I attended a theater in
town I try to go to whenever a decent
movie is playing there (theater pic is
below). While Eight Legged Freaks was an
iffy decision, the fact that it was
playing at this specific venue was more
so the decision maker. The theater holds
about 1300 seats and while probably
1200 - 1250 of those were empty
at my 7:30 pm viewing of the film,
audience reaction was actually not that
bad.
Trailer wise,
Dreamcatcher started up the bunch and
the film looks like an intriguing one.
Can't say much about it, as even from
the preview I'm not sure what to say or
what really is going on, outside of
"looks intriguing". No reaction from
audience.
Next up was probably
(trying to do this one in order) Star
Trek: Nemesis, which as well, got no
evident response from the few people in
the crowd.
Surprisingly, we had the
second teaser of Signs presented, which
for this theater chain is quite a rare
thing. The theater chain around this
area rarely ever displays (via trailer)
nor shows (movie wise) Disney movies, as
one of the few exceptions was Pearl
Harbor, which ended up going to the
theater I attended at Freaks. Such hints
at the possibility that Signs will end
up going here (and considering Freaks'
minimal attendance, 8 Legged probably won't be
there long), which could possible
provide a tough decision opening night
if it also happens to head to the
Chinese in Hollywood (which one to go
to?). But to the actual audience, it
appeared as though everyone was into it
and the concluding jump got just about
every soul in the room with some of the
usual "damn it, it got me!" giggles
afterwards, probably
suggesting first-time customers.
Then we had the only
preview that scored an actual light
applause from those in attendance
afterwards: Lord of the Rings: The Two
Towers. I was actually surprised at the
reaction, as I was expecting the usual
interest to be up there but felt the
audience would probably be quite dull. I
was evidently wrong. The audience for
Freaks was mostly 13 - early 20's (hence
the reaction), with one quite
astonishing Hugh Hefner appearance, who
happened to be quite an attraction for
those in attendance.
Concluding the batch of
trailers was the Eddie Murphy comedy,
The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Despite
this film looking mediocre at best, the
preview retrieved a fairly decent
response from the audience and even some
laughs along the way. Still seems to me
like this one's heading right for the
Warner Bros. continuing box office
pattern of 3,000 Miles to Graceland &
Get Carter openings (probably forgetting
a few).
Until next time...
- Theater Pic. -
(Balcony View)
