Tag: Charles Dickens

The King of Kings Box Office Prediction

Blogger’s Note (04/07): Deadline reports that Kings is already seeing nearly $8 million in pre-sales four days before its debut. Angel Studios is employing a marketing strategy which includes kids receiving a free ticket to screenings with the family. This is causing me to raise my projection from $11.4 million to a sizzling $21.4 million.

Angel Studios, which had an unexpectedly massive hit with Sound of Freedom in 2023, has witnessed mixed returns for subsequent releases. The faith-based outlet goes the animation route on April 11th via The King of Kings. Based on a children’s book, it involves Charles Dickens (voiced by Kenneth Branagh) narrating the life of Jesus (Oscar Isaac). Other performers behind the mic include Uma Thurman, Mark Hamill, Roman Griffin Davis, Forest Whitaker, and Ben Kingsley.

Will Christians and kiddos turn out? Timed for a pre-Easter premiere, it does have direct competition from The Chosen: Last Supper – Part 3, the popular show which will broadcast the final 3 episodes for season 5. There’s also the sophomore frame for A Minecraft Movie which caters to family crowds.

Like the other new releases next weekend, I think this will hover around $10 million. I’ll project it gets a little over that and it might have a heavenly hold over the holiday in its second go-round.

The King of Kings opening weekend prediction: $21.4 million

For my The Amateur prediction, click here:

The Amateur Box Office Prediction

For my Drop prediction, click here:

Drop Box Office Prediction

For my The Chosen: Last Supper – Part 3 prediction, click here:

The Chosen: Last Supper – Part 3 Box Office Prediction

For my Warfare prediction, click here:

Warfare Box Office Prediction

Oscar Predictions: Spirited

Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds, and Octavia Spencer headline Spirited, a musical comedy take on A Christmas Carol. Slated for an Apple TV rollout on November 18th, it has a limited theatrical release this Friday. Sean Anders, who collaborated with Ferrell on both Daddy’s Home pics, directs.

The brief cinematic run leaves it Oscar eligible, but don’t expect this spin on the Dickens classic to garner much attention. It is worth discussing whether the Hollywood Foreign Press Association puts it on their radar for the Golden Globes. They have Musical/Comedy designations and seeing it nominated for Picture and Actor (Ferrell or Reynolds) is feasible.

However, the current 59% Rotten Tomatoes meter is not encouraging. There are certainly years where the Musical/Comedy acting lists allow for performances from films with mixed reviews. I wouldn’t totally discount Ferrell. He’s a two-time GG hopeful in Supporting Actor for 2005’s The Producers and lead actor for Musical/Comedy for 2006’s Stranger Than Fiction. I would say the competition would need to be pretty weak for his third nod. My Oscar (and Golden Globe) prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Watch: The Personal History of David Copperfield

In the first of what will be several Oscar Watch posts from screenings at the Toronto Film Festival, we consider The Personal History of David Copperfield. Armando Iannucci serves as director for the Charles Dickens based satire with Dev Patel (Oscar nominee in 2016’s Lion) in the title role. Costars include Tilda Swinton, Hugh Laurie, Peter Capaldi, and Ben Whishaw.

The film is said to be a crowd pleaser. Iannucci has received Academy attention previously with his Original Screenplay for 2009’s In the Loop. Last year’s The Death of Stalin was considered a contender in Adapted Screenplay, though that nod never came. He’s best known stateside for creating HBO’s Veep.

While I don’t foresee Copperfield vying for Picture or any of the acting categories (though Patel is getting raves), Adapted Screenplay could be feasible. That’s with a rather large caveat. A number of the contenders in that race (The Irishman, Jojo Rabbit, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Little Women) are still unseen. That’s changing shortly and we may have a better idea whether there’s any room for this soon. My Oscar Watch posts will continue…