Movie Nation

That’s the gist of this Hollywood Reporter piece, which relies too much on ancient history and sour anonymous sources with a grudge to suggest that this TV series move — to NBC — is her last lifeline in the business.

Yeah, she took a single shot at “Knocked Up,” which made her a star, calling it “sexist.” Years ago. And she poor-mouthed “Grey’s Anatomy” to get out of the show. Again, five years ago.

The revelations in the THR piece are that Heigl’s manager mom is a foul-mouthed bully nobody really wants to deal with. “She’s not worth the trouble” kind of goes for the both of them, according to those unnamed sources.

She has burned through publicists (damning), made diva demands long before she’d earned that status, etc.

But you only have to have seen her run of movies to figure out that at 34, she and her “Team” (thanks, Mom) have made poor choices and that her box office run may be over.

She was delightful in the not-quite-there “27 Dresses,” and showed us movie star pathos in “Life as We Know It,” with Josh Duhamel making her seem vulnerable, human and fixable.

“The Ugly Truth” was a hit, and did wonders for both her and the similarly difficult to sell Gerard Butler. But “Killers” wasn’t her finest hour, “One for the Money” didn’t launch a franchise and the ensemble work — “New Year’s Eve,” “The Big WEdding” did her no favors.

So yeah, an NBC pilot may be her next move. And TV commercials. She was never going to be the next Julia Roberts or Meg Ryan, not with those role choices. Did she turn down better work for bigger paydays in vanity projects?

There is no indication that’s the case, and if she’s doing the best she can with what she’s been offered, so be it. But TV pilots are for Glenn Close and Kyra SEegwick and Edie Falco and movie actresses closer to or in excess of 50 years of age — the “Lucille Ball” stage of their careers.

Ancient history or recent history, Heigl may be pretty much done on the big screen. And judging from too many of her movie roles, that’s no great shame at this point. Does she have a call in to “Grey’s Anatomy?” One wonders.

It’s the best live action opening in September. Ever. A dead heat in the race to have the year’s best horror opening. And “Insidious: Chapter 2,” is just the latest low-budget success from Mr. “Paranormal Activity,” Oren Peli. He’s a producer, the guys who made a mint off the “Saw” franchise wrote and directed it — James Wan and Leigh Whannel.

Did Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson, the stars, take deferred salary on this $5 million film? I hope so. They may get to cash in, too.

“Chapter 2” did over $20 million on Friday and cooled off a bit Saturday — word of mouth, maybe, “The Big Game” and “The Big Fight” may have sucked away audience. But $43 million is nothing to sneeze at.

“The Family” did a respectable $14.5, low respectable. This TV counter-programmed “Analyze This” on the boob tube last night, which was how DeNiro needed to play this guy and how Luc Besson needed to focus the film’s violence — mobsters die, “civilians,” even rude French ones, are threatened, slapped around maybe. Not beaten to death. Can’t have pleased audiences and it certainly didn’t do anything for the more discerning class of critics.

“The Butler” came very close to finally clearing $100 million. It’ll reach that by mid-week”Riddick” lost two thirds of its opening weekend audience. That happens to weak sequels.

“This is the End,” the all-star rude and raunchy comedy of mid-summer, finally hit $100 million.

“Instructions Not Included” continues to do a solid $4-5 million a week. A  real sleeper hit.

Woody Allen’s “Blue Jasmine” is sticking around, just out of the top ten and now over $26 million. Maybe $33-35 when it’s all-in. Not “Midnight in Paris,” but better than Allen’s usual take.

A nice recovery from a month of box office doldrums, thanks to an established horror franchise and a hyped DeNiro/Pfeiffer/Jones “action comedy.”

“Insidious” only made $54 million in its first outing, but it held audience, week after week. And having “Saw” and now “The Conjuring” vets behind it, the film made its mark.

Now James Wan and Leigh Whannell are back with “Chapter 2,” and while most box office predictions were in the $30 million range, I figured that sucker had enough brand recognition to do something. No, the movie’s not great. But unless BIG FRiday audiences warn away all their friends, it’ll reach $40-43 million, according to Deadline.com.

Bad reviews should have killed any shot of “The FAmily” from taking in decent cash. But it’ll do $15, again, I predicted that, the real experts at Box Office Mojo and Box Office Guru lowballed it. Considering the hype, $15 should be the low end of expectations, but again, not that much of a movie.

That heralds a nice bump in the BO, overall, and “Insidious” should be flirting with the all-time record for a horror opening, if this holds.

“Populaire” is a frothy little French period piece with a taste of gender role history tucked into its boy-meets-secretary romance.
It’s from the “Mad Men” era, when men were real men, so long as real men were chain-smoking, hard-drinking sexual harassers who ran the world. That’s the sort of fellow Rose Pamphyle (Deborah Francois) might have in mind the first time she caresses the shiny, new Triumph typewriter in the window of her father’s general merchandise in a tiny town in Normandy.
It’s 1958, and shy, pretty and naive Rose longs to dig into “the latest fashion” — becoming a secretary. She teaches herself to type — hunting and pecking to beat the band. Then she takes the bus to the big city — Lisieux, in this case.
Louis Echard (Romain Duris) is an insurance agent in need of a secretary, a dashing, dismissive fellow with a hint of “cad” about him. He calls her “citrouille” (pumpkin). He doesn’t think much of her klutziness,  her lack of polish and two-fingered typing. But she gets the job.
The first place “Populaire” trips us up is in Echard’s motivations. There’ll be no chasing the new secretary around the desk, here. He’s never less than gallant. What he sees in Rose is a champion speed-typist, a woman who can win glory for herself and maybe her competitive boss.
First, he has to convince her he’s not really interested in her. Then he has to convince us.
“Populaire” takes its title from a French typewriter company, and that’s fitting as the typing competitions take over the picture and make it outstay its welcome, just a smidgen. It’s not quite playful enough to skip merrily by. The story slows down to a drag, here and there.
The leads are charming,  the supporting players (Berenice Bejo plays Echard’s old flame, Shaun Benson is that old flame’s go-getter/wise-cracker American husband) are stellar.
Will Louis and Rose connect? And how long will it take? It’s no sin that the movie doesn’t really pursue anything deeper than that, with its 1950s French pop music montages (the typewriting training scenes) and dance interlude.
The film, in French with English subtitles, reminded me of that pre-feminist souffle “Potiche” that Catherine Deneuve starred in a few years back. Less ambitious, but never less than cute.

MPAA Rating:R for a scene of sexuality
Cast: Romain Duris, Deborah Francois, Berenice Bejo, Shaun Benson.
Credits: Directed by Regis Roinsard, written by Regis Roinsard, Daniel Presley and Romain Compingt. A Weinstein Co. release.
Running time: 1:51

Fandango.com is reporting that ticket pre-sales for “Indious: Chapter 2” are higher than those for any other horror movie this year — and we’ve had films that opened HUGE in that genre (“Conjuring,” $41, “The Purge” in the $30s).

So will “Chapter 2” ride the rep of the filmmakers (“Saw,” “The Conjuring” among their credits) and its brand name (a well reviewed first film, a decent $54 million ride at the box office) into the record books? Possibly.

Box Office Guru is lowballing it as a $27 million opener. With all the hype FilmDistrict is throwing at it, that seems well short of the hype and the hopes.

Box Office Mojo is predicting “Insidious: Chapter 2” will hit $32 million plus.

I think it’ll hit the mid to upper $30s. $35 say.

“The Family” will be lucky to clear $10 million. Mojo says $11+, Guru says $9.

I could see this blowing up much bigger than that. Yes, Relativity hid it from critics and the reviews aren’t good. But that cast, those TV ads? People will come. I say $15.