http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=8324

Release Date: April 28, 2006
Studio: Lionsgate
Director: Doug Atchison
Screenwriter: Doug Atchison
Starring: Keke Palmer, Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Marlow, Sara Niemietz, Eddie Steeples
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: PG (for some language)
Plot Summary: An inspirational drama, "Akeelah and the Bee" is the story of Akeelah Anderson (Keke Palmer), a precocious eleven-year-old girl from south Los Angeles with a gift for words. Despite the objections of her mother Tanya (Angela Bassett), Akeelah enters various spelling contests, for which she is tutored by the forthright Dr. Larabee (Laurence Fishburne); her principal Mr. Welch (Curtis Armstrong) and the proud residents of her neighborhood. Akeelah's aptitude earns her an opportunity to compete for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and in turn unites her neighborhood who witness the courage and inspiration of one amazing little girl.

Trailer: http://www.apple.com/trailers/lions_gat ... trailer2a/

I smell a sleeper. Its Lions Gate, its getting BIG raves (Ebert and Roeper were calling it one of the best of the year and Keke Palmer Oscar worthy), and seems exactly like the kind of movie that slips under the radar.

Opening: 12.9
Total: 58.5 (4.54)

8/22. This won't attract a wide enough audience to be a big hit. It looks too much like last fall's flop Bee Season which had a better cast.

I don't think Bee Season had as much buzz as Akeelah does right now. I see it performing like last year's Crash, just with a smaller total.

10/45.

Akeelah will do at least $40M total, probably much more.

Major sleeper here.

I wish it could be a sleeper, but I don't think people will be that interested in a spelling bee contest.

Opening: $7 million
Total: $30 million

Maybe if it taps into the same people who saw Tyler Perry's films. Otherwise, no. It comes out against the heavily hyped United 93 and a week before M:I 3. RV and Stick It won't flop either. United 93 especially should draw all sectors if it's as good as the reviews say it is.

Really?

I see that tanking, frankly.

Lions Gate
Set in Los Angeles
Rbert and Eoper like it
Has minorities in it
insprirational.

Probably going to win best picture from the gay movie.

Bring It On didn't flop back when Dunst wasn't as well-known as she is now. In fact, BIO helped her career immensely and this could do the same for its stars.

But Bring It On looked good.

Call me crazy, but I can't picture teens flocking to a film whose punchline is "Call me?" "Stalk you!"

Stick It will be lucky to make $6 million next weekend.

Looks like a great family film, Fishburn and Basset also star in this so it will be a major sleeper hit.

13/50

I can't enter a starbucks without being bombarded with advertising for this movie... Is this only a Toronto thing or is it all of Starbucks?? Introduce a new Latte based on the movie, all the sleeves contain a word to spell and definition for that word etc. etc.. etc.

It's still hard to believe Starbucks is a film company as well now. And Burger King is going to make video games. The odd ventures of businesses in the modern age.

The only thing holding this movie back next weekend is the direct competition for the family audience from RV. Were it not for that I'd predict it to possibly take the weekend. I still expect it to do somewhere around $16 mill next weekend and have great legs. Not only will it attract the urban audience in droves, but it will also appeal to people who normally would not consider seeing movies that have big appeal to the urban crowd (i.e. Diary of a Mad Black Woman). There's a lot of crossover appeal here.

United 93 is going to take the weekend fairly easily.

6.2/36

Even with the raves, this is just about the least appealing subject matter in movies out there. There's a difference between Crash, which was about races clashing in Los Angeles with uber star power, and Akeelah and The Bee, which is centered around a goddam Spelling Bee with lesser names. It might go on to big Oscar bait thanks to almighty Ebert, but that'll come after the dvd likely.

I don't really see how the Starbucks advertising will help. The thing about movies is that unlike most products you can in a sense sample them in an ad on screen. I'm not sure other movie marketing really has much of an effect without it, unless to raise awareness. However, people won't go without it looking appealing, and that will always take TV ads and trailers. Akeelah and the Bee has a relatively effective trailer IMO, but I don't think it really has that much of a potential audience.

Final Predictions:

Opening: 13.5
Total: 61.6 (4.56)

Lions Gate? Does this movie turn into a blood bath at the end, or something?!

Heh, well...

I wish you had been right.

Today when I was at Starbucks someone asked about one of the spelling words. The guy working there ended up bringing up the movie, but he sounded like he was being forced to do it. He told the guy that it's a good movie, and he should see it, but you could tell he didn't believe a word he was saying. The costumer didn't reply, seemed annoyed, and went on his way with his coffee. What's weird is that the conversation between the two was natural before that.

It just sort of reinforces what I thought before: this is not a good way to market a movie.

People are afraid of s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g?

Thank you for saying that.

Turning the entire Starbucks workforce into studio plants, forced by their corporate masters to shill for a movie? That has got to be the most annoying thing ever. And if Starbucks is buying into the movie business, will the poor employees be stumping for EVERY movie? If I have to wade through knee-deep ad copy and listen to a sales pitch from the barrista every time Starbucks puts out a movie, I'll go to 7-11 for my coffee.

Is this movie like one of those overwrought in-your-face down-your-throat uplifting ABC AfterSchool Specials that I detested in high school? The posters sure looked like it.

I've only seen the trailer, and it looked slightly better then that to me. But, it does seem to follow the formula.

Anyway, that seems to be Starbucks' plan, but with a couple more movies for which it doesn't work out, I think we will see an end to it. We can hope.

Companys really shouldn't lose site of what they do right, and why customers select them. Otherwise, well, they will eventually be left to wonder why customers used to select them.