To See or Not To See – April 8th: The Boss, Hardcore Henry, Demolition & Mr. Right

According to MTV, Melissa McCarthy is a “Comedic Genius” and will be showing off that genius this week. At the very least, she might send the Son of Krypton and Bat of Gotham out of the top spot at the box office. We”ll see if she shows Batman and Superman who the boss really is this weekend.  We also have a first-person shooter (wait… that’s a movie?), a Jake Gyllenhaal movie which means I have to Google how to spell “Gyllenhaal” and Anna Kendrick as that character Anna Kendrick plays in pretty much every movie she’s been in before. All that and box office predictions for the weekend of April 8th:

The Boss
Theater Count: 3,482
Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell

Buzz:

It’s hard to argue The Boss as a cinematic masterpiece but then again neither were Identity Thief, The Heat, Tammy or Spy. Okay, Spy was nominated for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy but, come on, they actually nominated The Martian in this category, too. (That is not saying The Martian isn’t a great movie… but comedy? Really?) It’s a fairly standard role for Melissa McCarthy so even though it doesn’t look like more than a nice humorous escape, it’s hard to imagine it tanking. The movie is heavily advertised on TV and well positioned online and in social media. Plus, there’s McCarthy receiving the well-timed “Comedic Genius” Award at the upcoming MTV Movie Awards on Sunday.

3 Things to Know:

• The film is co-written and directed by McCarthy’s husband Ben Falcone who also co-wrote and directed Tammy
• The original title of the film was Michelle Darnell but was changed to The Boss in September
• McCarthy’s Darnell in The Boss has been frequently compared to a fictional female version of Donald Trump

See the Trailer:

Required Viewing:

None

Optional Past Viewing:

MHT Hot Take:

See it! McCarthy’s films are always good for some laughs. Typically crude and vulgar laughs but laughs nonetheless.

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Hardcore Henry
Theater Count: 3,015
Starring: You! (Not really but check out the trailer!)

Buzz:

The GoPro action flick. The first FPS movie. Stop the movie, I’m going to be sick! Welcome to filmmaking in 2016. STX Entertainment’s fourth film follows an out-of-nowhere hit thriller (The Gift), an American remake of a Best Foreign Language Film winner (The Secret in Their Eyes) and a horror film about a boy named Brahms who is a doll (The Boy). While Hardcore Henry isn’t getting a ton of talk in the mainstream media, it’s audience is probably more susceptible to ads online and via social media and that’s where it is thriving. At 3,000+ theaters, STX could have another solid performer on it’s hands.

3 Things to Know:

• The film was shot almost entirely with GoPro 3 Hero cameras
• Originally titled Hardcore, it won the Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival
• The concept was derived from music videos shot by director Ilya Naishuller for his band, Biting Elbows

See the Trailer:

Required Viewing:

None

Optional Past Viewing:

MHT Hot Take:

Take some Dramamine and see it! This could be an absolute disaster but it’s different and we like different because if we don’t embrace different, we get crappy ensemble flicks centered around some ridiculous holiday.

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Demolition
Theater Count: 854
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper

Buzz:

An indie film with a wide limited release and the acting talent of Jake Gyllenhaal won’t be a big force at the box office but might be strong enough to finally help push Deadpool out of the top 10. The trailer has been around for some time but the movie is getting lukewarm reviews. The Tomatometer is barely over 50% as of this writing BUT that’s still higher than the two wide releases coming out. It should grab the Gyllenhaal following and some of the art house crowd.

See the Trailer:

Required Viewing:

None

Optional Past Viewing:

MHT Hot Take:

See it! Gyllenhaal is now on the “must see” list until further notice after Southpaw. It took a little longer for MHT to come around but his presence alone is enough for the price of admission.

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Mr. Right
Theater Count: 35
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Sam Rockwell

Buzz:

Max Landis’ writing is an acquired taste. After last year’s American Ultra and Victor Frankenstein, it’s safe to say the box office hasn’t quite acquired that taste. On 35 screens, it’s fairly unlikely Mr. Right sees the light of day when it comes to any sort of real screen count.

3 Things to Know:

• The movie was filmed in New Orleans in 7 weeks
• Mr. Right was the closing film at the Toronto International Film Festival
• Tim Roth has a supporting role in both this and Hardcore Henry

See the Trailer:

Required Viewing:

None

Optional Past Viewing:

MHT Hot Take:

Skip it! We’re recommending to see everything else this week… something has to get skipped. Mr. Right? More like Mr. Not Right Now!

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Box Office Recap (April 1)

1. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($51,335,254) MHT Forecast #1 at $59 million
2. Zootopia ($19,325,291) MHT Forecast #2 at $17 million
3. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ($11,218,055) MHT Forecast #4 at $10.8 million
4. God’s Not Dead 2 ($7,623,662) MHT Forecast #3 at $14.3 million
5. Miracles from Heaven ($7,255,566) MHT Forecast #5 at $6.5 million
6. The Divergent Series: Allegiant ($5,763,227) MHT Forecast #6 at $4.5 million
7. 10 Cloverfield Lane ($4,564,126) MHT Forecast #8 at $3.3 million
8. Meet the Blacks ($4,055,940) MHT Forecast #10 at $3 million
9. Eye in Sky ($3,961,556) MHT Forecast #7 at $3.6 million
10. Deadpool ($3,456,595) MHT Forecast #9 at $3.2 million

There was some small wins and some losses in last week’s predictions. We knew Batman v Superman would be down and under $60 million but not that far down. We expected Zootopia to rebound nicely and it did even better than expected. Same for almost every other film on the list with the exception of God’s Not Dead 2 which we missed completely.

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Box Office Predictions for April 8th Weekend:

1. The Boss ($22,000,000)
2. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($20,000,000)
3. Zootopia ($12,400,000)
4. Hardcore Henry ($11,800,000)
5. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ($6,850,000)
6. Miracles from Heaven ($4,580,000)
7. God’s Not Dead 2 ($4,400,000)
8. The Divergent Series: Alegiant ($3,200,000)
9. Demolition ($2,950,000)
10. Eye in the Sky ($2,610,000)

Deadpool ($2.41m), 10 Cloverfield Lane ($2.29m), Meet the Blacks ($2.07m), Hello, My Name is Doris ($1.62m), London Has Fallen ($1m)

At least one of the three releases pops this week and MHT thinks all three will have a solid week with The Boss knocking off Batman v Superman for the top spot. Late reviews coming in on Hardcore Henry have all been negative after initial positive reviews but it wouldn’t take much for it to break $10 million.

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