After a grueling summer season, movie theater owners have been sounding the alarm about this fall’s alarming release schedule. However, three new films will open in theaters across the country over the weekend.
Perhaps the biggest problem, in the case of this weekend’s batch of newcomers, is that hardly anyone is planning to go to the movies. Among the three new offerings — Sony’s creepy thriller “The Invitation,” director George Miller’s dark fantasy “Three Thousand Years of Longing” and John Boyega’s heist-led drama “Breaking” — no one is willing to make a big fuss in the box office.
Based on predictions, it will be a tight race between “The Invitation” and last weekend’s hero, “Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero” for the top spot in North America, with each release on track to make around $7 million. And the victor goes…some meager bragging rights. Barring a miracle, it will be the saddest result in first place in over a year.
If that sounds bleak, other new releases are aimed at lower single numbers. These films will be fortunate to win the top five, which seem to be packed with leftovers like Universal’s survival movie “Beast”, Paramount hits “Top Gun: Maverick” and Sony’s “Bullet Train”.
“The Invitation” has the widest release, with 3,000 locations in North America over the weekend, “Three Thousand Years of Longing” screens in 2,436 venues, and “Breaking” opens in 902 theaters.
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While PG-13’s “invitation” may not be double digits in its prime, it won’t take much to turn a profit in theaters. The film has a meager production budget of $10 million.
Starring Nathalie Emmanuel of “Game of Thrones” fame, “The Invitation” follows Evie, whose mother has died, leaving her with no known relatives. But she takes a DNA test and discovers her long-lost cousin, who invites Evie to her family’s home in the English countryside. But it’s a horror movie after all, so the aristocratic facade soon falls to reveal sinister secrets. Jessica M. Thompson directed the film from a script by Blair Butler.
The film “Three thousand years of longing” was much more expensive, costing 60 million dollars to make. It is released by MGM and United Artists Releasing. From Miller, the famous director behind “Mad Max,” the film follows a researcher (Tilda Swinton), who encounters a jinn (Idris Elba) who offers her three wishes in exchange for his freedom.
Since its Cannes Film Festival premiere, the film has generated mixed reviews, with miscellaneous Peter Debruge describes it as “a weak imagination”. [that] He has serious story problems” and Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair He described the “curious and chaotic” film as “a consistently stunning, serious labor of love – and a film about love.”
Bleecker Street arrested “Breaking” outside the Sundance Film Festival. The tense tale is based on the true story of Brian Brown Easley (portrayed by Boyega), a former Marine who, on the verge of homelessness, is holding people hostage in a bank. Damaris Corbin directed the film, which is based on the article (Spoiler Alert?) They Shouldn’t Have Killed Him. The late Michael K. Williams appears as a hostage negotiator, marking the last actor role in the film.
Debruge, who also reviewed “Breaking,” praised Boyega’s performance in particular, calling the “Star Wars” star “the most interesting thing about the movie.”
The only question is: Will the audience be intrigued enough to show up?
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