Show Does Claus Claus' know its audience John Horn Los Angeles Times Time 1 I As As a ribald comedian 1 Wedding Crashers star I Vince Vaughn couldn't be much hotter which is exactly the Fred Ired Claus quandary Warner Bros is releasing Vaughns Vaughn's new Christmas comedy this weekend and the studio faces a tough battle convincing ing parents that its it's safe to take their kids to see the often raunchy actor in a PG rated movie The studio has a lot on the line Warner Bros has hasa a strong track record with holiday movies Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire The Polar Express and invested heavily in making and marketing special-effects- special laden Fred Claus But audience tracking surveys indicate the studios studio's comedy about Santas Santa's well neer brother is not on everybody's radar Data compiled by the National Research Group show less than third one-third of moviegoers were aware of the film without prompting To expand the Fred Claus appeal Warner Bros has reworked its advertising campaign An early trailer featured a number of edgy jokes between Vaughn and Paul Giamatti's Santa including a gag g g about a reindeer having a rash The Thet J t 1 early sarly spots also promoted the fact that Fred Claus director David Dobkin also made Vaughns Vaughn's sex comedy Wedding Crashers The Wedding Crashers references since have been eliminated and new TV commercials and previews play up the films film's kid- kid friendly comedy and more emotional story lines That has translated tra slated into greater interest among parents with kids older than 9 the numbers for that demographic are similar to the pre-opening pre interest for hit Elf Fred Claus faces other challenges American Gangster opened strongly last weekend with million and may c claim laim much of the coming weekends weekend's teen age customers while Bee Movie which also debuted last weekend could be the choice of parents with younger children Buoyed by favorable reviews American Gangster could very well remain in first place for the second straight weekend Assuming the Denzel Washington-Russell Washington Crowe crime drama drops only 35 percent that means American Gangster might gross as much as 28 million Fred Claus may finish second with a gross of about 26 million United Artists has more modest expectations for forthe forthe forthe the first film released under the new management of Tom Cruise and producing partner Paula Wagner Lions for Lambs may feature Cruise Meryl and Robert Redford who also directed but its it's a genre that's not entirely in favor a talky political drama about Middle Eastern war UA DA has sold the Lions for Lambs star power as heavily as the films film's to hard-to-condense plot and is banking on strong reviews to persuade older moviegoers to check it out But early notices have been sharply mixed and tracking surveys 2 percent unaided awareness do donot donot donot not bode well If it grosses 10 million UA should be happy but 8 million appears more likely Lions for Lambs isn't the only new movie out this weekend from froni a company under new management Summit Entertainment will launch itself as a domestic distributor with The low-budget low horror film will likely have as dubious a debut as Revolution Studios' Studios first release the 2001 I turkey Tomcats That film grossed 64 million in its opening wee weekend end Summit will be lucky if makes half that |