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This weekend, a team of assassins will assault the box office. Angelina Jolie (AJOLI), James McAvoy (JMCAV) and Morgan Freeman (MFREE) are the members of the fraternity of assassins who make Wanted (WNTED) one of the summer's most promising releases. These assassins are so cool that audiences can't help but want to be like them.

Based on the graphic novel written by Mark Millar and art by J. G. Jones, Wanted centers on an office slacker named Wesley Gibson played by the lovably cute McAvoy. Bored and disillusioned with life, Wesley attends to his everyday routine in a daze. His world is rocked when he meets an ultra-sexy, femme fatale named Fox. Jolie dons heavy eyeliner and sets her mouth in a menacing jaw to play the intimidating Fox. Wesley is recruited by an organization called the Fraternity, which employs a group of assassins. His superb aim and ease with weapons makes him a good addition to the group. The Fraternity is headed by Sloan, played by Freeman. The hapless office worker has a new identity and a new life that involves cool clothes, car chases, stylish weapons and ultimately, murder.

Advance word is that Wanted is a thriller that delivers all: adrenaline rushing action, fast-paced drama and good acting by a good cast. The film is also the English language debut of Russian director Timur Bekmambetov (TBEKM), who is known for his trilogy of Night Watch, Day Watch and the forthcoming Dusk Watch (NWTC3). Universal has high hopes for this film and by the looks of it, Wanted may have all the goods to deliver box office success.

To help you decide if Wanted is a Punt of Pass? we examine the two adaptations of a graphic novel, two about office workers with undercover lives and two about stylish assassins who aren't afraid to take a life.

researched and written by Afshan Farooqui

GRAPHIC NOVELS

OFFICE SPACE

STYLISH ASSASSINS

300 (2007)
Budget: $65M
Opening: $70M
Gross: $210M
Frank Miller's graphic novel was adaptated in a highly stylized animation. 300 was a fictional retelling of the Battle of Thermopylae where 300 Greeks fought against thousands of Persians. Gerard Butler played the abtastic King Leonidis and Rodrigo Santoro played the towering Xerxes.

Sin City (2005)
Budget: $40M
Opening: $29M
Gross: $74M
One of Miller's best known works got an adaptation with a bunch of hot starlets including Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Jaime King and some others. In the dark, brutal world of Sin City, a series of stories come together to link the characters.

Fight Club (2006)
Budget: $35M
Opening: $27M
Gross: $124M
Edward Norton is an office drone who meets Tyler Durden during a plane ride. Durden helps the office drone come out of his shell and take control of his life. The two found an organization called the Fight Club which help men let out some bottled up steam. The organization mushrooms into a national movement.

Matrix (2004)
Budget: $63M
Opening: $27M
Gross: $171M
Keanu Reeves is really out of it when he's at his desk job. Something isn't right and when he started getting mysterious phone calls from a guy who tells him he's in the Matrix, reality comes crashing down. Reeves runs from scary guys in dark suits and soon discovers that reality is an underground city which is fighting to save the world.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Budget: $110M
Opening: $50M
Gross: $186M
This was the film that brough Jolie and her now husband Brad Pitt together. The duo play a married couple who are fast on the rocks. Neither of them know that they are both assassins and have been hired to kill the other. Great outfits, lots of weapons and tension finally amount to the two engaging in all out war.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003)
Budget: $30M
Opening: $22M
Gross: $70M
Uma Thurman is an assassin who wakes up after a long coma only to remember that the team tried to kill her. She sets out to get revenge by hunting them down and killing them all, including her former lover.

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