Wow. Another movie year is already staring us in the blurry eyeballs. (And I suspect that some of you have blurrier eyeballs than others this morning.)
Are there more zombies are on the horizon? More ultra-violent revenge thrillers? More comedies that confuse romantic with sleazy? More children's films with low-rent gags guaranteed to make parents … well, gag?
Another entry in the "Saw" franchise?
The answers are yes, yes, yes, yes and, sadly, yes.
In 2010, we'll also get remakes and sequels — and movies that LOOK like remakes and sequels — along with lots of horror films that are way too gory and lots of comedies that simply aren't funny.
And occasionally something that will surprise us.
For me, the biggest surprise in 2009 was the realization that audience members can still boost a movie to box-office success simply by telling their friends about it.
That's what's behind the unexpected juggernaut that is "The Blind Side," which has turned into what we used to call a "sleeper."
Not that the film is unworthy. Personally, I found "The Blind Side" to be a much better picture than most reviews had led me to believe. And a lot of people out there apparently agree.
According to boxofficemojo.com, which keeps track of movie earnings, "The Blind Side" had the second highest CinemaScore rating of 2009 (after "Up"), which is tracked by interviews with moviegoers as they leave theaters. The audience for "The Blind Side" also skews female and older. That is, more women are going to this movie than usual, and the audience tends to be older than the studios' teen-to-25 target.
But what chance could a small, clean, upbeat, sentimental, lightly humorous true story that embraces faith-promoting values and has been labeled "a sports movie" have against a sure-fire franchise blockbuster about vampires?
That's right, "The Blind Side" opened the same day as "The Twilight Saga: New Moon," and theaters all over the nation were jam-packed with wall-to-wall, fang-baring groupies.
And to no one's surprise, the "Twilight" sequel's opening day earnings set a record, and for that weekend it topped $142 million.
But it was a surprise that "The Blind Side" came in second with a whopping $34 million! That would have been big if the film had come in at No. 1, but for a film in the No. 2 position, it's phenomenal.
In their second weekend, the two movies stayed at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
Then, in the third weekend, "The Blind Side" MOVED AHEAD of "New Moon" and took over the No. 1 spot.
The weekend after that, when "The Princess and the Frog" came in at No. 1, "The Blind Side" managed to hang onto the No. 2 slot.
And though it has now dropped below blockbusters "Avatar," "Sherlock Holmes" and other big Christmas openings, moviegoers are still taking in "The Blind Side" in impressive numbers.
Word of mouth was once a taken-for-granted driving force in creating hit movies. When I was the Deseret News movie critic in the 1980s and '90s, it wasn't all that unusual for a little movie to open low on the box-office totem pole, then slowly creep up as people heard about it.
Back then, the first weekend's grosses didn't mean quite so much as they do now, and a film might linger in theaters for several weeks before it was yanked. Now, if it doesn't do well on that first weekend, it might not be around for a second.
No such problem with "The Blind Side," which is rousing, feel-good entertainment, but which also offers an arguable career-best performance by Sandra Bullock.
Actually, everyone in the film is good. But perhaps a word should be said about Quinton Aaron, who plays the hulking homeless kid who is destined to play football.
Aaron doesn't have a lot of dialogue but he is nonetheless amazingly expressive, and playing a quiet, downtrodden character like this one requires an enormous range and talent.
I know the similar-themed, much grittier and self-consciously arty "Precious" is getting all the attention — and it is a good film. But "The Blind Side" is being disparaged by critics who feel it isn't gritty or arty enough.
"The Blind Side" is plenty gritty and arty. It just doesn't hit the audience over the head with it. Instead of harrowing, graphic scenes of brutality — which it could have shown — everything we need to know is right there on Aaron's face.
Quinton Aaron is the unsung hero of "The Blind Side" who has been forgotten as early awards shows announce their nominees.
But if you see the film, you won't forget him.
e-mail: hicks@desnews.com