World Movie News: The Last 24 Hours
A packed Friday for British and US screens, The Odyssey’s initial splash in China and Hollywood’s summer crosses $4 billion.
Morning all — following on from yesterday’s bit of festival-and-forecast admin, today’s the day several of those forecasts actually become box office fact, and there’s a proper bumper crop of new titles hitting UK and US screens to boot. Here’s what happened in the world of movies during the last 24 hours.
A busy day at the UK box office: No fewer than eight titles open in British and Irish cinemas today, and it’s a genuinely varied bunch.
- Leading the charge is A24’s Tony, Matt Johnson’s biopic of a 19-year-old Anthony Bourdain finding his feet — and his temper — in a chaotic Cape Cod restaurant kitchen; Dominic Sessa headlines with Antonio Banderas in support, and reviews out of its limited US run have been kind, particularly on Sessa’s performance.
- Also arriving is Holy Days, Nathalie Boltt’s New Zealand-set directorial debut about three eccentric nuns and a grieving boy taking a road trip to save their convent — reviews suggest it leans hard into clichés but wins you over on charm alone. My friend and colleague the Reverend Andy Godfrey saw the film as a preview any wrote “It’s a road movie about a group of mischievous elderly nuns racing to save an Orphanage and is good family fun. The film is directed and written by one Nat Bolt and is her feature directorial debut. It’s a Canadian-New Zealand co-production and stars, among others Miriam Margolyes. I enjoyed it a lot. Does what it says on the tin but that is ok.”
- Warner Bros’ cosmic-disaster drama The End of Oak Street (Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor) sees a suburban neighbourhood wrenched from reality entirely. (One I’ve seen and recommended, but it doesn’t pull its punches so for older children only).
- Lady, starring the brilliant Sian Clifford, is a mockumentary about a dim-witted socialite in her mansion that goes from sublime to ridiculous via invisibility. I saw this one at last year’s LFF, and it is very funny but (for me) struggled to sustain it to feature length.
- Sunny Dancer, Momo & The Time Thieves and Never Had A Chance round out the smaller releases; and for anyone after nostalgia over novelty, Aardman’s The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists! gets a welcome re-release via Park Circus.
Something for pretty much every mood this weekend, then.
Meanwhile, over in the US: American cinemas get their own separate stack of openings today, several of which don’t have a UK date yet.
- Chief among them is The Rivals of Amziah King, Andrew Patterson’s backwoods-Oklahoma crime thriller starring Matthew McConaughey as a bluegrass-playing honey magnate whose operation comes under threat when rivals move in — it’s had festival buzz since SXSW last year and goes wide the following week.
- Paramount’s PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie sends the pups on a prehistoric island adventure for the family crowd. (Two of my Grandkids (6 and 3) absolutely loved this one.)
- Netflix drops Don’t Say Good Luck, Julia Hart’s teen musical dramedy produced by Adam Sandler and starring his daughter Sunny alongside Steve Buscemi and Bebe Neuwirth.
- There’s also The Wrong Girls, a Seth Rogen- and Kumail Nanjiani-fronted comedy shot with a distinctly scrappy indie energy.
- And the J.K. Simmons/Jared Harris political thriller The Brink of War, imagining the tensest hours of a Reagan-Gorbachev summit gone wrong.
- Finally, for the nostalgic, Yeon Sang-ho’s Train to Busan (which I’ve still never seen!) also returns to US screens for a 10th-anniversary remaster.
China finally gets The Odyssey: As trailed yesterday, Christopher Nolan’s epic opens wide across mainland China today on more than 20,000 screens, with roughly 90% of the country’s IMAX network — some 800 sites — given over to it. Maoyan Pro is forecasting an opening-day gross around $10.4 million, on top of combined preview and presale takings that had already crossed $13.5 million by the 12th. What makes this remarkable is that Nolan’s film hit $700 million worldwide without a single dollar from China, historically the market that made or broke a $250 million bet; whatever lands today simply tops up a total that’s already the fourth-biggest global haul of the year. Sir Christopher must be very pleased!
Hollywood’s summer crosses the $4 billion line: Sticking with the money, Deadline reported the domestic summer box office has now sailed past $4 billion, only the second time it’s happened since the pandemic and the 14th time in box office history. Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey are doing most of the heavy lifting, and with Spidey still projected for a $100 million-plus second weekend, exhibitors are — cautiously — allowing themselves a bit of optimism after a couple of years of “box office doom loop” headlines.
That’s your lot. With this lineup of new releases I’m rather spoiled for choice (after a bit of a Spidey/Odysseus-induced drought), but with family commitments this weekend, I might need to put Mr Bourdain on hold for a few days. Until next time.
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