HOLLYWOOD - Better watch out, Harry Potter, because Danny Ocean is back on the job.Forget three casinos in one night: Director Steven Soderbergh's remake of the Rat Pack heist romp Ocean's Eleven looks certain to steal the hearts and wallets of every woman in America this weekend. And there's not a single spell that mop-topped apprentice wizard can cast to keep George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon from committing the perfect crime.
With Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone showing signs of fatigue in its third weekend, Ocean's Eleven looks primed to hijack the record for a December opening. The current record holder, Mel Gibson's What Women Want, opened last year with $33.6 million, on its way to $180.2 million. Women swooned over the sight of Gibson climbing into tights, so just imagine what the assembling of the sharp-dressed Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Andy Garcia, Scott Caan, Casey Affleck, Don Cheadle and, ahem, Carl Reiner will do. And, for the male contingency in the mood for something more than just razor-sharp banter and a parade of gadgets straight out of Q's lab, there's eye candy in the form of the underutilized Julia Roberts.
That the original Ocean's Eleven, released in 1960, doesn't rank as a beloved classic also means long lines are likely to form for the remake. The original seemed an excuse for Frank Sinatra to womanize, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. to croon a few songs, and Peter Lawford to hit the bar at the break of dawn. It coasted on its ability to unite the Rat Pack for the first--and most successful--time on the silver screen.
The remake veers significantly from the original, starting with the number of casinos hit in one night scaled back from five to three. Pitt may play Martin to Clooney's Sinatra (without bursting into song), but that's where the similarities end. Soderbergh offers a fun and jazzy remake minus a self-conscious nod to the days when the Rat Pack symbolized all that was hip and cool.
To this end, Ocean's Eleven could make more in its opening weekend than the $37.5 million that the first Soderbergh-Clooney collaboration made in total, the slightly more substantial Out of Sight. Ocean's Eleven also should give Soderbergh his third consecutive $100 million hit, following last year's Oscar-winning Erin Brockovich ($125.5 million) and Traffic ($124.1 million). Erin Brockovich, of course, earned Roberts an Academy Award this year, but it's unlikely that such a stylish but frothy caper shall enjoy Oscar gold without stealing it.