Hollywood.com

A veritable fanboy (and fangirl) dream come true, the film takes the conventions of the genre and turns them on their mask-covered heads.  Directed by Matthew Vaughn (helmer of the excellent 2004 crime drama "Layer Cake), the film stars the always likable Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin from "Superbad") as Red Mist, the excellent Aaron Johnson as Kick Ass and in a scene stealing pairing, Nicolas Cage as Big Daddy and Chloe Moretz as his daughter Hit Girl.  With jaw-dropping scenes that boast incredible imagery and heretofore unchartered thematic territory for a pre-teen actor in a mainstream film, "Kick Ass" is bold enough to take the courage of its wild convictions to a cinematic extreme. 

Channeling Natalie Portman's pre-teen hit man (or girl) in training in 1994's brilliant "Leon" ("The Professional" in the U.S.), Chloe Moretz's hit girl will have parenting groups losing their minds as this cute little kid uses the language of a truck-driver and handles weapons like a pro, while killing more people than Steven Seagal in his heyday.  Add to the mix Nicolas Cage in a terrific supporting role as Hit Girl's father and you've got a father-daughter pairing that is at once twisted and touching.  Look for strong word-of-mouth and the so-called "twitter effect" to help this film achieve long term success, not to mention that when the film was screened at ShoWest earlier this year it garnered a tremendous positive reaction from theatre owners.

Opening in 2,459 theatres is the ensemble comedy from Screen Gems, "Death at a Funeral" which boasts an all-star cast including Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock, Tracy Morgan, Zoe Saldana and Luke Wilson.  A nice counter-programmed alternative to the comic book styling's of "Kick Ass," this R-rated look at the humorous goings on, revelations and kooky family interaction at the funeral of the patriarch of a large family should perform well this weekend.  The classic Screen Gems formula of taking a modestly budgeted film and coupling that with a great marketing campaign will have this one proving itself with a solid per-theatre average.

Last year both "17 Again" and "State of Play" debuted with a combined total of $37.8 million and hopefully this year's combination of newcomers and strong hold-overs like Warner Bros. "Clash of the Titans" and Fox's "Date Night" will give us an "up" weekend over last year's comparable frame.  After last weekend's "down" trend, we could certainly use a boost and the continuation of our 10% plus revenue advantage over 2009 at this point.







Source: hollywood.com