Coming Attractions for August 2010

*HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (PG) Animated Action/Fantasy $214 million plus Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Kristen Wiig. A Viking teenager named Hiccup lives on the island of Berk, where fighting dragons is a way of life. The teen’s smarts and offbeat sense
of humor does not sit too well with his tribe or its chief... who just happens to be Hiccup’s father. However, when Hiccup is included in Dragon Training with the other Viking teens, he sees his chance to prove he has what it takes to be a fighter. But when he encounters (and ultimately befriends) an injured dragon, his world is flipped upside down, and what started out as Hiccup’s one shot to prove himself turns into an opportunity to set a new course for the future of the
entire tribe. Paramount

DATE NIGHT (PG-13) Comedy/Action/Romance $99 million plus Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Taraji P. Henson, Jimmi Simpson, Common, William Fichtner, Ray Liotta, James Franco, Mila Kunis, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wiig. After some seem- ingly happy friends decide to separate, Phil and Claire Foster wonder about the solidity of their own marriage. Have parenthood, longevity, and routine begun to crack its foundation? A real date in Manhattan (not just their usual New Jersey steakhouse outing) might add some zest to their lives. But when they arrive in New York City, a bad case of mistaken identity sends the Fosters on the run. Chased by some crooks with guns, as well as the police, Phil and Claire have to outmaneuver the villains and discover some valuable truths about themselves. Fox

THE LAST SONG (PG) Drama/Romance Summit Entertainment $62 million plus
Miley Cyrus, Greg Kinnear, Bobby Coleman, Liam Hemsworth, Kelly Preston. Based on Nicho- las Sparks’ ( “Dear John,” “A Walk to Remember,” “The Notebook”) novel. Seventeen-year-old Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Miller remains as rebellious and distant as she was the day after her parents’ ugly divorce and father’s subsequent relocation to Georgia three years ago. Once a classical piano prodigy under the tutelage of her Juilliard professor father, Steve. Ronnie now rejects the instrument in favor of partying with her friends and has not spoken to her father since he left. Steve is given the chance to reconnect with Ronnie when her mother sends the rebellious teen and her younger brother to spend the summer with him in Tybee Island, the small beach town where he grew up and now lives a quiet life. Disney/Buena Vista

DIARY OF A WIMPY KID (PG) Comedy Summit Entertainment $63 million plus
Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn. Sixth grader Greg Heffley at- tempts to navigate the middle-school social order with his chubby, sweet best friend Rowley. After looking at his rocker older brother’s yearbook, Greg decides the key to climbing the popularity ladder is to join various after-school clubs and associations and somehow settles on safety patrol with Rowley. Despite warnings from Angie, a precociously mature 7th grader, Greg continues to plot and scheme to make himself more well-liked, but in the process starts pushing Rowley to change the way he dresses, talks, and acts to fit in better. Ultimately, Greg endangers his one true friendship for selfish reasons, while Rowley surprisingly grows more popular by just being himself. Fox

TYLER PERRY’S WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO?
(PG-13) Comedy/Drama $57. 5 million Tyler Perry (also directed), Sharon Leal, Janet Jackson, Malik Yoba, Michael Jai White, Jill Scott, Louis Gossett Jr., Cicely Tyson. The sequel reunites the cast, again playing a group of eight friends who take an annual week-long vacation with each other to the Bahamas. Terry and Dianne appear to be the happiest, but Terry is slowly suspecting Dianne of having an affair. Angela and Marcus constantly bicker, and Angela has major trust issues with regards to her husband. Newlyweds Sheila and Troy have serious money issues, having just moved from Colo- rado to Atlanta for Sheila’s work. They have two mortgages, and Troy has been unable to find a new job. Finally, Patricia and Gavin are privately on the verge of divorce, but neither is willing to confide in their friends. Lionsgate

KICK-ASS (R) Action/Comedy $47.8 million Aaron Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Lyndsy Fonesca, Mark Strong, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jason Flemyng, Clark Duke. Average teenager Dave Lizewski, a comic-book fanboy, decides to take his obsession as inspiration to become a real-life superhero, calling himself Kick-Ass. He assembles a suit and mask to wear, and gets to work fighting crime. There’s only one problem standing in his way: Kick-Ass has absolutely no superpowers. He inspires a subculture of copy cats and meets up with a pair of crazed vigilantes, 11-year-old sword-wielding dynamo Hit Girl, and her father, Big Daddy. He also forges a friendship with another fledgling superhero, Red Mist. But thanks to the scheming of his father, a local mob boss, that new alliance will be put to the test. Lionsgate

DEATH AT A FUNERAL (R) Comedy $42. 2 million plus Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, James Marsden, Zoe Saldana, Luke Wilson, Re- gina Hall, Peter Dinklage, Columbus Short, Keith David, Danny Glover, Loretta Devine. Aaron is a frustrated man. Not only does he and his wife live with his parents and put up with his mom always nagging them about not having any children yet, but as an aspiring author he also lives in the shadow of his younger and highly successful novelist brother. When his father dies, it is up to him, being the oldest son, to organize the funeral and give the eulogy. The funeral takes place in his father’s home and outrageous incidents occur including information from the mysterious dwarf who is attending the funeral and nobody seems to know. A re-imagining of the 2007 English film. Sony

FURRY VENGEANCE (PG) Comedy/Fantasy $16. 9 million Brendan Fraser, Brooke Shields, Matt Prokop, Skyler Samuels, Ken Jeong, Angela Kinsey, Rob Riggle, Jim Norton, Dick Van Dyke, Samantha Bee. Dan Sanders has relocated his family from Chicago to Oregon to oversee the construction of a new housing development for his ambitious boss, “green” real-estate tycoon Neal Lyman. Lyman, of course, is far from eco-friendly and wants to tear down a local forest to build even more subdivisions and a “forest-themed” mall. But the woodland animals, led by an incredibly clever raccoon, communicate with each other to terrorize Dan into stopping the destruction of their home habitat. The animals fight back in a very organized, conniving way as the battle zone becomes man versus nature.

THE GHOST WRITER (PG-13) Suspense/Mystery $15.6 million Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Kim Cattrall, Tom Wilkinson, Robert Pugh, James Belushi, Timothy Hutton, Eli Wallach. Directed by Roman Polanski. An unremarkable ghost-writer has landed a lucrative contract to redact the memoirs of Adam Lang, the former UK Prime Minister. After dominating British politics for years, Lang has retired with his wife to the USA. He lives on an island, in luxurious, isolated premises complete with a security detail and a secretarial staff. Soon, Adam Lang gets embroiled in a major scandal with international ramifications The ghost-writer gets unmistakable signs that the turgid draft he is tasked to put into shape inexplicably constitutes highly sensitive material, and his life could be in danger.

CITY ISLAND (PG-13) Comedy/Drama $5.7 million Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Steven Strait, Emily Mortimer, Dominik García-Lorido, Erza Miller, Alan Arkin. A dysfunctional family living on a picturesque island in the Bronx spares no expense in avoiding the truth about their messed-up lives. Vince is a prison guard who is se- cretly plotting a new career as an actor. Meanwhile, as Vince takes acting lessons on the down low, his daughter moonlights as a stripper and his younger namesake harbors a secret fetish that involves the family’s 300-pound neighbor. Under normal circumstances his wife, Joyce, would be the family rock, but lately she’s been preoccupied with uncovering the identity of the hired help, a secret that only her husband knows. Anchor Bay

*ME AND ORSON WELLES (PG-13) Drama $1.1 million
Zac Efron, Claire Danes, Christian McKay, Ben Chaplin, Kelly Reilly, Eddie Marsan, Imogen Poots. Directed by Richard Linklater. In November 1937, high school student and aspiring thespian Richard Samuels takes a day trip into New York City. There, he meets and begins a casual friendship with Gretta Adler. But also on this trip, Richard stumbles across the Mercury Theatre and meets Orson Welles, who, based on an impromptu audition, offers Richard an acting job as Lucius in his modern retelling of Julius Caesar. Despite others with official roles as producer John Houseman, this production belongs to Welles, the unofficial/official dictator. Whatever Welles wants, the cast and crew better deliver. Freestyle

THE JONESES (R) Comedy/Drama $0.6 million David Duchovny, Demi Moore, Amber Heard, Ben Hollingsworth, Gary Cole, Lauren Hutton, Glenne Headly. They’ve just moved in, and yet it’s already hard to keep up with the Joneses. Steve is witty and wired with all the latest gadgets, and has a mean golf swing. Kate looks half her age, hosts a mean dinner party, and keeps a beautiful home filled with covetable things. Their kids are stylish and instantly popular at the high school. It’s no surprise then that their next-door neighbors, Larry and Summer, want to be them. Little do they know, however, that the Joneses are picture-perfect for a reason, and that reason strikes at the heart of every American consumer. They have products to sell, and their role is to make their neighbors buy them. Fox