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Movie Monday: The Back-up Plan


backup plan.JPGLooks like Jennifer Lopez could use a backup plan of her own.

J. Lo’s new romantic comedy, The Back-up Plan, couldn’t topple DreamWorks’ charming springtime smash How to Train Your Dragon this weekend: Plan raked in an estimated $12.3 million, about $2.7 million less than the tireless Dragon. Another newcomer, The Losers, lived up to its name and squeezed into third place with $9.6 mil.

Dragon continues to be the box-office story this spring. Still looking spry after five weeks on the charts, Dragon’s total haul now stands at $178 million and climbing—great news for DreamWorks (as it now looks as though the film might become the studio’s most successful non-Shrek film ever) and fans of family-friendly movies. It’s interesting to note that 2010’s two biggest flicks—Dragon and Alice in Wonderland—were both geared toward families (and rated a commensurate family-friendly PG), while more mature fare has largely fallen flat.

Case in point: The Back-up Plan. The pregnancy-themed, PG-13 romcom was tawdry, crass and just plain bad, in my estimation. I can’t say I’m sad audiences decided to stay away. Then again, I’m probably not the guy Plan wanted to get into the seats. Perhaps no guy was: Polling data suggests that 71% of the film’s audience was female. So maybe I just don’t get it.

Anyone care to defend The Back-up Plan as an unfairly sullied gem? Or do you just want to talk about how cool Dragon was?