Successful movies are hard to make? Pshaw. Just look at the box-office success of Guess Who, created by one simple equation: Take a classic 1960s movie full of cultural import and artistic merit, cross it with an idiotic flick of the past few years that panders to the basest instincts of the audience, and voila! Box-office gold, baby. Box. Office. Gold.
And best of all, it's a formula for success that couldn't be easier to duplicate. Just take a look at what the major studios will be bringing us over the next couple of years:
IF
1967's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
X
Meet the Parents
=
Guess Who (opening-weekend take: $20 million)
THEN
1967's Bonnie and Clyde
X
SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2
=
PINT-SIZE PUNKS Dakota Fanning and that kid from The Ring star in a wacky family comedy where the kids rule the roost... or else! When Mom (Faith Ford) discovers that 10-year-old Amber (Fanning) has been running a global gun-running syndicate from her Weblog, she sentences the adorable munchkin to a month-long timeout. But her partner in crime, little bro Sam (that Ring kid), springs her from solitary bedroom confinement, and they hit the road on a crosstown killing spree that takes them from the schoolyard to the mall and all the way back home again. With Bob Saget as Dad and a special appearance by Christopher Walken as the Big Boss. OPENS June 2006 PROJECTED FIRST-WEEKEND TAKE $27.6 million
1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
X
Bridget Jones's Diary
=
BANDIT BELLES Tara Reid and Shannon Elizabeth star in this wacky chick flick as two modern single outlaw girls on the run from the law... and looking for love! Cassidy's hilarious struggle with her compulsive eating -- part of the stress of life on the lam -- is sure to become a future classic of physical comedy (Reid daringly gained five pounds to play the zaftig crimi-gal and actually performs all her own Twinkie-eating stunts), while Sunny's efforts to find a man while living as a fugitive are touching and poignant (don't be surprised if Elizabeth meets Oscar this year!). Shh! Don't reveal the surprise ending to your friends! Directed by Michael Bay, from a script by Ehren Kruger. OPENS Christmas 2005 PROJECTED FIRST-WEEKEND TAKE $32.4 million
1964's Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
X
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
=
NUCLEAR FOOTBALL The President of the United States has lost the briefcase containing his secret nuclear launch codes... and a mixup at the airport baggage counter has landed it in the hands of an underdog AFL team on their way to the big playoffs! Meanwhile, terrorists infilitrate the opposing team, hoping to snag the briefcase for their own nefarious purposes. Can this ragtag bunch of loser ballplayers keep America safe from nuclear annihilation and take home the trophy? This wacky homeland-security comedy stars Ben Stiller as the bumbling Coach and Brittany Murphy as Candy the Sports Reporter, with Tony Shalhoub as the Mullah and Will Ferrell as the President. OPENS Memorial Day 2006 PROJECTED FIRST-WEEKEND TAKE $40 million
1967's The Graduate
X
Surviving Christmas
=
WHOOPS! I SLEPT WITH MY MOTHER-IN-LAW! Ben Affleck heads to upscale suburban Connecticut to meet his fiancée's family for Thanksgiving... only to discover that his future mother-in-law (Farrah Fawcett) is the very same former English professor who seduced him back in college, just like his future father-in-law (Christopher Walken) did when he was Affleck's high-school principal! A wacky holiday comedy for the whole family, this is a touching, poignant exploration of the sacrifices we make for our loved ones, like not telling our financées we have carnal knowledge of their parents. Rated R for deviant sexual behavior, including suggested incest and bestiality, for strong language, and for pervasive drug use. Soundtrack features beloved holiday classics from Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, and more. OPENS October 2005 PROJECTED FIRST-WEEKEND TAKE $25.1 million
