It is already crowded at the theaters, but this weekend will bring 3 more wide releases and an indie flick expanding its number of theaters. Below you will find a quick overview of the new titles that you will see at your local theaters as well as my prediction for how this weekend will shape up as everyone is swimming to catch up with Dory who this week, just 12 days after release, became the fastest animated film to reach $300 million and it doesn’t look like much is going to slow her down.
You will probably notice a pattern with my picks as we continue to go through this exercise. I’m looking for films that have staying power. I have as much fun as the next guy in the moment, munching popcorn to an action flick, but if you ask me for details a month or two down the road I will give you a blank stare. I love movies that impact you and leave you thinking and feeling something more than entertained.
It is a very busy weekend at your local multiplex. It’s really one of those weekends that there is something for everyone. However, the battle for box office supremacy this weekend is not going to be much of a battle at all. It would be a huge upset if Finding Dory doesn’t handily take down the alien invaders.
Since its record-breaking, $135 million opening weekend, Finding Dory has continued to impress with its box office performance. Forget about comparing it to all other animated films which it has blown out of the water (no pun intended). Finding Dory‘s performance puts it inthe company of films such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World and The Dark Knight. I’m expecting Dory to bring in another $80 million this weekend. So let’s look at the four wide releases that will hit theaters today and find out what you should watch and what your should wait for.
From the guy that brought us Superbad comes a hilarious looking comedy with a skinnier Zach Galifianakis and a load of other great actors. Remember Mr. And Mrs. Smith with Brangelina? Imagine being their next door neighbors. That is the concept behind Greg Mottola’s latest comedy, Keeping Up with the Joneses. Isla Fisher and Zach Galifianakis are an ordinary suburban couple that are in for a wild ride when they figure out that Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot are not who they appear to be. I can’t imagine a better cast of characters here. The trailer had me laughing out loud a couple of times. I just hope they don’t show too much in future trailers. I’m marking this one down as a great date night movie October 21st.
I’m getting more and more excited about Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them with each featurette that Warner Brothers releases. Eddie Redmayne stars as Newt Scamander, a magizoologist who winds up letting loose a suitcase full of magical creatures in New York City in the 20s. It looks like they’re still finishing the FX, so most of the footage involves characters interacting. There’s some brand new shots we haven’t seen before, and plenty of discussion from author J.K. Rowling, who was much more involved in the making of this than she was Harry Potter.
With only 5 releases this year, Disney has been setting the box office on fire. They have already easily broken the billion dollar mark. One of those hits has been The Jungle Book. Like The Jungle Book, the studio has seen significant success with remakes of their older films, but this August, we’ll see a remake of a film that wasn’t a huge hit the first time around. If the trailer is anything to go by, the second time around may be the ticket for Pete’s Dragon. Check out the new trailer below.
Pete’s Dragon follows an orphan boy who has been lost in the woods for six years, with his only apparent companion being a large dragon who can make himself invisible. While the original 1977 production was mostly live action and musical comedy, this new version is obviously looking to channel the more dramatic aspects of the story. As a follow-up to The Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon makes a lot of sense. Both stories follow orphans, and have put a lot of effort into creating realistic digital creatures. Whether Pete’s Dragon will be able to be as successful as its predecessor is a more difficult question to answer.
What do you think? Have you ever seen the original? Does this trailer get you excited to see the remake?
Each year there are over 600 movies released in the US. About 150 of those are given a wide release. That is about 3 movies a week, every week, not counting those hidden gems that may not even make it to your local movie house. There are so many movies, it is hard to keep track of all of them.
In this weekly trailer roundup, I want to keep you informed about some of the movies that are coming to theaters soon, and put some others on your radar that are still a good ways off. I will list them and provide links to the trailers if you want to click through, but I will pick out a handful that I’m excited about and provide a synopsis and some color and tell you when you should expect to see it in your local multi-plex.
This week, we got brand new trailers for:
Sing
Synopsis: Set in a world like ours but entirely inhabited by animals, Sing stars Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey), a dapper Koala who presides over a once-grand theater that has fallen on hard times. Buster is an eternal optimist—okay, maybe a bit of a scoundrel—who loves his theater above all and will do anything to preserve it. Now facing the crumbling of his life’s ambition, he has one final chance to restore his fading jewel to its former glory by producing the world’s greatest singing competition.
Five lead contestants emerge: A mouse (Seth MacFarlane) who croons as smoothly as he cons, a timid teenage elephant (Tori Kelly) with an enormous case of stage fright, an overtaxed mother (Reese Witherspoon) run ragged tending a litter of 25 piglets, a young gangster gorilla (Taron Egerton) looking to break free of his family’s felonies, and a punk-rock porcupine (Scarlett Johansson) struggling to shed her arrogant boyfriend and go solo. Each animal arrives under Buster’s marquee believing that this is their shot to change the course of their life.
Release Date: December 21st
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Taron Egerton, and Tori Kelly.
The Space Between Us
Synopsis: In this interplanetary adventure, a space shuttle embarks on the first mission to colonize Mars, only to discover after takeoff that one of the astronauts is pregnant. Shortly after landing, she dies from complications while giving birth to the first human born on the red planet – never revealing who the father is. Thus begins the extraordinary life of Gardner Elliot – an inquisitive, highly intelligent boy who reaches the age of 16 having only met 14 people in his very unconventional upbringing.
While searching for clues about his father, and the home planet he’s never known, Gardner begins an online friendship with a street smart girl in Colorado named Tulsa. When he finally gets a chance to go to Earth, he’s eager to experience all of the wonders he could only read about on Mars – from the most simple to the extraordinary. But once his explorations begin, scientists discover that Gardner’s organs can’t withstand Earth’s atmosphere.
Eager to find his father, Gardner escapes the team of scientists and joins with Tulsa on a race against time to unravel the mysteries of how he came to be, and where he belongs in the universe.
Release Date: August 19
Starring: Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson, Gary Oldman, and Carla Gugino.
The Little Prince
Synopsis: A little girl lives in a very grown-up world with her mother, who tries to prepare her for it. Her neighbor, the Aviator, introduces the girl to an extraordinary world where anything is possible, the world of the Little Prince.
Release Date: August 5th (Netflix)
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Rachel McAdams, Paul Rudd, Marion Cotillard, James Franco, Benicio Del Toro, Ricky Gervais, Bud Cort, Paul Giamatti, Riley Osborne, Albert Brooks, and Mackenzie Foy.
Deepwater Horizon
Synopsis: On April 20th, 2010, the world’s largest man-made disaster occurred on the Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. Directed by Peter Berg (Lone Survivor), this story honors the brave men and women whose heroism would save many on board, and change everyone’s lives forever.
Release Date: September 30th
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kate Hudson, Dylan O’Brien, Gina Rodriguez, Kurt Russell, and John Malkovich.
Beauty and the Beast
Synopsis: Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” is a live-action re-telling of the studio’s animated classic which refashions the classic characters from the tale as old as time for a contemporary audience, staying true to the original music while updating the score with several new songs. “Beauty and the Beast” is the fantastic journey of Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman who is taken prisoner by a beast in his castle. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the Beast’s hideous exterior and realize the kind heart and soul of the true Prince within. The film stars: Emma Watson as Belle; Dan Stevens as the Beast; Luke Evans as Gaston, the handsome, but shallow villager who woos Belle; Kevin Kline as Maurice, Belle’s eccentric, but lovable father; Josh Gad as Lefou, Gaston’s long-suffering aide-de-camp; Ewan McGregor as Lumiere, the candelabra; Stanley Tucci as Maestro Cadenza, the harpsichord; Ian McKellen as Cogsworth, the mantel clock; and Emma Thompson as the teapot, Mrs. Potts.
Directed by Oscar® winner Bill Condon from a screenplay based on the 1991 animated film. Eight-time Oscar-winning composer Alan Menken, who won two Academy Awards® (Best Original Score and Best Song) for the 1991 animated film, is returning to provide the score, which will include new recordings of the original songs written by Menken and Howard Ashman, as well as several new songs written by Menken and three-time Oscar winner Tim Rice.
Release Date: March 17, 2017
Starring: Emma Watson, Dan Stevens, Ewan McGregor, Ian McKellan, Luke Evans, Josh Gad, Kevin Kline, Stanley Tucci, and Emma Thompson.
