Vanko (Whiplash) – Played by Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler). Whiplash seems to be a composite of at least two Marvel villains (Backlash and the Crimson Dynamo). Ivan holds an old family grudge against Tony and believes that he stole the idea for the Arc reactor from his father, Anton. Whiplash uses electrified bullwhips to wreak havoc. I believe that Vanko will come to see the error in his ways and will try to redeem himself by sacrificing himself to save Iron Man. I’ve got no hard evidence, just a gut feeling. Either way, I think Mickey Rourke will do an excellent job.

Prediction

With Favreau still at the helm, a cast that is eclectic and extremely talented, and a slew of promotional material that consistently makes me laugh and giggle like a school-girl with anticipation, I believe it will be hard for this one not to be a good movie and make boatloads of money at the box office. My only real worry is that all these players might not get enough development and we could end up with another Spider-Man 3 or X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Part of me hates that this is the first movie of the summer, because, with the exception of a few movies, it will all be downhill from here. I actually don’t know what I’m still doing typing right now, writing this has gotten me so excited I need to go to Fandango to check out showtimes. I give Iron Man 2 a predicted score of 92, and I’ll see you in line.