Oscar Predictions: Swapped

Animated fantasy Swapped is streaming on Netflix today from Nathan Greno, best known for co-directing Disney’s Tangled. The body swap tale features Michael B. Jordan in a voiceover role and this is notably his first project since last year’s Oscar juggernaut Sinners and its record 16 nominations (including Jordan’s Best Actor victory). Other thespians behind the mic include Juno Temple, Tracy Morgan, Cedric the Entertainer, and Justina Machado.

The review embargo lifted on the same day of release. While some critics are praising the animation itself, write-ups aren’t overly wowed with the final results. Rotten Tomatoes is at 60% with 52 on Metacritic. Those numbers indicate the combined number of Academy mentions for Sinners and Swapped will be 16 as I don’t see this is a threat in Best Animated Feature. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die Box Office Prediction

Mixing sci-fi with action and comedy, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die is out over the long Valentine’s/President’s Day weekend. It will try and carve its niche among a handful of newcomers. Gore Verbinski, known to many moviegoers as the maker of Pirates of the Caribbean entries 1-3, is behind the camera for the first time in nearly a decade since A Cure for Wellness. Sam Rockwell headlines with Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, Asim Chaudhry, Tom Taylor, and Juno Temple providing support.

Fun was initially screened at Fantastic Fest last fall and early reviews are fresh with 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 78 Metacritic. Despite the praise, this could face tough odds finding a significant audience. I do have it debuting slightly higher than Cold Storage which will compete for a similar demographic. However, getting to $5 million for over four-day might be a tall order.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die opening weekend prediction: $3.5 million (Friday to Sunday); $4 million (Friday to Monday)

For my Wuthering Heights prediction, click here:

Wuthering Heights Box Office Prediction

For my Goat prediction, click here:

Goat Box Office Prediction

For my Crime 101 prediction, click here:

Crime 101 Box Office Prediction

For my Cold Storage prediction, click here:

Cold Storage Box Office Prediction

Roofman Box Office Prediction

Channing Tatum plays a real life robber using unconventional break-in methods in the dramedy Roofman. The Paramount release is out October 10th with Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines) directing. Kirsten Dunst costars with a supporting cast including Ben Mendelsohn, LaKeith Stanfield, Juno Temple, Melonie Diaz, Uzo Abuba, Lily Collias, Jimmy O. Yang and Peter Dinklage.

After premiering at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this month, reviews were mostly complimentary with 82% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 65 Metacritic. However, the buzz wasn’t strong enough to get in the awards conversation.

Roofman will rely solely on Tatum’s drawing power, but plenty of viewers may wait until streaming options are available. The ceiling for this could be $10 million (which would be an admirable result). I think mid single digits is where it lands.

Roofman opening weekend prediction: $5.8 million

For my Tron: Ares prediction, click here:

Tron: Ares Box Office Prediction

For my Kiss of the Spider Woman prediction, click here:

Kiss of the Spider Woman Box Office Prediction

Oscar Predictions: Roofman

Before it drops in theaters on October 10th, Roofman has played the Toronto Film Festival. While reactions aren’t through the first portion of its title, they’re overwhelmingly positive. Based on the true story of a military man turned thief, Channing Tatum headlines the dramedy with Kirsten Dunst as his love interest. Costars include Ben Mendelsohn, Peter Dinklage, Uzo Abuda, Juno Temple, Emory Cohen, Melonie Diaz, and LaKeith Stanfield.

While this seems like an unconventional choice for Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines director Derek Cianfrance, critics are mostly thumbing it up. Rotten Tomatoes is at 90% with 74 on Metacritic. Some reviews are saying this is a career best performance from Tatum and complimenting the chemistry with Dunst. They could both be long shots for Academy attention. If Paramount slots this in Musical/Comedy instead of Drama (sounds like both are feasible) and campaigns Dunst in Best Actress as opposed to supporting at the Golden Globes, the odds could be improved for that ceremony. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Oscar Predictions – Venom: The Last Dance

Tom Hardy and his title character alter ego are back for the third and allegedly final time when Venom: The Last Dance hits multiplexes this weekend. The only sub franchise in the Spider-Man Universe doing brisk business and producing sequels (sorry Morbius and Madame Web), Kelly Marcel directs. The supporting cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach, and Stephen Graham.

Critics haven’t been overly kind to Hardy and company. Part 1 from 2018 managed only 30% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 35 on Metacritic. 2021 follow-up Venom: Let There Be Carnage fared better with 57% on RT and a 49 Metacritic. Dance is currently falling between those numbers with a 41% Tomato meter and 42 on MC.

Even though Hardy gives it his bonkers all in this series, don’t put money down on a Best Actor nomination unless you plan to lose. As I wrote three years ago with Carnage, Visual Effects is really the only awards play. Neither of Dance‘s predecessors nabbed a nod in VE and I wouldn’t expect this one to contend. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Venom: The Last Dance Box Office Prediction

Tom Hardy is back in the dual roles of Eddie Brock and his sadistic otherworldly symbiote on October 25th with Venom: The Last Dance. The third entry in the franchise that began in 2018, Dance marks the directorial debut of Kelly Marcel. She co-wrote the original and solely penned the 2021 sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage. The supporting cast includes Chiwetel Ejiofor, Juno Temple, Rhys Ifans, Peggy Lu, Alanna Ubach, and Stephen Graham.

Six years back, Venom exceeded expectations with an $80 million opening weekend and $213 million total domestically. Three years later, forecasters assumed Carnage wouldn’t match up due to COVID complications. That turned out to be incorrect as the sequel amassed $90 million out of the gate. Its final stateside gross (rather remarkably) was also $213 million.

Bottom line: don’t underestimate this subsection of the Spider-Man Universe franchise. While Morbius and Madame Web struggled for eyeballs, I envision this premiering similarly to its predecessors. It may not match what came before, but low to mid 60s seems doable.

Venom: The Last Dance opening weekend prediction: $62.3 million

For my Conclave prediction, click here:

Conclave Box Office Prediction

Oscar Watch: Palmer

I’m sad to report that Palmer starring Justin Timberlake does not feature the pop superstar playing 1980s “Addicted to Love” crooner Robert Palmer (that would be pretty sweet). Instead the drama (streaming on Apple TV this Friday) casts JT as a former felon caring for a young boy. Fisher Stevens directs with a supporting cast featuring Juno Temple, Ryder Allen, Alisha Wainwright, and June Squibb.

As of late, Timberlake has mostly focused on his music efforts. His acting credits in recent years has primarily consisted of voice work in the Trolls franchise. Some critics have praised his performance here, but the 56% Rotten Tomatoes score indicates this won’t be an awards contender.

Bottom line: Palmer doesn’t have the look of a late breaking Academy hopeful and it should be easy for voters to simply resist it. My Oscar Watch posts will continue…

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil Box Office Prediction

The cavalcade of 2019 Disney live-action reimaginings continues next weekend with Maleficent: Mistress of Evil. The fantasy adventure is the sequel to 2014’s Maleficent, which focused on the villainous title character from Sleeping Beauty. Angelina Jolie returns along with Elle Fanning, Sam Riley, Imelda Staunton, Juno Temple, and Lesley Manville. Newcomers to the fold include Chiwetel Ejiofor, Ed Skrein, and Michelle Pfeiffer. Joachim Rønning (who recently co-directed the Mouse Factory’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) takes over for Robert Stromberg.

When it comes to comps for how Mistress might perform, that’s a tricky calculation. Since the release of part 1 five summers ago, there’s been eight Disney updates of their classic animated material. The last two from this summer (Aladdin and The Lion King) were massive blockbusters based on beloved 1990s pics. This spring’s Dumbo, on the other hand, premiered with a so-so $45 million.

What about Maleficent itself? It opened just under $70 million with a $241 million eventual domestic haul. Yet five years is a fairly long break between sequels and some of the kiddos who attended could take a pass here. That brings up the example of Alice in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass. In 2010, Wonderland was the first significant reimagining in several years. It debuted to $116 million. Six years later, Looking Glass was a huge flop and earned in the mid 20s for its start. For a non Disney example, Snow White and the Huntsman kicked off with a robust $56 million in 2012. Four years, its follow-up The Huntsman: Winter’s War sputtered with a meager $19.4 million.

While I don’t anticipate the drop-off here will be quite as dramatic as the last two scenarios, I do feel Evil will come in markedly lower than its predecessor. I’ll predict low to mid 30s could be the range and that means around half of the bounty from half a decade ago.

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil opening weekend prediction: $32.3 million

For my Zombieland: Double Tap prediction, click here:

Zombieland: Double Tap Box Office Prediction

Unsane Movie Review

In Steven Soderbergh’s cinematic world, the mental health and pharmaceutical industries come with even more side effects than the lengthy list we hear following commercials. They come with frequent plot twists, relationships ending in blood spattered bursts, and the stylistic flourishes we’ve come to expect from the director. This was explored first in 2013’s Side Effects and it’s continued now with Unsane.

This is a nasty little low-budget psychological thriller that saves much of its venom toward the cure for wellness empire and insurance game that benefits from it. It’s also a traditional stalker tale unless that aspect is all in our lead’s head. Part of the mystery is finding that out, for a bit.

Claire Foy is Sawyer, a banker who left Boston in fear of a man she obtained a restraining order against. We briefly see her day-to-day activities in which she can’t escape his shadow and can’t seem to have normal interactions with dates or coworkers. Her issues bring her to Highland Creek Behavioral Center where she believes she’s had a healthy conversation with a counselor. Yet that brief errand on her way to work turns into another situation she can’t escape from.

Held at the facility against her will, the audience is left to decide whether she truly belongs there or if there’s truth or delusion to her surroundings. Sawyer maintains that her stalker is orderly David (Joshua Leonard) and that he’s tracked her down in an elaborate scheme to be with her. No one bothers to really listen to her with the exception of her mother (Amy Irving) and a fellow patient (Jay Pharoah) with access to a cell phone.

Unsane doesn’t keep the plot’s central mystery going for long. Approximately halfway through, we know what’s up. Soderbergh and screenwriters Jonathan Bernstein and James Greer are then tasked with holding our attention. They mostly succeed partly to, ahem, a committed performance from Foy and the director’s undeniable glee in shooting this gory B-movie (on an iPhone by the way).

Soderbegh, who’s made great pictures, is known for these occasional side excursions into genre fare. This one is mostly minor with its own side indictments of big business. Had those issues been explored with more focus, Unsane could have been more than its rather trivial (if skillfully made) vibe. The aforementioned Side Effects is a stronger example of Soderbergh working in this realm, but that pic had some third act letdowns itself. There’s some fun to be had in the first half, but Unsane is more of a curiosity than anything else.

**1/2 (out of four)

Unsane Box Office Prediction

Shot in secret last year, psychological thriller Unsane arrives on screens next weekend. It comes from Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival recently. Claire Foy of “The Crown” fame stars alongside an eclectic supporting cast that includes Joshua Leonard, Juno Temple, SNL alum Jay Pharoah, Amy Irving, and paralympic athlete Aimee Mullins.

Reviews have been mostly positive as it currently sits at 74% on Rotten Tomatoes. The low-budget enterprise was shot entirely on an iPhone 7 Plus and continues Soderbergh’s experimentation with the cinematic medium. The secrecy surrounding the project may contribute to a unawareness among the general public of its very existence.

Unsane will likely struggle to find an audience in theaters and hope for more eyeballs when it reaches the On Demand circuit.

Unsane opening weekend prediction: $3.9 million