Box Office: 'The Jungle Book' Roars As 'The Huntsman' Misses The Mark

1. The Jungle Book- $60.8M/$191.4M
Disney's The Jungle Book was huge in its second weekend, slipping only 41% for a staggering $60.8M. Worldwide it has already hit $528M, and seems well on its way to being one of the top 2 or 3 grossing movies of the year. The only issue? Disney has Captain America: Civil War coming up which means they'll be cannibalizing one another a little bit, which is kind of an awesome problem to have.
2. The Huntsman: Winter's War (review here)- $20M
The chief complaint about Universal's The Huntsman: Winter's War is that it was totally unnecessary, a sequel to a $400M movie that most can barely remember. But that was in a much simpler time for building franchises when numbers like that seemed fantastic; now not so much. And so the unnecessary sequel opens more than 60% less than its predecessor with only $20M, this despite reeling in the likes of Emily Blunt and Jessica Chastain to join the returning Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron. Apparently the loss of Kristen Stewart as the grim, armor-clad Snow White was a much bigger deal than expected. On the plus side, this one only cost about $115M, which isn't going to bad and is nearly matched when the $80M earned overseas is factored in. So this may not be an outright disaster, but maybe Universal should read the writing on the wall and let this snow melt away.
3. Barbershop: The Next Cut- $10.8M/$36M
4. Zootopia- $6.6M/$316.4M
Disney's other movie about talking animals has now hit $907M worldwide. Incredible.
5. The Boss- $6M/$49.5M
6. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice- $5.5M/$319.5M
For all of the complaining and negative reviews, 'Batman v Superman' has powered its way to $851M, making it the 7th biggest superhero movie ever.
7. Criminal- $3.1M/$10.8M
8. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2- $2.1M/$55.3M
9. Compadres- $1.3M
10. A Hologram for the King- $1.1M
Tom Hanks and Tom Tykwer's small-scale dramedy A Hologram for the King opened at only 401 theaters and earned $1.1M. This is one of Hanks' worst openings in his career, and it's a little weird to see him in a movie that nobody is talking about at all. Even Larry Crowne opened wider and performed better than this.

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Box Office: 'The Jungle Book' Leads The Pack With $290M Worldwide

1. The Jungle Book (review here) - $103.5M
Maybe Disney should start a whole "talking animals" division? With the animated Zootopia still in theaters and performing extremely well, now they can add Jon Favreau's live-action The Jungle Book to the list of blockbuster favorites. The film earned a huge $103.5M, the second biggest April debut ever behind last year's Furious 7, which had an incredible $147M.  Plus a whopping $187M overseas, the film has amassed $290M worldwide. While Disney gets a lot of attention, and rightfully so, for Marvel and Star Wars, their live-action fairy tale remakes are perhaps an even bigger story with Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, and Cinderella all cashing in big time with plenty more on the way. And this further solidifies Favreau as the go-to director for visually pleasing movies for all ages. It's not too crazy to credit him for setting the tone of the entire Marvel universe with two all-ages Iron Man movies. The Jungle Book had the benefit of an A-list voice cast (Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson, and more) and some gorgeous promos that emphasized all of the film's strengths while keeping hidden that it's considerably darker than some parents may expect. That said, the film still has an 'A' Cinemascore so that hasn't turned anybody off. So what's next? A Baloo spinoff with Bill Murray? Don't laugh; it's probably not too far out of the question.
2. Barbershop: The Next Cut (review here)- $20.2M
14 years after the first Barbershop opened with $20M, Barbershop 3: The Next Cut debuts with nearly the same.  That's less than 2004's Barbershop 2: Back in Business' $24M, so this may be looked at as a disappointment.  Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer, Regina Hall, and much of the original cast are back for this one, along with some high-profile additions like Common and Nicki Minaj. But the biggest change may be in the tone, as the film uses humor to tackle the serious issue of Chicago gang violence.  It's still funny and will appeal to the dedicated fanbase, who will undoubtedly push this one to about $60-$70M just as the other movies did, but it's not the kind of storyline that reaches out and grabs new audiences. Besides, the Barbershop films are perhaps the speediest to hit the home release market and some may have decided it's a better idea to just wait.
3. The Boss- $10.1M/$40.3M
Melissa McCarthy's latest laugher, The Boss, slid 57% with $10.1M in its second weekend. The $40.3M total is lower than some of her previous hits, and it's looking like this one won't be quite as strong, so it's a good thing it only cost $29M.
4. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice- $9M/$311.3M
5. Zootopia- $8.2M/$307.4M
6. Criminal (review here)- $5.8M
The funniest part about the promos for the body-swapping crime flick Criminal has been its focus on supporting players Gal Gadot aka Wonder Woman and Ryan Reynolds aka Deadpool. Hmmm...why might that be? The shameless appealing to fanboys didn't work as the Kevin Costner-led flick opened with only $5.8M. The film also stars Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman so the cast for this one was great all around. Reviews have been pretty terrible for the most part, though, and along with the weak box office this is becoming a pattern for Costner movies. Maybe he should stick to getting killed in superhero movies for a while?
7. My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2- $3.2M/$52M
8. Miracles from Heaven- $1.9M/$56.9M
9. God's Not Dead 2- $1.7M/$16.9M
10. Eye In the Sky- $1.5M/$13.1M

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Review: 'Criminal' Starring Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, Ryan Reynolds, And Gal Gadot

What a crazy time we live in when a movie about transplanting a dead man’s memories is more thriller then sci-fi…in fact, Criminal feels in no way like a sci-fi movie. Maybe that’s what makes it effective. Bill Pope (Ryan Reynolds) is a CIA officer who is tortured and killed while en route to meet a hacker named Jan Stroop aka the Dutchman (Michael Pitt) who has control of a program called ‘The Wormhole’ which gives total access to Valiant Shield, the code name for the entirety of the US military. Pope was the only one who knew the location of the Dutchman’s safe house, so you could say his death was a bit of a problem for the CIA. Thankfully Dr. Franks (Tommy Lee Jones) is 18 years deep in a research project which can transplant the memories of one person to another. Franks is immediately picked up by the CIA and tasked with transplanting Pope’s memories before a Spanish anarchist (hey at least they didn’t go with Muslim terrorist) named Heimbahl (Jordi Molla) can find Stroop and claim the Wormhole. When asked if he has a subject picked out already he responds “Yes, but you’re not going to like it”. Enter Jericho Stewart, a psychopath in the truest sense of the word currently residing on death row. Stewart’s qualification for the procedure comes down to a brain trauma incurred as a child which left his frontal lobe undeveloped, thereby ideal for implanting the memories of another, a one in 10 million occurrence as were told. So what happens when you implant the mind of a highly trained CIA agent into the underdeveloped brain of a complete psychopath? What could go wrong?

As I’m writing this synopsis I start to realize how convoluted and silly the film sounds…maybe it’s just how I wrote it out because it’s neither of those things. This should be a simple espionage type thriller with sci-fi elements but its cast elevates it to a level above anything so run of the mill. This is Kevin Costner’s movie and he annihilates it. I’ve always believed it’s the subtle performances that deserve the most recognition, not the Oscar bait we see every year. Costner is that belief personified. Everything else in the film can fade away and still it will hold your interest to watch this total psychopath slowly morph into this good family man. At the risk of overusing the word it’s the subtle elevation of the change that really nails it home. When we first see Jericho truly on his own he walks into a small cafe, blows past the line, points at the menu and says “I want that” before taking food given to another patron, eating it, grabbing a drink, then walking outside to beat the living hell out of three men and steal their van all the while holding the posture and composure of a guy walking through his own home. As the implanted memories begin to take hold the violence slowly lessens and small things like saying ‘Cheers’ (a stand out funny moment) crop up as if someone is slowly turning a dial from psycho to normal. Costner as a psycho is clearly playing against type but then so is Tommy Lee Jones who, even in the small part he has, is truly effective as the soft spoken doctor with something genuinely caring in his eyes…he’s almost heartbreaking, evoking the emotion you’d have after seeing a little old man feeding the pigeons at a park with an empty spot next to him where his late wife used to sit. Depressing, I know, but that’s the best way I can describe it. The story is tightly written and though some of the plot involving Pope’s widow and daughter may seem out there, it can be understood through the context of a woman deep in grief given another chance to be with the one she lost. Thinking back the film was surprisingly light on real action given how gripping I found the story to be, but that in itself is more of a compliment then a complaint. If firefight’s are your thing, don’t worry there are plenty to be had.

When it comes to complaints, I really don’t have any that affected the way I enjoyed the film…afterthoughts really. Alice Eve, Gary Oldman, Jordi Molla, and Amaury Nolasco, were all basically set dressing with Oldman’s CIA chief being as standard as they come and Molla’s terrorist just popping in every 20 minutes or so to remind you he’s there. The central issue was your standard MacGuffin and the bad guys henchmen just as standard…oh and they threw in the Russians just for good measure. The thing is…none of that really mattered, they were all just a means to tell the real story of Jericho’s transformation. I should also mention before I close here that I really appreciated how they took the time to make the memory transplantation not only plausible but wholly believable, not only that but they did so in a way that was more simple as opposed to putting layers of hyper/pseudo-scientific exposition before the procedure which only served to make it seem like more of a normal thing that is actually happening.

Criminal is a step above other films in its class. The ones that usually find a big audience on cable and play 12 times a week on TNT three years after release, the forgettable thrillers. As clarification forgettable does not equal bad, there’s a ton of movies every year that are fun to watch which I can’t remember the names of 2 months later. No, Criminal does much more then that and its all thanks to Kevin Costner and his amazingly nuanced performance. It’s worth the ticket price so I say take a date night and see Criminal while it’s in theaters. 

3.5 Out of 5 Guttenbergs

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Free Screening Of 'Criminal' Starring Kevin Costner, Gary Oldman, And Gal Gadot

We're happy to offer our readers a chance to attend a free advance screening of Criminal, a body-swapping thriller starring Kevin Costner, Alice Eve, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Michael Pitt, and Gal Gadot!

Synopsis: In a last-ditch effort to stop a diabolical plot, a dead CIA operative’s memories, secrets, and skills are implanted into an unpredictable and dangerous death-row inmate in hopes the he will complete the operative’s mission.

The screening takes place on Tuesday, April 12th at Regal Gallery Place at 7:30pm. If you're interested, go to the Lionsgate ticketing site here and download one Admit-Two pass. Please remember that having passes does not guarantee entry as all screenings are first come first served. Enjoy the show!

Regal Gallery Place

Tuesday April 12^th

7:30PM

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First Trailer for 'Criminal' Has Kevin Costner And Ryan Reynolds Swapping Memories

What is it with Ryan Reynolds and body-switching movies? The Deadpool star had the memories of Ben Kingsley transferred into his body in last year's forgettable thriller, Self/Less. A few years ago he and Jason Bateman literally pissed their way into a mind swap in The Change-Up, another stinker. And now Reynolds is back to the same old tricks in Criminal, which sees him doing the big switch with Kevin Costner.

Ariel Vromen, who last directed bland crime movie The Iceman, is at the helm of this one, and again he's managed to assemble a stellar cast which includes Gal Gadot, Tommy Lee Jones, Gary Oldman, Michael Pitt, Antje Traue, and Alice Eve. Costner plays a Death Row inmate  uploaded with the skills and memories of a dead CIA spy (Reynolds) in order to complete his final mission.

It's all pretty ridiculous in a Face/Off kind of way, but there's a grittiness to Vromen's direction that is at least intriguing, and that cast is pretty remarkable.  Criminal hits theaters on April 15th.

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Gal Gadot Boards 'Criminal'; Jack Huston Confirmed for 'Pride & Prejudice & Zombies'

Ariel Vromen's debut feature, The Iceman, was a largely unimpressive crime flick. Pretty darn boring, actually. It featured a starry cast, however, and it appears Vromen is putting together an even better one for his follow-up, Criminal.  Adding a touch of superheroic power to the film will be Wonder Woman herself, Batman v Superman star Gal Gadot. She joins Kevin Costner Ryan Reynolds, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, and the recently-added Alice Eve in the thriller about a dangerous prison inmate (Costner) who is implanted with the memories and skills of a dead CIA agent to stop a diabolical plot. Gadot will play Reynolds' wife. [THR]

After years of struggling to get off the ground it finally looks like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies is going to happen. Last week we learned Lily James, Bella Heathcote, and Sam Riley would star in the adaptation of Seth Grahame-Smith's horror novel, with Jack Huston in early talks at the time. Now Deadline confirms the Boardwalk Empire and American Hustle actor has joined the cast in the role of George Wickham. The story tosses zombies and kung-fu into the middle of the Jane Austen classic, with Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters favoring martial arts rather than sewing classes and tea parties.

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Maika Monroe Rides 'The 5th Wave'; Diane Lane and Elle Fanning Join 'Trumbo'; Alice Eve is a 'Criminal'

 Zac Efron and Dennis Quaid may have received the bulk of the praise for Ramin Bahrani's underrated At Any Price, but I was completely taken by the performance of co-star Maika Monroe. Hollywood has noticed, and now Monroe is moving to her biggest film yet, taking a role opposite Chloe Grace Moretz in the YA adaptation, The 5th Wave. Nick Robinson (The Kings of Summer) and Alex Roe have the male leads while Liev Schreiber is in final talks to play the villain in the story of Cassie Sullivan (Moretz), one of the last remaining humans on an Earth ravaged by waves of alien attacks. When her little brother goes missing she goes on the run to find him during the fifth alien invasion. J Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) is directing for release on January 19th 2016. Monroe will be seen next in The Guest, starring Dan Stevens. [TheWrap]

Diane Lane and Elle Fanning have joined Trumbo, Jay Roach's biopic on blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. Bryan Cranston stars in the title role with Helen Mirren, John Goodman, and Michael Stuhlbarg on board the film about how Trumbo was accused by Senator McCarthy's House Committee on Un-American Activities and was sent to prison for refusing to testify. Under a pseudonym Trumbo went on to win two Academy Awards while blacklisted.

Ariel Vromen (The Iceman) is rounding up a strong cast for his follow-up, Criminal. Alice Eve has joined Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman in the story of "a dead CIA operative's memories are implanted into a dangerous convict in hopes that he will stop a diabolical plot."[THR]

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Rose Leslie Joins 'The Last Witch Hunter'; Gary Oldman is a 'Criminal'; Douglas Smith Commits 'Evan's Crime'

* No longer needed in Westeros, Rose Leslie is going from Game of Thrones to joining Vin Diesel in The Last Witch Hunter. In the works forever, the film is finally gearing up for an August shoot with Breck Eisner at the helm. Leslie will play a female witch who joins with her enemy, a witch hunter (Diesel), to stop an evil witch queen from finding an ancient relic and unleashing holy heck on humanity. [THR]

* Gary Oldman is joining Kevin Costner in Criminal, a crime thriller from Ariel Vroman (The Iceman) with a premise that could be amazing if pulled off successfully. The script by Douglas Cook and David Weisberg has dangerous prison inmate implanted with the memories and skills of a dead CIA agent so he can stop a diabolical plot. Oldman can be seen now trying to give Caesar the slip in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes.  [THR]

* Having just landed a role in the Terminator reboot, rising star Douglas Smith is going small for his next film. He'll star in Evan's Crime, an indie about "a college kid who lands a seven-year prison sentence after a minor drug bust, which in turn leads him down a path of vengeance against the power-hungry prosecutor who put him behind bars." David Arquette co-stars with Sandy Tung writing and directing.

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Kevin Costner is 'Criminal'; Jessica Barth Returns for 'Ted 2'; Mamie Gummer Joins 'Ricki and the Flash'

* Kevin Costner is suddenly busier than ever although that says nothing about the results of all these movies he's starring in lately. Draft Day, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, and the wretched Three Days to Kill have all done poorly, but maybe that will change with Costner's next project. He's in talks to star in Criminal, from The Iceman director Ariel Vromen. Costner will play “a ruthless killer who, rather than spend the rest of his life in jail, chooses to be used in a medical experiment in which the brain of a recently murdered field operative is implanted in his head.” Pretty nifty concept that Vromen can hopefully bring to life better than he did with The Iceman. [Variety]

* The chick who fell in love with a talking Teddy bear will be back for Ted 2 as Jessica Barth will reprise her role as trashy cashier, Tami-Lynn. Plot details are few but we know Seth MacFarlane will be back to voice Ted, co-write the script, and direct. Mark Wahlberg is also returning, joined by new addition Amanda Seyfried who will play his new love interest with Mila Kunis taking only a small role this time.

* Mamie Gummer, along with Kevin Kline, will join her mother Meryl Streep in Ricki and the Flash. Directed by Jonathan Demme and written by Diablo Cody, Streep plays "a rock ‘n’ roll-loving woman who chased her dreams at the cost of her family, but gets a chance to put things right." Kline will play Streep's ex-husband while Gummer is their confrontational daughter. [TheWrap]

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