Surprisingly, this weekend offers only one major new release. There have been so many must-see films opening in the past month, however, that you might be grateful to have this week to catch up before the next wave of prestige films.
That one new wide release is Pan from director Joe Wright (Atonement, Anna Karenina), who is detouring from his typical historical costume drama territory straight into fairy-tale fantasy. An origin story inspired by J.M. Barrie’s original stories, Pan stars 13-year-old Australian newcomer Levi Miller as Peter Pan, Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard, and Garrett Hedlund as the future Captain Hook. The supporting cast features Rooney Mara, Amanda Seyfried, and Cara Delevingne (as a generously browed mermaid!), among others. I’m a big fan of Wright’s previous work, so I guess I’m in — but I must admit that I’m feeling quite of bit of Peter Pan fatigue. Between the Neverland arc on ABC’s Once Upon a Time, the Finding Neverland musical on Broadway, and the debacle that was NBC’s Peter Pan Live! last fall, I definitely need a break from these characters and this narrative. Early reviews are negative too. Expect this to struggle at the box office.
In limited release, Trash finally opens in North America, one year after it premiered to audiences in Brazil, and nine months after opening in the UK. The new drama from director Stephen Daldry (The Hours, The Reader) takes place in Brazil, where three boys from the slums of Rio de Janeiro discover a wallet at a garbage dump and quickly find themselves on the run from the police. Filmed mostly in Portuguese, the film’s only English-speaking actors are Rooney Mara and Martin Sheen. I’ve seen every one of Daldry’s films, and this one seems intriguing to me. Reviews have been fairly positive. Let’s see if this can find an audience.
The “biggest” title opening this weekend, though, is Steve Jobs — the prestige biopic that is currently getting deafening Best-Picture-frontrunner buzz. From director Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire) and writer Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network), the film stars Michael Fassbender as Steve Jobs, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, and Jeff Daniels. Ever since it premiered at this year’s Telluride Film Festival, Steve Jobs has inspired rave reviews and non-stop chatter. I, for one, can’t wait to see it (and not just because I’m a life-long, die-hard Winslet fanatic). For now, it’s only playing in four theatres, so you may have to wait a few weeks to see it as it gradually expands into wide release (and it WILL).
Finally, after one week in IMAX-only release, Robert Zemeckis’s The Walk expands wide. This roll-out plan didn’t work out too well for Everest last month — maybe this film will be luckier?
What are your movie plans for the weekend?
