Not Another Big-Budget Movie

Punchy from shopping and looking for a break from sweeping, epic films of December? The folks associated with “Not Another Teen Movie” are betting on it.

The spoof, which opens Friday, the same day as such heavyweights as “Vanilla Sky” and “The Royal Tenenbaums,” takes digs at the entire “teen movie genre,” according to its producer, Neal Moritz, whose credits include numerous teen-type films including “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “Cruel Intentions.”

“Teen movies are for everyone, and this one makes fun of teen movies because they’re full of cliches. So we’re spoofing cliches,” Moritz said. “You don’t have to be a teenager, you just have to be someone who’s ever seen a teenage movie.”

The cast is a collection of character descriptions that teen-flick moviegoers will recognize, among them: “The Nasty Cheerleader” (Jaime Pressly), “The Pretty Ugly Girl” (Chyler Leigh), “The Popular Jock” (Chris Evans) and “The Token Black Guy” (Deon Richmond). But only older teens will be able to get into the Columbia Pictures film, due to an R-rating from the MPAA for what the association calls “strong crude sexual content and humor, language and some drug content.”

Executives at Columbia aren’t too worried, though. “Not Another Teen Movie” is already tracking very high with younger audiences. And unlike many of the other big-budget holiday movies, the low-priced film ($15 million) doesn’t need to make a killing at the box office to turn a profit.

The decision to release the film this week, when theaters are chock-full of high-end choices, was deliberate, Moritz said. “It’s counter-programming,” he said.

“Christmastime is when the Oscar considerations get released and the serious films get released, but anytime when you can be different, you have a good chance. It’s just being able to find a niche in the marketplace, and right now it’s a big, funny comedy going against a lot of movies that are a lot more serious.”

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Compiled by Times staff writers