Omaha is not centered around the play calls of legendary quarterback Peyton Manning. Instead this Sundance premiere is a road trip drama anchored by John Magaro’s performance. He plays a father taking his kids (Molly Belle Wright and Wyatt Solis) cross country in a directorial debut from Cole Webley.
Reviews are complimentary thus far with particular attention paid to Magaro. Despite receiving acclaim in pics like First Cow, Past Lives, and September 5, he’s yet to have his Oscar bait role. A distributor would really need to work some magic for Omaha to be that project. Maybe some Indie Spirit attention is likelier. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…
Will Forte wasn’t known for impressions during his eight years on SNL. In fact, his most known impression was President George W. Bush and he had the unfortunate task of following up Will Ferrell’s legendary take on the 43rd POTUS. He reportedly did not enjoy doing it.
Instead Forte is notable for one particular character while also delivering a whole series of sketches that were bizarre and often fantastic. There’s also soft-spoken and creepy political candidate Tim Calhoun, clueless ESPN host Greg Stink, and Jeff Montgomery, who uses trick-or-treat as occasion to share some disturbing news with his neighbors. Some of his sketches like “Potato Chip” and “Fart Face” have become favorites among aficionados. He costarred with Andy Samberg in the first Digital Short “Lettuce”. One of his best (and frustratingly not on YouTube) is his Coach character that motivates Peyton Manning (but not the rest of the team) during a halftime speech. It’s worth seeking out. Another highlight is Forte butchering a word in a spelling bee.
And, finally, there’s MacGruber. This brilliant take on MacGyver was a fan favorite would even spawn an underrated 2010 feature that has deservedly become a cult classic. Forte isn’t underrated on this list as he earns the spot. #16 will be up soon!
Next Friday, the makers of the animated Ferdinand hope to siphon some youngsters and their parents away from Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The 20th Century Fox title (which happens to be the former studio of Luke Skywalker and company) is based on the 1936 children’s novel The Story of Ferdinand, which tells the tale of a kindly bull. John Cena provides the voice of said bull with Kate McKinnon, Anthony Anderson, Bobby Cannavale, Gina Rodriguez, and Peyton Manning also lending their sounds. Carlos Saldanha, who made some of the Ice Age and Rio features, directs.
Competition is significant. Many kids should be preoccupied with Disney’s franchise juggernaut that opens the same day. And there’s also Coco, which should still be pulling in some coin in weekend #4.
That said, Fox employed a similar strategy two years ago when Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip opened directly opposite Star Wars: The Force Awakens. That gamble resulted in an OK $14.2 million debut yet it experienced small declines over the following holiday weekends.
Ferdinand has the benefit of not being at the tail end of a waning franchise, as Chipmunks was. That might cause it to make a bit more out of the gate and probably hold better in future frames. I’ll go high teens for its start.
Ferdinand opening weekend prediction: $18.6 million
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