With theaters largely closed down and releases few and far between, the report I had planned to write in May was scrapped in its entirety, thus the wrap-up is going to do nothing.

Here we look at the upcoming month’s offerings. With few of them and most of them being potentially rescheduled.

October 2, 2020

A Call to Spy

Premise: From IMDb: “In the beginning of WWII, with Britain becoming desperate, Churchill orders his new spy agency — the Special Operations Executive (SOE) — to recruit and train women as spies. Their daunting mission: conduct sabotage and build a resistance. SOE’s “spymistress,” Vera Atkins (Stana Katic), recruits two unusual candidates: Virginia Hall (Sarah Megan Thomas), an ambitious American with a wooden leg, and Noor Inayat Khan (Radhika Atpe), a Muslim pacifist. Together, these women help to undermine the Nazi regime in France, leaving an unmistakable legacy in their wake. Inspired by true stories.”
Box Office Prospects: $1 M
Expectations: Weak. The film doesn’t sound like something audiences will rush out to see.
Oscar Prospects: Uncertain. Some elements of the film feel like they might be Oscar caliber, but with very little forward press, it might be a mirage.
Cinema Sight Preview: See my preview of this title here.

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None of the films highlighted in my original preview article back in March were actually released. Some went virtual, others were postponed. As a result there will be no update this month. This was the first month of a slimmed-down or non-existent cinematic experience across the country. Things wouldn’t open up until August, so expect similar reports to this in May, June, and July (posted in October, November, and December respectively).

September 4, 2020

Bill & Ted Face the Music (Limited)

Premise: From IMDb: “Once told they’d save the universe during a time-traveling adventure, 2 would-be rockers from San Dimas, California find themselves as middle-aged dads still trying to crank out a hit song and fulfill their destiny.”
Box Office Prospects: $2 M
Expectations: Weak. Since it’s opening online simultaneously with its limited run, it’s not likely to pull in many dollars.
Oscar Prospects: None.
Cinema Sight Preview: See my preview of this title here.

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To introduce you to the upcoming films, there will be two preview articles every month and this introduction every four months. The Season Preview article will focus on one of three seasons Spring Season (January through April), Blockbuster Season (May through August) and Oscar Season (September through December). In these introductory articles, I will give you the current release schedule for the specified season, which may change as the release dates get closer.

Once again our quarterly preview is looking at films with tentative release dates in 2020. At this point, it’s unlikely that most of these films, especially the ones supposedly releasing in September, actually see cinemas. With films like Tenet and Mulan being postponed indefinitely and Wonder Woman 1984, Black Widow, and The King’s Man each having been postponed from earlier release dates, there is just no conceivable way that the pandemic ends soon enough to resume a normal blockbuster season, though Oscar’s contenders still have a chance with the Academy’s revised rules, so we’ll see.

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Below is a wrap-up of the predictions I made several months ago, an exploration of what succeeded and what failed, and how I observe things to have gone. NOTE: This was the first month were exhibitors and studios had become skittish, so a lot of these pictures may have been rescheduled (several times, possibly).

March 6, 2020

Onward

Oscar Prospects: What I said: “Excellent. Few Pixar films haven’t competed for the Best Animated Feature Oscar and being an original production, that will continue to be the case.”
Oscar Results: Still Excellent. With the pandemic ravaging theaters, the primary seasons for animated features seem to be barren, leaving this Pixar feature and Trolls World Tour as the only contenders so far this year.
Box Office Prospects: $250 M
Box Office Expectations: What I Said: “Excellent. Every original Pixar film, with a few exceptions, has done exceptionally well at the box office, so this one should as well.”
Box Office Results: $61.6 M
Thoughts: [Unexceptional] Yanked from theaters after only two weeks in release, this result certainly is unexceptional. That said, it had a tepid debut of $39 million, and had only made $61 million after two weeks. Some of that may have been early leeriness from audiences over the pandemic, but I don’t know that that’s entirely true.

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Here we look at the upcoming month’s offerings.

August 7, 2020

The Broken Hearts Gallery

Premise: From IMDb: “After a break up, a young woman decides to start a gallery where people can leave trinkets from past relationships.”
Box Office Prospects: $1 M
Expectations: Uncertain. If I say anything but “Uncertain,” I would be blowing smoke. Anyway, this film says it’s going wide, but I don’t believe that. This is a classic platform release, but I suspect with the pandemic, it won’t go much of anywhere.
Oscar Prospects: None.
Cinema Sight Preview: See my preview of this title here.

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Below is a wrap-up of the predictions I made several months ago, an exploration of what succeeded and what failed, and how I observe things to have gone.

February 7, 2020

Birds of Prey

Oscar Prospects: What I said: “Uncertain. The film’s releasing a bit early for consideration, but Suicide Squad won an Oscar for Best Makeup & Hairstyling, so nothing is entirely out of the question.”
Oscar Results: Now unlikely. The film’s less than spectacular box office will hinder its chances in categories it would deserve recognition in such as Makeup & Hairstyling and Production Design.
Box Office Prospects: $350 M
Box Office Expectations: What I Said: “Good. DC’s Extended Universe always does well even when the films aren’t good and this all-female superhero tale is sure to perform well.”
Box Office Results: $84.2 M
Thoughts: [Minor Flop] When this film released, theaters were less than a month away from closing down in some areas of the country or even all areas. While that might have impacted its future prospects, the sad fact is that the film didn’t perform nearly that well in its opening weekend as it should have.

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Here we look at the upcoming month’s offerings.

July 1, 2020

Unhinged

Premise: From IMDb: “Unhinged is a psychological thriller that takes something we’ve all experienced – road rage – to an unpredictable and terrifying conclusion.”
Box Office Prospects: $20 M
Expectations: Uncertain. It’s uncertain just how many theaters will open, whether all of them will be at 50% capacity, and whether audiences will really want to go to the theater at present. This will be the theme for all of the potential releases from July well into next year, depending entirely upon whether a vaccine is developed and widely available or not. That said, this concept isn’t terribly exciting for most people and while it might be interesting to see how audiences respond to Russell Crowe as a villain, I suspect it will be unsuccessful.
Oscar Prospects: None.
Cinema Sight Preview: See my preview of this title here.

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Below is a wrap-up of the predictions I made several months ago, an exploration of what succeeded and what failed, and how I observe things to have gone.

January 3, 2020

The Grudge

Oscar Prospects: What I said: “None.”
Oscar Results: Still None.
Box Office Prospects: $75 M
Box Office Expectations: What I Said: “Uncertain. It’s been a long while since The Grudge, its remake or its remake’s sequel have been in the multiplex. Is it enough time to have built an interest in a reboot? We shall wee.”
Box Office Results: $21.2 M
Thoughts: [Major Flop] Remakes have always been an iffy proposition, but horror remakes have a small chance of being popular. This remake, however, did not. The audiences weren’t that interested in starting over, so it failed to live up to expectations.

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Like last month, it’s possible, even probable, that theatrical business is not back up and running by the end of May. If I feel that we will indeed have new movies, then I’ll post an update.

Below is a wrap-up of the predictions I made several months ago, an exploration of what succeeded and what failed, and how I observe things to have gone.

December 6, 2019

The Aeronauts

Oscar Prospects: What I said: “Uncertain. While the production certain looks like something that could compete in Production Design and Costume Design categories, the wind hasn’t caught this balloon and sent it into the Oscar stratosphere, so it’s probably not getting anything in that regard.”
Oscar Results: Failure. The film ultimately didn’t make a sufficient impression to earn Oscar consideration.
Box Office Prospects: $35 M
Box Office Expectations: What I Said: “Uncertain. This aeronautical adventure might have been a box office draw two decades ago, but today, it all sounds too odd to make much of a run at the box office.”
Box Office Results: $N/A M
Thoughts: The film saw a limited release, but not in a theater that reported box office numbers.

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While May has not been entirely vacated due to some hopes that things will be under control by then, the handful of titles still there will probably move out eventually. As such, at this time, I cannot do a May preview. That said, if it appears May will have theaters open, I will post my updated preview article at that time.

With the pandemic in its second month and most of the summer releases pushed off to fall or 2021 release dates, there isn’t much to see in the upcoming list of films. As such, this preview will be notably mediocre in terms of coverage.

To introduce you to the upcoming films, there will be two preview articles every month and this introduction every four months. The Season Preview article will focus on one of three seasons Spring Season (January through April), Blockbuster Season (May through August) and Oscar Season (September through December). In these introductory articles, I will give you the current release schedule for the specified season, which may change as the release dates get closer.

Click here to continue reading this article

Below is a wrap-up of the predictions I made several months ago, an exploration of what succeeded and what failed, and how I observe things to have gone.

November 1, 2019

Arctic Dogs

Oscar Prospects: What I said: “None.”
Oscar Results: None.
Box Office Prospects: $20 M
Box Office Expectations: What I Said: “Weak. This terrible-looking animated feature didn’t even show up on the Academy’s list of Animated Feature submissions, suggesting it’s either too awful to be selected or is about to get pushed into next year. Whatever the reason, it looks like a flop in the making.”
Box Office Results: $5.8 M
Thoughts: [Minor Flop] This animated adventure looked terrible from the start. It’s no surprise it didn’t inspire audiences to give it a shot.

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