Planet 51, New Moon Vie for Box Office Stardom

Friday, November 20, 2009
By: Thomas J. Mclean

It’s vampires versus aliens as studios make their big push to stuff moviegoers into their seats for a pre-Thanksgiving cinematic snack.

Sony Pictures Animation represents the alien faction with Planet 51, in which a human astronaut arrives on a world full of aliens who are almost exactly like us. Opening in more than 2,600 cinemas, Planet 51 is directed by Jorge Blanco and stars Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel and Justin Long. Seven years in the making, the film is a European-American co-production and was conceived and produced by Madrid, Spain-based Illion Animation.

The reviews for the CG-animated movie have been somewhat mixed: "Although not bowling me over, Planet 51 is a jolly and good-looking animated feature in glorious 2-D!" says Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times, while Brian Miller of The Village Voice notes, "Planet 51 mainly succeeds at reminding you of all the better movies that inspired it." Todd McCarthy is less kind in his Variety review. He writes, "A high concept gets low execution in Planet 51, a lame-brained toon that even kids will recognize as an insipid goof on sci-fi conventions."

The vampire end of the weekend comes from The Twilight Saga: New Moon, the second film in the series based on Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling books. Once again starring Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Jacob Lautner, New Moon rises amid an intense promotional campaign and crowds of swooning “Twi-hards” camping out to see the film, which Summit Entertainment opens in more than 4,000 theaters.

The studios’ only other major release this week is The Blind Side, a very sentimental drama from Warner Bros. starring Sandra Bullock as a woman who takes an interest in an impoverished young football player.

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