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Posted May 30, 2018 by Scott Davis in Features
 
 

The Preview Reel: Action Point & Adrift

Welcome to the “Preview Reel” column, where we look at the week’s upcoming wide-release movies. Solo: A Star Wars Story dramatically under performed over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, bringing in just $103 million over four days. That’s well below the anticipated $140-150 million, and could be seen as the first misstep from Disney since acquiring Lucasfilm back in 2012. The good news is that the film will have the next two weeks all to itself when it comes to blockbusters, as this week is a little light on the new film front. There’s the new Jackass movie, Action Point, and the survival true-story Adrift, both looking to target disparate summer audiences. We have a bad feeling about their box-office prospects, but could either be a mid-summer surprise?

 

Action Point (2018)

Action Point posterWhat we are excited about: If you’re a fan of the Jackass television show, then you should be excited for this movie. Serving as a “somewhat” prequel to Bad Grandpa (2013), Action Point combines the shenanigans of the Jackass show with a bonkers premise. It doesn’t seem to be the deepest movie of the year, but it will probably be good for a few laughs and fun stunts.

What we are worried about: We prefer our entertainment with at least a little bit of substance, which is something that the Jackass movies sorely lack. They exist just shock the audience with their crazy stunts and crudeness, but none of it is ever memorable. It’s entertainment for the moment, but it’s ultimately forgettable in the long run. We’d prefer movies like Deadpool 2 that are crude and shock the audience, but at least offers some substance to chew on (which, upon reflection, might be debatable for some viewers).

The Buzz: Jackass has its fans, but the buzz around these kinds of movies have seem to die down over the years. Most of its fans have grown up by now and the younger crowd has movies like Deadpool 2 (2018) to satisfy those R-rated comedy cravings, so we’re not sure where the audience for this movie is going to come from. There’s no reviews for this movie yet, so we’ll predict a low opening around $10 million.

Final Thoughts: If you’re a fan, this seems like a movie you can rent somewhere down the line; other than that it feels like something skippable.

 

Adrift (2018)

Adrift posterWhat we are excited about: Shailene Woodley is one of the top young actresses working today and usually elevates whatever material she is in (look no further than the Divergent series for evidence of this). Hot off her award-nominated performance in HBO’s Big Little Lies (2017-2019), a true-story survival thriller seems like an interesting choice. We’re hoping the movie is inspiring and is a good star vehicle for both Woodley and co-star Sam Claflin.

What we are worried about: While the true story is probably incredible, the movie looks like Life of Pi (2012) meets Open Water (2003), which means we have seen this before. We’re not sure the filmmakers can show us anything we haven’t already seen before, which might mean we’ll look to the reviews to see if there is anything noteworthy to be found here.

The Buzz: The internet has been buzzing about the May blockbusters for weeks now, and while it’s already beginning to wind down, the attention seems to be focusing on the upcoming June blockbusters. That means that Adrift is likely to get lost in the shuffle, which makes us wonder if this movie would have been better served in a less competitive season (like the Fall). We’ll predict an opening around $8 million.

Final Thoughts: If reviews say there is something unique about this movie, maybe we’ll rent it down the road, but we have a feeling this will get lost at sea among the summer blockbusters.

Scott Davis

Scott Davis

Scott Davis is a recent graduate of Oakland University where he earned a degree in journalism. He worked for the student newspaper on campus, The Oakland Post, where he became the paper's managing editor. He also earned a minor in Cinema Studies at OU. Scott enjoys all things film and TV related, especially the blockbuster kind. He might be the biggest Christopher Nolan fan you know.