By Chris Kavan - 04/18/19 at 07:44 AM CT
Just one more week until all the records are broken, but for now Shazam! could still rule the box office as Zachary Levi faces off against the new addition to The Conjuring series, an uplifting based-on-a-true-story drama and the latest from Disneynature featuring everyone's favorite Antarctic, tuxedo-clad birds. With Hellboy falling flat, it's anyone's guess as to what film will come out on top before Avengers: Endgame wipes everyone off the map.
THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA The Conjuring franchise has given horror its first, true universe (sorry, Universal - your Dark Universe just didn't pan out). Conjuring, Annabelle and The Nun have all had their stories told, now it's time for a new entry, this one base on Mexican folklore, in The Curse of La Llorona. Otherwise known as The Weeping Woman, is the tale of a young, beautiful woman, who catches the eye of a wealthy traveler, bears him two sons and then watches as his interest in her (but not the children) fades. When it is clear his will leave her, she drowns her two sons in a river - laments, but cannot find their bodies and dies herself. Before she can enter Heaven she is told she must find her children and thus wanders the Earth, trapped between the world of the living and dead, forever crying and bringing misfortune where she goes. This spin-off is a bit more violent, as La Llorona is seen not just as a bad omen, but brings death to those who see her - specifically children. When a social worker Anna Tate-Garcia (Linda Cardellini) investigates a case of a mother abusing her children, she is told about the deadly curse. While she shrugs it off, soon enough, a malevolent force begins to affect her own children (Roman Christou and Jaynee-Lynne Kinchen) and she turns to her faith, and a familiar face in Father Perez (Tony Amendola) to help her overcome the evil spirit. Early reviews have been pretty harsh, but The Nun only has 26% approval and went on to gross over $117 million. The Conjuring universe has been had a decent track record up to this point, so we'll see if La Llorona can continue or if it will be the first big miss for the series.
Hoping to get a bump from the Easter crowd, Breakthrough is based on the true story of John Smith (Marcel Ruiz) the 14-year-old son of Joyce and Brian (Chrissy Metz and Josh Lucas) who falls through a lake and despite a quick rescue attempt from EMTs, including Tommy Shine (Mike Colter) is pronounced dead. But his mother will not give up and after multiple CPR attempts fail, turns to the power of prayer and has those prayers answered when John wakes up. Now, I often give faith-based films a hard time - but that is only because many have an agenda (like the recent anti-abortion diatribe Unplanned) that they are clearly trying to push. Breakthrough, however, looks like one of the rare films that doesn't use faith as a hammer, but rather incorporates it into the story. Am I going to say the power of prayer is going to solve all our problems? No, but I am also not going to say that prayer will never work. This has some well-known actors (Topher Grace is also along as the local pastor while Dennis Haysbert plays Josh's doctor) and while the trailers make it appear a bit saccharine, faith-based films are often sweet, though I'm hoping this one manages to push some other emotions too. This has a good shot at challenging the top of the box office given the time of year, the cast and the lack of direct competition.
Disneynature has tackled several animals in the past - from lions to flamingos to pandas - and now they are going after a familiar bird in Penguins. Ed Helms narrates the documentary that follows an Adélie penguin dubbed Steve, who befriends and Emperor Penguin dubbed Wuzzo and the two become fast friends. But the Antarctic is not exactly a picnic for penguins as killer whales and leopard seals threaten their lives and future. Disneynature films are solid Earth Day entries, with most coming in right around the $20 million range. I see no reason to suspect that Penguins will be much different from the previous entries and should wind up right around the same numbers. The biggest factor will be competition - as there is a lot out there for families. We'll have to see if that affects the bottom line.
I'm not expecting too many fireworks over the weekend, as Avengers: Endgame lies in wait. I'll be back on Sunday with the breakdown.
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