1. Mother’s Day (Open Road Films, 3,035 Theaters, 118 Minutes, Rated PG-13 for language and some suggestive material, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score at press time: 8% Fresh [64 Reviews]: If you want an indication of how bad the economy these days are, look no further to this film.
The film is a thematic sequel to 2010’s Valentine’s Day, a $52 million film that had 19 actors named on its poster, including five Oscar winners (and one future nominee) . That was followed by 2011’s $56 million New Year’s Day, which had 18 stars on its poster, including three Oscar winners and one nominee. This film has a paltry budget of only $25 million, which means Garry Marshall, who only seems to do these kinds of films , could only due with four stars worthy of their name above the title (although some posters, like the one to the left, stretch it to seven) with only one Oscar winner and one nominee. Times are tough.
One thing that stays the same with the other movies in the series is that this one, interlocking tales of mothers or motherhood, has also been critically lambasted. However, bad reviews has never stopped these films from making a profit, and the low budget on this one will make that easier.
2. Ratchet and Clank (Focus Features, 2,891 Theaters, 94 minutes, Rated PG for action and some rude humor, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score at press time: 24% Fresh [42 Reviews]: For those of you who don’t play video games or never owned a Sony Playstation, be forewarned: this is a video game adaptation and not an original CGI kids film.
This film is based on one of the most successful games to come out for the Playstation line, having 14 different installments of various platforms between 2002 and 2014. The story featuresa feline-like mechanich and his sidekick robot going on adventures throughout the universe.
The film supposedly is just a rehash of the plotline of the first video game in the series, so if you played that one all the way through, you can skip this film because you already saw it.
3. Keanu (Warner Brothers, 2,658 Theaters,98 Minutes, Rated R for violence, language throughout, drug use and sexuality/nudity, Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score at press time: 74% Fresh [73 Reviews]: This week is a week of many questions for me. Like, when will Garry Marshall stop making horrible holiday themed films? Or, why isan adaption of a Sony video game is being released by Focus Features and not Sony Pictures? BUt most puzzling of all is why this film is opening up in the lowest theater counts of the week?
There is a truckload of positive buzz around Key and Peele, with just about every magazine on the shelves getting line to proclaim their genius. And the premise, two ordinary guy who have to infiltrate the seedy drug dealing underworld to rescue their kitten, is just silly enough to play into their strengths. It seems that it would be a no-brainer to get this film into the most theaters so Warners could make the most money from it.
That being said, the theater count doesn’t seem to be holding it back. It is clobbering the competition in early returns this week. Good for them.
