This week's movie openings.

Bug

1. Bug (1,661 Theaters): Yeah, not too excited about this one. Apparently, it's about two people who are stuck in a motel room who believe that they may be infested with bugs. One, I am not a big fan of bugs. I'm not all "EEK! A bug!: or anything like that, but I'd rather not pay money to see a movie about them. Two,  "are they crazy, are they not" movies really annoy me. After about a half an hour of them asking the question, if no longer care.

I love the marketing for this film. All the ads mention "from the Oscar Winning director of the Exorcist, William Friedkin". First off, he won the Oscar for the French Connection, not the Exorcist. Second, he won the Oscar 36 years ago and the Exorcist came out 34 years ago. Since that time Friedkin has been doing, ehhh, outside of "To Live and Die in L.A.", pretty much nothing. Unless you're the type to think that "Blue Chips" or "Rules of Engagement" were all-time classics.

What they are trying to get us to think is that Friedkin is a good director (hence, the mention of the Oscar) who is good at creepy horror movies (hence the Exorcist mention). Therefore, the movie has to be good. That's not always the case.

I don't really think it matters much. I can't see it doing to well against the heavy hitter out there. Am I wrong for expecting a "Shrek Stomps Bug" headline in the future?

 

At world's end

2. Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End (4,000 Theaters): Then we come to this. The third of the big summer releases.

The big story about this, to me at least, is whether or not it will knock Spidey 3 off as the highest grossing weekend of all time. A lot of articles are stating their case one way or another.

I think that it won't. Here's why.

One, it is a half hour longer than Spidey 3 and in 250 less theaters. You do the math.

Some might say that since, technically, it opens tonight and has a longer, holiday weekend to work with, it's a lock on the top spot. But usually they don't count the extra days. The weekend total is actually a three-day total. So the extra days on either side really don't add much.

I think that it will do well, don't get me wrong. But odds are against it breaking the record.

The wife and I are planning on seeing it, probably sometime this weekend, if only to see how Captain Jack rejoins the cast. At the end of the last movie, he was swallowed by a Kraken. Since Johnny Depp is, in many people's opinion, the main draw of the movie, I doubt that he'll be back any later than about a half an hour in. I want to see how they pull that off.

So, what do I think the top five will be?

1. Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End
2. Shrek the Third
3. Spider-Man 3
4. Disturbia
5. 28 Weeks Later