By Chris Kavan - 12/12/19 at 12:27 AM CT
While Frozen II has proven adept at keeping its place on top of the box office, the sequel's reign is about to come to an end. While last week only brought a single non-challenger, this week is much different with five new releases, many of which should do pretty good at the box office. The biggest among the new releases is sure to be Jumanji: The Next Level, a follow-up to the well-received Welcome to the Jungle. Two biopics will battle it out - one following the woman of Fox News who took on the toxic culture of Roger Ailes and Clint Eastwood's examination of how easy it is to go from hero to villain in Richard Jewell. Adam Sandler gets back to drama in the critically-acclaimed Uncut Gems and finally, a seasonal horror film in Black Christmas. That's a lot to digest as Hollywood goes for one last push before the new year.
JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL I admit I was skeptical that a new Jumanji would work, even though I thought it had a good cast in Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Karen Gillan and Jack Black. But $404 million later, and it turned out I was wrong and I heartily enjoyed the new adventure and appreciated the video game aesthetic it used in the process. It's little wonder we're getting a sequel - now it remains to be seen how it does in comparison. Sequels, by and large, tend to fall short of the originals. There are exceptions (John Wick, anyone?) but they are not the norm. The original cast is all returning, with some interesting additions - including Awkwafina, Danny DeVito and Danny Glover. In fact, one of the most fun aspects of this is that DeVito and Glover are, for a time, transported into the game as Johnson and Hart's characters. Much of the fun of the original was seeing how the four main actors essentially played their young counterparts (especially Black, who had to channel the somewhat shallow Bethany). So it should be just as much fun to see how they handle some older, wiser and technologically-challenged characters. This should have no problem dethroning Frozen II (entering its fourth week) but the most interesting thing will be how it compares to Welcome to the Jungle.
The first of two true-life biopic coming out this week concerns former boss of Fox New, Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) and the toxic culture he fostered at the network, especially when it came to women. When they are finally pushed too far, Gretchen Carlson (Nicole Kidman), Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron) and Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie) - along with other women - stand up for themselves, putting their careers on the line in order to exact change. The film also stars Alice Eve, Jennifer Morrison, Tricia Helfer, Connie Britton, Kate McKinnon and Allison Janney. Given the prevalence of the MeToo movement, it doesn't surprise me we're getting this so soon. Granted, it's going to lose out on a decent chunk of audience merely by going against Fox News (if this doesn't do well in theaters, I highly expect a at least a tweet or two about it from the President himself) and daring to slander the "news" network. But it's also attracting the awards season hype - so it has that going for it. One thing's for certain - it's going to make some waves.
The second of the big biopics has also been courting controversy. Clint Eastwood is no stranger to turning true stories into big screen gold, but Richard Jewell faces some stiff competition. It is also facing legal action from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for its depiction of journalist Kathy Scruggs (Olivia Wilde), especially on the point where it's heavily implied Scruggs is willing to trade sex for a good story. They want a disclaimer before the movie and are willing to go to court is Warner Bros. doesn't comply. But the film is really about Jewell (played by I, Tonya standout Paul Walter Hauser), a security guard who saves a lot of lives when he discovers a bomb during the 1996 Olympic games. It still takes several lives and while Jewell is initially hailed as a hero, soon he becomes a suspect, and the media is all too eager to stoke the flames and Jewell's life becomes a living hell. Sam Rockwell, Jon Hamm, Kathy Bates, Nina Arianda and Ian Gomez help round out the cast. Eastwood has done an excellent job at turning true stories into compelling films - and while some have certainly done better than others - overall he had done an admirable job, and often leads to a few awards. Controversy aside, this should do pretty good, even with the competition it has to face.
While Adam Sandler will always hold a place in my heart as a 90s-era man-child. Still, he has dipped his toe into more adult fare- Punch-Drunk Love being the prime example. And while he has been busy cranking out b-list Netflix films, he's looking to impress once again in Uncut Gems. Sandler plays Howard Ratner, a charismatic New York City jeweler who is always chasing the next big win, striking a precarious balance between business, family and those looking to collect when things don't go as planned. This is a gritty piece of work, where there are consequences from actions. Sandler is joined by the likes of LaKeith Stanfield, Idina Menzel, Eric Bogosian, Judd Hirsch, Julia Fox and, playing versions of themselves, Kevin Garnett and The Weeknd. It's a nice change of pace and once again proves Sandler isn't just the clown prince he often pretends to be - he's got acting chops and Uncut Gems is more than happy to prove it.
BLACK CHRISTMAS There always has to be some odd duck out in these big weekends and this time around its the rather seasonal horror film Black Christmas. This has already been made and remade once already, but this version takes things in a much different direction. Sure, a bunch of sorority sisters once again find themselves terrified by a masked killer, but this time, they're not going to take things lying down and go on the offensive themselves. What they find is that a fraternity is willing to go to great lengths to remain the top dogs on campus. Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Lily Donoghue and Brittany O'Grady play the damsels not in distress - while Caleb Eberhardt, Cary Elwes, Simon Mead and Ben Black play the evil fraternity members. I mean, for a nice twist, this does the trick, but with such strong competition coming out, this just doesn't stand a chance and I have a feeling even horror fans are probably only going to give this a cursory glance. This is one for streaming as I don't see it doing much in theaters.
It's going to be a weekend full of new faces. Jumanji: The Next Level should have no problem coming out on top - while Bombshell and Richard Jewell should be in the top five. It will be a battle among the holdovers, with Frozen II still holding strong. Knives Out might suffer due to the competition so we'll see how things play out come Sunday.
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