Box Office Preview

A cornucopia of new films opening nationally this weekend.

Seven new ones are hitting megaplexes around the country.

The first, a pampered pooch finds itself stranded south of the border in "Beverly Hills Chihuahua". 

Drew Barrymore provides the voice of the Chihuahua, named Chloe.

Chloe has to enlist the help of a motley collection of animals to find her way back home.

George Lopez and Andy Garcia provide some of the voices for those characters.

Jamie Lee Curtis plays Chloe’s frantic owner. 

"Beverly Hills Chihuahua" is rated PG.

 

Simon Pegg plays another fish out of water in "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People". 

Pegg's a bumbling, celebrity journalist from Britain who manages to snare a magazine job in New York City. 

His efforts to win over as many people as he can has the opposite impact, except for one important person, an actress played by Megan Fox.

"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" is rated R. 

A few moments spent pretending to be a couple snowballs into a wild night in New York in "Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist". 

Michael Cera and Kat Dennings play the title couple, who meet by chance as they're coping with their own disappointments. 

Music is about the only thing they have in common, as well as their all night quest to find a famous band's secret show. 

"Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist" is rated PG-13.

Mix the director of "Airplane", with "A Christmas Carol" and a main character who resembles a certain controversial filmmaker and you get "An American Carol". 

It's about a Hollywood documentarian who sets out on a crusade to abolish the Fourth of July.

But a trio of spirits try to help him see the true spirit of

The nation. 

"An American Carol" is rated PG-13.

A wave of sudden blindness paralyzes a city, everyone, that is, except Julianne Moore, in the thriller "Blindness". 

She serves as the eyes for a small group of people who've been quarantined under horrific conditions. 

Mark Ruffalo also stars along with Sandra Oh. 

The film is rated R.

 

Greg Kinnear plays a man battling the major automakers in "Flash of Genius".

This one's based on the true story of a college professor who developed intermittent windshield wipers back in the 1960's. 

The car industry embraced the idea, but not the man and set off a long

Legal struggle. 

"Flash of Genius" is rated PG-13.

 

"A History of Violence" co-stars Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris are reteamed as old west lawmen in "Appaloosa". 

They're a couple of hired guns brought in to clean up a dangerous

Town but then, when an unusual woman played by Renee Zellweger, shows up in town, the bond between the lawmen is threatened. 

"Appaloosa" is rated R.