HollywoodIdiocy.com

The IQ of the US box office has risen to Steve Carell levels; the comic actor’s tribute to the 1965 Don Adams spy comedy, “Get Smart,” ruled at the box office this weekend, drawing in an estimated $39.1 million. Adams, who died on September 27, 2005, revised his role for the first silver-screen adaptation of the classic TV series in 1980, The Nude Bomb, but the movie was a critical and box office failure. The Carell version has been panned by critics, but with a nearly $40M weekend, it seems America doesn’t care what the critics say; they like Carell.

The whole Ademco link to Carell’s career might eventually become complete if Carell ever hosts a TV reality show that allows middle Americans to audition for a chance to get their big break in Hollywood; Don Adams had minor success with that concept on CBS in the early 1970s with “Don Adams’ Screen Test” and given the current trend of reality programming, bringing the concept back with Carell as host might not be an altogether bad idea. Only, of course, once Carell’s career cools down, which at the moment it shows no signs of doing.

Elsewhere on the weekend box office results, Kung Fu Panda ($21.7 million) eked out a narrow victory for second place behind Incredible Hulk ($21.5 million), which easily took third. Hulk raked in an extra $30 million from foreign box office so far, to bring its total to date to $127 million.

Mike Myers’ The Love Guru bombed out of the gate with a weak $14 million showing, although its light, $62 million production budget helps alleviate some of the disappointment; the movie seems to suffer mostly from Myers’ long absence from the silver screen, which led to him seeming more like “yesterday’s news” than “the hot, happening comic of the moment.” Rock on, Steve Carell.

M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening held tight to the last spot in the top five, with a $10 million weekend. So far the film has grossed $50.2 million domestically and $31.5 overseas, for a tidy $81.7 million gross against a $62 million budget, putting the film into the black in only its second week of release.

The rest of the “million or more” club goes like this: sixth place, Indiana Jones, $8.4 million; seventh place, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, $7.2 million (which has been weak overseas as well, grossing only $4.5 million so far, for a total of $88 million combined, against a $90 million production budget); eighth place, Sex and the City, $6.4 million; ninth place, Iron Man, $4 million; tenth place, The Strangers, $1.9 million and eleventh place, Prince Caspian, $1.7 million.

read comments (0)

Perhaps the writers strike isn’t going to be the big deal some are anticipating.

Word on the street is that Ben Silverman and NBC are interested in developing a spin-off of The Office, which could potentially air next season. No word on casting, although industry buzz says it’ll be an all-new cast, not some lame Jim and Pam-based deal.

Now, I’m a fan of The Office, but I do think overkill can destroy not only the spinoff, but the original.

The US version of The Office is already a spinoff of a much more brilliant BBC version of the show, penned by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who are currently laboring on a third season of Extras, from the sound of things.

The US version nearly bombed due to overblown US portrayals, and it was only in the second season, when the comedy style became a bit more restrained and subtle that the show began to catch on with US audiences.

But another version of The Office? Definitely overkill.

Sure, it would be an all-new cast. Yes, I understand that series cast members like Steve Carell and company are becoming hot properties and maintaining the cast may quickly become too spendy in the long term.

Yet, is the answer really a substandard spin-off?

Already, names being cast about to headline a second Office are the likes of Ed O’Neill, Mike Myers and Jim Carrey.

First, I doubt Carrey would do it, that Myers would be good at it, or that O’Neill would be well-suited to the role. Better to go with Carell’s Comedy Central pal, Stephen Colbert and capture lightning in a bottle for a second time. The only real question is whether he’d be willing to walk away from a guaranteed hit like The Colbert Report to live in the shadow of comparison that’s sure to hang over any second Office series.

In the end, it would be better to just pony up to the current cast on renewal, set an end-date for the series, and write with that in mind. Which means it’s more likely that before long, NBC’s sitcom lineup will look like CBS’s CSI line-up:

Mondays: The Office: Birmingham
Tuesdays: The Office: Ames
Wednesdays: The Office: Portland
Thursdays: The Office
Fridays: My Name Is The Office

read comments (0)