Jurassic World still #1, Lightyear #2

For the weekend of June 17-19, 2022, Jurassic World Dominion managed to stay ahead of Pixar's Lightyear. JWD didn't have as steep drop as anticipated with its negative reviews, and it still looks favored to join other sequels Doctor Strange 2 and Top Gun Maverick to hit the $400 million domestic mark. It'll at least catch The Batman's $369 million domestic.

Lightyear's stumble out of the gate could mean any number of things. Are animated movies in trouble in these economic times? Other post-pandemic animated movies have been hits (Sing 2) although with lower opening and long legs. Disney's Encanto was beloved but never made $100 million domestic. Would anyone have predicted last year that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 would be more successful than Lightyear? Maybe families know Lightyear will be on DisneyPlus in 2-3 months and have patience. Maybe replacing Tim Allen affected more conservative parents. It's a better opening for Pixar than their last theatrical release 2020's Onward ($39 million) but a far cry from 2019's Toy Story 4's $120 million opening. This makes me more intrigued how Minions: The Rise of Gru will do.

Meanwhile this is the first time since the weekend of June 21, 2013, that the top 3 films each grossed over $40 million (Monsters University, World War Z, and Man of Steel in its second week).

Opens June 24

ELVIS with Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

BLACK PHONE with Ethan Hawke, Jeremy Davies and James Ransone.

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON with the voices of Jenny Slate and Isaella Rosselini.

Movie Trailers - 11/19/11

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Woody Harrelson in THE HUNGER GAMES
- I've read the book and it looks like a faithful adaptation.

Dwayne Johnson, Josh Hutcherson and Michael Caine in JOURNEY 2 THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND

- This semi-sequel to Journey of the Center of the Earth swaps out Brendan Fraser for The Rock, and it looks like a similar CG 3-D visual dessert buffet.


Julia Roberts, Lily Collins and Nathan Lane in MIRROR MIRROR

- While Snow White and the Huntsman is going for a more serious Lord of the Rings type feel, this is going the comedic route more in the vein of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland or even the live-action 101 Dalmatians. 


...and the Pixar gang returns with BRAVE

- Reminded me a lot of How to Train Your Dragon, but it's nice that Pixar's finally made a movie with a female protagonist.

Cars 2 - Movie Review

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Starring the voices of Owen Wilson, Larry the Cable Guy, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, John Turturro, Eddie Izzard, Tony Shalhoub, Bonnie Hunt, Jason Isaacs, Thomas Krestchmann, Cheech Marin, Vanessa Redgrave and John Ratzenberger. Directed by John Lasseter.

If the message of the first Cars movie was to slow down and appreciate the little things, that's been oblitherated here. Speed up! There are rocket-launching cars trying to kill you!

Cars has generally been considered the weakest title in the Pixar canon by critics, although it's more friendly for repeat viewing by little kids than, say, richer fare like Ratatouille or Wall-E. Now Cars 2 will have that dubious distinction, and while I liked it, it's not going to make my top ten, and Pixar movies usually do.

This movie has twin storylines. The first revolves around Lightning McQueen (Wilson), who agrees to enter a tri-country world-class race where the cars all run on Allinol, an all-natural fuel poised to replace gasoline. The second revolves around Mater (Cable Guy), who is mistaken for a spy and gets sucked into the world of automotive espionage. Turns out someone from Big Oil is trying to sabotage the race.

If this had been from DreamWorks or Blue Sky, it'd probably get higher marks than what it's getting. But it's Pixar and it's supposed to have more heart than this. Emphasis here is on action and humor, and this movie winds up being more about Mater than McQueen. When we get to the climax and McQueen finds out what's been going on, he stops short of yelling, "You mean there's this whole other movie that been going on?!"

It's cute. More on par with Rio than Rango in this year's Best Animated hunt. In fact, with what's coming, it may be the first Pixar movie to not get nominated for Best Animated Film since the category was created.

Sai my 5-year-old: "It was AWESOME! Except for the sad parts."