By Chris Kavan - 03/26/15 at 06:39 AM CT
The theme of March this year has been girl power. Between Cinderella and Divergent, there hasn't been much room left for anyone else. In fact, other than those two films, there hasn't really been any big films for the month, really. We'll see if a comedic dream team can turn things around in that department. Otherwise, families will have another animated choice over the weekend if Cinderella isn't their thing. Finally, though it technically isn't new to theaters, one of the best-reviewed horror film in a long time sees a huge nationwide expansion - and that makes me very happy indeed.
GET HARD The last time a comedy graced our presence, it ended... badly. Vince Vaughn, Dave Franco and Tom Wilkinson went on an adult road trip in Unfinished Business and it crashed and burned spectacularly - standing at just over $10 million. Hopefully Will Ferrell and Kevin Hart have a bit better luck in Get Hard. The film has taken some flack for some insensitive racial jokes. I say, it looks to be a comedy about a super white guy going to prison and approaching a black man for advice. I'm sure there are racial stereotypes and maybe even homophobic jabs going on - look at Ferrell's characters - he's exactly the kind of person who would hold such things in regard. Controversy aside, this looks to be in much better position to do well at the box office. For one, Hart has been on a tear recently - both in ensemble and leading roles - and if his streak holds, this should be another hit for him. Ferrell is still a big name as well and the combination should lead to big returns. At least one should hope, as the marketing push for Get Hard has been rampant - TV, interviews, talk shows - if this doesn't stir up some interest, all that money will have gone to waste. That being said - I admit getting me to watch a comedy in theaters is a very hard sell. I'm more of a wait for Netflix kind of guy - but I have a feeling this is going to do pretty good, especially as competition is pretty much nil.
On the other end of the spectrum from a raunchy R-rated comedy, we have Home, a clearly family affair. This animated offering has a misfit alien (voiced by Big Bang veteran Jim Parsons) who is on the run, joining forces with a free-spirited human (voiced by Rihanna) who is on an adventure of her own. Of course both learn valuable lessons and things work out in the end. Although this setup seems overly familiar, as long as it looks good and provides some incentive for adults to care too, it should do fine in theaters, as most animated films do. The supporting cast looks pretty good too: Steve Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Matt Jones and Brian Stepanek are on board. Home doesn't exactly stand out from the crowd, so I have a feeling that even with a lack of animated features in theaters it isn't likely to be a breakout hit, but considering that families aren't the most discriminating of audiences, it should have at least a decent showing, though it doesn't have prayer of reaching the Pixar level of box office returns.
As I said, this one technically doesn't count as a new release, as it has been in theaters (albeit in limited release) for a couple of weekends now. But it is adding 1200 theaters and officially going nationwide (including to a theater near me - Yay!) and it has me excited because it's one of the best reviewed - and highly regarded - horror films to come along in awhile. Both critics and audiences seem to be digging this one - it involves a teen who has her first sexual encounter, only to be given a kind of supernatural STD - a curse, if you will, that involves something following her - creeping ever closer - until she dies, or passes the curse on by having sex with someone else. It's a nice twist on the classic horror trope that sex leads to death. From all accounts the atmosphere is astounding and the creepiness factor is off the charts. I haven't been this excited about a horror film since The Conjuring, and rest assured I'll be watching this one on the big screen to see if all this excitement is warranted. Here's hoping the film lives up to the hype.
Between comedy, family and horror there should be something that grabs the attention this weekend. One can only hope it will continue the hot streak and not be another disappointing March weekend.
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