Blithe Spirit and More in This Week's MPAA Ratings Bulletin

By Chris Kavan - 01/20/21 at 12:09 PM CT

It has been a bumpy road for Wonder Woman 1984, at least in theaters. After an eye-popping opening, it has suffered from some massive drops, both in part that is available on streaming, less-than-stellar reviews and, of course, the general lack of theaters. Thus, in just its third week out, it found itself unseated by the latest Liam Neeson action film, The Marksman. By now you should know what you're getting into when for a Neeson film - and The Marksman opened to $3.2 million, nearly a full $1 million below the opening for Honest Thief ($4.1 million) back in October, but also in a lot less theaters (1975 for Marksman vs 2424 for Honest Thief). And, unsurprisingly, it will go down as the lowest MLK holiday box office since, well, back before anyone cared about the box office holiday time frame.

This meant that Gal Gadot's 80s adventure had to settle for second place, as Wonder Woman 1984 dipped 13.3% and earned just $2.6 million for a $35.8 million domestic (just below the $38 million opening weekend of Wonder Woman) and $141.7 million global total. It's tough to say how good/bad this looks as HBO Max hasn't released any concrete figures, but theatrically it has to be seen as a loss.

Actually gaining week to week, The Croods: A New Age jumped nearly 13% for third-place $2 million showing, despite being readily available on PVOD. That gives the film a $40.1 million domestic (again, just under the $43 million opening of the original Croods) and a $134.8 million worldwide gross. With a relatively light $65 million budget between theaters and streaming, this film will probably wind up actually making some money in the end.

Rounding out the top five, the Tom Hanks film News of the World added $1.1 million for a new $8.7 million total while Monster Hunter brought in $975,000 for a $9.2 million domestic ($16.3 million global) total. Next up in wide release will be the Denzel Washinton/Rami Malek serial killer cop drama The Little Things.

Not a lot to talk about in this week's bulletin as almost all the would-be major films have yet to find a release date. Thus I will speak on behalf of the biggest limited release title once again, a comedic romance remake Blithe Spirit.

MPAA Official Logo

Hollywood is no stranger to remakes - and though many people may think this a modern phenomena, it's nothing new. By my count, since its 1945 debut, Blithe Spirit has seen no less than eight adaptations (many for television, but still) and the 2021 Blithe Spirit will be the ninth such version. The plot is thus, crime novelist Charles Condomine (Dan Stevens) has hit writers block with adapting one of his best-selling stories as a screenplay, much to the dismay of his current wife, Ruth (Isla Fisher) who happens to be the daughter of the movie's producer. What Dan can't admit is that he is quite unable to write much of anything without his muse, his late first wife Elvira (Leslie Mann) and after seeing a show by medium Madame Cecily Arcati (Judi Dench), inviters her over hoping to make contact with the other side. But said contact becomes a full-blown invasion when Elvira is summoned from the other side and her spirt wrecks havoc as she attempts to win Dan back. I just don't know how excited audiences are going to get for an adaptation of a 1940s film even if they try to shoe-horn in some modern updates. Older audiences expecting the original will be disappointed and I don't see teens or young adults rushing out, either. As a limited release, I don't know how it will fare. Rated PG-13 for suggestive references and
some drug material.

As for the rest, well, you can check out all the movies that will probably be coming out sometime this next year in the full MPAA Ratings Bulletin below:

BLITHE SPIRIT

Rated PG-13 for suggestive references and some drug material.


A CINDERELLA STORY: STARSTRUCK

Rated PG for some language and suggestive material.


THE ICE ROAD

Rated PG-13 for strong language and sequences of action and violence.


THE LAUREATE

Rated R for sexual content, nudity and language.


THE MAD HATTER

Rated R for some bloody violence, sexual content and nudity.


TRAIL OF JUSTICE

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence.

Comments

Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
  
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
  
Are you sure you want to delete this blog?