Five Reasons Kristen Stewart's Movie Will Runaways From Robert Pattinson's

Don't look for Twilight couple to be together at this weekend's box office

By Joal Ryan Mar 19, 2010 3:12 PMTags
Kristen Stewart, The Runaways, Robert Pattinson, Remember MeRunaway Productions; Summit Entertainment

In our last episode, Robert Pattinson's attempt to establish himself outside of the Twilight franchise went kinda eh. Now, it's Kristen Stewart's turn.

Or should that be, her turn to shine?

By the time the box-office weekend is over, Stewart's The Runaways, opening Friday, will be rocking, while Pattinson's Remember Me will be faded. How can we be so sure? Five box-office truths:

1. People coo over babies.

Unless you're Avatar or Alice in Wonderland, which Remember Me isn't, holdovers get outshined by the latest multiplex entries.

2. Size matters.  

"I think relatively speaking, The Runaways should be more successful [than Remember Me]," Box Office Mojo's Brandon Gray says.

This is because The Runaways, a low-budget rock flick plucked from Sundance, is opening at one-tenth the number of theaters as Remember Me. If The Runaways grosses just $1 million, then—voila!—it'll enjoy a bigger screen-for-screen debut than Remember Me, which got tepid buzz for its $8.1 million wide-release opening.

And if The Runaways makes $2 million? It's a hit!

3. Critically acclaimed movies never bomb; they're misunderstood.

When Remember Me didn't set the world on fire, at least it had its glowing reviews to keep itself warm...Oh, wait, no, it didn't.

The Runaways, however, does. At last check, its Rotten Tomatoes score was a hot 74 percent. (Remember Me's was 26 percent.) Hence, should The Runaways fail to light up the art-house circuit, its admirers will look for the bright side—and blame the audience and/or the marketing.  

4. It sucks to be Robert Pattinson.

Pattinson was Remember Me. His face was all over the posters, the trailers and the commercials. The movie's underwhelming opening weekend was his underwhelming opening weekend. The man had no cover.

The Runaways, on the other hand, is not a Kristen Stewart movie. It's not even a Dakota Fanning movie, to name one of Stewart's costars.  

"It's a rock 'n' roll biographical picture that's portraying a niche band," Gray says. "It's obviously not a ding on Kristen Stewart if it doesn't take off."

And if it does take off, then she takes right off with it. The woman can't lose.

5. Joan Jett is cool.

Technically, this isn't a box-office truth. But since Stewart plays the influential rocker, we thought we'd point it out anyway. As a universal truth.

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Looking for a film that doesn't star a Twilighter? Check out the weekend slate in our Totally New Releases gallery!