The holiday movie season is filled with high-stakes showdowns — will Adam Sandler’s “Bedtime Stories” topple Brad Pitt’s “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” on Christmas Day? — but few December matchups can compare with Friday’s face-off: Will Smith versus Jim Carrey.
The actors’ movies couldn’t be more different.
Smith’s “Seven Pounds” is a challenging adult drama about an emotionally scarred man on the verge of making a personal sacrifice as a profound act of atonement. Carrey’s “Yes Man” is an undemanding comedy following a middle- aged washout who suddenly can’t say no to any opportunity, including mail-order brides, Korean-language lessons and bungee jumping.
Yet each film will test the true star power of its leading man, particularly as Carrey and Smith take on the kind of roles they haven’t recently embraced. Box-office prognosticators say it could be a particularly close battle for the top spot over the weekend, with both movies poised to gross more than $20 million from Friday through today.
By unanimous proclamation within Hollywood, Smith is by far the biggest audience draw around, and the only movie star who has been able to sell a ton of tickets to almost every film in which he stars.
Smith has applied his ample star power to a wide variety of genres, including romantic comedies, sci-fi thrillers and uplifting dramas.
The actor’s last seven live- action movies have been global blockbusters.
Summer’s “Hancock” has grossed more than $623 million worldwide, and the combined domestic and international haul for the previous three movies isn’t too shabby either: “I Am Legend” has grossed $585 million, “The Pursuit of Happyness” $304.3 million and “Hitch” $366.8 million.
The only chink in the 40- year-old actor’s armor has been serious, period drama. In 2001, his “Ali” grossed a weak $85.3 million worldwide, and “The Legend of Bagger Vance” sold an even more anemic $39.2 million in tickets. “Hancock” was estimated to perform even better than it eventually did.
For all the laughs Smith has generated over the years, “Seven Pounds” doesn’t showcase a lot of mirth or merriment.
Warner Bros. didn’t have to look nearly as hard to find lighter moments to highlight in its commercials for “Yes Man.” The movie is filled with any number of over-the-top Carrey set pieces, including his drinking too much Red Bull, wrapping his face in tape and snorting hot sauce.
In “Yes Man,” the 46-year- old Carrey stars as Carl Allen, a lonely loan officer who is challenged by a friend and a self-help guru to stop saying no to life and instead say yes. It affords Carrey multiple opportunities for the physical comedy that defined his early career.
“This is quintessential Jim Carrey,” Sue Kroll, Warner’s worldwide marketing chief, says of “Yes Man.” “He’s just very warm and very affable — it’s the Jim Carrey that audiences love.”
Carrey’s most popular movies also have been the goofiest. Among the actor’s films that have grossed more than $300 million worldwide: 1994’s “The Mask,” “Liar Liar,” 2000’s “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and 2003’s “Bruce Almighty.” Carrey has done considerably less well with dramas.
Carrey believes so much in “Yes Man” that he slashed his usual $20 million payday for a heftier slice (potentially more than a third) of the film’s gross.
