'Surfer' takes off on family film wave

By Josh Friedman

June 18, 2007 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

As the summer movie season heats up, Hollywood is pulling out all the stops to attract family audiences.

Both of the weekend’s major releases were PG-rated movies marketed toward young viewers, though results were mixed.

Twentieth Century Fox’s big-budget superhero sequel “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” grossed an estimated $57.4 million to easily rank No. 1 in the U.S. and Canada, while “Nancy Drew,” an update of the classic detective tales, managed a modest $7.1 million.

With the “Silver Surfer” movie, “we made a concerted effort to make this one PG to cast a wider umbrella and make it family-friendly,” said Chris Aronson, Fox’s general sales manager. “These aren’t the brooding superheroes of the ‘X-Men’ or ‘Spider-Man’ films.”

“Silver Surfer” opened slightly higher than its 2005 forerunner, simply titled “Fantastic Four.” It also played well overseas, grossing $25.4 million from 32 countries, including Britain, Russia and Italy, ranking No. 1 in each.

The first “Fantastic Four” was rated PG-13, but the studio and returning director Tim Story went for a lighter tone after seeing how well the original -- which grossed $330 million worldwide -- played with children under age 10.

The superhero team is an extended family of sorts.

The Invisible Woman and the Human Torch are sister and brother, and at the start of the new film she is about to marry Mr. Fantastic. They and the Thing, together known as the Fantastic Four, now must confront the threat posed by the Surfer’s arrival.

Warner Bros.’ “Nancy Drew,” meanwhile, attracted a mostly female audience as the studio attempted to counter-program the summer competition. Emma Roberts stars in this update of the detective series from books, film and TV.

“Nancy Drew” finished No. 7, but it was among four PG-rated movies in the top 10.

“There’s definitely a lot of competition for family dollars,” said Rory Bruer, Sony Pictures’ president of domestic distribution.

Sony’s animated, PG-rated penguin comedy “Surf’s Up” had a soft opening a week ago but has drawn solid midweek crowds and it held up respectably in its second weekend.

The animated blockbuster “Shrek the Third,” from DreamWorks Animation and distributor Paramount Pictures, is on the brink of topping $300 million at the domestic box office. It will be only the second movie of the year to reach that level, after “Spider-Man 3.”

With more schools letting out, the battle for family ticket buyers will get fiercer.

Universal Pictures’ “Evan Almighty,” a PG-rated comedy starring Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman, opens Friday.

The modern-day retelling of the Noah’s ark story is more of a spinoff than a sequel to the 2003 hit “Bruce Almighty,” starring Jim Carrey. Carell’s character was secondary in the first film, but the actor was a scene-stealer.

The latest Pixar Animation Studios adventure, the G-rated “Ratatouille,” is opening in two weeks. Pixar’s parent, Walt Disney Co., held sneak preview screenings Saturday night at more than 800 theaters to build buzz.

Despite the rush of G and PG titles, some say Hollywood could be doing far better by family filmgoers.

Nell Minow, whose Movie Mom column at Yahoo combines reviews with parental guidance, said she and other parents expect PG movies to be a refuge from violent or racy PG-13 theater offerings.

The recent PG-13-rated blockbuster “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” she noted, begins with a child being hanged.

Minow said she was annoyed by the “stoner” and cross-dressing humor in the latest “Shrek” movie, noting that the series always “pushes the envelope.”

More bothersome, she said, are plot lines in both “Nancy Drew” and “Ratatouille” involving out-of-wedlock pregnancies.

“I’m very troubled by the creeping ‘PG-13-ism’ of PG movies,” Minow said. “PG is getting closer to ‘the Jerry Springer Show’ all the time.”

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‘Silver Surfer’ catches crowds

“Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” met expectations, slightly topping its 2005 predecessor, “Fantastic Four.”

The weekend’s other major new release, the modestly budgeted, female-oriented “Nancy Drew,” fell shy of analysts’ predictions.

“Knocked Up” continues to hold up strongly, while “Hostel: Part II” -- down 63% from its dismal debut weekend -- is fading fast.

“Shrek the Third” is about to become the second film of 2007 to cross the $300-million milestone domestically.

Overall ticket sales were down from a year ago for the third straight weekend. Year-to-date revenue is up 4% from 2006 but attendance has inched up only 0.4%.

Preliminary results (in millions) in the U.S. and Canada, based on studio projections:

*--* Movie (studio) 3-day gross (millions) Total (millions) Weeks

1 Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver $57.4 $57.4 1 Surfer (20th Century Fox)

2 Ocean’s Thirteen (Warner Bros.) 19.1 69.8 2

3 Knocked Up (Universal) 14.5 90.5 3

4 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s 12.0 273.8 4 End (Disney)

5 Surf’s Up (Sony) 9.3 34.7 2

6 Shrek the Third (DreamWorks 9.0 297.2 5 Animation/Paramount)

7 Nancy Drew (Warner Bros.) 7.1 7.1 1

8 Hostel: Part II (Lions Gate) 3.0 14.2 2

9 Mr. Brooks (MGM) 2.8 23.4 3

10 Spider-Man 3 (Sony) 2.5 330.0 7