Candyman Review (1992 + 2021)

Do I actually believe that if I were to look into the mirror and say the name Candyman or Bloody Mary that an evil, vengeful spirit would come after me?

No. Of course not. I'm not superstitious in that regard.

Have I ever attempted to do such a thing?

Also no. That's a terrible idea. So maybe I am a bit superstitious or paranoid?

Because of that, this sort of urban legend makes for great horror premise. That's part of the reason why Supernatural is a fun show because they dealt with all sorts of urban legends, especially in the first few seasons. They even had a Bloody Mary episode with mirrors that I think is quite fantastic.

Yet Candyman itself is a horror franchise that had for some reason escaped me. So I took the opportunity yesterday and today to catch up on Candyman. The OG and the new sequel that came out last weekend. I haven't yet seen the other two sequels, but they did the 2018 Halloween thing where they made a direct sequel to the original, with the same exact title, that made the others irrelevant. So those weren't necessary for me to watch for the time being. But I'll get to them. Eventually.

I have to say that I rather enjoyed the OG Candyman. It's a 1992 film that takes heavy inspiration from the decade of classic slasher flicks that came before it. I can see why some would claim it as a horror classic itself. Yet it's not solely focused on a series of gratuitous kills with an all-powerful, immortal villain. Yes, there's a lot of bloody deaths and a rather ominous villain, but it's more interested in exploring the idea of an urban legend and playing around with that lore.

Having seen all 15 seasons of Supernatural (300+ episodes) and plenty of other 80s and 90s horror movies, I could nitpick some of the specifics with Candyman himself. He's essentially a vengeful spirit coming back to haunt people after getting brutally killed. Usually vengeful spirits target a specific group of people or area that are directly related to how they died. And if they're attached to a mirror or object, that object usually played a part in how they died. Candyman seems to have a lot of randomness to how he goes about things that doesn't necessarily attach itself to the lore that it sets up. And even though the rules or motives for why he's doing certain things or targeting certain people don't make sense, the movie doesn't always follow those somewhat nonsensical rules.

But nevertheless, the movie plays an interesting psychological game. He kills a girl at the beginning of the movie. But did he really? Or was it the boyfriend or a serial killer lurking? Us as the audience seem to have a clear vantage point for what happened, but it's a mystery for most of the characters inside the movie. And our main female lead, Helen, is investigating the Candyman lore, not from a detective or police angle, but for a thesis she's working on with a friend. Candyman eventually latches onto her for this and turns her into a victim, not by killing or hurting her, but by framing her for a series of murders. Making her look like she snapped and went on a killing spree. And when her only defense is "Candyman set me up," what is she supposed to do?

Yet despite it being obvious to the audience that Candyman is real, I could see an angle where people claim that Candyman actually isn't and is more metaphorical of her actually going crazy. But regardless of what actually happened, she herself becomes her own urban legend for generations after her to speculate on. And from their vantage point, her downward spiral is legitimately confusing and mysterious, which is why people gravitate towards it.

So yeah, the OG Candyman is a fun horror movie that you should definitely check out this Halloween season if you're like me and you've never seen it. It's currently available on Peacock's free tier.

The new Candyman in theaters? Well... that's a different story.

Following this movie's reaction has actually been kinda confusing. The critics score on Rotten Tomatoes is surprising high, certified fresh at 85 percent. Yet the audience score is more mixed at 74 percent, while the opening weekend audiences gave it a B on Cinemascore. For me personally, the select critics and movie people I follow on YouTube and Twitter have been very harsh, to the point of saying this movie is terrible. So I wasn't sure what to think.

Specifically, one movie podcast I follow called "Awards Radar" dove pretty deeply into their reaction as to why they all hated this movie. And not to seem like I'm just following on their bandwagon, but I can relate to a lot of points they were making, with the bulk of the argument being that this new movie has quite the identity crisis. It tries to be a lot of things, yet doesn't really commit to any of them. And at 91 minutes with credits, it feels like it came to an abrupt halt after dillydallying on trying to be too much, which results in it feeling fairly empty.

To the movie's credit, I do feel like this is a horror sequel that tried to do justice to its predecessor rather than being a throwaway cash grab full jump scares, bad acting, and terrible writing. It's a competently made film from a technical aspect and has a lot of talented people involved in front and behind the camera. New horror legend Jordan Peele produced the movie. Nia DaCosta directed the movie and I think she has a lot of potential as an up-and-coming director. Marvel agrees, too, as they have pegged her to direct "The Marvels," sequel to "Captain Marvel." And leading the charge in the acting department are Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris, both of whom are fantastic in this movie.

But the movie stumbles really badly in its execution of the plot. And I think the core issue comes with them not having a strong grasp on a good idea. The movie wants to be a modern throwback to the 80s and 90s slashers, which isn't a bad idea. But on that note it gets caught up in the gratuitous kills department. As I mentioned, there are plenty of bloody kills in the original, but each one has a specific purpose in forwarding the narrative. It was a surprisingly focused film for a slasher. Yet this new one had many instances where it jumped to a scene with random side characters who have zero connection to the main characters, just to get a bunch of Candyman deaths, as if the movie was trying to fill a quota. They had nothing to do with anything. We introduced characters at a random part of town. Killed them. Then never talked about them again. And many of those kills were done off camera or through weird angles that aren't even satisfying if good horror kills are what you want.

But then conflicting with that is that it tried to be a Jordan Peele movie. By that I mean it tried to have serious social commentary in the realm of "Get Out." Not that I have an inherent issue with that. I love horror movies that dive deep into relevant themes. But we'd be going through this random slasher that focused on the wrong elements of a good slasher, then suddenly it become a movie about police brutality and gentrification. Almost with no setup or warning. Instead of having a resonant impact, those scenes felt out of place and shoehorned in. Then it went back to being a slasher, then tried to feed off the urban legends theme, but it all just clashed and fell apart.

The worst part of it is that, through this all, the main arc is just not very interesting. It follows the baby from the original as a grown adult. And that's a solid idea. But never once was I invested in him as a character. They attempted to do something similar with him that they did with Helen in the first movie, but the introduction to his conflict doesn't get off on the right foot. The movie then spends a lot of time regurgitating the first movie to us through lots of exposition. And though this whole murky journey, I kept waiting for it to go somewhere, but the direction it takes is strange and lacks the emotional punch of the original.

That paragraph might sound vague and nonsensical, but that's mainly because giving specifics with the plot dives into spoilers that I don't want to get into.

Jumping back to the starting point with the new, the movie does have an 85 percent on Rotten Tomatoes with a 74 percent audience score. That means there's a lot of people saying they like this movie or are giving it a pass. That means you might watch it and find that you disagree with me. And if so, that's fantastic. With that in mind, I can't recommend that you skip this movie, but I'm not giving it my personal stamp of approval. I think you should go see "The Night House" instead if you want a great horror film. But if you're curious, check it out, I suppose.

Grade (1992 film): 9/10
Grade (2021 film): 5/10

DreamWorks Animation Studios Ranked

Ranking DreamWorks Animation is something that I’ve been intending on doing for many years now. After ranking Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, the next logical step in my brain was to dive into DreamWorks, the next big animation studio after those two. It’s been five years since I posted my initial Disney ranking, but we’re finally here!

The motivation to finally get this done came from my Disney tournament group on Facebook. We’ve done lots of various movie-related polls and March-madness style tournaments since I started the group May of last year. This month our big tournament was DreamWorks. So I’ve been using that tournament as a means to figure out exactly what my favorite DreamWorks movies are so I can finally get this list out into the world. However, I’ll be honest upfront and say that DreamWorks is a bit of a chore. The big reason why this has taken so long is because a large percentage of DreamWorks’ filmography ranges from bad to forgettable. I’ve thought about starting a marathon many times, and even began once or twice, but never completed it.

Because of that latter point, this list is going to be a tad bit different. I don’t have a solid ranking from top to bottom, like I usually do. But I did put a lot of effort into revisiting the movies that I know I enjoy in order to create a solid top 10. So I will give you that top 10 and a brief explanation of each choice. But then below that the rest will be divided into tiers. And yes, one of those tiers is the movies I have not yet seen. It feels wrong to post a list like this without having seen every movie, but I’ll explain that below.

Final note, the three Aardman movies that DreamWorks helped co-produce (“Chicken Run,” “Wallace & Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” and “Flushed Away”) I decided not to include. They were included in our tournament, but on a personal note I consider them more Aardman and less DreamWorks. Aardman can get its own post one day. Because Aardman is great! Anyways, with that intro out of the way, let’s dive in!

 

10- Abominable (2019)

The first choice on this list is a more recent one. A movie that flew right under the radar. Not many chose to see this one in theaters. My theory behind that is that there was a strange phenomenon wherein three animated yeti movies from different studios were all released within a year. “Abominable” was the third, behind “Smallfoot” and “Missing Link.” And I’m sure that many skipped it because they weren’t interested in another yeti movie. Which is a shame because this movie is absolutely adorable. The yeti in this one is more like an animal than a humanoid and a lonely young girl stumbles upon it and befriends it. What ensues is a movie that has strong “E.T.” vibes, in a very good way, and makes you feel like you’re watching a Pixar movie at times rather than a DreamWorks movie. Because, yeah, this hits you with the feels. If you skipped this in 2019, then go back and fix that. You’ll be glad you did.

 

9- Madagascar (2005)

All hail the New York Giants! The Madagascar franchise fell off a cliff rather quick as “Madagascar 2” and “Penguins of Madagascar” are atrocious piles of dinosaur manure. And they both scarred me so bad that I never cared to see “Madagascar 3,” even though I hear it’s slightly better. But all of that is a shame because this first “Madagascar” is an insanely quotable gem. It has a large voice cast, all of whom are perfect for their characters. Ben Stiller as a lion, David Schwimmer as a giraffe, Chris Rock as a zebra, Jada Pinkett Smith as a sassy hippo, with Sacha Baron Cohen, Cedric the Entertainer, and Andy Richter as the lemurs this group of zoo animals stumble upon. All of them are a hoot. And even though the penguins were awful in their solo movie, I still quote them from this movie on a regular basis. And if the song “I Like to Move It” doesn’t make you want to get up and dance, you might not be human. Sure, it might not hit the emotional highs of others, but this movie is wildly entertaining.  

 

8- How to Train Your Dragon (2010)

The clear fan favorite here. It won our tournament. And for good reason. In terms of pure animation, it doesn’t get much better across any animation studio than the “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise. Absolutely gorgeous animation followed by a captivating score in all three movies. Unfortunately I do require a movie to go along with my movie. I’m not grading based on technical achievements alone. Luckily for the first movie, it manages to give us what the second two films failed miserably at. A plot and characters worth caring about. Because, yeah, this first movie is a beautiful metaphor for what to do in the face of hatred and prejudice. Hiccup standing up against the ugly traditions of his friends and family, being brave enough to attempt to make a difference, is a beautiful lesson this movie teaches and has gotten even more relevant in the decade since its release. I don’t really have anything negative to say about. It’s a well-polished movie on most accounts. It just doesn’t soar quite as high for me compared to some of these others, but it still belongs here in the DreamWorks top 10.

 

7- Kung Fu Panda (2008)

The “Kung Fu Panda” franchise successfully does with the “Shrek,” “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Madagascar” franchises do not. Be consistently good across all films. DreamWorks has a very bad sequel problem, but they managed to stick the landing with all three “Kung Fu Panda” movies. No, I’m not ranking DreamWorks franchises here, but I did want to point that out since this first movie is the only one to represent the franchise in this top 10. I will also say that others are probably a bit higher on this movie than me. I don’t want to call this juvenile, but I do think this leans very heavily on the silly, slapstick humor. And in case you forget, the movie will continue to remind you that Poe is fat, out of shape, and loves gorging on food. But it’s also a fun movie that sticks the landing in a powerful way. The idea that there is no secret ingredient and that you have the power to control your life choices and make yourself great is a movie message that’s always been one of my favorites. It’s like in “Space Jam.” You had it in you all along. You just have to believe in yourself and you can do great things.

 

6- Shrek 2 (2004)

As I said above, DreamWorks has a massive sequel problem. And in a funny twist of events, “Shrek 2” is probably responsible for that, even though it’s easily their best sequel by a wide margin. It did so insanely well at the box office, becoming the highest grossing animated movie ever at the domestic box office and holding that for over a decade, that DreamWorks got a little carried away and starting focusing more on pumping out endless sequels that regurgitated jokes and plot points than creating quality content. While “Shrek 2” suffers from that to some extent, it’s still an insanely fun and wild ride. The humor hits hard and the finale with “Holding Out for a Hero” is one of my favorite movie finales. The movie also has a lot of heart to it. Early into marriage, Shrek and Fiona discover some major differences. After sleeping it over, both commit to changing for the other one. But that happens a tad bit too late as Shrek has already gone down the rabbit hole with his plan. How it all wraps I think is a very important lesson that could be learned in all relationships and marriages.

 

5- Megamind (2010)

One of the most common things I hear from “Megamind” fans is how underrated they think this movie is. I disagree. I think “Megamind” is very properly rated. It’s a very popular movie that a lot of people love. And I’m on that train, too. I also don’t think people use the word “underrated” correctly, but that’s a discussion for another day. “Megamind” very cleverly takes the superhero genre and flips it on its head, giving us an unconventional superhero film that holds up very well a decade later after this massive wave of superhero movies that was sparked by the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The hero is done being a hero and retires while the villain becomes the new hero when a more villainous villain shows up, one that was supposed to be the new hero. This is all about your past not being the determining factor for what your future has in store. And it works so well. It also has Will Ferrell at the top of his game as the voice of Megamind. This and “Elf” prove to me that if you put a leash on him, that’s where he thrives the most. I mean, a lot of people don’t even know Will Ferrell is Megamind.

 

4- The Croods (2013)

While I don’t think “Megamind” is underrated, due to it being more popular than some give it credit for, “The Croods” is a movie that I personally think IS underrated. At least that’s the vibe that I’ve gotten. I’ve seen very few people share the exact amount of praise as I have. Even in our tournament, I was really the only one to give it a strong defense. The best I got from others was “It’s a fun family film.” And that it certainly is. It’s wonky and hilarious, with jokes that still make me laugh when I watch it. But it’s also a lot more than that to me. It’s a movie that is all about embracing change and accepting new opportunities rather than being stuck in the past. And using cavepeople to portray that is the perfect subject matter for this metaphor. Are we acting like cavepeople in our lives or are we willing to embrace the change? At the core of that message is a father/daughter relationship that feels so real. And when Emma Stone and Nic Cage’s characters reconcile at the end, I still tear up. In my opinion, very few movies from DreamWorks successfully balance the wonkiness and emotion as well as “The Croods.”

 

3- Shrek (2001)

When I think of DreamWorks, I think of “Shrek.” This movie is the movie that really put them on the map and gave them their identity. Its popularity also heavily contributed to transforming the animation genre as a whole, for better or for worse, by essentially putting a nail in the coffin of 2D animation. Regardless of impact, I think “Shrek” is a movie that was insanely hilarious at the time and is still insanely hilarious today. It throws so many fairytale IPs in a blender and dumps them on the screen, making you laugh and smile at all the references. But I don’t think it goes overboard with that. It uses the IP dump as a garnish to boost the story it’s telling. That being an unconventional fairy tale of its own where the beautiful princess is swept up by the ugly ogre. The beautiful princess is also an ugly ogre at night. And when they both realize their happily ever after, Fiona’s magical transformation keeps her as an ogre. A comedic, yet poignant message. It’s not the outside that matters, but what’s on the inside. But also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Anyone can find love. Even an ugly ogre.

 

2- Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002)

I learned with our DreamWorks tournament that “Spirit” actually does have a stronger base of support than I realized. I thought this would be my “Bambi” pick from my Disney list, one that seemingly came out of nowhere in the eyes of others to be insanely high. But I’m glad that I’m not alone on loving this movie. Yet this is also like “Bambi” in several other ways. Minimalistic dialogue with animals as the protagonists and man as the antagonists. Both movies heavily guided by the music of the film, almost as if they wrote the music first, then came up with a story to support it. Bryan Adams is in charge of the soundtrack while Hans Zimmer does the score. The two of them combine to send you on an incredible adventure with this horse, his union with a Native American boy named Little Creek, and both of them trying to escape the grasp of the U.S. Army in the Old West. When needed, Matt Damon provides some narration to gently guide us forward since these horses don’t talk. It’s an absolutely gorgeous film and if it’s one that managed to slip under your radar, you need to go give it a watch.

 

1- The Prince of Egypt (1998) 

While not always the obvious top pick for me, in exploring all the top contenders in depth, “The Prince of Egypt” is the one that definitely stands head and shoulders above the rest. And it’s no coincidence it looks like it came directly from Disney. It did. Kinda. Jeffrey Katzenburg started DreamWorks in 1994 after leaving Disney. “The Prince of Egypt” was a movie that he pitched to Michael Eisner, but had it rejected. History lesson aside, the soundtrack for this musical does not miss. And it’s rather impressive that in just one attempt, DreamWorks created something that at least matches all the greatest Disney musicals. Yes, it has a very spiritual message to it, but it’s mostly a compelling tale about two brothers who were once very close, yet wind up on opposite sides of a great conflict. It’s an emotional, powerful, and mature tale that not only does justice to its Biblical source material, but also adds depth that no other adaptation of this story has matched. It is undoubtedly a majestic masterpiece that is not only unparalleled in the realm of DreamWorks, but is one of the greatest animated movies from any studio.

Honorable Mentions: 

These nine films from DreamWorks are movies that weren’t quite good enough to crack my top 10, but are ones that I enjoy. These are approximately in order, but I’m not committing to officially numbering them Nos. 11 through 19 because I didn’t put as much effort into getting them into an exact order. They’re fairly interchangeable, anyways.

- Puss in Boots (2011)
- Over the Hedge (2006)
- The Croods: A New Age (2020)
- Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011)
- Joseph: King of Dreams (2000)
- Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)
- Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)
- Home (2015)
- Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016)

 

Forgettable: 

Not bad. Not good. Movies that just kinda exist in the realm of DreamWorks. I wouldn’t hate my life if one of these was chosen as a movie night, but I also wouldn’t actively seek these out or watch them on my own. These are in alphabetical order.

 - Antz (1998)
- How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)
- Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
- Rise of the Guardians (2012)
- Shrek Forever After (2010)
- Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas (2003)
- The Road to El Dorado (2000)
- Trolls (2016)
- Turbo (2013)

Bad:

 These are the six movies from DreamWorks that I will actively avoid and label as atrocities. I considered at one point doing a separate post, having a top 10 and a bottom 10 DreamWorks list. But I decided against that. Mostly because re-watching all of these to determine that exact order is not something I decided that I have a desire to do. Because of that, these are also in alphabetical order. 

- How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019)
- Madagascar 2: Escape 2 Africa (2008)
- Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
- Shark Tale (2004)
- Shrek the Third (2007)
- The Boss Baby (2017)

 

Haven’t Seen: 

Embarrassingly enough, there are six DreamWorks movies that I have not seen yet. Here they are alphabetically. The explanations right below, if you’re curious.

- Bee Movie (2007)
- Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (2012)
- Spirit Untamed (2021)
- The Boss Baby: Family Business (2021)
- Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans (2021)
- Trolls World Tour (2020) 

“Madagascar 3” and “The Boss Baby 2” are sequels that I’ve avoided due to painful experiences with their direct predecessors. I’ve heard “Madagascar 3” is slightly better. I’ve heard “The Boss Baby 2” is not. Plus the latter came out just last month. “Spirit Untamed” is also a movie that’s just too recent. “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron,” my No. 2 movie, inspired a Netflix series that is very juvenile and directed at young kids. “Spirit Untamed” is a movie directly attached to that series, so it’s not one I desired to go out to the theaters for. “Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans,” another movie released last month, is a Netflix film. I could easily watch it, but I would feel obligated to first watch the “Trollhunters” series, which I have not done.

“Trolls World Tour” is one that I’ve been meaning to check out. Despite not caring for “Trolls,” the trailers were rather amusing and I’ve wanted to watch it. But COVID happened and Universal, who owns DreamWorks Animation, opted to send it straight to PVOD, skipping theaters. Paying $20 or $30 to watch it is not something I wanted to do. Then they put it on the premium tier of Peacock, which I don’t have. I only have the free tier. So it’s a movie that they’ve been dangling out on a string and I’ve not cared quite enough to take the bait.

And finally… “Bee Movie.” This is one bizarre creation that I’ve read and watched many things on. I have no good excuse as to why I haven’t seen it, even for the sake of curiosity. There’s just never been a day in the last 14 years where I said to myself, “Today is the day where I finally sit down and watch ‘Bee Movie’.” Maybe that day will come. Maybe it won’t. I don’t know.

Movie Preview: August 2021

Month No. 2 back doing my monthly movie preview and I have to say that it’s been really fun to have a summer movie season to get invested in once again. But if July 2021 has taught us anything it’s the reminder that things are far from normal at the box office. “Black Widow” opened with an $80 million debut a few weeks after “F9” opened to $70 million, showing positive signs that big blockbusters can perform well. But we still have all sorts of hybrid releases as studios continue to experiment with how to make money. That’s led to Scarlett Johansson suing Disney for breach of contract. Then it seems everything is super frontloaded, while some movies, like “Snake Eyes,” wound up completely dead on arrival.

So yeah, that leaves us still very much in uncharted territory here. Not to mention July had huge rises in COVID cases pretty much everywhere, sparked heavily by the Delta variant of the virus, meaning it’s quite possible that the whole industry could once again come crashing down. Or at the least cause some to shy away from venturing out to theaters. What does that mean for August, traditionally the quietest summer month, anyways? We’ll attempt to wade through those waters here as we preview what’s currently on the theatrical schedule. Data for release dates comes via the-numbers.com and boxofficepro.com.

August 6 – 8

The first weekend of August begins with the highest profile release of the month, and the only wide release of the weekend, James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, not to be confused with David Ayer’s 2016 film “Suicide Squad.” While technically a sequel to that movie, this new one serves as more of a soft-reboot as Warner Bros. and DC attempt to distance themselves from the toxic reaction to that movie, while continuing to move forward with the franchise. Bringing on James Gunn from “Guardians of the Galaxy” fame to direct another movie full of a bunch of random misfits seems like it was the perfect choice and people seem to be reacting very positively to this version of the Squad as it currently sits at a 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes as of me typing this, the exact opposite of the 26 percent that the original movie got.

Despite the wretchedly awful reviews and fan reaction, “Suicide Squad” managed to open to $133 million and finish with $325 million at the domestic box office, not bad for a movie that most people hated. Nevertheless, the saga between the movie and the DCEU as a whole is quite the storied one that I will not summarize here. Needless to say, even in normal circumstances this sequel wouldn’t have gotten close to that number due to a lot of various factors. Reaction to the DCEU as a whole, a bad taste in people’s mouths from the first one, and the R-rating, which, despite being what some fans want, does cut off a certain percentage of the target audience. I would’ve predicted a $50-80 million opening, but then we have to add in the availability of it being free on HBO Max to subscribers and the rise of the Delta variant, which might cause more people than normal to watch it home. Add all that together and it’s seeming like “Birds of Prey” is a more apt comparison. That opened to $33 million a month before the pandemic shut down the world.

If that is where “The Suicide Squad” lands, regardless of circumstances, it is a tad bit embarrassing if you make a sequel that opens to $100 million LESS than the first movie. Box Office Pro had it projected at $28 million on their Thursday forecast.

August 13 – 15

While “The Suicide Squad” had the first weekend to itself in terms of wide releases, the second and third weekends of August throw a whole bunch into the market. Three this weekend and four next weekend. This weekend starts with Free Guy finally making its way into theaters. This is one of the many films that got delayed due to COVID. Initially scheduled for July 2020, it is finally hitting theaters just over a year later. It’s also a theatrical exclusive, no hybrid release from Disney (via 20^th Century Studios). “Free Guy” stars Ryan Reynolds in a video game world. His character initially is a non-player character as a bank teller, but manages to become self-aware of his surroundings and makes himself the hero in this action comedy. This feels like the perfect vehicle for Reynolds following his Deadpool fame. He even stepped into the character of Deadpool to help advertise it, doing a meta “Deadpool reacts to the ‘Free Guy’ trailer” video on his YouTube channel. Assuming “The Suicide Squad” really does open to just $25-30 million, that should open the door for “Free Guy” to take this weekend.

The challenger for “Free Guy” will be the horror sequel Don’t Breathe 2. This is another belated sequel that actually came out in the same month as “Suicide Squad” in August 2016. So we have a bit of a déjà vu here. “Don’t Breathe” was a well-reviews sleeper hit that opened to $26.4 million that month, holding very well to end up with $89.2 million domestically and $158 million worldwide, all of this on a budget of $9.9 million, making it curious that they waited five years to make a sequel. The premise surrounded a bunch of kids that decided to rob an old, blind man. Turns out that blind man was far more capable than they ever imagined and they ended up trapped in his house, fearing for their lives and trying to escape. In this sequel, the blind man is back and it’s a group of adult males invading his house. Comparing this to other horror movies this summer, both “Spiral” and “Escape Room 2” opened just under $9 million, while “Old” opened to $16.8 million and “The Conjuring 3” opened to $24.1 million. So there’s a decent range of outcomes that “Don’t Breathe 2” could hit.

Rounding out the trilogy of new wide releases this weekend is the musical biopic Respect, which tells the story of Aretha Franklin. This was slated for awards seasons contention last year before being yet another movie delayed by COVID. Instead of settling for January or February of this year, they went for an August release, hoping to be remembered for this season’s awards. Jennifer Hudson plays the title role of Aretha Franklin and it’s her performance that has had the most anticipation. The height of Aretha’s career was in the 60s and 70s, with the movie’s title track “Respect” being released in 1967. So this assumedly is targeting an older audience who doesn’t necessarily rush out to see movies on opening weekend. So rather than going for a huge opening weekend, box office legs will determine this movie’s success. That said, Aretha’s career also spanned well into the 80s and 90s. She even released albums as late as 2014 prior to her passing in 2018. So she’s definitely had multi-generational success that could make the target demographics slightly different than your typical musical biopic.

August 20 – 22

In normal times, late August is often seen as more of a dumping ground for films not expected to do super well. And while we’re obviously far from normal circumstances, this third weekend seems to reflect these old traditions. While I have no idea which of these four movies will come out on top, or if any of them will top last week’s winner, we’ll start with the biggest studio, Warner Bros. releasing Reminiscence. This is a sci-fi movie starring Hugh Jackman as a rugged veteran who helps people the chance to relive any memory they want. Enter Rebecca Ferguson’s character, a woman named Mae. Hugh Jackman develops a romance with her and then she vanishes. So he dives into the past to find clues about who she is and where she may have gone. This is the feature directorial debut of Lisa Joy, co-creator of HBO’s “Westworld.” That combined with the star power could make this an intriguing option. It’s also a HBO Max hybrid release, which means people might choose to watch it there.

I have huge doubts that PAW Patrol: The Movie will make a big impact at the box office, but that’s our second movie of the weekend. “PAW Patrol” the series has been around since 2013, premiering on Nickelodeon in the United States. They’ve had eight seasons and 196 episodes and have recently been renewed for a ninth season. So clearly this is quite popular with a certain younger demographic. And like with many animated movies like this, they managed to wrangle together a very random selection of voice work, which includes Ian Armitage, Marshai Martin, Yara Shahidi, Kim Kardashian West, Randall Park, Dax Shepard, Tyler Perry, Jimmy Kimmel, and Will Brisbin. I don’t know if the kids care about any of those names, but they’re in their anyways. Box office wise, this feels like it’ll open anywhere in the range of “Spirit Untamed” ($6.1 million) to “Tom & Jerry” ($14.1 million). If it hits that higher range and everything else underperforms, it theoretically could win the weekend.

The third movie could challenge for weekend title is the Lionsgate movie The Protégé. This is an action movie aiming to be the next “John Wick” and has Maggie Q starring as a woman named Anna, who is described by Lionsgate as the world’s most skilled contract killer. She’s out for revenge as her father figure, the man who rescued her as a child and trained her, gets killed. In the midst of this, she gets tangled up with Michael Keaton’s character, another killer, and the two of them develop a sort of romance as they’re out for revenge. Samuel L. Jackson also stars in the movie, so the star power is there. And while every new action movie seems to be attempting to be the new “John Wick,” and many of them have failed, this one uses “John Wick” in the advertising, showcasing that it is from the studio that brought you “John Wick.” It’s also from the director of “Casino Royale,” so the pieces are in play here. But if it winds up as another generic action movie, it could easily fall by the wayside.

The final movie of the weekend is a horror movie Searchlight Pictures called The Night House. While the other three movies from this weekend could legitimately challenge to be the highest of the new releases, I have a feeling that this is more of a moderate release, not aimed at a massive weekend. Searchlight Pictures, now a branch of Disney, doesn’t often push for huge weekends, unless they’re going for awards. Even those are more of a slow rollout. But “The Night House” was actually a movie from Sundance in 2020 that got decent praise. It stars Rebecca Hall living alone in a creepy house by the lakeside after her husband passed away. She starts digging into his past and begins learning secrets that maybe she didn’t really want to know. I’m thinking this movie grabs a few million in its opening weekend, maybe from a thousand or two theaters. For some reason, I’m thinking of “The Empty Man,” another Disney horror from one of their Fox studios, 20th Century Studios in that instance. Mid-pandemic, in October 2020, that movie opened to $1.3 million from 2,027 theaters.  

August 27 – 29

The final weekend of August has only one wide release. And while normally the final weekend of August is one that studios completely avoid, this weekend is where Candyman wound up. This is yet another one of those releases that bounced around the schedule due to COVID. It was initially scheduled to release in June 2021, but now it’s helping to usher in the 2021 Halloween season. While it serves as a reboot of the “Candyman” franchise, it’s doing the “Halloween” thing, where the recent 2018 “Halloween” was a direct sequel to the original “Halloween,” yet chooses to take on the exact same movie title. Yes, “Candyman” 2021 is a direct sequel to “Candyman” 1992 and is the fourth overall “Candyman” movie to be released. With these movies, you say “Candyman” in the mirror five times and you’ve summoned Candyman to come haunt you. Outside being part of a familiar franchise, the other benefit this sequel has being written, although not directed, by Jordan Peele, who has become a huge horror draw with his movies “Get Out” and “Us.”

In regards to its box office potential, as I described above with “Don’t Breathe 2,” there’s been a wide range of outcomes with horror movies released this summer, ranging from $9 million to $24 million. Given the Jordan Peele connection along with the popularity of the original horror movie and the fact that the most recent trailer released a month ago has 26 million views, three times as much as the recent “Halloween Kills” trailer released a day later, I’d expect this to hit on the higher end of that spectrum, perhaps topping $20 million, or at least getting in the high teens like “Old.” That should give us a welcome late August boost instead of the traditional Labor Day lull. That’ll be helped even more given that Marvel has decided to drop “Shang-Chi” on actual Labor Day weekend, which is historically the worst weekend of the year. But we’ll get into that when we discuss the September releases in a month from now.