New in Theaters Oct. 20: Geostorm, Boo 2, Only the Brave, The Snowman, Same Kind of Different as Me

By Chris Kavan - 10/19/17 at 07:44 AM CT

October is going to deliver another fully packed weekend with another five movies premiering, making an already-crowded box office even more dense. While horror film Happy Death Day will remain strong, the competition is going to heat up with Tyler Perry's Boo 2 looking to scare up another win and the apocalyptic Geostorm should serve up good competition as well. There will also be the true story of firefighters in Only the Brave, the thriller The Snowman and the inspirational tale Same Kind of Different As Me. Still, even with the influx of all these new titles, the overall box office doesn't look to be much of a barn-burner this weekend as October, overall, continues the downward trend of 2017.

BOO 2! A MADEA HALLOWEEN Tyler Perry found great success in Boo! A Madea Halloween, which grossed over $73 million, becoming the second-highest Madea film on record. It's no surprise that Perry is going back to the well, bringing his character back for another round of horror/comedy. I've never seen a Madea film and aren't about to start now, but Boo! managed to bring in not only Perry's typical fan base, but a broader audience as well. I see no reason why Boo 2! won't do the same, though it probably won't be quite as successful as the original. Even so, this sequel has a very good chance at topping the box office and with Halloween upcoming it should play well for the rest of October as well. At just a $25 million budget, Perry should have no problem finding success once again.


GEOSTORM The film with the biggest budget over the weekend will also face the biggest challenge. Though it seems every year we get at least one end-of-the-world, big-budget movie, there really isn't a lot of buzz surrounding Geostorm. There have been a few exciting trailers, but nothing that made me want to rush out and see this. The film focuses on an out-of-control climate control system that goes haywire and instead of preventing disasters, starts to cause them. Flash-freezing, tornadoes, tidal waves - you get the picture. And Gerard Butler plays the one man who can save them - but he has to go to space to do it. On the ground Jim Sturgess and Abbie Cornish work to save President Andrew Palma (Andy Garcia) the only man with the code necessary shut things down. Daniel Wu, Eugenio Derbez, Ed Harris, Alexandra Maria Lara and Amr Waked help round out the cast. With an $80 million price tag (not counting advertising or reshoot expenses), this is going to have a hard time earning back that budget in such a crowded market. I will stream this, but theater worthy this ain't.


THE SNOWMAN Serial killers are always a scary prospect, and The Snowman is based on a well-known novel. Too bad critics are ripping this one pretty hard. Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson play a lead detective and fresh-faced recruit on the trail of long-dormant serial killer, who targets women he feels are deviant, but only as long as the snow falls. While the cast and source material are both top-notch, according to director Tomas Alfredson (Let the Right One In), he was very rushed and anywhere from 10%-15% of the script was left out, and thus the entire film suffers. The rest of the cast looks great as well - Charlotte Gainsbourg, J.K. Simmons, Toby Jones, James D'Arcy, Chloë Sevigny and even Val Kilmer are all on board. Thrillers like this are meant to be cohesive and tight, if Alfredson was ham-strung by the studio, they have no one to blame but themselves if it fails.


ONLY THE BRAVE Based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, a team of firefighters out of Prescott, Arizona, who lost nearly every member battling the Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013. Only the Brave tells the story of the twenty men who went out to do their duty - 19 of which paid the ultimate price. I'm sure the story will play up the bravery and heroism and downplay the questionable decisions made, but this is Hollywood. Josh Brolin headlines with plenty more talent on the line: Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Connelly, James Badge Dale, Taylor Kitsch and Andie MacDowell help round out the cast. While the uplifting story will usually appeal to blue-collar America, Only the Brave has had a relatively quiet campaign and looks to have a relatively quite weekend as a result. With just a $38 million budget the film doesn't have to be a huge success to make bank, but we'll see how it performs against stiff competition.


SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME That leaves us with the inspirational film Same Kind of Different as Me rounding out the new releases. With just over 1300 theaters, this is releases on the lowest amount of theaters among the new releases, and will probably have the lowest opening as a result. The film follows an art dealer (Greg Kinnear) who is in a troubled marriage with his wife (Renée Zellweger) but finds that salvation may come in the form of a homeless man (Djimon Hounsou), considered dangerous by some, but will lead all three on journey of healing and redemption. Jon Voight, Olivia Holt and Dana Gourrier fill out the cast. This kind of inspirational tale hasn't found much success at the box office recently - as Christian-themed films All Saints, A Question of Faith and The Stray have all been non-starters. While this certainly has a more well-known cast than any of those, I still don't think it's going to help this film much. It's just going to get lost in the crowded box office, probably not even break the top 10, and find whatever success if could hope for in the home viewing market.


Another packed weekend should lead to a showdown between straight-up horror and horror-comedy, with an outside chance for action. I'll be back on Sunday with the final tally.

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