This Rotten Week: Predicting Captive State, Five Feet Apart, And Wonder Park Reviews

This Rotten Week: Predicting Captive State, Five Feet Apart, And Wonder Park Reviews

After a week that saw Captain Marvel take over all of the movie headlines, we get three flicks with decidedly different themes. It’s a post-alien invasion world, sick teens, and an imaginary amusement park. Get ready for Captive State, Five Feet Apart, and Wonder Park.

Just remember, I'm not reviewing these movies, but rather predicting where they'll end up on the Tomatometer. Let's take a look at This Rotten Week has to offer.

We’ve seen a ton of alien invasion movies over the years. That genre isn’t wanting for coverage at all. But rarely do we see a movie that deals with the aftermath of an invasion - what the world (assuming it isn’t destroyed) looks like years after aliens colonize rather than annihilate. Such is the case with Captive State, a flick set a decade after an extraterrestrial takeover, with some characters complying, and other resisting.

Directed by Rupert Wyatt, who helmed The Gambler (44%), The Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes (82%) and The Escapist (66%), Captive State looks interesting, if a bit too spread out. From the trailer it seems to focus on a small patch of resistance fighters in Chicago while also trying to give us the full scope of a new alien-run world. It may have spread itself too thin. It looks intriguing and thought-provoking, but I suspect some of the machinations sour critics a little.

Hollywood just loves a story about a terminally sick kid falling in love. There’ve been a bunch of these over the years. Sometimes they stink like Midnight Sun (21%). But other times they are borderline great and the tears are preloaded, as in The Fault In Our Stars (80%), or Me, Earl And The Dying Girl (81%). Unfortunately, I think this latest, Justin Baldoni's Five Feet Apart, looks like it will fit in more with the first group.

Five Feet Apart centers on two teens with cystic fibrosis who fall in love despite having to spend their lives a certain distance (can you guess how far?) from others so as not to come in contact with any germs. I’m not dogging the central idea, but rather worry the execution doesn’t get all the way there. It looks very paint-by-numbers in its approach, and likely only appeals to a teen crowd. I don't expect the critics at-large to get on board.

Wonder Park is about a girl who, after a foray in the woods, enters the amusement park she'd imagined as a child. But the place has fallen into a state of disrepair and turmoil as her imagination dissolves with age. The story and premise look cute enough, but I can't help but feel like this flick is a poor man's Inside Out. It's not a 1-to-1 comparison, but I did feel like there are a lot of similarities in the premise - at least based on what the trailers show us.

Paramount Animation’s track record is less than stellar with three movies under their belt. The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (80%), surprisingly, finished pretty high. But the other two, Monster Trucks (30%) and Sherlock Gnomes (27%), didn't fare so well with critics. Wonder Park looks cute enough, a play on the inner imagination come to life theme, but I suspect a re-used plot line plus some confusing elements in terms of the antagonists lead to a lower score.

We only had one movie come out last week, but it was a huge one, and I nailed the prediction for Captain Marvel (Predicted: 80% Actual: 79%). Give it a few more reviews trickling in over the course of the next week or so and this may end up being a direct hit. While some critics found some flaws, overall this was a critical and box office hit. Through 21 films, the average score in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is 84% and the median is 85%. That leaves this one, I suppose, below average when compared against its direct peers, but that’s splitting hairs really. The franchise continues to crush in every relevant category, and Captain Marvel just leaves us even more pumped for Avengers: Endgame.

Next time around we’ve got Us. It’s gonna be a Rotten Week!

Avengers: Endgame Has Replaced Die Hard As My Favorite Movie, Which Is Crazy

Avengers: Endgame Has Replaced Die Hard As My Favorite Movie, Which Is Crazy

Most movie journalists likely get asked the question so many times, they have crafted a go-to answer. “Oh, you write about movies?” strangers will ask upon meeting you. “What’s your favorite movie of all time?” It’s an ice breaker. An audio party favor, and a conversation starter. It’s also a barometer of your taste, because if you are revealing what you believe to be your favorite movie of all time, it will tell the person who’s listening that they might love the same kinds of movies as you. And naturally, if you disagree, it also tells them that they shouldn’t listen to you at all.

For years – 31 years, to be specific – my answer to that very question was John McTiernan’s Die Hard. The original, and still the best. Die Hard remains the finest example of my favorite type of movie, a cop thriller centered around a sarcastic and flawed hero who overcomes impossible odds to triumph. It’s a brilliant script, with an outstanding lead performance, and when I saw it in theaters in 1988, it literally changed my life. Die Hard opened me up to the idea that movies were a reality, and I knew then and there that I’d like to do SOMETHING with movies with the rest of my existence.

Over the years, as I saw more movies, other titles helped me eventually form a Top 10 of “All Timers” for me. Alfred Hitchcock’s North By Northwest. George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The Toy Story trilogy. Movies that meant something to me, personally, and belonged in the conversation when discussing a flick that would go on my own Mount Rushmore. But none of them topped Die Hard, from a purely selfish “My Favorite Movie of All Time” standpoint. McTiernan’s masterpiece was the top of the mountain.

Until last week. When it was dethroned by Joe and Anthony Russo’s Avengers: Endgame.

In addition to being a movie junkie as a kid, I also grew up reading comics. Specifically, I grew up reading Marvel. Spider-Man was my favorite character, but I collected books on the X-Men, the New Mutants, Iron Man, the Fantastic Four and the bulk of the Avengers titles. In the Marvel universe, characters teamed up often, so the adventures of the characters I loved bled into the realms of Doctor Strange, Black Panther, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk.

When the Marvel Cinematic Universe started, I was skeptical. How could you not be? Comic book adaptations weren’t exactly home runs. For every Iron Man in 2008, fans had to endure the Joel Schumacher Batman films, Ben Affleck’s Daredevil, it’s spinoff Elektra, Nic Cage’s Ghost Rider… you get the gist.

Starting with Iron Man, the character, also seemed like an odd choice. In hindsight, it worked, but Tony Stark wasn’t the household name back in 2008, and Robert Downey Jr. was still an unpredictable talent who had burned very bright but was rebuilding his professional reputation with turns in movies like Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Tropic Thunder and David Fincher’s Zodiac.

No one, back then, could have imagined what the MCU would become. Building a shared universe like this takes patience, time and dedication. It requires several happy accidents on the production schedules of some massive blockbusters. It relies heavily on smart casting, and those casting moves have to pay off with contracts that keep talent in the fold for the right amount of time. It takes bold storytelling choices, but ones that resonate with an audience so that they choose to return time and again for the next movies.

And of course, sticking a landing on an 11 year, 22 film experiment like this seems downright impossible.

Yet, as I watched Avengers: Endgame unfold, my mouth simply hung open in awe at the major moves Joe and Anthony took, and the stunning accomplishments they achieved. Time travel? Check. Killing off half of the known Marvel universe? Check. Bringing them all back? Check. Surprising fans with huge reveals? Check. Pitting every hero in the MCU against Thanos and his minions? Check mate.

Avengers: Endgame shouldn’t exist. Anyone who understands how movies are made have to accept this. Endgame is a magic trick, a Herculean feat that should have failed under the weight of its own ambition. It’s a movie that contains countless nods to the Marvel movies that blazed a trail before it, while also completing a story the brothers started in Avengers: Infinity War. It completes a journey, while teasing a path for the future. It’s a love letter to a universe that I adore. It’s the best movie Marvel has created to date, and I think it’s going to be pretty damn tough to top.

Which is why I replaced Die Hard at the top of my all-time favorite list with Avengers: Endgame. (How fitting, too, that Paul Rudd shouts out McTiernan’s classic, cementing my decision for me in my own head the moment it happened.) Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that I feel one movie is BETTER than the other.

I have been explaining this to people who instantly jump to the conclusion that I’m deciding Endgame is a better movie than Die Hard. Truthfully, I think it’s unfair to even try and compare the two, as McTiernan in 1988 wasn’t trying to accomplish anything close to what the Russo Brothers are doing in 2019.

Die Hard will always hold a very special place in my heart. It’s not like it’s being removed from existence. I’ll still watch it a few times each year, and likely will learn more about it with each repeat viewing.

But it had a fantastic, three-decade run at the top of my personal leaderboard. And nothing lasts forever. Sooner or later, I was bound to encounter a movie that hit me as hard as McTiernan’s film did back in 1988. And the sheer achievement of Avengers: Endgame, the massive spectacle and the epic amount of entertainment it produces in the heart of this Marvel geek, means that it’s my new Number One. What’s yours?

Mark Hamill Says Carrie Fisher Would Love Appearing Posthumously In Episode IX

Mark Hamill Says Carrie Fisher Would Love Appearing Posthumously In Episode IX

It’s been a little over two years since Carrie Fisher passed away, and while Star Wars: The Last Jedi ended up being one of her final film roles, it doesn’t mark the last we’ve seen of Princess/General Leia Organa. Star Wars: Episode IX will use unseen footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi to include Fisher, and Mark Hamill, her longtime Star Wars costar, believes that the actress would have approved of getting to appear posthumously in such a highly-anticipated film. As Hamill put it:

I’m glad they found a way to do that, and something tells me that she’d get a real kick out of the fact that she had a hit movie years after she left us, because that was just her. I like to think that would please her, but nothing would be better than having her here.

Mark Hamill’s comment to Den of Geek was preceded by him noting that with Harrison Ford having a prominent role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Hamill himself stepping back into the spotlight for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the plan was for Carrie Fisher to have a bigger role in Star Wars: Episode IX. Those plans are sadly no longer achievable, but thanks to movie-making magic, Leia Organa can still have a presence in the conclusion to the Skywalker Saga. Episode IX will ultimately go down as Fisher’s final film appearance, and as Hamill sees it, she’d appreciate that.

When we last left off with Leia Organa at the end of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, she was one of the few Resistance survivors that managed to escape being wiped out by The First Order on Crait. Star Wars: Episode IX is picking up a year later, and while we still don’t have any official plot details about the movie, one would imagine that Leia is still the leader of the Resistance. It remains to be seen if Episode IX will kill off Leia or if she’ll survive to the end, but however her story is handled, no doubt many Star Wars fans are glad that it’s being done on-screen as opposed to off.

It’s also worth remembering that this unused footage of Carrie Fisher won’t be the only original Star Wars trilogy representation in Star Wars: Episode IX. Along with Mark Hamill returning as Luke Skywalker (presumably as a Force ghost given how The Last Jedi ended for him) and Anthony Daniels once again donning the C-3PO suit, Episode IX also sees the long-awaited return of Billy Dee Williams as Lando Calrissian, although it’s unclear how big his role will be.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to familiar faces overall in Star Wars: Episode IX. Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Adam Driver, Kelly Marie Tran, Domhnall Gleeson and Lupita Nyong’o are among the actors reprising their respective roles. As for newcomers, Naomie Ackie, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Dominic Monaghan and Matt Smith have all been cast in undisclosed roles.

Directed by J.J. Abrams, who also co-wrote the script with Chris Terrio, Star Wars: Episode IX opens in theaters on December 20, so stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage. In the meantime, look through our 2019 release schedule to find out what other movies are coming out later this year.

Alita: Battle Angel Just Passed A Box Office Milestone

Alita: Battle Angel Just Passed A Box Office Milestone

While all the talk and focus is on Captain Marvel this coming weekend, Carol Danvers is not the only cinematic heroine that can be seen in theaters. The Battle Angel herself, Alita, has been quietly entertaining audiences for a few weeks now. The Robert Rodriguez-directed, James Cameron-written and produced manga adaptation Alita: Battle Angel has now passed a significant milestone at the box office.

Alita: Battle Angel has topped $350 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. A total of $350.5 million and counting is a nice chunk of change that puts Alita: Battle Angel comfortably in the #3 spot at the worldwide box office in 2019, trailing only How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World at $378.6 million and the Chinese juggernaut The Wandering Earth, which has made $676.7 million in the Middle Kingdom alone.

Alita: Battle Angel was predicted to be DOA domestically, but wound up performing better than expected in its opening weekend. It earned $33.5 million over the long President’s Day weekend and it has been plugging away ever since. In its third weekend, Alita came in third at the box office, adding another $7.2 million to bring its domestic total to $72.4 million.

While that domestic haul is nothing to write home about, this special effects driven film was always a play at the international box office, and that’s what has really pushed it over the $350 million mark. Alita: Battle Angel has performed far better in foreign markets, with $278 million of its $350 million coming overseas. A large chunk of that has come from the ever-important China, where Alita has made $113.2 million.

Although every box office milestone achieved is a step in the right direction, $350 million is not enough to call Alita a success or guarantee a sequel, at least not yet. Alita: Battle Angel’s reported budget is $170 million, and when you factor in the marketing costs, it has been suggested that the film would need to hit $500 million to be profitable.

The Battle Angel is more than halfway there, but it will really have to leg it out for that last $150 million to get into that $450-$500 million mark where it can minimize financial losses. That may not be especially realistic given its weekend-to-weekend drops, but the film definitely could have bombed harder. While it obviously won’t be considered a true hit given its budget, Alita may wind up in a murky territory where the losses aren’t as bad as they could have been ,but there isn’t a clear financial mandate for the franchise to continue.

Alita: Battle Angel may find new life and eventually break even down the line on home video, but if it fails to spawn a sequel, the blame will fall primarily on the domestic market as it has done relatively well everywhere else.

That’s a bummer because although the film has been heavily mixed in terms of critical response, the audiences that have taken a chance on the largely unfamiliar property have really liked it. Alita has an “A-“ CinemaScore and positive ratings and audience scores on IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, for what they’re worth.

Alita: Battle Angel is still playing. You should check it out and then check out our 2019 release schedule to see all the biggest movies headed your way this year.

Sorry, Ms. Marvel Was Not Teased During Captain Marvel

Sorry, Ms. Marvel Was Not Teased During Captain Marvel

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on a serious roll with Phase Three, as every single installment has been a box office and critical success. This includes the most recent release: Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's Captain Marvel. The 90's origin story has been making some serious money during its first week in theaters, as the MCU is expanded further thanks to recurring characters Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, Korath, and Ronan.

But there is another character that Marvel fans were looking out for: Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel. The teenage hero is usually a denizen of Jersey City, and is inspired heavily by Carol Danvers' superhero identity. While some fans were hoping Kamala might have been hinted at during Captain Marvel's runtime, Kevin Feige recently shut down these rumors, saying:

I think she's a contemporary story. I don't think she was a little kid in 1990. I'm not sure she was born in 1995.

Touche. While the Marvel Cinematic Universe's timeline hasn't always been super clear to the fandom, Kevin Feige's math makes sense. Kamala Khan will need to be a teenager for her story to function, so there's no way she'd be around in 1995 when Captain Marvel is set. But when will she finally show up?

Kevin Feige's comments to Comic Book may illicit a mixture of emotions from the hardcore Marvel fans. For one, there's relief. If Ms. Marvel was teased during the events of Captain Marvel, it means that the first week of audiences didn't notice it. But since Kevin Feige shut that fan theory down, cinephiles can simply sit and enjoy the latest Marvel blockbuster, without having to pour over every frame.

Then again, there are plenty of fans who are waiting and hoping that Kamala Khan ends up being brought into the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe. Ms. Marvel made history as the first Muslim hero to come from Marvel's pages, and became a massively popular figure in the comic book universe. Mindy Kaling and Riz Ahmed have both voiced their interest in working on a Ms. Marvel movie for Marvel Studios. Plus, Brie Larson hopes the character pops up in the Captain Marvel sequel.

The MCU has been a more inclusive place in Phase Three, as people of color and women were given the chance to shine in projects like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and Ant-Man and The Wasp. As such, it might be the perfect time for Marvel Studios to move forward and bring Kamala Khan's Ms. Marvel to the silver screen for the first time. And it looks like Kevin Feige might have ideas brewing.

Unfortunately, Phase Four of the MCU is a complete mystery, as the studio is keeping its cards close to the chest until the release of Avengers: Endgame next month. The release schedule would presumably include potential spoilers, especially regarding who survives the final battle against Thanos. So we'll just have to wait and see if Ms. Marvel ever makes it to theaters.

Captain Marvel is in theaters now, and Avengers: Endgame will arrive on April 26th. In the meantime, check out our 2019 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Why Annabelle Comes Home Is Very Much A Homecoming For The Conjuring Universe

Why Annabelle Comes Home Is Very Much A Homecoming For The Conjuring Universe

In the last six years, The Conjuring Universe has become one of the most successful active franchises in Hollywood. It all started when James Wan’s The Conjuring turned out to be a massively huge hit in the summer of 2013, and since then the brand has expanded to include multiple spin-off series, which have actually mostly performed as well or better than the core titles.

As the franchise has continued, it’s expanded in interesting ways and gone to some exciting new places – and it’s in recognition of this that Gary Dauberman’s upcoming Annabelle Comes Home holds a special place the brand’s direction. It turns out the title has a semi-double meaning, as in addition to the movie featuring a plot that sees the titular doll come to live in the Warren house, it’s also seen by the filmmakers as a homecoming of sorts for the entire Conjuring Universe.

This was a sentiment shared by producer Peter Safran during an interview late last year when I had the chance to visit the set of what was then only called Annabelle 3:

The idea bringing it back to the Warren family was something that we've been toying with for a while. We had the Perrons, we had the Hodgsons, we took it all away to Romania – a totally different vibe and feel for The Nun. And we just liked the idea of bringing it closer to home, back to ordinary people and extraordinary circumstances, which was kind of the touchstone for it. And it just really made sense.

To fill in the gaps for the uninitiated, The Conjuring started the franchise with a story that actually spent a fair amount of time in the Warren home, in addition to following an investigation of the relatively-local Perron household. But the movies have slowly moved away from that ever since. Annabelle was really only a slight crawl away as a prequel story with a direct link-up featured at the end, but then The Conjuring 2 took Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga’s Ed and Lorraine Warren to England for the infamous Enfield Poltergeist case with the Hodgson clan. Annabelle: Creation then took audiences back nearly 20 years before the events of The Conjuring; and then The Nun doubled down on both elements of setting by not only going further back in time (by three years), but also by featuring events primarily set in the Vatican and Romania.

It’s been six years since audiences have seen any legitimately spooky action inside of the Warren’s house, but Annabelle Comes Home will break that streak when it’s released this summer. Set over the course of one night, the story centers on Ed and Lorraine’s daughter, Judy (McKenna Grace), as she spends the night with a babysitter (Madison Iseman) the night Annabelle is brought into household’s notorious artifact museum. Unfortunately for them, it’s evil winds up having a very strong influence over the other objects in the room, unleashing all kinds of terrors.

Further discussing the approach of bringing the action back to the Warrens’, Peter Safran explained that there has long been a creative curiosity when it comes to the aforementioned artifact museum, and Annabelle Comes Home will finally be the movie that sees the potential there explored. Plus, he added, it’s an opportunity to directly follow-up on the very first case that audiences were introduced to in the first Conjuring. Said the producer,

We always loved the idea of the artifact room being the potential source of more stories. The idea of actually setting a film around that was something, again, that we had in our mind for a while, and Gary [Dauberman] and James [Wan], and myself just thought this was the opportunity – that the third Annabelle movie is the opportunity to really raise the stakes. And that was it. Also the opening scene of The Conjuring is so iconic when it opens up on the half face of Annabelle, we just always liked the idea of, what happened after they left there? We see them taking the doll, what happens? It was actually something other people had asked us in the past as well. We just thought we will explore that story.

There will still be plenty more opportunities for The Conjuring Universe to explore new cities, countries, and time periods, as there are multiple projects actively in development, but Annabelle Comes Home is specifically being made as the film that brings us full circle.

The directorial debut of Gary Dauberman – who previously wrote the scripts for Annabelle, Annabelle: Creation, and The Nun – Annabelle Comes Home is scheduled to freak out audiences this summer with its June 28th release. And be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend, as I have plenty more stories coming your way in the coming days from my time visiting the set.

John Wick 3's Halle Berry Broke Three Ribs Trying To Keep Up With Keanu Reeves

John Wick 3's Halle Berry Broke Three Ribs Trying To Keep Up With Keanu Reeves

Next month, the John Wick series continues with John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. The action franchise is known for its slick choreography and its star Keanu Reeves' willingness to throw himself into the thick of it. Halle Berry also stars in the new film and she gets in on the action herself, but when you star opposite Reeves in an action movie, you gotta brace for some bruises. However, Berry ended up breaking three of her ribs, and she doesn't even know how it happened.

John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum finds John Wick on the run from every assassin in New York City and beyond. He'll turn to whatever connections and friends he has left in order to survive the whole ordeal, and that's where Berry's character comes in. Halle Berry plays Sofia, an assassin and close friend of John who decides to help him.

Not a whole lot else is known, but seeing as how this is a John Wick movie, Sofia will be getting in on the action. It sounds like Berry did a portion of the stunts herself, but trying to keep up with Keanu Reeves led to some minor injury. Berry loved working with Reeves and told Extra what the experience was like and how it led to her injury:

It was pretty amazing [to work with Keanu]. It was a little terrifying at first because he’s so damn good, and I wanted to be on the same level as him. I didn’t want to disappoint him. I broke three ribs when I was rehearsing for John Wick… It’s like a badge of honor for me, we don’t know how it happened.

To prepare for Parabellum, Halle Berry was doing stunt training, gun training, dog training, and strength training. She was covering every angle, so you can see how rehearsal might lead to injury.

Thankfully, it doesn't sound like it was serious at all or slowed down production much. Halle Berry noted that director Chad Stahelski waited for her to get better rather than replace her with someone without three broken ribs:

I worked for a little while with broken ribs until I could no longer do it. For me, what made me most happy is I thought when that happened, 'OK, I'm out of the movie.' They're going to replace me. The show has to go on. But to [director] Chad's credit, he waited for me to heal, when I came back I felt better.

You'll be able to see Halle Berry kicking ass alongside Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum when the film arrives in theaters on May 17, 2019. For everything else arriving in theaters this year, be sure to check out our handy 2019 movie release guide for all the big releases.