The big eyeball-to-eyeball on 9.7 will be between two serious “guy” films — 3:10 to Yuma vs. Shoot “Em Up. One will surely prevail at the expense of the other, perhaps by a small margin, perhaps not. There’s no telling from today’s first tracking on these titles what will happen — it’s way too early, and the ad campaigns haven’t really started, much less kicked in — although a rudimentary spitball reading would give a slight edge to Shoot ‘Em Up. The Michael Davis-Don Murphy-Clive Owen actioner from New Line has a 27% general interest, a 29% definite interest and a 2% first choice while the James Mangold-Russell Crowe-Christian Bale western from Lionsgate is at 21, 16 and 1.
