The Weekend Forecast: Minions Will Usurp Jurassic World's Box Office Title

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

With last weekend's box office let-down, it'll be nice to see full theaters once again.  And although we might see Terminator Genisys' and Magic Mike XXL's numbers actually go up from last week as belated movie-goers finally get around to seeing them, it's sure to be this weekend's new releases that take people are going to swarm towards.

Minions - the long anticipated spin-off / prequel to 2010's Despicable Me - is sure to draw in the family crowd this weekend, syphoning from Inside Out's considerable following.  Having already seen the movie, I can safely say that it's the most fun of the entire franchise, thanks largely to its incessantly amusing protagonists.

Some older viewers (parents, grandparents and the like) will doubtless find the Minions' physical antics tiresome after a while, but the movie hardly outstays its welcome with its scant 91 minute run-time.  Be sure to get your tickets in advance (and arrive early) in order to ensure a good seat.

The Gallows is Blumhouse's most recent disappointment to hit theaters this year, and it's really a shame too.  Between Blumhouse's one-time pristine reputation and a surprisingly excellent premise, it should have been a surefire success.  But a seemingly rushed production, input from additional production companies and BH's over-stuffed 2015 release schedule kept it from being any more than a found footage distraction that can safely be set aside for something better this weekend (even Minions, of all things).

You can expect my full review of this movie on Monday, and probably an editorial trying to parse out Blumhouse's recent troubles.  Between this and The Lazarus Effect, they've solidly transformed into the Pixar of horror movies: exceptional, but far from flawless.

We're living in a golden age of science fiction right now.  It seems that hardly a month goes by without some forward-thinking, innovative and supremely intelligent take on mankind's tech-based future coming out.  This year's already seen the flawed Chappie and the sublime Ex Machina, and Self/Less seems just as good as either.

To be fair, it may fizzle out like 2011's In Time: an excellent premise wasted on a sub-par story.  Even if that's all it is, though, it's creative talent is enough to draw me in to see it.  Between actors Ben Kingsley and Ryan Reynolds, visionary director Tarsem Singh and Los Ultimos Dias scribes Alex and David Pastor, it's shaping up to be one impressive movie already.

So which new movie will you be seeing this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.

The Weekend Forecast: Another Jurassic Weekend

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

Enjoy it while it lasts, but this weekend might very well prove to be Jurassic World's last as #1 at the box office.  Neither Ted 2 nor Max will come anywhere near the Crichton titan, but Terminator Genisys will doubtless be able to push it off of its pedestal in its fourth week of release.  That doesn't mean, though that it's going down without a fight.

This weekend will doubtless prove to be when Jurassic World surpasses Avengers: Age of Ultron's  global gross.  The two are separated by less than $14 million as it is, which should be easy for Jurassic World to cover with another blockbuster weekend, even if it's take does dip below $100 million.  I never thought that I'd say this, but The Force Awakens might ultimately prove insufficient to beat Jurassic World as the top-grossing movie of 2015.

Of this weekend's new crop of films, Ted 2 will come closest to unseating the invariable box office king.  Seth MacFarlane has a strong body of fans who are willing to see anything he puts out, and the first Ted was a shockingly hilarious comedy that even I was able to get behind.

And while the press is pretty front-loaded with both negative and disappointed reviews, the movie is actually hilarious and is bound to willfully soldier through the majority opinion.  While it does suffer from some whiffed jokes and significant third act plotting issues, it's a strong comedy that fans of the first and of MacFarlane will happily shell out hard-earned money to see.

Although it never looked like my kind of movie, the incredibly strong press surrounding Max has me hopeful for an unexpected gem.  It's positive focus on the military and the hardships facing the families of those who serve will likely draw out the conservative crowd, and people like Becky will show up just for the dog.  I can't see it beating out the aforementioned franchise movies, but a relatively strong third place showing is not out of the question here.

So what movie are you planning on seeing in theaters this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.

The Weekend Forecast: Brace Yourselves. Pixar Is Coming.

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

You thought that last weekend was a crazy time to be in a movie theater?  Just wait until you head to theaters this weekend.  It's going to be an absolute madhouse.

Although it faces some strong competition from this week's crop of new movies, Jurassic World is still fated to stay on top for its second weekend.  While Pixar might claim the lion's share of family's this weekend, Jurassic World is pretty much guaranteed to take in the rest.

The record to beat for the titanic sequel is for the best second weekend, a title currently held by 2012's The Avengers.  It would have to top $103.1 million to do so, but given its performance last weekend, that number certainly seems within reach.  Couple that with the fact that it's supposed to push its global take past the $1 billion mark, and we might be seeing a few more records being broken by it in the next few days.

Pixar couldn't have picked a better weekend to release their latest animated feature.  There's nothing new that can seriously compete with it, family's will come out in droves to see it on Father's Day weekend and there hasn't been an animated kids movie to draw them in since Home.

While it will doubtless fail to live up to Jurassic World's seemingly insurmountable popularity, it should come reasonably close to it.  Both Brave and Up were released around the same time in previous years and raked in between $66 and $68 million each.  Inside Out will probably do about as well as those two.

Dope is far from a real threat to anything at the box office this weekend.  It's a festival darling with rave reviews, but no real mainstream appeal to draw people away from Dinosaurs and monochromatic feelings.  Pair that with its R rating, and its potential audience shrinks even further.

That being said, though, the movie looks pretty awesome.  The reviews are nothing short of ravingly good and its trailer was phenomenal.  This could very well follow fellow summer prestige releases, like Boyhood, to this year's Oscar ceremony.

So what movie are you planning on seeing at theaters this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.

The Weekend Forecast: Welcome Back to the Park

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

It should really come as a surprise to nobody at this point that Jurassic World is set to be the big box office winner over this weekend.  It has absolutely nothing new running against it and, as the latest in a long line of successful - albeit increasingly blase - action movies, it has a generationally loyal following that's incredibly eager to take another tour of Jurassic Park.

It's benefiting from what can best be described as Avengers syndrome.  Nobody wants to compete against it, so it pretty much has full reign over movie-goers for the weekend.  At worst, it will have to compete with non-factors like broadened releases for movies like Love & Mercy, which were never going to bring in the crowds to any significant degree.

And while I will have my review of the film up on Monday, let it suffice for now that Jurassic World is nothing short of a must-see.  I saw it in an absolutely packed theater last night and liked it least of the group I was with, and I still thought that it was awesome!  It's easily the best film in the franchise since the first movie, and even gives that one a good run for its money.

By now, the series understands what its money-shots are.  While it does dabble in dinosaur breeds that are obscure and difficult to pronounce, it keeps the focus on the classics: Raptors and T-Rexes.  And while there is a badass monster cooked up in a lab with bits and pieces of all the best dinosaurs - basically the Cell of Jurassic Park - it never fully supplants the supremacy of the "originals" (such as they are).  It only took them three decades and four movies to do it, but Universal finally figured out why the original was so great to begin with.

So what movie are you planning on watching in theaters this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.

The Weekend Forecast: Spy Will Lead the Pack This Weekend

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

Say what you will about Melissa McCarthy, but she's proven capable of drawing a crowd in for a weekend.  Spy - her new movie about being a CIA annalist cum spy - is set to do just that this weekend, standing to rake in somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 million.

While the trailers all seemed reasonably funny, I can't say that the movie itself looks any good.  Maybe this is just because I evidently hate all comedies, but I just can't buy into the premise of body humor plus Bond working for me.

The weekend's next most promising movie is Blumhouse's Insidious: Chapter 3.  I've long been a fan of Blumhouse Productions and have had high hopes for this one for a while.  To top it all off, the trailers for it were all pretty good and showed off some fairly intense imagery that will hopefully feature prominently in the movie proper.

The last of this weekend's wide-release newcomers is Entourage, which released somewhat earlier in the week than usual.  Although it looked reasonably funny from the get-go, I can't imagine it doing especially well at the box office.  Although certainly popular in its own right, its home on HBO naturally restricted the number of people who could watch it in the first place.

I doubt that it has a strong enough following to make it a hit after being off of the air for four years, but early reports suggest that it's essentially an especially long episode of the show, which was the exact reason why The Simpsons Movie was as incredible as it actually was.  Fans of the show will doubtlessly enjoy it, but I have to imagine that most comedic movie-goers will opt for the more accessible Spy over this.

Also coming out this weekend - although you'd be hard-pressed to find it in most theaters - is Love and Mercy, the Beach Boy biopic starring John Cusack, Paul Dano and Paul Giamatti.  It's got a great cast and an earnest-looking script, but the trailer honestly made it look like a bit of a mess.  Regardless, if you find it showing in your area and want a break from the listless stream of blockbuster comedies and action movies, it might be worth checking out.

So what movie are you planning on seeing in theaters this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.

The Weekend Forecast: Tomorrowland Leads the Pack in a Tight Box Office Race

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

Now that Age of Ultron has been suitably reigned in to a more manageable level, the box office is wide open for the rest of the summer blockbusters to move in on.  It, Pitch Perfect 2,  Mad Max: Fury Road, Tomorrowland and Poltergeist all promise to give us a tight race this weekend, but my money's on Tomorrowland stealing the #1 spot by Monday morning.

Although the reports coming in from critics aren't looking too good for Disney's latest movie based on a theme park attraction, it's impressive ad campaign should earn it about $45 million by the end of the week.  Disney's kept the intrigue on this movie high for months now, and I'm one of the many people who'll be showing up just to see what it was all about in the first place.

Poltergeist is this weekend's other new entry.  Although PG-13 horror movies rarely get good word of mouth going, this movie actually deserves it: staying true to the spirit of the original while updating the atmosphere and scares to something more palatable for contemporary audiences.  Don't expect to hear much in the way of praise for this movie (other than from me), but do expect it to turn a decent profit.  It's MPAA rating will ensure that all of the out-of-school teens looking to cop a feel will have ample opportunity to do so while fans of the original should turn up to see a timely update on an old favorite.

It's a coin toss at this point whether Pitch Perfect will beat out Tomorrowland at the box office.  Word on the street is that it should match Tomorrowland's predicted $45 take, but fairly negative word of mouth might damper its hopes of repeating last weekend's success.  At least two people I know who saw it fell asleep during their screening, and the demographic outside of teenage girls is decidedly slim.

On the flip side of things, expect Fury Road to do a bit better than expected.  While it certainly lacked Pitch Perfect 2's impressive first weekend showing, strong word of mouth might give this movie the push that it deserves.  It is hands down the best action movie of 2015 so far (sorry Kingsman and Avengers) and is looking like it'll keep that honor by year's end.  Check this out while you still have the chance to.

Age of Ultron should continue to hold its own reasonably well, but last week was the start of its trickling fall off of the top ten list.  Expect it to do a little worse every weekend until it eventually slips off of the list entirely (although with Marvel movies, this might take a while to finally happen).

So what movie will you be checking out this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.

The Weekend Forecast: Avengers, Avengers, Avengers

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

There really shouldn't be any doubt about what's going to rule this weekend's box office take.  Age of Ultron is still the summer's hot ticket and nobody wants to compete with it.  We don't have any worthwhile movies come out until the latest Mad Max movie later this month, and I'm still not convinced that it'll be enough to dethrone Avengers as #1.

Only one movie is foolhardy enough to try to upset the inevitable Avengers-dominated weekend: Hot Pursuit.  Not quite sure which movie I'm talking about?  Don't worry, nobody else does either.  It's a tired-looking Reese Witherspoon cop comedy that basically looks like 21 Jump Street for women.

I don't expect it to completely crash and burn, though.  It's new, it has a pretty sizable star in the lead and it's going fr the Paul Blart crowd that already saw Age of Ultron last weekend.  I expect that it'll show up somewhere in the weekend's top ten, just don't expect it to come anywhere close to putting up Avengers-sized numbers.

I don't know about the rest of you, but the real question this weekend is "do I take the weekend off or do I see Age of Ultron again?"  It's definitely worth seeing as many times in theaters as you can afford, and I plan on revisiting it often over the course of the summer.

So what movie are you planning on seeing in theaters this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.

The Weekend Forecast: Surprise, Surpise - Furious 7 to Stay at #1 for Another Week.

In which I predict the big winners (and losers) at the Box Office this weekend.

So now we enter the home stretch before Age of Ultron hits theaters next weekend.  Nothing's really planning on changing this weekend, mostly because nobody's stupid enough to release their movie a week before Avengers is going to run away with everything anyway.

So needless to say, Furious 7 will enjoy one last weekend in the number one slot before it falls down a peg or two.  As it turns out, I'll be in theaters to help it along that last stretch.  Having finally caught up with the rest of the franchise, it's time to check out movie #7.

The "big" new release this weekend is Age of Adaline, which I think that I can safely skip.  It's the new, pseudo Benjamin Button "but now with 100% more female" and it looks implausibly boring.  Rather than aging in reverse, its protagonist simply stops aging in her prime and then seemingly mopes about it for the next couple of hours.

Also sneaking into theaters this weekend is Ex Machina, which I am especially interested in seeing.  It's a dark, cerebral-looking sci-fi / horror movie that questions what sapience really is and what something inhuman would even do with it.  The fact that it's written and directed by Alex Garland (of 28 Days Later and Sunshine fame) is simply added reassurance of its awesomeness.

Other than those two, however, there's not much to really talk about.  Furious 7 remains king of the hill, the two new releases slide into the top ten somewhere and everything else stays more or less where it was last weekend.

So what movie are you planning on seeing in theaters this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.

The Weekend Forecast: Buckle Up for Another Furious 7 Weekend

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

Despite strong competition from a myriad of new releases, Furious 7 should still hold out as #1 for another week.  The seventh installment to the hugely popular Fast and Furious franchise is expected to rake in another $30-35 million over the course of the weekend.  I might even get to see it this weekend.  If Becky and I can manage to polish off the last three movies by Monday, it might even make it in as next week's Weekend Review.

If any movie stands a chance of upsetting industry predictions this weekend, it's Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2.  The family comedy is the biggest new release and is expected to pull in anything from $10 to $30 million.  If Furious 7 under-performs even slightly, it very well might snatch its place at the box office.  More likely, however, it will have to settle for being #2.

Unfriended is a bit of a question mark for me.  On the face of it, it just looks so inanely stupid: another found footage horror movie that uses its gimmick to make up for low production values and a rough-shod script.  Don't get me wrong; I love found footage movies, but even I have my limits.

The thing is, though, that the word on the street is that it's actually pretty good.  Everything I've heard about the movie's been surprisingly popular, even if it's typically chased with "but don't do this again."

Despite its all-star comedy cast, True Story appears to be the kind of mid-quality, instantly forgettable thriller that's just entertaining enough to watch for a couple of hours.  In other words, it's basically this month's Focus.  But its oddly comic cast - including Jonah Hill and James Franco - throws just enough of a curve ball into the established order that it could sink or swim on that alone.

In limited release, we also have Monkey Kingdom and Child 44.  The former is a nature documentary that I'll invariably be dragged along to see (mostly because monkeys are "cute").  The latter is terse,-looking historical thriller with the same kind of absurdly good cast that made The Gunman look palatable.  Even if it falls flat on its face, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace are worth the price of admission by themselves.  I'll sadly have to wait a week or two until Child 44 expands to my area, though.

So what movies are you going to see in theaters this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.

The Weekend Forecast: Furious 7 Reigns Over Another Weekend

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

We've come to the awkward Spring lull in the movie season.  You know, when it's not quite summer and not quite winter: where all of the good movies from last year have moved on to BluRay and all the blockbusters are still another month away.  If they've made it this far into the year already without a release, they want to wait until kids are off of school and looking for something to do.  And if they're in theaters right now, chances are you've already seen them.

Sure, there are some new players being added to the mix, but Furious 7 will reign supreme for at least another weekend (and probably again until Age of Ultron comes out).  Although somewhat mixed, the reviews are still largely positive and it speaks to an incredibly large swath of movie-goers (especially in the wake of Paul Walker's passing).

I can't say to have seen (all of) it yet, but I'm planning on marathoning the Furious franchise before seeing #7.  I've only seen the first one a this point and while not bad, it wasn't quite my thing.  But seeing as I haven't watched it in fourteen years and that most people seem to have gotten on board around part 5, I don't mind investing some time into the franchise and doing things right.

The only potential upstart to the weekend's hierarchy is The Longest Yard: the new Nicholas Sparks movie that nobody seems to be excited about.  Lets not mince words: the movie looks God-awful.  The fact that it splits its run time between two time-crossed love stories only serves to convince me that neither one of them was good enough to warrant an entire movie.

But despite this and the fact that even fans of The Notebook look to be passing over this romantic go-around, I'd be surprised if it didn't at least show up somewhere in the weekend's standings.  Its lack of new competition and Cinderella's already been seen twice now by anybody in the mood for a good romance.

Expect for smaller releases like The Woman in Gold and It Follows to at least hold on to their standings at the box office.  The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel should sadly fall off of the top ten grossers this weekend, which is really a shame, since it's easily the most unappreciated new movie in 2015 (and this coming from a non-fan of the first film).

So what movie are you planning on seeing in theaters this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.

The Weekend Forecast: Furious 7

In which I predict that big winners (and losers) at the box office this weekend.

Welcome to the first installment of The Weekend Forecast!  This is going to be the other half of what was just The Weekend Report: an article series dedicated to letting you know what knew movies are coming out this weekend, what's expected to do well and what looks like it'll be worth your time to see.  And because it's not tagged onto the end of The Weekend Report anymore, I have more time to devote to this particular aspect of the latest cinematic happenings.

It goes without saying that Furious 7 is going to make an absurd amount of money this weekend.  The current projections have it making upwards of $115 million.  This makes it the largest opening of any 2015 movie, the largest opening of any Fast and Furious movie and the largest opening for any movie in April ever.

It's expected to make even more money overseas: enough to bring its global total for the weekend to over $250 million.  These numbers would shatter the previous April record holder, Captain America: The Winter Solder, which opened last year with $95 million domestically

While this unprecedented box office take is undoubtedly fueled by Paul Walker's tragic death midway through the film's production, that's not to say that the movie's not worthwhile in of itself.  Although I have yet to see it, word on the street is that it's the best film in the series and that it can be easily followed by people who haven't invested their time in watching the other six.

And that's really all that there is, too.  There is no other big release that can challenge Furious 7's box office dominance.  It's going to steamroll all of the previous box office winners that are still in theaters, including Insurgent, Get Hard, Home and Cinderella.

Coming out in a limited release (and nowhere near me) is The Woman in Gold: where Ryan Reynolds plays a lawyer who takes the Austrian government to court in order to help a woman regain a portrait of her aunt that was stolen from her by Nazis.  It admittedly seems like a pretty typical early-year drama, but with a fun enough cast to make it worthwhile.  Becky is especially keen to see this ASAP.

So what new movie are you planning on seeing this weekend?  Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Join the Filmquisition on Twitter (@Filmquisition) or by subscribing to this blog.