Tag: Michael Pitt

Oscar Predictions: Black Flies

Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is one of the highest profile debuts at Cannes and it is scheduled for its unveiling tomorrow. French filmmaker Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s Black Flies is more under the radar, but the buzz has compared the plot to Scorsese’s 1999 effort Bringing Out the Dead.

The NYC set dramatic thriller casts Tye Sheridan as an aspiring med student paired with Sean Penn’s grizzled paramedic. Costars include Katherine Waterston, Michael Pitt, and Mike Tyson (yes… the former heavyweight champ/Hangover highlight).

The Rotten Tomatoes score is a lowly 17% with critics griping about its ultra bleak storyline. Based on the reviews so far, Flies definitely won’t be bringing out the awards chatter. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…

Ghost in the Shell Box Office Prediction

Scarlett Johansson is back in action mode next weekend when Ghost in the Shell debuts. Based on a popular Japanese anime property that produced an acclaimed 1995 feature, the science fiction crime thriller looks to challenge the third weekend of Beauty and the Beast for box office supremacy. However, it’s likely to fall quite a bit short with an opening that should still be pretty decent.

Rupert Sanders directs with a supporting cast that includes Takeshi Kitano, Michael Pitt, and Juliette Binoche. The draw beyond the genre’s fanboys is surely Miss Scarlett, who’s proven herself to be a hot commodity in action pics. This applies, of course, to her work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Yet she also turned 2014’s Lucy into a major hit without the assistance of superheroes. That film debuted to $43 million. I expect Shell to fall at least $10 million short of that in what could be a close race for #2 with The Boss Baby.

Ghost in the Shell opening weekend prediction: $30.3 million

For my The Boss Baby prediction, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2017/03/23/the-boss-baby-box-office-prediction/