After many years of toiling in one James Cameron blockbuster after another, actor Bill Paxton finally tries his hand at calling the shots.
Paxton's gothic horror tale Frailty features his U-571 comrade Matthew McConaughey as a man who assists the FBI in the search for a serial killer. Paxton, seen in flashbacks, plays McConaughey's character's murderous father.
Lions Gate didn't have much luck getting audiences to sample the grisly, but satirical, American Psycho ($15 million), which may explain why the distributor has played around with Frailty's release date. Also, Lions Gate is putting Frailty into a modest 1,800 theaters, which could result in a $5 million to $6 million debut. Its long-term prospects seem to hinge more on its excellent reviews than McConaughey's questionable box office stature.
Not much can be expected of New Best Friend, which sneaks into about 100 theaters this weekend after spending two years on the shelf. Once known as Mary Jane's Last Dance, this teen-oriented thriller will doubtless endure the same fate as last year's woeful Soul Survivors: a don't-blink-or-you'll-miss-it theatrical run followed by a quick video release. Still, its cast--Taye Diggs, Dominique Swain, Mia Kirshner and Rachel True--might lure a few people to this tale of a deadly university clique.
Human Nature also debuts this weekend in limited release. The latest warped satire from Being John Malkovich screenwriter Charlie Kaufman features Tim Robbins as a behaviorist who abandons studying mice in favor of civilizing the feral Rhys Ifans.
Like Frailty, Human Nature must rely on critical support if it is to overcome its offbeat premise and become an art-house sensation a la Being John Malkovich ($22.8 million).