Gerald’s Game – All My Life… I Wanted To Be A Blogster

Silver Linings Playbook. 12 Years a Slave. The Imitation Game. Room. La La Land. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Green Book. Jojo Rabbit. Nomadland. Belfast. The Fabelmans. American Fiction. What do those films have in common? They are the last 12 recipients of the Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award. Another commonality? Every one of them was nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Three (Slave, Green Book, Nomadland) won the top prize.

The surprise victor of People’s Choice at TIFF this morning is Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck. Based on a novella by Stephen King, it finds the writer/director once again adapting the legendary author as he’s previously done with Gerald’s Game and Doctor Sleep. Chuck is said to be more of crowdpleaser sci-fi drama. Tom Hiddleston, Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, and Jacob Tremblay lead the ensemble.

Chuck managed to outpace runners-up Anora and Emilia Pérez (both expected BP hopefuls) in Toronto. With the stats given above, Chuck has immediately entered the awards chat. That said, there are issues to consider before placing it in your BP ten.

First and foremost, Chuck has yet to acquire a stateside distributor. That will surely occur quickly. Yet we don’t know at press time whether it will release in 2024. If it does, it’s hard to argue with the power of TIFF’s biggest trophy. In 2023, American Fiction essentially became a contender in Canada and went onto 5 Academy nods with an Adapted Screenplay victory.

With 88% on Rotten Tomatoes and 66 on Metacritic, Flanagan’s flick is generating nice notices. Frankly, though, I wasn’t really considering it a true contender until this TIFF announcement.

So what are Chuck‘s prospects now? In addition to Picture, Director and especially Adapted Screenplay are in the mix. If there’s an acting play, it might be Luke Skywalker himself Mark Hamill in supporting. If it continues to gain momentum, Editing, Original Score, and Visual Effects might be down ballot categories to keep an eye on. Toronto has potentially brought good luck to Chuck. It hasn’t been mentioned in my forecasts before. This will change at the next update later this week. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Doctor Sleep hopes to shine at the box office next weekend. The horror pic is not just an adaptation of Stephen King’s 2013 novel, which is the legendary author’s sequel to his 1977 work The Shining. It also serves as a follow-up to Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 classic. Mike Flanagan, who’s adapted King before with Netflix’s Gerald’s Game, is behind the camera. Ewan McGregor stars as Dan Torrance, the adult version of the child that Jack Nicholson tormented almost 40 years ago. Costars include Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran, Carl Lumbly, Bruce Greenwood, and Cliff Curtis.

There’s no doubt that the cinematic version of The Shining has cemented its status as a genre landmark (even though King himself is famously not a big fan). The author has praised this and early word of mouth based off screenings is positive.

That said, 39 years is a long time ago. Interestingly, there’s a comp to be considered with 2017’s Blade Runner 2049. That sequel was also following an early 80s picture with a sterling reputation. Yet it came in well below expectations with a $31.5 million domestic premiere. Horror viewers tend to skew young, so it’s a legitimate question as to their affinity for the 1980 predecessor.

With all that considered, I’ll predict the Doctor is good for a mid 20s showing. This might be appointment viewing for some, but I’m skeptical it reaches over $30 million.

Doctor Sleep opening weekend prediction: $24.8 million