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The Preview Reel: Tomb Raider & Love, Simon

Scott Davis
The Preview Reel

Welcome to the “Preview Reel” column, where we look at the week’s upcoming wide-release movies. Disney dominated last weekend’s box office with the top two films, Black Panther and A Wrinkle in Time. The studio’s reign is likely to end as we begin a three-week period of big blockbuster releases, with Tomb Raider up first. Twentieth Century Fox also offers Love, Simon as counter-programming.

 

Tomb Raider

What we are excited about: Alicia Vikander is a great choice to play Lara Craft. She’s beautiful, tough, and has the acting chops to pretty much pull anything off. The Academy Award winner doesn’t have to be better than Angelina Jolie, but instead can focus on being a role model heroine for 2018. She has what it takes, we just hope the movie surrounding her is up to the task as well.

What we are worried about: Video game movies have a terrible track record. You could consider Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010) and Wreck-It Ralph (2012) as video game movies, but when you talk about adaptations of actual games, there really hasn’t been a good one. Assassin’s Creed (2016) was supposed to be the one that changed everything, but it was a terrible dud. Now, we have arrived at the next supposed “game-changer,” but we aren’t very confident in its prospects. The trailers haven’t done Tomb Raider any favors as the movie looks overly CGI and the plot looks basic to say the least. The wait for a great video game adaption will likely continue after this one hits theaters.

The Buzz: After Assassin’s Creed was such a bust, people began looking to Tomb Raider as the next great video game movie. The buzz has been lukewarm with some saying the storyline it’s based on is perfect for a movie, while others still grapple with the memory of the sub-par Angelina Jolie movies. Reviews are slowly rolling in as of this writing, and they have been mostly bad. Look for an opening around $27 million.

Final Thoughts: If you’re a fan of the games, or Alicia Vikander, this might be worth seeing on the big screen.

 

Love, Simon

What we are excited about: Based on an acclaimed young-adult novel, Love, Simon’s trailers seem to promise a pleasant teen romantic dramedy. It’s from the producers of The Fault in Our Stars (2014), which was a huge hit both commercially and critically. If they can replicate that magic, they could have another small-sized hit on their hands.

What we are worried about: The main cause for concern when it comes to Love, Simon is the director, Greg Berlanti. His television work, although successful, isn’t always the best. He is most known for starting the CW’s DC lineup that currently includes Arrow, The Flash, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, and Supergirl. If you have watched any of those shows, you know that they are full of some awful subplots and eye-rolling romantic storylines. Hopefully he balances Love, Simon’s storylines a bit better, which we think he will.

The Buzz: The buzz for this movie has been overwhelmingly positive as Twentieth Century Fox screened it a couple of weeks ago to gain momentum heading into opening weekend. That seems to have paid off as the movie sits at 91% on RottenTomatoes and 73 on MetaCritic as of this writing. Those are both great scores and should get people interested in seeing it when it opens. Look for an opening weekend tally around $13 million.

Final Thoughts: With good reviews and positive buzz heading into its release, Love, Simon might be a decent sized hit for Twentieth Century Fox.

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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