Dump month is done, the Super Bowl is over and now it’s time to get back to some serious Box Office contenders. Here are this week’s releases:
Deadpool
Theater Count: 3,557
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Gina Carano, T.J. Miller
Buzz:
Deadpool has been a marketing machine. From billboards to Super Bowl ads, it’s kind of hard to avoid. Ryan Reynolds is enough to make it an acceptable Valentine’s Day weekend date and Thursday sneak preview showings are already selling out. Expect this to be a huge box office success.
3 Things to Know:
- Based on the Deadpool comic
- Joins the expanding the Marvel Comic Universe
- R-rated
See the Trailer:
Required Viewing:
None
Optional Past Viewing:
MHT Hot Take:
See it! Be warned, Ryan Reynolds was in Green Lantern, R.I.P.D., already screwed up Deadpool once (in X-Men Origins: Wolverine) and couldn’t make it work with Scarlett Johansson.
How to Be Single
Theater Count: 3,343
Starring: Rebel Wilson, Dakota Johnson, Alison Brie, Leslie Mann
Buzz:
Didn’t Sisters take the same route by dropping the same day as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and get slaughtered? Maybe How to Be Single will do better than Sisters but it faces fierce competition against Deadpool and will single women head to the theaters on Valentine’s Day weekend? This feels like bad timing.
3 Things to Know:
- Rebel Wilson is not Melissa McCarthy
- Dakota Johnson may or may not be a cardboard cut-out
- The Harry Potter joke is inaccurate (the sorting hat decides, not the headmaster)
See the Trailer:
Required Viewing:
None
Optional Past Viewing:
MHT Hot Take:
See it? How to Be Single looks like it could be a guilty pleasure or an absolute disaster. At some point, Rebel Wilson’s act of saying ridiculous, obscene things will not be funny and it’s hard to imagine Dakota Johnson ever not being the girl who can’t act from 50 Shades of Grey. However, even in bad movies, Leslie Mann is enjoyable and Alison Brie is captivating.
Zoolander 2
Theater Count: 3,300
Starring: Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson, Kristen Wiig, Benedict Cumberbatch, Penelope Cruz
Buzz:
Fans of Zoolander really wanted a sequel… 15 years ago. Are they still up for more of the same from the first movie? Early reviews are poor and theaters aren’t filling up early. Those who are sold out of at least have another option.
3 Things to Know:
- The sequel has been in the works for 10 years
- Ben Stiller directs (again)
- Justin Bieber cameos
See the Trailer:
Required Viewing:
Optional Past Viewing:
MHT Hot Take:
Not see it! There’s plenty of other options right now and if you’ve waited this long, you can wait a few months to rent it or stream it at home.
Where to Invade Next
Theater Count: 300
Starring: Michael Moore
Buzz:
At this point, you either love Michael Moore or hate him. There’s probably no one on the fence. This will do as well as documentaries do at theaters. It’ll be less than previous efforts since this Moore documentary doesn’t have Columbine or 9/11 hot buttons to thrust it into the limelight.
3 Things to Know:
- Moore tried fiction once: Canadian Bacon (1995)
- Moore is a Bernie Sanders supporter
- Where to Invade Next was eligible to be nominated for an Oscar in 2015 but did not make the cut
See the Trailer:
Required Viewing:
None
Optional Past Viewing:
MHT Hot Take:
See it! While they may lean one way more than another, Moore’s documentaries really make you think. After How to Be Single and Zoolander 2, you may need to reactivate your brain.
Providence
Theater Count: 7
Starring: Juli Tapken, Rich Swingle
Buzz:
Very little. Looks like a 2015 throwaway trying to capitalize on the timing of Valentine’s Day.
3 Things to Know:
- The tagline is “A love story 40 years in the making…”
- Writer/director Sharon Wilharm’s first film was Flowers for Fannie, it has 0 critic’s reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
- The film’s setting is Providence, Tennessee
See the Trailer:
Required Viewing:
None
Optional Past Viewing:
MHT Hot Take:
Not see it… Even if you wanted to, good luck finding it (and don’t expect it to go wide at any point).