19 cuts in 27 seconds.
'Silent House' has a flow, long lines. The 'presented as one take' gimmick won't get anybody into theaters. Nobody's going to say, "Let's go see that haunted house movie that was shot and/or presented in one take."
However, I think people will respond to what they've seen in clips and trailers. Flowing takes that breathe. Like this one:
51 seconds, zero cuts, one reverse angle by moving the camera. Nice. Doesn't punish you for watching. A refreshing step back, stylistically. Really, it's like you're there -- a good thing for a horror movie.
Elizabeth Olsen delivers, as well. She's got that look -- that conviction actors have when they believe in the script, know they are doing good work.
I think audiences will check it out. It should do better than the $8-10m most are predicting. I'll go out on a limb: Lorax won't appeal to older kids or teens. Carter won't appeal to guys or their girlfriends -- Neither will 'Project X' (not sure it appeals to anyone -- we see that stuff in reality TV and YouTube all the time). And with Carter's runtime of 132 minutes, this creates a vacuum and 'Silent House' may come out strong despite its R-rating. So (in millions):
1) The Lorax $33
2) John Carter $22
Which leads to a toss-up for 3rd and 4th. I'll go with:
3) Silent House $16-20
4) Project X $6-12
'Act of Valor' should hold stronger than usual.
To be honest I wasn't even aware Eddie Murphy's 'One Thousand Words' was opening this weekend. That's a bad title for this kind of movie -- won't register with the targeted audience.
'Journey 2' and 'Safe House' may hold better than expected.
Not too much chance of it, but I wouldn't be shocked if JC did less business than SH.
