Tag Archives: Jackie Chan

Box Office Report: ‘Happy Death Day’ kills ‘Blade Runner 2049’ for top spot

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Blade Runner 2049 had a chance at repeating at the top spot in its second weekend, considering its outstanding reception from both the critics and the general public. However, financially, the sci-fi blockbuster is fairing similarly to the original: not well. It only made an estimated $15.1 million this past weekend, bringing its domestic total to just over $60 million. Worldwide, Blade Runner 2049 has taken in $158.5 million, and, with a budget of $150 million, it’s looking as though the film’s best hope is to barely break even. It would have to make approximately $300 million worldwide to do so.

What ended up killing the Denis Villeneuve film was the new Groundhog Day-esque horror film Happy Death Day, which won the weekend with an estimated $26.5 million. Horror films are often successful in their opening weekend, and this was no exception. Add in the relatively favorable reviews, and the film should stay in the top five for at least another weekend, but likely longer.

Behind Blade Runner 2049 was the Jackie Chan action flick The Foreigner, which took home an estimated $12.84 million in its opening weekend. Overseas, the film has already made an additional $88.4 million for a $101.24 million total. On a $35 million production budget, The Foreigner is already profitable.

Rounding out the top 5 were It, making an estimated $6.05 million, and The Mountain Between Us, earning approximately $5.65 million. The Stephen King adaptation continues its dominance, with just over $630 million worldwide, while the Idris Elba and Kate Winslet romantic adventure thriller is struggling intensely.

One of the other new releases, Professor Marston & the Wonder Women, failed historically this past weekend. The film made only $737,000, one of the worst debuts for a release in over 1,000 theaters. With a fantastic 87% on RottenTomatoes, its financial disappointment may point to failures in marketing. Granted, it still is only its opening weekend, and things could change with word of mouth and expansion.

However, A24’s The Florida Project, which opened in just 4 theaters last weekend and expanded to 33 this weekend, took home an estimated $401,141 for a total of $623,949. Assumedly, the small independent film should have a rather small budget, meaning that it’s shaping up to turn profitable as it continues to expand. It’s also one of the most critically acclaimed films of the year, and a hot contender for Best Picture at the Oscars.

*All weekend numbers are domestic, meaning that they’re from theaters in the US and Canada, and are also estimates, reported by Box Office Mojo, with actuals coming out in the next few days.*

 

Featured image via Universal Pictures.

‘The Foreigner’ review: Jackie Chan is criminally underused in this passable political thriller

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In The Foreigner, director Martin Campbell — savior of the James Bond franchise and the reason why Deadpool had a Green Lantern joke — dares to pose the question: “Why on earth would you make a Jackie Chan movie without Jackie Chan?”

Even though the marketing of The Foreigner suggests a Jackie Chan revenge-thriller, don’t go into the film expecting The Legend of Drunken Master by way of Taken. We see Chan’s Quan use his very particular set of skills, but not nearly as much as we’d like. For every minute of Quan kicking ass and taking names, we see eight minutes of Pierce Brosnan’s ex-IRA politician drink, demean and describe Quan as “the Chinaman,” when in fact we Chinamen prefer the term “Financiers Of This Let-Down.”

To be fair, Quan isn’t the film’s main character, doing very little to move the story forward. The film is about Brosnan’s character identifying the IRA bombers who killed Quan’s daughter. Quan pops in every now and then to hurry him along — blowing up bathrooms, beating up henchmen and generally prodding him whenever he feels slightly unmotivated. Quan is Gordon Ramsay, and Brosnan is the chef who gets called an “idiot sandwich.”

While The Foreigner makes the mistake of underusing its most bankable star, Chan proves that, at 63, he’s still film’s ultimate martial arts legend. Campbell doesn’t have to resort to quick cutting to obscure a stunt double during the film’s action scenes — we know that it’s Chan himself punching goons, bursting through windows and falling down stairs. To Campbell’s credit, he knows how to direct an action scene. The energy and pace of the film’s set pieces make The Foreigner entertaining, though only for a fraction of the film’s runtime.

Ultimately, while The Foreigner might please some, it isn’t necessarily worth seeking out, especially when The Legend of Drunken Master is on Netflix.

Grade: 6.0/10

 

Featured image via STX Entertainment.

‘The LEGO Ninjago Movie’ Review: Zany jokes can’t justify cultural appropriation, soulless plot

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In The LEGO Ninjago Movie, whose title suggests Japanese history and culture, one of Jackie Chan’s first lines is “对不起,” the Chinese phrase for “sorry.” Though it’s presented as a cute exchange between an antiques dealer and a kid who wanders into his shop, this single line of dialogue can be read as an apology for the film’s quest to lump distinct Asian cultures into one vague, cinematic PF Chang’s, held together by performances that are literally yellow-face. But forget for a second that the film wants you to believe that Dave Franco is a ninja. Even if Japanese actors were approached to be in The LEGO Ninjago Movie, it’s easy to see why they would avoid this film like you would a rogue 2×4 LEGO brick on your carpet.

This film attempts to copy the aesthetic of The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie, but captures none of the heart of those previous films. This film is predicated on the father-son dynamic of the warlord Garmadon (Justin Theroux) and his estranged son, the ninja Lloyd (Franco), but there’s no particular reason why we should care for their reunion. Garmadon doesn’t have any redeeming qualities, and Lloyd is doing fine without him. Sure, it’s cute when Garmadon teaches Lloyd how to play catch, but one feels more attachment to one’s bag of popcorn — the consumption of which, may be the only upside of watching this film.

Okay, maybe not the only upside, since this film has a few good jokes in it, though they’re not as funny as live-action Will Ferrell showing up in the third act, or Lego Batman roasting 50 years of cinematic Batmen. Yet, a character named Meowthra, some bonkers live-action montages and a Locke joke are wacky enough to keep adult audience members from sneaking into a neighboring screening of It — a film I’d rather take my hypothetical child to. Sure, Pennywise would traumatize Harry Jr., but at least he wouldn’t have to sit through yet another example of Hollywood whitewashing and a plot that gestures toward emotion without ever eliciting it.

Grade: 3.5/10

 

Featured image via Warner Bros.