http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/tweens-take-zac-efron-to-1-friday-while-serious-state-of-play-snags-2/
SATURDAY AM: Talk about a tired premise. It's difficult to imagine a more overworked plot device than the body swap. But stick a tween dream like Zac Efron in this drivel -- and suddenly the domestic box office dollars flow. So the New Line/Warner Bros' 17 Again opened to $10 million Friday from 3,255 theaters for No. 1 and a possible $28M weekend. After a successful Saturday Night Live hosting gig where he poked gentle fun at his fame and fans and sexuality, Zac has now staked a solid claim to a post-High School Musical career. (Disney is continuing the franchise without the original cast.) But the question still remains whether Efron can graduate to pics where he plays anyone older than a teen. But I wouldn't write him off just yet as not having the eventual range of, say, Leonardo DiCaprio. Then again, no less than Cameron, Spielberg and Scorsese took Leo to the next level. Zac may never get opportunities to work with great directors.
Universal's feature film retool of the crackling BBC TV mini-series State Of Play had the kind of pedigreed cast and production values that screamed this is a cut-above kind of pic. (Almost anything starring Russell Crowe or Helen Mirren is.) But the studio first had to buck the trend of complex and smart adult drama/thrillers not performing at the box office. International did only $9.3M. Body of Lies was just $12.9M. Syriana… Michael Clayton…. The list of respected failures goes on and on. Not even good reviews matter. Universal tried to sell State Of Play not as a political thriller but as a journalistic thriller along the lines of Absence Of Malice or All The Presidents Men. (I hear studio toppers had these oldies in mind when they decided to move forward on the pic in the first place. "It most likely will get bumpy for the film regardless," a Uni exec tells me -- since journos are even less popular than pols these days.) On Friday, State Of Play debuted to #2 but with only $4.6 million from 2,803 venues for probably an underperforming $14M weekend. Would original leading man Brad Pitt have made a difference in the film's box office? Nah.
In 3rd place, Disney's Hannah Montana, The Movie dropped a whopping -77% from its Good Friday opening for $4 million and what should be a $12M weekend and cume of $55.5M. Universal's overperforming Fast & Furious with the original cast was No. 4 and earned $3.6 million for a projected $11M weekend and new cume of $134.7M. Coming in #5 was DreamWorks Animation/ Paramount's Monsters v Aliens with $3 million Friday for another $10M weekend and new cume of $159.5M. That leaves Lionsgate's latest Jason Statham actioner Crank 2: High Voltage to open a weak #6 with #2.4 million Friday for probably just a $7M weekend. Meanwhile, Warner Bros' R-rated mall cop comedy (and I use that term loosely because of the offensive date rape scene) Observe & Report is officially and mercifully dead with $1.3 million Friday (-71% from a week ago) with what should be a $4M weekend and paltry $18.6M cume.This looks like another powered-up weekend at the box office with $95M-$100M, up 11% from last year.
Perver
The other positive thing is that adult movies do tend to
do better during the week than kid/teen/tween/fast cars, so get all your friends to go this week, LOL.
Russell is really wonderful and it always amazes when in character.
He plays the part with a very cool voice and mannerisms. Tension really builds at the movie progresses.
.
Of course, I primed him with a bit of the media b.s. back and forth including
the 'wooden' Afleck quotes <my 
bad>. He
sat through the whole movie (except for one potty break) and the end credits (a friend of his worked in the production part of a newspaper, so we talked about
that a bit past the end credits).
