It’s a little bit weird that possibly the two hottest comedies of the summer — Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen‘s Pineapple Express (Sony, 8.8) and Ben Stiller‘s Tropic Thunder (DreamWorks, 8.15) — are opening only a week apart.
More than “possibly,” I think. I’ve spoken to someone who saw Pineapple way back in August ’07, and he assures me it’s hilarious and went over big. There’s no serious persuasion to be made from that Tropic Thunder trailer, trailers being the essence of film-flam, but it sure seems hilarious, and how can any film with Downey’s performance as a white actor playing a black guy not be make the film an essential see?
You’d think that Pineapple would have to move itself back a week or two to create at least a couple of weeks’ worth of box-office breathing room. Seems like the wiser move (not that anyone can tell Sony’s distribution chief Jeff Blake anything) might be to open Pineapple on August 1st or, maybe even July 25th. Isn’t it better for Pineapple‘s fortunes, speaking basically, not to have another hot comedy with a lot of heat opening a week later? Won’t that cut into your second- and third-week action, to some extent?