By Kevin Krolicki
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - It sounds like an impossible heist -- with the clock ticking and important people demanding payback, Danny Ocean and his eclectic crew of con men have to make off with millions under intense scrutiny.
Can "Ocean’s Twelve" work their criminal magic again?
It’s the high-stakes question that sets in motion the sequel to the 2001 hit "Ocean’s Eleven", but an even more pressing issue for studio Warner Brothers, which is counting on the caper to steal the box-office crown after a series of high-profile studio misfires.
The movie, the biggest debut at U.S. cinemas on Friday, is expected to dominate the pre-Christmas weekend and top the $38.1 million (20 million pound) opening by its predecessor, itself a sequel to the 1960 Rat Pack original headed by Frank Sinatra.
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Heavily promoted by its ensemble cast, featuring George Clooney as Ocean, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Matt Damon, "Ocean’s Twelve" cost an estimated $110 million to make after the high-powered principals signed on for a fraction of their usual pay cheques.
To hear them tell it, they did it in part for the sheer fun of hanging out in Italy, drinking wine at Clooney’s Lake Como villa and enjoying an exchange of escalating practical jokes.
"We’re expecting ’Ocean’s Twelve’ to be one of the biggest movies of the holiday season," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracking service Exhibitor Relations.
He notes that the spectacle of Hollywood’s top talent so clearly enjoying themselves on screen "proved to be irresistible" for audiences three years ago.
Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh said the idea for a sequel struck him while on the road promoting the first movie in Europe. Other cast members said they saw it as a way to get the party started again.
"When we were doing the press tour for ’Ocean’s Eleven’, we were all very adamant about not doing a sequel," Pitt said at a news conference in Rome.
"We were having a beautiful dinner at ’La Bolognese’ and a beautiful plate of buffalo mozzarella, and we all love Rome. Steven looked up and said ’I have an idea for the sequel,’ and we all threw in our lots and agreed to do it, but it had to take place here."
It does -- as well as skipping through Amsterdam, Paris and Monte Carlo as Clooney’s character leads his hastily reassembled cast in a match of wits with a European master thief played by French actor Vincent Cassel.
Along the way, they also have to dodge Zeta-Jones as the conflicted cop with a luscious wardrobe. ("It’s good to know that Europol agents wear red leather to work," the actress joked.)
The North American box-office take for "Ocean’s Eleven" was an impressive $184 million -- not far off the $160-million plus interest that the characters in the sequel must find a way to quickly steal.
And part of the intended fun of the movie is the way that the caper is held up as a kind of mirror to the bigger confidence game of making a film.
Damon’s character, for instance, lobbies for a bigger role this time out. Clooney’s Ocean frets over whether he looks 50, and Julia Roberts, who arrived on the set pregnant with twins, sets out to dupe everyone into believing that she is in fact "Julia Roberts" the pregnant actress.
Warner Brothers, a unit of Time Warner, could use a breakout hit after a slow box-office start for "The Polar Express", its other major holiday release, and a mixed reception for "Alexander", Oliver Stone’s three-hour epic.
So, if "Ocean’s Twelve" pulls it off, could there be a Thirteen?
"I’m thinking musical," Pitt dead-panned when asked.
