Tag: Cobie Smulders

Avengers: Age of Ultron Box Office Prediction

The 2015 Summer Movie Season kicks off in grand fashion as Avengers: Age of Ultron debuts and looks to Hulk smash records. The mystery surrounding how it performs in its opening is centered on one question: will it have the biggest domestic debut in movie history? In order to do so, it’ll need to top the record currently held by its 2012 predecessor. That magic number is $207.4 million.

All the favorites are back, including director Joss Whedon with Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hulk, Hawkeye, and more returning. Newbies include James Spader voicing the title character villain and Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen as Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. There are two more Avengers features already planned for 2018 and 2019. While a number of reviews say it doesn’t quite match the original, its 80% Rotten Tomatoes rating is solid.

There is little doubt that Ultron is highly primed to become summer’s largest grosser. Whether or not it reaches the $623M eventual mark of The Avengers remains to be seen (that’s good for the 3rd biggest hit ever behind Avatar and Titanic).

Some prognosticators are estimating it may not quite reach the heights of 2012 in its opening. The floor would seem to be in the $180M range, which would be just fine but still $25M under the first. While that’s certainly possible, I do believe Ultron will debut with around the same number of its predecessor… and a bit higher. That means I’m predicting Ultron will set a new benchmark in the category of all-time record openings and Disney and Marvel will be popping the champagne corks come next weekend.

Avengers: Age of Ultron opening weekend prediction: $212.7 million

Delivery Man Movie Review

Ken Scott’s Delivery Man allows its star Vince Vaughn to take on a more dramatic role that downplays his witty and sardonic sense of humor and pours on the pathos. The results aren’t too impressive and the screenplay gives Vaughn some scattershot and often mediocre material to work with.

A remake of Scott’s own 2011 Canadian feature Starbuck, David (Vaughn) is an aimless meat truck driver with financial woes who finds out he’s expecting his first child with his girlfriend, played by an underutilized Cobie Smulders. Well… about that “first” child…

It turns out our title character donated to a sperm clinic on a very regular basis in the early 90s under the alias Starbuck. And his efforts produced an astonishing 533 children, many of whom file a lawsuit to find out who their daddy is. David is torn with this revelation and it leads him to seek out his spawn while attempting to maintain his true identity from them. He develops relationships with them and their characters often check off the movie cliché boxes. The drug addicted girl trying to go straight. The struggling actor. The musician. Then there’s Viggo the vegetarian (Adam Chanler-Berat), who learns who David truly is and hangs around for a few scenes to annoy his dad, as well as the audience. And there’s also the handicapped son, creating a subplot that feels a tad too manipulative for comfort.

A puffy, pre-Star-Lord Chris Pratt is afforded some good moments as David’s in over his head attorney friend who represents him in a counter suit to secure his anonymity. In many ways, Man rises and falls with Vaughn. There are scarce comedic moments and Vaughn greatly downplays the quick paced and irony drenched persona we’ve come to anticipate from him. At times, he seems to be trying a little too hard to play against type and his performance comes off a bit listless.

Delivery Man doesn’t succeed enough in exploring David’s newfound connection to these strangers who he happens to father and the script tries too hard to pull our heartstrings. As the hundreds of Starbuck kids want to establish their connection with him, my connection to the proceedings as a viewer was much like Vaughn’s performance – too muted.

** (out of four)