BEIJING, June 30 -- "War of the Worlds" has won over U.S. movie critics, who gave generally good reviews to the highly anticipated science-fiction adventure directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise.

The film poster for the new film 'War of the Worlds' starring Tom Cruise and directed by Steven Spielberg.(Reuters Photo)

    Hollywood hopes the film about an alien invasion can break an 18-week losing streak at U.S. and Canadian box offices, but that will be hard to do this upcoming holiday weekend in the United States.

    ¡°Tom Cruise has obviously been all over the news, for better or worse, but I don't think it will affect the box office,¡± said Paul Dergarabedian, president of ticket sales tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

    He said initial audiences for a movie tend to rely on studio promotion and advertising to decide whether to see a movie.

    More important, iconic filmmaker Spielberg has legions of his own fans, and he returns to his strength in action and science fiction for "War of the Worlds" after feel-good film "The Terminal" disappointed at box offices last summer.

    The Los Angeles Times trumpeted ¡®War of the Worlds¡¯ as sci-fi at its best.¡± The New York Times was less enthralled with the story, but found the special effects impressive.

    Showbusiness newspapers The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety praised the movie, and on the Web site rottentomatoes.com, which compiles reviews, ¡°War of the Worlds¡± received a 79 percent ¡°fresh¡± score.

    Still, Dergarabedian and Brandon Gray, president of boxofficemojo.com, said "War of the Worlds" would be hard-pressed to beat the six-day debut of "Spider-Man 2" of slightly over US$180 million.

    That film, the follow-up to one of the most popular films ever, opened in theaters with pent-up demand.

    ¡°War of the Worlds¡± debuts in about 3,900 theaters, which compares to around 4,100 for ¡°Spider-Man 2.¡±

    ¡°War of the Worlds¡± is released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.

    The film will be shown in Shenzhen later this month.Enditem

(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies)