HOLLYWOOD - The deadly road games between motorists Ben Affleck and Samuel L. Jackson should propel Changing Lanes straight to the top of this weekend's box office.The dark psychological drama, representing a change of pace for Notting Hill director Roger Michell, should fend off a serious challenge from Cameron Diaz's romantic comedy, The Sweetest Thing.
In Changing Lanes, a fender bender results in attorney Affleck losing an important court document and Jackson missing a golden opportunity to win back his estranged wife and kids. The two lock horns when Affleck resorts to desperate measures to retrieve the document from Jackson.
The spectacle of an indignant Jackson exchanging blows with a fraught Affleck should allow Changing Lanes to overcome a couple of a bad plot turns and a slew of traffic-halting speeches about the law. Accordingly, Changing Lanes should debut somewhere between the openings of Jackson's Rules of Engagement ($15 million) and Deep Blue Sea ($18.6 million).
Changing Lanes also kicks off what could be a banner year for Jackson, who will be seen this summer in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, XXX and Formula 51. Is Jackson trying to replace Gene Hackman as the hardest-working man in Hollywood?
Cameron Diaz showed a willingness to do anything and everything for a laugh--especially when it came to certain bodily fluids--in the unexpected comedy smash There's Something About Mary. She returns to similar bawdy comic territory with The Sweetest Thing, in which she plays a party girl who flounders at the prospect of wooing the man of her dreams (Thomas Jane).
The Sweetest Thing marks Diaz's first solo opportunity to capitalize on the recent success of her ensemble and supporting contributions to Shrek ($267.6 million), Charlie's Angels ($125.3 million), Vanilla Sky ($100.3 million) and Any Given Sunday ($75.5 million).
Sony must have great faith in Diaz, who pocketed a reported $15 million for The Sweetest Thing. The sight of a carefree Diaz dancing the night away helped turn Charlie's Angels into a hit, so The Sweetest Thing should have no problem earning back that $15 million in its opening weekend. That would best the $13.7 million debut of There's Something About Mary, but the Bobby and Peter Farrelly farce had such long legs that it made a total of $176.4 million. The Sweetest Thing should charm its way to $50 million.
