Getting to the theater at 8:45, there was
a small line of maybe 15 people waiting
for the show, without it being sold out
yet. Since I had two friends with me that
aren't fans of waiting in line, we came
back at 9:00, with the line already around
one corner of the mall, with our waiting
position being about the same as when I
saw Bad Boys II there (opening night). As
time progressed, the line snaked around a
few corners, creating awe among moviegoers
passing through.I'm not sure how far
the Bruce Almighty and Bad Boys II lines
had gone opening night, but the crowd
situation seemed to be somewhere in
between (per-screen average wise), if not slightly lower than BB2.
On the other hand, this appeared like a
movie you could walk up to 20 - 30 minutes
in advance and still get tickets; as the
long line went in at 9:20, the marquee
didn't even list the showing as sold out
yet. At Bruce Almighty, the night was
selling out in advance.
Prior to American Wedding’s debut, I
had contemplated whether or not the sequel
would pull in something like Anger
Management despite R-rated promises. And
with the rather last minute formation of
the line, the scenario did remind me a bit
of opening night at Anger Management in
Westwood (at 10), with that show not even
filling the 1300 seats available (around
three-fourths filled). As a result, I can
see an opening day gross in the region of
$14.5 - 17.0 million for American Wedding.
Onto the previews… first one up was The
Rundown, which had many cheers going into
the air at The Rock’s first appearance
(much like at Bad Boys II) followed by
delighted responses at Seann William
Scott. Laughs and giggles flowed
throughout the ad; the crowd was into
this.
Next up was Intolerable Cruelty, which
had plenty of young women in the room
howling at Clooney’s first shot. The
response seemed sort of positive
throughout the duration, but no strong
vibes were picked up.
Uptown Girls followed, which played to
mostly silence, with a few giggles at one
point.
Under the Tuscan Sun was next, which
like Uptown Girls, received a quiet
reception; I don’t think anybody in that
room was interested.
Following in its path was Underworld,
which also got no evident responses, but a
few sarcastic remarks seemed audible.
Second to last was Grind, which did in
fact get a few people laughing/giggling at
certain parts, but once it concluded there
was a bit of laughter that seemed to stem
from sarcasm.
The concluding ad was Marci X, which
got a few giggles from females but nothing
else.
Predictably for sold out attendance of
400-some people (consisting of mostly 17 -
30 year olds, with a pretty evenly split
gender ratio), the reactions were wild
throughout the movie, which caused me to
miss a few lines due to crowd laughter.
Applause did go into the air at one point
and dealt with an issue between Seann
William Scott and Eddie Kaye Thomas near
the end (dealing with Stifler’s mom).
Overall, the crowd seemed to really
like the flick and I heard several "I’ve
got to see this again" comments walking
out, with some of those remarks being made
by folks in their mid-to-late 20’s. Though
I was slightly disappointed with the movie
(moderately enjoying it), folks at this
screening walked out fulfilled.
