Has May been left behind?
For the last 20 years, May has been the unofficial
start of the Summer movie season. Or more specifically, the first weekend of
May has marked the beginning. It started with The Mummy's big opening in
1999, but really, it was Spider-Man in 2002 obliterating the opening
weekend box office record on that first weekend in May that changed things.
Before that, the Summer season started more nebulously, sometimes Memorial Day
weekend or even into June. Since then, Marvel in particular has staked a claim
to that first May weekend to open the first big hit of the Summer (Spider-Man,
X2, Spider-Man 3, Iron Man, X-Men Origins: Wolverine,
Iron Man 2, Thor, The Avengers, Iron Man 3, The
Amazing Spider-Man 2, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America:
Civil War, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2). Every studio would take
the next weekend off, except for some counter-programming releases, then that
third weekend, more potential blockbusters would start popping up before a
crowded Memorial Day weekend. June and July were still bigger overall, but May
felt like an intergral part of the Summer box office season. Well, thanks to
the success from early releases of Fast and Furious movies in April,
Marvel tried out releasing Avengers: Infinity War in April last year. It
made more than any of the May releases ever had, so they moved Avengers:
Endgame into late April as well. Now May is a month without an anchor. May
2019 still looks plenty busy. There are plenty of second tier blockbuster
types* being released (Detective Pikachu, John Wick 3). Disney is
still determined to get a Memorial Day hit, despite their awful luck in that
spot**. So, I'm looking forward to this May but not with the same excitement
that I used to have.
*"Second tier" refers to their box office
potential, not their quality.
**A quick refresher.
Memorial Day Weekend 2018: Solo: A Star Wars Story opened with $103 million on a
massive $275 million budget that was probably even more than that.
Memorial Day Weekend 2017: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
opened with only $62 million despite carrying a $230 million budget.
Memorial Day Weekend 2016: Alice Through The Looking Glass opened in 2nd with
only $26 million despite costing $170 million.
Memorial Day Weekend 2015: Tomorrowland opened at $33 million against a $190
million production cost.
As is my new format, here are the top 10 May
releases I'm looking forward to. Then at the end, I'll add a quick thought or
two about all the other nationwide releases this month, because I never pass
up a chance to give an uneducated take about a movie.
Two graduating high school girls realize they did
nothing with their high school years and decide to make up for that over one
crazy night.
Working For It: This is girl Superbad. Yes, yes, yes! I'm all in!
I'm a fan of Kaitlyn Dever (Justified) and Beanie Feldstein (Lady
Bird, Neighbors 2) in everything I've seen them in. They would be great in
a buddy comedy. Since I heard about this after Sundance, it's been the movie
I've been looking forward to the most (behind Star Wars, of course).
Working Against It: I'm slightly concerned about Olivia Wilde as a director.
This is her first feature film. She doesn't have much history working behind
the scenes (In terms of credits, at least). More importantly, her history as a
performer doesn't feature much comedy. Even in a comedy movie/show, she's never
been the one driving the comedy. This may not be a problem at all. From everything
I've heard, this is great. This just isn't the kind of movie I'd expect from
her in her debut.
2. Long Shot (May 3rd)
A Secratary for State running for President falls
for the man she used to babysit: a journalist she hires to be her speechwriter.
Working For It: This has been billed as an inverted Pretty Woman,
which my gut tells me is a misrepresentation. What I do expect is that Seth
Rogen and Charlize Theron will be funny playing off each other, and the
supporting cast will make me laugh too.
Working Against It: I'm mixed on director Jonathan Levine. I loved 50/50
and The Night Before. I hated Snatched. I was underwhelmed by Warm
Bodies. In other words, I like when he works with Seth Rogen, so hopefully
this keeps that pattern going.
3. John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (May 17th)
John Wick tries to stay alive with a world of
assassins after him.
Working For It: It's a simple formula: Keanu Reeves fights a bunch of
assassins in creative and entertaining ways. The execution of these stunt
sequences are top notch. The cast is fun and eclectic. These aren't deep
movies, nor do they need to be.
Working Against It: The escalation from 1 to 2 diluted the formula some.
Chapter 3 may do so as well. At what point do they get too bloated?
4. Detective Pikachu (May 10th)
A talking Pikachu in a noir mystery tries to find
the boy her belongs to.
Working For It: Until I'm sitting in the theater watching it, I'm going
to think this movie is one elaborate hoax. Everything about it -
"live-action" Pokemon, a Pokemon detective story, Ryan Reynolds
voicing a sarcastic Pikachu, a talking Pikachu - is just weird enough to work.
Working Against It: As I said, I don't know that I believe this movie
exists. That also means I'm immediately suspicious about if it could work or
not. The director isn't responsible for any movies I've liked very much. Also,
holy shit! 13 writing credits listed on IMDB. Even subtracting all the creator
credits for the game and animated series, that's 4 writers with separate
credits.
5. Tolkien [Limited] (May 10th)
A biopic about the life of J.R.R. Tolkien.
Working For It: Much like Goodbye Christopher Robin, I'll be
seeing this for the cast; namely, Nicholas Hoult and Lily Collins. It's a Fox
Searchlight movie. I generally trust that brand. And I'm curious how much this
will visually reference the Lord of the Rings movies. Based on the
trailer, it looks like the answer is "a lot".
Working Against It: The release date tells me that Fox Searchlight realized
it wouldn't be an awards player. I don't know the director or writers from much
of anything.
6. Aladdin (May 24th)
A live-action Adaptation of Aladdin.
Working For It: Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Maleficent,
The Jungle Book. Disney has done well with these live-action
adaptations. Aladdin is perhaps the most action-packed option they have.
Director Guy Richie has his problems, but action normally isn't one of them.
Done right, this could be quite thrilling.
Working Against It: I'm not against Will Smith as the Genie on principle. I
don't get the fuss about the footage they've released so far. (So what if he's
blue). I just worry that this version won't account for how much of the
original worked because of Robin Williams. That is the quintissential Robin
Williams performance and it provided a perfect counter-balance for the action
and the romance. If this movie fails, I think a lot of it will fall on Smith,
just because he'll be asked to do too much. I'm optimistic about the movie
though.
7. The Hustle (May 10th)
Two female hustlers team up for a big con.
Working For It: I'm on an Anne Hathaway high after how terrific she was
in Ocean's Eight last year. She can bring a lot of that to this
performance, which is great. Rebel Wilson tends to be as good as her co-star is
at matching her energy. I think Hathaway is a good match. This is an adaptation
of the Steve Martin/Michael Caine movie Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which I
really like. Oh, and the director of this previously directed episodes of both Veep
and The Thick of It. I'm optimistic that this will hit the right tone.
Working Against It: No one here is without blemishes. Rebel Wilson can
trample over a weak director. Anne Hathaway has been known to go too big. This
is the director's first feature film and the writer is suspiciously green.
These mid-May comedies every year are a mixed bag. Sometimes they're Snatched.
Other times they're Pitch Perfect 2.
8. Brightburn (May 24th)
An alien child mysteriously lands near a farm and is
adopted by the couple who lives there. As he grows up, it's clear that
something isn't right with him. He's dangerous, but to whom?
Working For It: I like the idea of "what is the worst case-scenario
for the Superman origin?" This is being heavily advertised using James
Gunn's name. While he only produced the movie, it looks like it was made by a
bunch of his friends and family. I assume this is not a name-only producer
credit. This is an exciting leading role for Elizabeth Banks who, despite being
in virtually all TV shows and movies for 2 decades, doesn't have a lot of good
lead roles. This looks fun and creepy and scary.
Working Against It: Fair or not, I keep thinking back to Midnight Special
from a couple years ago. That was also a dark and mysterious movie revolving
around a yound child with powers. It underwhelmed me, so now I'm suspicious of
this one.
9. All Is True [Limited] (May 10th)
The retirement years of William Shakespeare.
Working For It: At this point, Kenneth Brannaugh is leaning into how
people look at him anyway. He's played virtually every Shakespeare protagonist
at this point. He even played Sir Laurence Olivier in a movie: a man who built
a career in largely the same way as Brannaugh. Playing Shakespeare in a movie
is only natural. And I'm not against the idea of him playing off Judi Dench and
Ian McKellen for 90 minutes.
Working Against It: This was a dark horse Oscar candidate last year that
they delayed until now. That normally indicates the studio didn't have faith in
it. I worry that this is going to be high-minded literary fan fiction that will
only appeal to the most diehard Shakespeare fans.
Well, this isn't at all surprising. Ad Astra has been abruptly removed from the schedule. No release date has been set yet.
Other Nationwide Releases
Uglydolls (May 3rd)
An animated movie about ugly dolls is some sort of
doll factory where there's a talent competition, or something. All I know is
that Kelly Clarkson (she's so nice) has the lead role and several songs, so
I'll be seeing this, even though I have no excitment for the movie.
El Chicano (May 3rd)
A latino cop becomes a street vigilante when the
regular law enforcement isn't enough. The fact that I've heard nothing about
this before now is why I won't be checking it out. However, I do like Raul
Castillo.
The Intruder (May 3rd)
A young couple is terrorized by the man who used to
live in the house they just bought in this very on-brand ScreenGems thriller. I
do like Megan Good, and Dennis Quaid is delightfully overqualified as the
menacing neighbor. So, that's something in its favor.
Poms (May 10th)
Women at a retirement home start a cheerleading team
in this spiritual sequel to last year's Book Club. I'm not the target
audience, but I do like the idea of a lot of older actresses that Hollywood has
mostly left behind (Diane Keaton, Pam Grier, Jacki Weaver, etc.) getting a
nationwide release like this.
A Dog's Journey (May 17th)
A direct sequel to A Dog's Purpose that
abandons all pretense of plausibility. Who am I kidding? I'll probably see this
and complain about it for being exactly the kind of emotionally manipulative
movie I expected.
The Sun Is Also A Star (May 17th)
A young woman falls for a boy right before she's set
to be deported. It's a YA drama that I have no desire to see, but I'm totally
fine if this is the first step to Yara Shahidi becoming a star.
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