To See or Not to See – April 22nd: The Huntsman: Winter’s War, A Hologram for the King, Elvis & Nixon, Compadres, The Meddler & Tale of Tales

We’re still basking in the glow of The Jungle Book this week as no one will come close to knocking it off of it’s box office thrown… not even two powerful queens. Neither will a multi-cultural action duo, Tricky Dick and the King, a holographic image being sold to a king, a meddling mom or anyone else for that matter. Even though they won’t contend for the box office crown, let’s take a look at the theatrical releases for the week of April 22nd:

The Huntsman: Winter’s War
Theater Counts: 3,791
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, Charlize Theron

Buzz:

The follow-up to the 2012 hit Snow White & the Huntsman is a prequel… and a sequel. The original wasn’t much of a critical success and it didn’t seem like audiences were that thrilled with it, either. The prequel/sequel isn’t being done any favors by early critical reviews and some are already writing it off as the first flop of the summer. We won’t go that far especially considering it’s not summer movie season yet.

3 Things to Know:

• Kristen Stewart (as Snow White) is not in the sequel and director Rupert Sanders has not returned either (the pair had a public affair during the last film)
• While Snow White is not in the film, The Huntsman attempts to pull off a prequel/sequel by first giving the backstory of The Ice Queen, the backstory of the Huntsmen and then what happened after Snow White lived happily ever after
• The budget for The Huntsman: Winter’s War was drastically reduced from the original as the prequel/sequel cost $115 million compared to the original’s $175 million price tag

See the Trailer:

Other Past Viewing:

MHT Hot Take:

Did you see the first one? See it! If not, it might be worth passing.

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A Hologram for the King
Theater Counts: 401
Starring: Tom Hanks, Tom Skerritt, Sarita Choundhury, Atheer Adel

Buzz:

It’s rare to see this kind of attention given to a small release such as A Hologram for the King. However, this limited release features Tom Hanks and it’s hard to find a time where Hanks has missed at the box office in the last decade.

3 Things to Know:

• This is one of two films coming based on novels by David Eggers (Eggers wrote the screenplay for the movie adoption of Where the Wild Things Are)
• The film was made in less than two months
• Tom Hanks was interested in the movie due to it’s low profile and worked with the director/writer (Tom Tykwer) while making Cloud Atlas

See the Trailer:

Other Past Viewing:

MHT Hot Take:

See it! Hanks is rarely in a bad film.

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Elvis & Nixon
Theater Counts: 381
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Michael Shannon, Colin Hanks

Buzz:

Originally rumored to be a wide release, Elvis & Nixon is now on less than 500 theaters. So far, the critical response is positive. The film’s tone looks humorous and the marketing is doubling down on it. The trailer is particularly absurd.

3 Things to Know:

• Michael Shannon who portrays Elvis in the film says he became an Elvis fan during the making of the movie
• Yes, the photo in question is really the most requested photo from the National Archives
• Even though this film is fast & loose with the facts, the actual story of Elvis & Nixon meeting is fairly insane

See the Trailer:

Other Past Viewing:

MHT Hot Take:

See it! It’s so ridiculous, it just might work.

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Compadres
Theater Counts: 368
Starring: Omar Chaparro, Joey Morgan, Kevin Pollak, Eric Roberts

Buzz:

Compadres opened in Mexico at the beginning of the month and lost out at the box office to only Batman v Superman (in it’s second week). As the 361st biggest opening in Mexico, it’s hard to be overwhelmingly excited about this release but it does look to be at least a little bit funny. There are very few early reviews but the response is lukewarm, at best.

See the Trailer:

MHT Hot Take:

See it? Although it would be third on the list (behind A Hologram for the King and Elvis & Nixon), Compadres is definitely a viable option this weekend.

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The Meddler
Theater Counts: 4
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne, Lucy Punch, J.K. Simmons, Jason Ritter

Buzz:

The platform release is getting a good critical response but there were very few theatrical previews leading up to it’s release. This is probably due to the unlikelihood of theaters showing it since it’s initial release is just 4 theaters with no mention of a plan to release wider.

See the Trailer:

MHT Hot Take:

Skip it! Despite the positive reviews, this isn’t going to make the list of movies to see. If it’s as good as the early critical reviews are indicating, it’ll expand and maybe then it’s worth a look.

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Tale of Tales
Theater Counts: 2
Starring: Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, John C. Reilly, Toby Jones

Buzz:

The bizarre looking tale of three tales intertwined serves as the English language début for director Matteo Garrone. If you think bizarre is a strong word, check out the poster.

See the Trailer:

MHT Hot Take:

Skip it! This feels like a “trip over at 2am on Netflix” kind of viewing. Not that that’s a bad thing.

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Box Office Recap (April 15)

1. The Jungle Book ($103,261,464) MHT Forecast #1 at $82 million
2. Barbershop: The Next Cut ($20,242,415) MHT Forecast #2 at $22.5 million
3. The Boss ($9,958,855) MHT Forecast #3 at $13.75 million
4. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($9,028,356) MHT Forecast #5 at $9.9 million
5. Zootopia ($8,142,641) MHT Forecast #4 at $10 million
6. Criminal ($5,767,278) MHT Forecast #6 at $5.5 million
7. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ($3,258,720) MHT Forecast #7 at $3.2 million
8. Miracles from Heaven ($1,928,578) MHT Forecast #8 at $2.6 million
9. God’s Not Dead 2 ($1,877,835) MHT Forecast #10 at $1.91 million
10. Eye in the Sky ($1,553,083) MHT Forecast #11 at $1.78 million

The Jungle Book blew away projections (even though we were higher than most, high wasn’t high enough). Criminal was a bomb and we weren’t far off. Outside of The Jungle Book, box office was predictably down in general.

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Box Office Predictions for April 22nd Weekend:

1. The Jungle Book ($68,200,000)
2. The Huntsman: Winter’s War ($24,000,000)
3. Barbershop: The Next Cut ($11,500,000)
4. The Boss ($5,300,000)
5. Zootopia ($4,400,000)
6. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($4,300,000)
7. A Hologram for the King ($2,500,000)
8. Criminal ($1,900,000)
9. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ($1,700,000)
10. Compadres ($1,100,000)
    Miles Ahead ($1,100,000)
    Elvis & Nixon ($1,100,000)

Eye in the Sky ($900k), God’s Not Dead 2 ($900k), Miracles from Heaven ($700k), The Divergent Series: Allegiant ($500k)

The Jungle Book should hold well and cruise to the top spot while The Huntsman: Winter’s War won’t have the same success The Jungle Book had. Criminal should experience a steep drop with even newcomer A Hologram for the King outperforming. The other two movies — Compadres and Elvis & Nixon — and the expanding Miles Ahead could all finish in the $1.1 million range. Compadres has some breakout potential but even on 368 screens, breakout isn’t a big box office number.

Want to play along yourself? Check out Fantasy Movie League! (MHT is not affiliated with FML in any way… just a fan!)