Welcome to a special holiday-weekend version of Movieline Attractions, your regular guide to everything new, noteworthy and honoring priceless American ingenuity at the movies. But enough about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen -- Michael Mann has a new film out, too! Also this week, a Fox franchise grows to three, a blockbuster couple reunites and a pop icon is reborn in Chile.
WHAT'S NEW: As you'd probably expect, it's kind of dead out there. Few studios or distributors have much interest in battling Transformers in its second week -- particularly over the July 4 holiday, when the smash hit's long legs have an extra day to stomp its competition to death (think $51 million for the three-day frame, $76 million for five). Universal thinks it has a solution with Public Enemies, Michael Mann's bloated, underachieving glimpse at John Dillinger. The studio is on to something; grown-ups are desperately wanting for anything remotely thought-provoking this week (even at the art house), and Johnny Depp's involvement automatically makes this a four-quadrant film. The downside is that even a $39 million five-day weekend -- which is generous but certainly within reach -- needs legs of its own to make Uni's $100 million price tag worth it. That means word-of-mouth, which it won't likely get sandwiched between monoliths like Transformers and next week's Bruno. Sorry, Mr. Mann! It may be time to downsize.
Fox, meanwhile, will move in on the Up demographic with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dionsaurs, which will reap some of the ticket-inflating rewards of 3-D but still top out around $63 million for five days. That's another one whose longevity is a question, though the international box office is the likelier cash machine anyway. Also opening: Agnès Varda's autobiographical doc The Beaches of Agnès; the Bollywood/Hollywood culture clash comedy Kambakkht Ishq (featuring Denise Richards, Brandon Routh and Sylvester Stallone, no less); the romantic thriller import The Girl From Monaco; and, in a pair of limited NYC runs, the return of Greek Wedding alums Nia Vardalos and John Corbett in I Hate Valentine's Day and the Spanish-language prison drama Lion's Den.
THE BIG LOSER: Unless My Sister's Keeper has some unforeseen 50% drop-off in its second week, or Depp suddenly stops opening movies and Enemies crashes and burns around $30 million for five days, or everyone decides to attend a barbecue on the 4th, it actually looks like a pretty robust weekend all around. No big losers here.
THE UNDERDOG: I've had this screener of the Chilean drama Tony Manero sitting next to my TV for a week, and every time I go to view it I get called away or held up or trapped at the desk in some narcoleptic blogger thrall. My bad: It's a Cannes and New York Film Festival '08 alum that no one would shut up about in its first Stateside appearance last fall, and now the story of a middle-aged Saturday Night Fever junkie (oh, and part-time serial killer) in the time of Pinochet is a critical hit as it trickles into the art house. Moreover, clinical contrarian Armond White thinks it's "repugnant," which virtually guarantees its greatness. Maybe we can all discover this one together -- but only after watching the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on Saturday morning, of course.
FOR SHUT-INS: New DVD's this week include the 20th anniversary edition of Do the Right Thing, Fred Durst's directorial debut The Education of Charlie Banks, the WWE-branded actioner 12 Rounds, the complete first season of Eastbound and Down, the complete fifth season of Entourage, and, just in time to celebrate the wondrous engagement of Kevin Jonas, Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience. Rejoice!