Hopes are high Philly's Tina Fey (and Amy Poehler) will triumph against 'The Force'

The movie star deemed to have the best chance to compete against "Star Wars" this weekend: Upper Darby's own Tina Fey.

Fey and Amy Poehler headline the comedy "Sisters," a movie scheduled to compete with "The Force Awakens" on the hope that a female-centered comedy might find a niche.

"A year ago they [the studio executives] were like, 'We've got a great idea!' But I do sort of get it," said Fey, speaking with a UK newspaper. "It's what they call counterprogramming, and hopefully it's the holiday season when you go to the movies more than once, and you have such a great time at 'Sisters' that you think, 'Maybe I'll go and see 'Star Wars' now'."

Fey and Poehler play sisters who return to the home of their parents (Dianne Wiest and James Brolin) to retrieve belongings before the house is sold.

"There's nothing as comforting as your parents' house," states Fey. "If you had a pleasant childhood, as I was blessed enough to have, and as Amy . . . had, you feel safe and comfortable in your family home, and you want that place to exist forever.

"Even now, as soon as I get to my parents' house, I leave my shoes everywhere. I eat everything, nonstop, and take a nap on the living room floor."

Fey and Poehler play polar opposite sisters, and Fey gets a rare chance to play the wild and irresponsible one. It's a departure, she told the "Today" show, from the "nerd" reality of her actual upbringing.

Back then, she said, no one had her ticketed for stardom.

"They would say, 'But she only has one eyebrow. How's this going to work out?'"

Fey has been on a promotional campaign to help "Sisters" gain a foothold at the box office and will co-host SNL this weekend with Poehler. It's Fey's fifth hosting stint, placing her in the rarefied company of Steve Martin, Alec Baldwin and Bill Murray.

Fey and Poehler have made an online "Star Wars" parody called "May the Farce Be With You" and teamed with "Broad City" stars Abbi Jacobson (who grew up in Wayne) and Ilana Glazer for a cross-promotional short film featuring Fey and Poehler as nuns who save Jacobson and Glazer from lives of sin.

The short film has led fans to clamor for a feature, but Fey said it would not do to have four women trying to talk at the same time.

"I mean, look at 'The View.'"

Eva Pilgrim, 6ABC reporter and anchor, has been hired as a New York City correspondent for ABC News. She will start Jan. 4.

Pilgrim joined 6ABC in December 2013, after stints in South Carolina, West Virginia and North Carolina.

Her ABC News bio states that she "enjoys playing the violin and riding her motorcycle," which she will probably do, live and simultaneously, for David Muir during the Nightly News, once he's finished reading stories about the royal f..amily, pets, weather and asteroids approaching the earth.

Anyway, it's a well-deserved promotion. Good luck, Eva.

The new Bruce Willis movie "Extraction" opens today exclusively at the AMC Cherry Hill. It star Willis as a kidnapped CIA agent whose son (Kellan Lutz) stages a rogue rescue mission.

On Jan. 15, Richard Gere's "The Benefactor" opens exclusively at the AMC Neshaminy 24. "The Benefactor" was filmed in Philadelphia and stars Gere as a "possessive philanthropist" who takes a creepy interest in a young couple played by Dakota Fanning and Theo James.

- Daily News wire services contributed to this report.

thompsg@phillynews.com
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