By Chris Kavan - 10/17/19 at 12:19 AM CT
Joker continues to laugh all the way to the bank after two weeks atop the box office charts. This weekend the two new films are both sequels, and both look to embrace the Halloween spirit. Angelina Jolie returns as the still-working-on-becoming-evil Maleficent while a quartet of Oscar nominees (and one winner) get back together to kill some more zombies. I think the combined might should be enough to dethrone Joker, but I still think the dark origin story is going to put up a good fight.
MALEFICENT: MISTRESS OF EVIL Disney doesn't just have to rely on remakes of their animated classic into live-action films, they can also explore so many other characters - which is what happened in the original Maleficent. Angelina Jolie stars as the title character, who most know as the evil sorceress who cursed Princess Aurora (aka Sleeping Beauty), but, it turns out, she wasn't always evil. Maleficent went on to earn a cool $241.1 million domestic and over $758 million worldwide. This sequel continues following the story of Maleficent and Aurora, as each find themselves pulled in different directions, while a new dark force is in motion. Almost the entire original cast returns: Jolie, Elle Fanning as Aurora, Sam Riley as Diaval, Lesley Manville, Juno Temple and Imelda Staunton as the trio of flighty fairies Flittle, Thistletwit and Knotgrass - the only major casting shakup is Harris Dickinson taking over from Brenton Thwaites as Prince Philip due to scheduling conflicts. Joining the cast includes Michelle Pfeiffer as Queen Ingrith, Chiwetel Ejiofor as Conall and Ed Skrein as Borra among others. Sequels, for the most part, tend to lag behind the original - not always, but more often than not. Mistress of Evil I believe will follow send trend, but should still do just fine in theaters.
While we're on the subject of sequels. our second entry involves four people just trying to thrive and survive a little thing called the zombie apocalypse. That's right, Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg), Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) are back for another round of zombie mayhem and humor in Double Tap. The four form a great dysfunctional team, but they may not be alone for long as previews show some new faces, including Madison (Zoey Deutch), Nevada (Rosario Dawson), Berkeley (Avan Jogia), Flagstaff (Thomas Middleditch) and Albuquerque (Luke Wilson) as some new and exciting characters. Also, somehow Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd are involved, probably involving flashbacks and/or trippy dreams or something. I have a soft spot for zombie-related material and Zombieland was one of the better offerings. Granted, it has been ten year already, and the zombie genre isn't nearly as popular as it once was, but I'm willing to join these guys for another round of zombie fun - even, as it seems, the undead are growing bolder and, dare I say, smarter this time around. It's coming out at a good time, we'll see if audiences still have a taste for the undead.
It should be a nice race to the top this weekend, and I have a feeling Joker is going to give up its crown - and we'll which new sequel will be the one to take it when I return on Sunday with the full breakdown.
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