Last week’s slot of films at least shook up the top-5 at the box office, with Terminator: Dark Fate dethroning Joker as the top-grossing film of the weekend — though still a very disappointing $29 million opening for the sci-fi flick. Our Rotten Tomatoes predictions were a little more rotten than usual; maybe this week’s will get us back on track with our stapled take-it-to-the-bank accuracy.
Here are the top movies opening in theaters this week.
Doctor Sleep (R)
Opens 11/8
Director: Mike Flanagan
Writer: Mike Flanagan, Stephen King
Rotten Tomatoes: Current: 76%; Prediction: 74%
Stars: Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson, Kyliegh Curran
Check out the trailer.
A 40-years-later sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep takes us through the next chapter of Danny Torrance’s (Ewen McGregor) life. Mike Flanagan, the acclaimed director of the television series The Haunting of Hill House takes the creative control of this paranormal tale and has apparently delivered a worthy successor to the 1980 classic. Although, it is a shame that this one is arriving a week late past Halloween.
VERDICT: See it.
Jojo Rabbit (PG-13)
Opens 11/8
Director: Taika Waititi
Writer: Taika Waititi, Christine Leunens
Rotten Tomatoes: Current: 79%; Prediction: 78%
Stars: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Taika Waititi, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant
Check out the trailer.
In this World War II satire from the brilliant mind of Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople), a german boy named Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) finds out that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic, which Jojo has to square with his imaginary friend, Hitler (Waititi).
This looks like another home-run for Waititi, with his usual charm and style making this a unique and poignant story.
VERDICT: See it (immediately).
Midway (PG-13)
Opens 11/8
Director: Roland Emmerich
Writer: Wes Tooke
Rotten Tomatoes: Current: n/a; Prediction: 45%
Stars: Ed Skrein, Patrick Wilson, Luke Evans, Woody Harrelson, Mandy Moore, Dennis Quaid, Nick Jonas
Check out the trailer.
This based-on-a-true-story movie is set around the Battle of Midway, a historic clash between the United States and Japan during the Second World War. Director Roland Emmerich is well known for his fixation on fire and explosions (Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow, Godzilla, White House Down) and this looks to be no exception. It looks like a pretty standard war movie; it will probably not receive the acclaim of something like Dunkirk (which also featured a singer-turned-actor from a famous boy band), but should also fare better amongst critics than Pearl Harbor.
Interestingly, we have two openers centered around WWII coming out on Veteran’s Day weekend — one a mocking satire and the other a cookie-cutter drama. Whatever your flavor, take your pick.
VERDICT: See it (if you like the genre).
Last Christmas (PG-13)
Opens 11/8
Director: Paul Feig
Writer(s): Emma Thompson, Greg Wise, Bryony Kimmings
Rotten Tomatoes: Current: n/a; Prediction: 65%
Stars: Emilia Clarke, Henry Golding, Emma Thompson, Michelle Yeoh
Check out the trailer.
Kate (Emilia Clarke) is a down on her luck gal with nothing seemingly going her way. Tom is a dashing knight in Christmas armor who drops down from heaven to turn her life around. Stop me if you’ve heard this story before…
But hey, the holiday season is just around the corner, and these types of flicks are what we sign up for this time of year. Paul Feig is a more than capable director (Bridesmaids, A Simple Favor, The Office, The Heat), and Clark and Golding are commanding actors.
VERDICT: See it.
Last Week’s Rotten Tomatoes Predictions
Terminator: Dark Fate
Predicted: 59%
Actual: 70%
Color me more than surprised. Dark Fate actually jumped up three percentage points post-opening, currently sitting at “fresh” status — a first for the franchise in a long time.
Motherless Brooklyn
Predicted: 65%
Actual: 61%
Not too shabby, here. We forecasted a slight uptick in what was a 60 percent score pre-release. It just did not go up as far as we thought.
Arctic Dogs
Predicted: 19%
Actual: 14%
We came in blind on the story about frigid canines, but still had the right idea and predicted within five percent of perfection.
Harriet
Predicted: 60%
Actual: 73%
Way off the mark. Harriet had a pre-release score of 64 percent, and we thought that what was being labeled initially as “formulaic” might mean a slight dip in critic reactions. That was not the case.
