Enemies, Ice Age Fight Back Against Evil Transformers Empire

Welcome to a special holiday-weekend version of Defamer Attractions, your regular guide to everything new, noteworthy and honoring priceless American ingenuity at the movies. But enough about Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen — Michael Mann has a new film out, too! Also this week, a Fox franchise grows to three, a blockbuster couple reunites and a pop icon is reborn in Chile.

WHAT’S NEW: As you’d probably expect, it’s kind of dead out there. Few studios or distributors have much interest in battling Transformers in its second week — particularly over the July 4 holiday, when the smash hit’s long legs have an extra day to stomp its competition to death (think $51 million for the three-day frame, $76 million for five). Universal thinks it has a solution with Public Enemies, Michael Mann’s bloated, underachieving glimpse at John Dillinger. The studio is on to something; grown-ups are desperately wanting for anything remotely thought-provoking this week (even at the art house), and Johnny Depp’s involvement automatically makes this a four-quadrant film. The downside is that even a $39 million five-day weekend — which is generous but certainly within reach — needs legs of its own to make Uni’s $100 million price tag worth it. That means word-of-mouth, which it won’t likely get sandwiched between monoliths like Transformers and next week’s Bruno. Sorry, Mr. Mann! It may be time to downsize.