New Movie Releases Aug. 21-23: 'The Mortal Instruments' is First, 'You're Next' is Next, Followed by 'The World's End'

With the release last week of "The Butler" and the absence of big-budget tentpoles, movie industry watchers had declared this the beginning of filmdom's quieter season, when smaller—and possibly Oscar-worthy—films get released. This week doesn't look quite like that kind of week.

The week's first wide release, "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones," is a medium-budget fantasy story based on a series of young-adult novels, and there is some hope that it will become the next great vampire-romance franchise. The hope is slim, though, since the movie is drawing unfavorable comparisons to "Twilight," "Harry Potter" and "The Lord of the Rings," and it has a dismal 17% fresh rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes. "The Mortal Instruments" begins its run on Wednesday, Aug. 21.

On Friday, "You're Next" opens nationwide. At first glance, this indie home-invasion horror flick looks like just another violent thriller in the vein of "The Purge," "Baghead" and "The Strangers," but it's getting lots of love from critics (91% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). With a production budget of, reportedly, less than a million dollars, this one is likely to be the biggest financial success of the week.

The week's final wide release is "The World's End," the third film from the trio responsible for "Shaun of the Dead" and "Hot Fuzz" (director Edgar Wright and actors Simon Pegg and Nick Frost). This one is about drinking buddies who get caught up in a potentially apocalyptic alien invasion. "The World's End" is also drawing positive reviews from critics, but with a production budget of about $30 million, it stands less of a chance of being a break-out success than "You're Next" does—and the two films will also no doubt compete for some audience segments.