Can Zac Efron Win at the Box Office Without the Wildcats?

Thu., Apr. 16, 2009 7:30 PM PDT by Joal Ryan

New Line Cinema

Zac Efron can: get dirty, clean up nicely, dress up a hallway locker either way and open a movie that's not named High School Musical.

Check, check, check—and check back for the final answer on Sunday.

Heading into the weekend, box office prospects were considered solid for 17 Again, Efron's first star turn outside the HSM franchise.

"I think it's going to do well," says Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com and Media By Numbers. "If it did $20 million, it'd win the weekend."

With Russell Crowe's State of Play pegged to blow up what's left of the grown-up movie market, 17 Again's chief competition looks to be the Jason Statham shoot-'em-up, Crank: High Voltage, and defending box office champ, Hannah Montana: The Movie.

Efron versus Miley Cyrus? How will tweens ever choose?

According to 17 Again's studio, they won't have to.

"17 Again is rated PG-13," Warner Bros. distribution chief Dan Fellman reminded in an email. "Hannah [is] a G."

The difference is more than the number of swear words and amount of "sexual material," in the parlance of 17 Again's movie-board rating. The difference is perhaps the key to Efron's career.

17 Again, Dergarabedian says, is the "kind of movie that kind of bridges the gap between the super, wholesome G-rated [fare] that Zac Efron is commonly associated with, and positions him in an edgier role."

So far, the plan seems to be working. 17 Again is said to be tracking especially well among women—yes, women, as in adults. If all goes well for the body-switching comedy, it'll end up as the weekend's date movie for the unchaperoned set.

The danger for the movie—and for Efron—is that a certain teen-idol-loathing contingent may put its collective sneaker down, and nix 17 Again as a multiplex option.

"You always run the risk of alienating the male audience," Dergarabedian says. "…Guys sometimes feel intimidated if their dates are swooning over this guy [on the screen]."

If that happens, Efron may just wish he were the Wildcats' BMOC again.

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