None of this week’s releases — not even Keanu — will be able to keep The Jungle Book from taking the top spot at the box office for a third consecutive week. However, in addition to Key & Peele’s big screen début, Garry Marshall is back to destroy yet another holiday and a video game you might have forgotten about gets the big screen treatment along with a trio of platform releases. Here are the releases for the week of April 29th:
Keanu
Theater Count: 2,658
Starring: Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan Peele, Method Man, Nia Long, Will Forte
Buzz:
Keanu has been popping up heavily on social media and YouTube. There’s a great series of parody posters featuring Keanu, Key and Peele are making the late night rounds. There are some really funny clips available on YouTube as well.
3 Things to Know:
- Keanu was not played by one kitten but several kittens. They were changed out to maintain size consistency during filming.
- Method Man was known as the Kitten Whisperer on set. The kitten playing Keanu would stop wiggling and instantly fall asleep whenever put into Method Man’s hands.
- Was the kitten named after Keanu Reeves? He is indeed named after “The One.”
See the Trailer:
MHT Hot Take:
See it! Key and Peele are very funny and the ridiculous story looks to be hilarious.
Mother’s Day
Theater Count: 3,035
Starring: Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Hudson, Jason Sudeikis
Buzz:
The early reviews for Mother’s Day are horrendous. The comments on social media haven’t been much better. While Valentine’s Day was successful, New Year’s Eve was not. The ensemble cast built around a holiday might not be as desirable as director Garry Marshall envisions but if these films continue to have even moderate success at the box office, we could see Flag Day at some point.
3 Things to Know:
- Mother’s Day was filmed in Atlanta.
- Critic Richard Roeper referred to the movie as a “crapfest” in his review.
- Marshall does plan on continuing the “obscure holiday” series of ensemble messes.
See the Trailer:
MHT Hot Take:
Skip it! Garry Marshall must be stopped!
Ratchet & Clank
Theater Count: 2,891
Starring: (The Voices of) James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Paul Giamatti, Rosario Dawson, Bella Thorne, Sylvester Stallone, John Goodman
Buzz:
Knowing it’s niche appeal, Ratchet & Clank has focused it’s efforts on it’s demographic and specific audience. The original game came out in 2002 so there is a contention that maybe this movie is too little, too late. However, the series does feature double digit incarnations of the titular characters and a recently released PS4 game.
3 Things to Know:
- An original alphabet was created for the film.
- There are references to other Sony Playstation franchises in the film including Sly Cooper and Jak and Daxter.
- Director Kevin Munroe suggests you stay until the very end of the credits.
See the Trailer:
Movie Hot Take:
Skip it! Video games converted to movies have a terrible track record and it’s not like everyone has been clamoring for a Ratchet & Clank movie.
Term Life
Theater Count: 50
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Hailee Steinfeld, Jon Favreau, Taraji P. Henson, Terrence Howard, Bill Paxton
See the Trailer:
MHT Hot Take:
See it! Vaughn looks to be back to a more familiar role than his odd turn in season 2 of True Detective (which had no shot to win over the audience after Season 1) and we’re glad to see Jon Favreau took time away from the green screen of The Jungle Book to join his longtime on-screen partner at least for a little bit.
The Man Who Knew Infinity
Theater Count: 6
Starring: Dev Patel, Jeremy Irons
See the Trailer:
MHT Hot Take:
See it! One of those platform releases you’ll probably not see until it ends up on your streaming service but it will eventually be worth a watch.
Eva Hesse
Theater Count: 1
See the Trailer:
Movie Hot Take:
Skip it! Being unfamiliar with Eva Hesse prior to hearing of this film, the trailer for this documentary did not inspire a desire to want to know more.
Box Office Recap (April 22nd)
- The Jungle Book ($61,538,821) MHT Forecast #1 at $68.2 million
- The Huntsman: Winter’s War ($19,445,035) MHT Forecast #2 at $24 million
- Barbershop: The Next Cut ($10,518,254) MHT Forecast #3 at $11.5 million
- Zootopia ($6,579,545) MHT Forecast #5 at $4.4 million
- The Boss ($6,228,205) MHT Forecast #4 at $5.3 million
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($5,502,033) MHT Forecast #6 at $4.3 million
- Criminal ($3,116,777) MHT Forecast #8 at $1.9 million
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ($2,096,025) MHT Forecast #9 at $1.7 million
- Compadres ($1,397,434) MHT Forecast #10 at $1.1 million
- Eye in the Sky ($1,204,335) MHT Forecast #13 at $0.9 million
After a stellar week two weeks ago, last week’s calls were a little off. Most of the forecasts were too low as the audiences pulled away by The Jungle Book returned to other movies.
Box Office Predictions for April 29th Weekend:
- The Jungle Book ($40,400,000)
- Keanu ($20,000,000)
- The Huntsman: Winter’s War ($9,800,000)
- Mother’s Day ($9,300,000)
- Ratchet & Clank ($6,100,000)
- Barbershop: The Next Cut ($4,700,000)
- Zootopia ($4,300,000)
- The Boss ($3,400,000)
- Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($2,900,000)
- Criminal ($1,300,000)
Green Room ($1.2 million), My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ($1.1 million), A Hologram for the King ($1.0 million), Compadres ($850k), Eye in the Sky ($730,000)
We’re much higher on Keanu than most around these parts but it won’t come close to The Jungle Book. Mother’s Day and Ratchet & Clank might be optimistic, too.
Want to play along yourself? Check out Fantasy Movie League! (MHT is not affiliated with FML in any way… just a fan!)