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The Preview Reel: The Last Jedi and Ferdinand

Scott Davis
The Preview Reel

Welcome to this week’s “Preview Reel” column, where we look at the week’s new wide-release movies. Coco has been dominating the box office for the last three weeks, but that will come to an end this weekend as one of the most anticipated movies of the year, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, finally gets released. It’ll easily debut at number one, but it will be interesting to see just how high it debuts. Elsewhere, the animated movie, Ferdinand, looks to provide some families with counter-programming before the holiday season.

 

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

What we are excited about: It’s new Star Wars, what is there not to be excited about? Ever since it was announced that J.J. Abrams would direct Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) and then Rian Johnson would direct Episode VIII, it seemed like more people were excited about Johnson’s installment than Abrams’s, and for good reason. Johnson is responsible for favorites like Brick (2005) and Looper (2012), along with some of the best episodes of Breaking Bad (2008-13). The Last Jedi is only his third feature-length film, but he has an immense amount of talent from both a writing and directing perspective. Not only that, but the trailers have been killer. Disney knows how to market their movies and get fans excited without giving too much away (other studios could learn from them). The Force Awakens left us with a cliffhanger (somewhat literally) and we are incredibly anxious to see where the saga goes next.

What we are worried about: There’s always a huge amount of excitement around any new Star Wars movie, but there is also some hesitation. The prequels showed us that no matter how excited we get over a new installment, it could still end up being disappointing. There is a chance that The Last Jedi could be a massive misfire, though we doubt it, but people also doubted that each prequel would be bad, and well….

The Buzz: This is the most anticipated movie of 2017, at least according to the internet that is. Sure, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Beauty and the Beast, Wonder Woman, and Justice League were highly anticipated, but that level of excitement was nowhere near the height it is for this movie. The world premiere was this past Saturday and reviews have been incredibly positive. The movie currently sits at 94% on RottenTomatoes and 86 on MetaCritic. The Force Awakens demolished the box office record back in 2015 opening to $248 million on its way to a jaw breaking $936.7 million stateside. The Last Jedi probably won’t reach those insane heights since Force Awakens had the benefit of being the first Star Wars movie in ten years, but it will open big. Projections are everywhere between $185 million to $240 million. We’ll land in the middle with $220 as our guess and predict the film will show similarly strong legs over the holiday season.

Final Thoughts: It’s new Star Wars, of course we’ll see it (possibly more than once).

 

Ferdinand

What we are excited about: As is the case with most big-budgeted animated movies these days, the cast of this film is insanely impressive. John Cena, who has had some scene stealing moments the past couple of years (see: Trainwreck [2015] and Sisters [2015]), voices the titular character while Kate McKinnon, Gina Rodriguez, Anthony Anderson, and Bobby Cannavale all have supporting roles. That’s a lot of talent here and hopefully they have good enough material to shine through.

What we are worried about: The story seems incredibly basic, and though it’s based on a popular children’s book, that doesn’t take away from the fact that it looks a lot like many other animated movies that come out these days. We know this property has its built-in fan base, but we’re not one of them, and the trailers did not sell us on joining up.

The Buzz: Most of the buzz week is about The Last Jedi, but Ferdinand should play well as counter programming over the holiday season. It currently sits at 63 on MetaCritic and even earned a nomination for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Golden Globes. Look for a modest opening around $18 million which could morph into decent legs over the holidays.

Final Thoughts: This might be a decent family option after you’ve already seen The Last Jedi, at least once.

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.
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