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Running Scared (2006)

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New Line Yanks Racy 'Running Scared' Video Game
1 March 2006 (StudioBriefing)
After its movie, Running Scared, bombed at the box office over the weekend, New Line has apparently concluded that there is no longer any value in courting controversy concerning the racy online game that it offered to promote the film. The studio, without comment, has pulled the game, which includes a scene in which the lead character (played by Paul Walker in the movie) performs oral sex, and other scenes featuring repeated use of the f-word. The game had drawn fire from several conservative family activist groups -- in particular, the National Institute on Media and the Family, whose founder, Dr. David Walsh, urged members to register their protests with New Line. "New Line Cinema should be ashamed that it thought it could get away with this tactic, without being held accountable," he said. On Friday, New Line removed the sexually explicit parts from the video game, then the game iself on Tuesday.

Box Office: All in the 'Family'
28 February 2006 (StudioBriefing)
A film targeting older, church-going black women may hardly seem likely to wind up at the top of the box office, let alone take in more than $30 million in its opening weekend, but that's what Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion accomplished. Final figures released by Exhibitor Relations on Monday showed that the film took in $30.03 million, nearly twice as much as the No. 2 film, Disney's Eight Below, which wound up with $15.87 million. Family or kid-friendly films dominated the rest of the top five, with the third week of The Pink Panther coming in third; Date Movie, fourth; and Curious George, fifth. Two other newcomers arrived DOA -- The Weinstein Co.'s Doogal, which opened in eighth place with $3.6 million, and New Line's Running Scared, which will no doubt have a short run following its $3.4 million opening.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Madea's Family Reunion, Lions Gate, $30,030,661, (New); 2. Eight Below, Disney, $15,872,840, 2 Wks. ($45,206,288); 3. The Pink Panther, Sony, $11,101,845, 3 Wks. ($60,847,581); 4. Date Movie, 20th Century Fox, $9,125,555, 2 Wks. ($33,812,965); 5. Curious George, Universal, $7,213,870, 3 Wks. ($43,347,785); 6. Firewall, Warner Bros., $6,682,212, 3 Wks. ($37,295,572); 7. Final Destination 3, New Line, $5,495,785, 3 Wks. ($44,944,694); 8. Doogal, Weinstein Co. $3,605,899, (New); 9. Running Scared, New Line, $3,381,974, (New); 10. Freedomland, Sony, $2,872,215, 2 Wks. ($10,750,360).

'Family' Fares Well
27 February 2006 (StudioBriefing)
Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion became just as big a hit over the weekend as his Diary of a Mad Black Woman was a year ago. The new film took in an estimated $30.3 million on 2,194 screens, averaging $13,788 versus $14,771 for Diary, which opened on 1,483 screens. Two other new films tanked. The Weinstein Co.'s animated Doogal grossed just $3.6 million, while New Line's Running Scared scared up only $3.1 million. Disney's doggy adventure Eight Below placed second in its second weekend with about $15.7 million, dropping only 22 percent from its opening weekend, while the third weekend of Sony's The Pink Panther took in $11.3 million, to bring its gross to $61 million.

The top ten films for the weekend, according to studio estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations: 1. Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion, $30.25 million; 2. Eight Below, $15.7 million; 3. The Pink Panther, $11.3 million; 4. Date Movie, $9.2 million; 5. Curious George, $7 million; 6. Firewall, $6.3 million; 7. Final Destination 3, $5.35 million; 8. Doogal, $3.6 million; 9. Running Scared, $3.1 million; 10. Freedomland, $2.9 million.

Movie Reviews: 'Running Scared'
24 February 2006 (StudioBriefing)
Running Scared should have a good run indeed, if critics' reactions are any indication. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times gives the movie three stars and writes that it "goes so far over the top, it circumnavigates the top and doubles back on itself; it's the Mobius Strip of over-the-topness. I am in awe." Similarly, Roger Moore writes in the Orlando Sentinel: "Something about this way over the top dum-dum bullet of a movie hits. Call its boundary-busting badness a Tarantino parody or a 'message' or, as is most likely, an instant cult film, but you can't say it doesn't hit you like a big-bore slug at close range." But what Ebert and Moore regard as an asset, Deeson Thomson of the Washington Post regards as a definite deficit. "Running Scared never met an over-the-top character, convoluted subplot or gruesome exit wound it didn't love. It's as if writer-director [Wayne] Kramer ... watched Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs repeatedly for 10 days straight, then sat at the word processor and kept typing until he collapsed." Indeed several critics compare the movie with those of Quentin Tarantino, with Kyle Smith in the New York Post observing: "It isn't so much imitation Tarantino as it is imitation imitation Tarantino," while Steven Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer concludes, "Questions of originality notwithstanding, there's plenty of blazing going on here."

Will Audiences Still Be Mad Over Perry?
24 February 2006 (StudioBriefing)
Analysts are puzzling over whether Tyler Perry's second movie, Madea's Family Reunion, will exceed the (surprise) $21.9-million opening of his first outing, last year's Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Lionsgate is cautiously opening the film on 2,194 screens, half again as many as Diary, has found bookings for Perry on numerous talk shows, and set up print interviews with him. However, it did not screen Reunion for the press, mindful perhaps of the nearly unanimous drubbing last year's film received. ("I've been reviewing movies for a long time, and I can't think of one that more dramatically shoots itself in the foot," wrote Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times. Jack Mathews in the New York Daily News called it "an absolute mess with no coherent tone, story or point of view." Lou Lumenick in the New York Post warned: "Stay clear of this mess.") Nevertheless, it opened at the top of the box office and turned Perry, who previously had been known mostly for his plays performed in black community theaters, into an overnight phenomenon. New Line is also playing it cautious with Running Scared with Paul Walker, opening it in only 1,611 theaters. It is not expected to earn more than $10 million. Finally, the Weinstein Co. is opening the computer-animated feature Doogal on 2,319 screens. The kiddie film is based on the classic British show The Magic Roundabout, which aired in Canada on the CBC in the 1970s. Assuming perhaps that Canadian critics may have had some familiarity with the show, the film's distributor, the Weinstein Company, screened it for them but not for U.S. critics. They need not have bothered. Bruce Kirkland in the Toronto Sun sums up: "Not horrible, not insulting, just mediocre." Jason Anderson in the Toronto Globe and Mail describes some of the "tinkering" that went into the American version of the film -- it was released in Europe last year under the Roundabout title and with a different voice cast -- then concludes, "It's hard to imagine the film could be rendered any more aggravating or less funny." And Peter Howell in the Toronto Star concurs, writing, "In attempting to turn a tiny Anglo-Franco amusement into a full-blown Yankee extravaganza, The Weinstein Co. has managed to choke every last bit of charm out of the characters and their setting, no mean feat for a show this enchanting."