New in Theaters April 29: Keanu, Mother's Day, Ratchet and Clank

By Chris Kavan - 04/28/16 at 07:43 AM CT

It was a chilly receptions for The Huntsman: Winter's War, the only new wide release last weekend couldn't hold a candle to the might of The Jungle Book. This week, there are three new entries that will enter the box office fray: Key and Peele debut their kitten gangster action comedy, an animated film based of a hit video game franchise (from about ten or so years ago) and a female-driven dramedy just in time for Mother's Day (and there's your title). Even with the competition, The Jungle Book looks to repeat as the box office champion once again but we'll see if any of these newcomers fare better than the fading Huntsman.

KEANU Starring popular comedians Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, the marketing has been pretty heavy for the cute kitten crime caper Keanu. How far would you go to get your pet back? How about posing as drug dealers and going up against a dangerous street gang. Granted, the film is played for plenty of laughs, but there is a lot of action involved as well. Joinging the comedic duo are Method Man, Luis Guzmán, Will Forte, Nia Long, Jason Mitchell and Tiffany Haddish among others. I admit, the film does look pretty entertaining but, on the other hand, it looks incredibly stupid too. This is a definite streaming option for me, but I won't be seeing this in theaters. I wonder how many people think like me and how many will decide to support this on opening weekend.


MOTHER'S DAY Despite the presence of Jennifer Aniston, I have no desire whatsoever to watch Mother's Day. This is the exact kind of film that targets women, and will have the main bulk of its audience made up of the same crowd. I mean, it's called Mother's Day - if this reaches 20% male I will be amazed and frightened. Granted, without a strong, female-driven film at the box office right now, it may just turn out that's the best thing this movie has going for it. Oh, and Julia Roberts, Kate Hudson, Timothy Olyphant and Jason Sudeikis. I don't know if the the star power is going to be enough to raise this above the generic premise I see. The marketing has also been on the light side and thus I see this as maybe making the top five but it probably isn't going to generate much heat.


RATCHET & CLANK With The Jungle Book clearly carving out the family (and even quite a bit of the adult crowd), Ratchet and Clank has an uphill battle ahead of it. Now, I was a big fan of the original game - it was fun, had a great variety and some nifty characters. There were plenty of sequels and spinoffs but this is a series that hit its stride in the mid-2000s - the last game came out in 2013. Much like Angry Birds, I think the ship has sailed and no matter how much they want it, this is just not going to make that big of dent at the box office. It's too bad, because it looks like the movie really does capture the spirit of the game (and vice-versa, I guess). Besides the original video game cast (James Arnold Taylor, Jim Ward and David Kaye) they have also added some more familiar actors including Rosario Dawson, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Bella Thorne and Sylvester Stallone, If this had came out five or so years ago, I would say it was a slam dunk but after too long I think the audience has moved on and it just isn't going to attract that much interest.


The way things are shaping up, The Jungle Book has a very real shot at once again staying on top of the box office. Keanu looks to be the biggest threat, but I don't know if a kitten can stand up against the might of the entire jungle.

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