Only one week after the release of Best Picture hopeful Black Mass, the last weekend in September arrives with three new wide releases that are not likely to make much of an impact on either the fall box office or awards season. The real story of the weekend is not the new filler about to light up your local multiplex, but rather the films that are seeing expansions this week.tonewal
Opening this week on the most screens is Hotel Transylvania 2, the new sequel from Sony Pictures Animation. After the first film was a big hit three years ago, a sequel was inevitable, and here it is. With an all-star cast led by Adam Sandler, who returns as Dracula and co-wrote the screenplay, this could very well be another hit, especially since there hasn’t been any competition for family audiences since Minions back in July. (Alas, despite rave reviews, Shaun the Sheep Movie turned out to be a non-event.) Early reviews for Hotel Transylvania 2 aren’t so good, but that didn’t hurt the first film.
Also opening is The Intern, the new comedy from writer-director Nancy Meyers (It’s Complicated). The film stars Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro, who can be so appealing and great when they’re used correctly, but that doesn’t always happen. De Niro plays a retired widower who returns to the workforce after realizing that retirement is boring and gets an internship at an online fashion site run by Hathaway. The trailer for this is appalling and painfully unfunny, so I wouldn’t expect this to be a massive hit. Reviews so far are mixed; who knows what word-of-mouth will be like. I’m not expecting much from this one.
The third and final new wide release, The Green Inferno, is both the most niche and the one that looks most interesting to me. The new horror film by Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel), Inferno has a simple setup — a group of young American activists decide to fly to South America to help save the Amazon. Alas, their plane crashes in the Peruvian rainforest, and their group is captured by a tribe of savage cannibals. This premise has the potential to be seen as incredibly racist; however, if done correctly, it could also be incredibly gory and gruesome and fun. I like Roth’s previous films, and Inferno looks like a cray-cray delight, though of course this kind of movie’s not for everyone.
This weekend, however, is most notable for Week 2 releases that are expanding into more locations. First, after an incredibly profitable first week in IMAX-only release, Everest expands wide. The big-budget disaster flick was in fifth place at the box office last weekend, despite only playing at 545 large-format locations. I’m expecting it to be a massive hit this weekend. Meanwhile, Sicario continues its platform expansion this week, opening in more theatres and inching its way nationwide, which should happen sometime in October.
In limited release, the weekend’s most controversial new film is Stonewall, the new historical drama from director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow) about the famous riots in 1969 New York that marked a major turning point in the movement for LGBT rights. Reviews are atrocious, though — the film has been condemned for reportedly white-washing history by downplaying the contributions of trans people and people of colour to this event, focusing instead on a fictional white cisgender man at the centre of things. Emmerich, an out gay man, actually said in an interview that he made the character white and “straight-acting” so that it wouldn’t make audiences uncomfortable. The LGBT community has discredited the film, and critics have torn it to pieces. I don’t know about you, but this makes me extra curious.
Also opening in limited release is 99 Homes, the long-awaited new thriller from beloved American auteur Ramin Bahrani (Chop Shop, Goodbye Solo), which actually premiered at Venice and TIFF a year ago. Starring Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon, the film examines what happens when a single father is evicted from his home and whose only option is to go to work for the man responsible for his eviction.
That’s what’s new this weekend. What are you planning to see?
