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The Betting Table: Summer Edition - This Week: Knocked Up

by Barry Wurst
June 1, 2007

Welcome to The Betting Table, a look at the weekend's theatrical fare and a place where you can place your bets on what will swim and what will sink.

THE STATS:
The funny co-star of The 40-Year Old Virgin impregnates the gorgeous co-star of Grey's Anatomy. Hilarity ensues.

THE GOOD NEWS:
The project sounded great from the get-go. Even when Anne Hathaway backed out and Katherine Heigl stepped in, no one complained. The reviews have been fantastic (a first for the season), great word of mouth has been flooding ample preview screenings, the trailers are funny, and it's the first gotta-see-it comedy of the summer. Lead Seth Rogen has a healthy cult following from "Freaks and Geeks" and The 40-Year Old Virgin; after this movie and Superbad, he will be a household name. Heigl will bring in the ladies (as will Paul Rudd) and Judd Apatow will likely be the first Hollywood comedy power player since the Farrelly Brothers (whatever happened to those guys, anyway?). As someone who has seen it, this one has the big laughs but, like Virgin, has heart and characters you genuinely like as well.

THE BAD NEWS:
Maybe audiences are more excited to see Kevin Costner as a serial killer (in Mr. Brooks)? Nah.

LAST WORD:
There's no competition from the other debuts this weekend, but Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is still a force to be reckoned with. Even after the inevitable big drop following the big opening of Pirates 3, Knocked Up still has an unlikely chance of being #1 for the weekend. If Captain Sparrow Part Tres drops 50% or more, that's still $70 million for the weekend and Knocked Up is more likely to go the distance (aka, have legs and play well during the entire summer) than open huge and drop hard. Then again, audiences sick of big, effects-driven sequels could give Pirates the slip and give this the biggest opening ever for an R-rated comedy! It could happen. If word of mouth matches those reviews, it WILL happen.

PLACE YOUR BETS:
Fans, kids and those who just didn't see it last weekend will ensure Pirates 3 is #1 this weekend at $70 million or better... following a $40 million opening of Knocked Up, making for a big weekend in theaters.

Please don't actually place bets with money, just discuss what this weekend's box office may do!

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