The Batman Review

It’s been a very Batman-heavy week on this blog. First I ranked all the theatrically-released Batman movies. Then I did my March movie preview, which was essentially previewing how well “The Batman” was going to do as it is one of the only broadly-appealing March releases. If you’re curious, $134 million was the correct answer on that in terms of its opening weekend. It opened lower than “The Dark Knight,” “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Batman v. Superman,” all of which opened to around $160 million, but still an excellent number all things considered. And with no competition all month, it has a great chance of holding well very well in the coming weeks. But anyways, now we are topping this off with the post you’ve all been waiting for, my actual review of the movie, which I thought was rather excellent.

Personally I’m well aware that not everyone was on board with this movie leading up to its release. DC in general doesn’t have the best reputation right now. In a desperate attempt to play catch-up to Marvel, they fell flat on their face and became quite the laughing stock for people. And since then they’ve essentially abandoned this idea of a cinematic universe as they’ve been throwing everything at the wall in order to see what sticks. I can see why that sort of scatterbrained philosophy might seem like a turnoff to people, but I think it’s worked out rather well. If you pay attention to the actual comics, that’s exactly what the comics do. There’s not necessarily just one storyline that’s happening. Continuity is often thrown out the window and timelines are all over the places as different writers and artists are all just trying to tell their own stories. And I think DC taking this approach with their movie universe has been the best thing that’s happened to them in terms of creating quality content. Instead of trying to create one big universe that’s all interconnected with the same exact tone in every movie, they’re letting directors simply make movies. Giving full control to these filmmakers and allowing them to do what they want has really opened the door to an endless amount of possibilities and also allows for more variety and creative freedom.

As great as Marvel is and as much as I enjoy the Marvel Cinematic Universe, their massive success is both a blessing and a curse. They have their formula down and it really works, but they are now strapped to that formula. Any time they try to stray from that and do something different, they’re going to get backlash from their core audience, especially parents who now believe the MCU should always be 100 percent kid-friendly. For proof of that, go dig up online discussion of what parents thought of “Eternals” when Chloe Zhao included one slight edgy scene. Meanwhile in James Gunn’s universe, he’s certainly cackling over all of that. Marvel is under fire for that while he’s doing things that are 1,000 times worse in the likes of “The Suicide Squad” and “Peacemaker.”

And that there proves my point in Marvel vs. DC right now. I won’t say that Marvel is doing bad by any stretch of the imagination, but DC right now has a lot more creative freedom and can get away with doing things like “Joker,” “The Suicide Squad” and “The Batman.” And even though “Birds of Prey” was a slightly failed experiment, albeit still entertaining to me, I commend them for taking chances. And the freedom to take those chances in my opinion has led to much higher highs in the DC realm. Those three aforementioned movies, “Joker,” “The Suicide Squad” and now “The Batman” I think are far superior to most things in the MCU. Yet they’re the type of movies that Marvel can’t even dream of making right now. Again, I’m not trying to crap on Marvel or make this a Marvel vs. DC fight. “Infinity War” is still probably one of my favorite ever comic book movies and “No Way Home” was one of my favorite movies overall from last year. But as someone who has been a lifelong DC fan, I’ve been very happy about the content they’ve been able to put forward. And I’m grateful that we now have a Batman movie that is essentially a dream come true. All this because DC gave the keys to Matt Reeves and let him do whatever he wanted to do.

And yeah, sure, it’s kinda weird that we’ve had so many Bruce Waynes show up recently. And that might continue if “The Flash” pulls a “No Way Home” by bringing back both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck via Multiverse stuff in their movie. Throw in young Bruce Wayne from “Joker” and Christian Bale from the Nolanverse and that’s a potential of five live-action Bruce Waynes showing up within the last decade? And that’s not even counting the name-drop of a different Bruce Wayne in the Arrowverse who has yet to show up or the various Gotham-related TV shows that I have yet to watch. It’s definitely an oversaturation of Batman and Bruce Wayne. But in the golden era of comic book stuff, I’m really enjoying it. Yet through all that, I think we now have my ultimate favorite version of Gotham with a new Batman universe that I think certainly has the best start of any Batman universe and has the potential to become the best version of Batman that we’ve seen in live-action via Robert Pattinson.

Speaking of whom, Robert Pattinson is another reason why not everyone has been open to this version of Batman. I hope that the trailers squelched a lot of that skepticism, but it’s a really annoying, ongoing phenomenon that some people have not been able to forgive both Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson for “Twilight.” And yes, those were bad performances in atrociously awful movies, but the world needs to move on from “Twilight” and realize that both of these actors have done amazing work. Pattinson specifically has done things like “Good Time” and “The Lighthouse” that immediately made me phenomenally excited for him as Batman, especially with them portraying a younger and more broken Bruce Wayne. He’s the perfect choice. And even “Tenet” from 2020 should’ve proved to general audiences who don’t see indie films that Pattinson can act. But, well, we’re still here.

Whether or not he converted you with this performance or caused you to go see this movie, him teaming up with Matt Reeves, director of the new “Planet of the Apes” trilogy, proved to me personally that I was justified in being excited for this movie. I mean, just imagine if the director of said “Planet of the Apes” trilogy was given full control over a new Batman movie and he cast the guy from “Good Time” as his new Batman. Sound exciting? Well, it should be because that level of quality is exactly what we got. Matt Reeves is an excellent storyteller and a master at his craft. And he has built something truly special.

Having a Batman movie being dark, gritty, and grounded in reality is certainly an idea that is not new. That’s been around since at least Tim Burton’s live-action Batman movie in 1989. And maybe longer in the comics. I’m not sure of that history. But yeah, the shtick with DC is that Superman is light and fluffy while Batman is dark and gritty. But even with that said, Reeves with his Gotham has built upon what Nolan did with his Gotham, who in turn built upon what Burton did with his Gotham. It’s been a progression that’s been incredible to see, especially after doing a marathon of the movies fairly recently. What’s really impressive is that Reeves has made this feel more real than even what Nolan accomplished, which in turn now makes Burton’s movies even more silly and hokey in comparison. Granted, being silly and goofy is not necessarily a bad thing in the comic book realm or even in the Batman realm. I put both “Batman and Robin” and the 1966 “Batman: The Movie” really high up on my Batman list for simply being silly and fun. There’s not one way that a Batman movie has to be filmed and portrayed. It’s just that this version feels like the ultimate version of Gotham that pleases me the most with how it has unfolded.

The first positive thing in that regard is that this is Year Two Batman. In other words, Reeves fully realizes that everyone and their dog knows the Batman origin story. We don’t need to watch another movie that shows him putting on the mask, training to become a Ninja, and being Batman for the very first time. And we definitely don’t need to watch Thomas and Martha Wayne get killed yet again. We’ve seen all that. And any changes in the origin can be easily discussed and learned as we go, using various creative storytelling choices. Point in case, the Thomas Wayne backstory is different in this universe, but we learn of that as Bruce Wayne has conversations with the likes of Alfred and the Riddler after newscasts get revealed about certain things he may have done that surprise Bruce in this movie. That’s a way to tell an origin of a character without the movie being an origin story itself.

The other major benefit of this Year Two idea, and what I really loved about this movie, is that this Bruce Wayne hasn’t figured things out. We begin the movie with a narrative monologue from Bruce himself, via his journal writing, wherein he’s expressing his concerns that he doesn’t really know if he’s doing any good. And he’s seemingly questioning this idea of going out at night in a bat suit altogether. And his Bruce Wayne life is definitely in shambles. In just about every other Batman, while Bruce Wayne definitely has his challenges and his obstacles to overcome, he nevertheless has a much higher confidence level in what he’s doing. We haven’t really seen Batman questioning his existence as Batman. And in most cases, he’s really good at using Bruce Wayne as a cover. I’ve seen a lot of people on Twitter questioning the portrayal of Bruce Wayne here because they don’t like that we didn’t get the Billionaire Playboy version of Bruce Wayne that Batman uses as a mask to hide his identity. And while people are allowed to have their opinions, I love that Bruce Wayne in this movie hasn’t figured this out. He’s a more broken Bruce Wayne than he’s ever been before. And while he’s certainly a skilled fighter and has a really good suit that provides great protection, he’s not a perfect, flawless fighter yet. He gets beaten up by some that are stronger and he’s sometimes nervous to fly around with his suit and definitely fails at doing so at one point.

All of this is impressive to me because Reeves decided to use Batman as a means to create a character-driven narrative. The movie definitely has plenty of action sequences. And said action sequences are fantastic. It has a thrilling car chase sequence that you see previewed in the trailer. And the fighting sequences are really gritty and bone-crunching. Each blow makes you wince a bit in ways that typical superhero affair, Marvel or DC, usually don’t accomplish. It’s easy to kick back and relax during a summer action blockbuster and be entertained by brainless action, but this movie letting you feel the weight of the action elevates it above much of that affair. Yet despite this, the movie feels more like a drama than a superhero action film. The action sequences aren’t the point of the movie. Experiencing the heavy weight of what Bruce has gone through and how he’s responding to such a difficult life is the point. And that’s why I really gravitated towards this movie’s character building and loved the fact that the movie was long enough to let all of this breathe.

Yes, it’s long. And yes, you feel that length. I walked out feeling like I had binged a whole season of a Batman show. But I don’t mind that. I binge shows all the time. And especially with superhero shows being more commonplace, I often think that medium benefits the characters more in compared to a 90 or 120 minute movie. To Marvel’s credit, their Disney+ shows have allowed characters like Wanda and Loki to experience a lot more real progression than if either of them had been given a movie instead. So the 175 minutes of “The Batman” I think did a real favor in allowing this specific character to grow and blossom in ways that even Michael Keaton or Christian Bale’s Batman weren’t able to do. And those movies weren’t short by any stretch of the imagination. Yet “The Batman” felt like the Batman movie that allowed its Bruce Wayne to really grow and progress more than any other Batman movie.

Intermixed with this Bruce Wayne character piece was a villain who perfectly complimented and mirrored him. Some comic book movies include a villain out of a seemingly moral obligation to do so. And that’s not inherently wrong. But this Bruce Wayne having to deal with this version of the Riddler was truly key to his arc in this movie. And I don’t want to dive too far into this portrayal of the Riddler because I didn’t declare this as a spoiler review, but nevertheless I think Paul Dano does to the character of the Riddler what Heath Ledger did to the character of the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” Both of them gave legendary, cinema-defining performances and I think both of them are on the same level of quality. There’s even mirroring interrogation scenes in both “The Dark Knight” and “The Batman” that are equally as impressive in my mind. Watching this unfold in “The Batman” had me in pure awe that we were getting something that rivaled “The Dark Knight” in terms of Batman movies.

But different than “The Dark Knight” and more aligned with 2019’s “Joker” is that this movie paid homage a classic filmmaker and genre. “Joker” was basically a classic Scorsese film with Joker characters and “The Batman” is basically a David Fincher crime drama film with Batman characters. In this case, the Riddler as a villain was perfect. And it’s the complete opposite of Jim Carrey’s portrayal in “Batman Forever” or even some of the classic animated portrayals. The Riddler is a serial killer who is using clues and puzzles to string along the police and Batman. In which case, he feels like the Zodiac killer, who did that in real life and is portrayed in David Fincher’s “Zodiac,” which has always been a favorite of mine. The other Fincher film that everyone has been pointing out in comparison is “Se7en,” which is most certainly not based on real events, but is a movie wherein a killer uses the seven deadly sins as his motives. In that movie, you have Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman visiting each of his new crime scenes to figure out who he is and what he is doing.

Essentially “The Batman” is just that. It’s Jim Gordon and Batman going to each of the Riddler’s new crime scenes to figure out who he is and what he is doing, especially since each of his victims is a prominent member of the Gotham community. Why is the Riddler doing this and what are his motives? As someone who thinks both “Zodiac” and “Se7en” are two of the greatest crime dramas ever made, and as someone whose favorite genre of TV and filmmaking are these thrilling crime dramas, this put a smile on my face for much of the movie in a way that replicated Jack Nicholson’s Joker in Tim Burton’s “Batman.” I mean, you take two of my favorite things, DC comic book movies and serial killer crime dramas, and you put them together in a grand and glorious way? How can I not just simply soak the whole thing in as if it was a movie where Matt Reeves decided to stalk me personally, learn of all my favorite things, and create a piece of cinema that he knew I would absolutely love?

That was my first reaction when my friend sitting next to me in the movie theater during the credits leaned over to me and asked me what I thought. It was a movie made just for me. And it also did something that I’ve been wanting from a Batman movie in a long time. Detective Batman. This is a Batman who’s not just out fighting crime and punching bad guys. He’s solving crimes. He has contact lenses that records what he’s doing and he has a journal each night where he writes down what he sees and thinks about it after reviewing the video. When the Riddler leaves clues, in addition to discussing it with Jim Gordon on the scene, him and Alfred work together at home to decipher things in a way that feels like this is what they do every night rather than it being a new thing for this case. And even though Andy Serkis’ Alfred has less screen time compared to other characters, him and Pattinson pair perfectly as Bruce Wayne and Alfred. Andy Serkis is just as perfect to this version of Bruce Wayne as Michael Caine was to Christian Bale’s version of Bruce Wayne.

Now I’ve already written nearly 3,000 words of a review, which is more words than many may choose to actually read, but the other incredible thing about this movie is that there’s just so much that is perfectly set-up. This is a Gotham that has been lived in and a Gotham where a lot of the key characters are already there. It’s not an introduction to a new franchise wherein the filmmakers have to scramble to figure out what they’re going to do in future movies and thus create sequels that feel like they’re just cashing in on the success of the first. Matt Reeves, while successfully focusing in on making one good movie, has also put the building blocks together for a grand universe. There are characters like Catwoman, Penguin and Carmine Falcone that are established already and whose presence feels natural. A history about Thomas and Martha Wayne that is fascinating to learn more about. It’s a whole city full of people and characters that I’m excited to explore. One where I’d love to visit even in a TV show setting without Batman in it, but am certainly excited for more Pattinson films with Reeves. We’ve done a lot of Gotham lately, but I want this to now be our definitive Gotham moving forward for the unforeseeable future.

If this movie wasn’t for you, that’s OK. I understand. Much like I understand how not everyone is crazy enough to have watched all 323 episodes of “Criminal Minds” or to have binged the first season of Fincher’s Netflix series “Mindhunter” in one evening. And I know I turned some heads by claiming “Joker” as my No. 1 movie of 2019 and one of my top movies of the 2010s decade as a whole. But if you know all of that about me, I hope you’ll understand why “The Batman” was made for me and why I loved every second of it. And you’ll also understand how I can write a 3,000 word review and still feel like I left things out, especially since this is a not a spoiler review and the final half of the film itself has plenty of content that could double the length of this review if I let it. I’ve tried to do shorter reviews recently. And I’ve posted a lot of them straight to Facebook instead of dedicating a whole post to them on this blog. But this is a situation where I couldn’t help but just use this blog as a platform to express everything that I want to about a movie that was made for me.

Again, if this is not your type of movie, that’s totally fine. But if you know that your taste aligns with mine in terms of things that I’ve mentioned, definitely run out to see this movie if you didn’t already contribute to its $134 million opening weekend. But one final thing that I’ll mention is that I honestly don’t think this is as dark of a movie as “The Dark Knight” is, so if that movie was too dark for you, I still think this is maybe a movie you should give a chance to? The violence has weight to it, but it’s not bloody or graphic. And while the movie is dark the whole run time in a literal sense of it taking place mostly at night, there is a lot of levity scattered throughout. Not like a Marvel movie, but I laughed more than I was expecting to. And thematically, the movie leaves with a sense of positivity and hope instead of feeling grim and weighed down with so much darkness. There’s a difference between being physically dark and being thematically dark and this movie isn’t as thematically dark as one might think, which is why the criticism of it being “too dark” is one that I vehemently disagree with.

Without diving into spoilers of the ending, there is an arc for Bruce Wayne wherein he is a much different Bruce Wayne at the end that, not unlike Tom Holland’s Spider-Man, might take us a few movies for him to figure out who he is and eventually become the Batman that we all know and love. And in turn may squash some concerns about him not being the Batman that some wanted him to be. I think there is patience to be had, but also the evidence of that being an eventual thing is right here in the movie and not just speculative. And if Matt Reeves pulls this franchise off like he did with his Planet of the Apes trilogy, I have no doubt that this specific franchise has the potential to wind up as the best individual Batman franchise that cinema has provided. It’s already off to the best start so far and I can’t want to explore it more. A movie that rivals “The Dark Knight” and outdoes the origins of “Batman Begins” is not what I was even expecting out of this, but it is exactly what we got. And I couldn’t be happier.

Grade: 10/10

Movie Preview: March 2022

Spring movie season is upon us at the box office. After a brutal winter with the Omicron variant of COVID, case counts are down everywhere and it looks like the consequences of that is people being ready and eager to head out to the movies, as was seen by the limited options that February provided being fairly lucrative. Once the Super Bowl was behind us, the market thrived with both “Uncharted” and “Dog” overperforming on their opening weekends and holding well in the empty weekend that followed. And, of course, “Spider-Man: No Way Home” continued to not care about COVID as it became the third highest grossing movie ever at the domestic box office and sixth highest worldwide (without a China release), proving that people are willing to come out, regardless, as long as the product is desirable. All of this is seemingly preparing the way for Batman to completely dominate… especially considering that “The Batman” is almost the only movie on the calendar.

As always, release date information for this post is courtesy of the-numbers.com and boxofficepro.com. The movies listed are the movies currently scheduled for a wide theatrical release at the domestic box office (the United States and Canada), with a few notable streaming exceptions, and are always subject to change.

March 4 – 6

Warner Bros.' "The Batman"

In case you hadn’t heard, there’s a movie called The Batman that’s getting released this weekend. This was initially supposed to be Ben Affleck's solo Batman movie, following his appearance in “Batman v. Superman” and “Justice League.” At one point Affleck was going to even direct that movie as well. But then Affleck dropped out of both and Matt Reeves of “Cloverfield” and the new “Planet of the Apes” trilogy stepped in the directing chair. A casting search from Reeves led him to Robert Pattinson being the newest to join the ranks of the cape crusaders, following the likes of Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale, and the aforementioned Ben Affleck in the live action realm, with many other via animation and other media. Joining Pattinson in his crusade will be Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon, and Andy Serkis as Alfred. Standing in direct opposition to him will be Paul Dano as The Riddler and Colin Farrell as Penguin.

Given that this is the only wide release of this weekend and next, allow me to spend a tad bit more time with this one. Pattinson as Batman was met with a good deal of skepticism, as is often typical with Batman casting, but the man also has quite the unique range of fandom at his side. Potterheads will know him as Cedric Diggory. Twilight fans will know him as Edward. Nolan fans will have his back after his turn in “Tenet.” And cinephiles quite love him after starring roles in the likes of “The Rover,” “The Lost City of Z,” “Good Time” and “The Lighthouse.” And now he gets to add DC fans that growing list of fandoms that he’s been a part of him. The only thing he’s seemingly missing is a Marvel and a Star Wars turn. But give him time.

As far as the movie’s box office potential goes, DC has had a bit of a rough go of it lately, even though response to their movies have been trending more positive. But they can always trust on a Batman movie to bring them back. The recent three live-action Batman outings, “The Dark Knight,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” and “Batman v. Superman,” all opened within $10 million of $160 million. That is seemingly the gold standard for success. However, with those being sequels to already established Batman franchises, a glance at two previous Batman origin movies could be helpful. And obviously unadjusted grosses aren’t helpful, but when adjusted for ticket price inflation, 1989’s “Batman” opened to a 2022 equivalent of $93 million, while 2005’s “Batman Begins” adjusts to about $70 million. An opening of at least $100 million seems to be a sure bet, but that $70-90 million would be the absolute floor. Batman’s nemesis, 2019’s “Joker” managed a $96 million opening as another potential comparison.

The biggest hurdle the movie might face, outside the DC reputation not being the strongest at the moment in comparison to the likes of Marvel, is the 175 minute runtime, a few minutes shy of three hours. Not only might that intimidate some casual fans, but realistically speaking, theaters won’t be able to hold as many individual screenings as they could with movies that are 90-120 minutes long. They could adjust and clear out the rest of their screens, but it’s still worth noting. And not that Batman being dark is anything new, but this is most definitely not a family-friendly adventure like many Marvel movies are. Even with the PG-13 rating, this is drawing comparisons to some intense crime dramas like “Zodiac” and “Se7en.” Reviews are mostly positive, with Rotten Tomatoes being in the high 80 percent range. And hype among fans in general seems quite positive. It’s not quite to the levels of “The Dark Knight” insanity, but good word of mouth, an empty March, and people eager to get out of their houses should lead to a healthy opening weekend and a leggy run with no real competition until April.  

March 11 – 13 

Disney and Pixar's "Turning Red"

*chirp* *chirp* *chirp*
*chirp* *chirp* *chirp*

Can you hear that? It’s the sound of crickets chirping. There are no new wide releases on the second weekend of March. The studios saw Batman on the schedule and said, “Yeah, no. We’ll let Warner Bros. pretty much have the whole month to themselves.”

Although I’d be remiss if I neglected to mention a few streaming titles here. Poor Pixar got shafted for a third straight time as Disney has ditched the theatrical release for Turning Red and sent it straight to streaming, just like “Soul” and “Luca.” “Turning Red” is the coming of age drama where 13-year-old Mei Hulks out and turns into a giant red panda when she gets too excited or stressed. Now I say that it isn’t getting a theatrical release, but Disney does have plans of playing it in the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles that they own. And in countries that don’t have Disney+, it will be releasing in theaters for them. So some people in the world will get the chance to see it in theaters. While this could be seen as a bummer for many, the positive spin is that “Encanto” had a mildly underwhelming theatrical run, but absolutely exploded a month later when Disney released it on Disney+, so a Disney+ release is not necessarily a terrible thing.

And I did say “a few” streaming titles. And not that I usually dive into Netflix as they have so much content and it’s often hard to forecast or predict what is coming out and when, but given the zero new theatrical releases, it might be worth noting that Netflix has The Adam Project coming out this weekend. This is Shawn Levy, the director of “Free Guy,” re-teaming with Ryan Reynolds, star of “Free Guy,” for a time travel adventure. Ryan Reynolds is a pilot who crash lands in 2022 and teams up with his younger self to save the world. The movie also co-stars Mark Ruffalo, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener, and Zoe Saldana.  

March 18 – 20

Sony Pictures' "Umma"

There were a handful of movies coming out this weekend. Some fairly notable ones, too. Guy Ritchie had a Jason Statham-starring action comedy called “Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre” that was set to release here, but recently ditched the schedule for a yet-to-be-determined date in 2022. And the next Downton Abbey movie, “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” would’ve provided some great counterprogramming to both that and “The Batman.” But that moved to May 19, 2022. So we’re left again with a fairly empty weekend.

However, holding its ground is the Easter-targeted movie The Unbreakable Boy. While not a direct religious movie, this does come from Jon Gunn, director of “The Case for Christ” and “Do You Believe?” and has on the poster that it’s from the creators of “I Can Only Imagine.” It’s based on the true story of a young boy named Austin, who, despite having a brittle bone disease and autism, has a life-affirming and joyous world view. The movie also stars Zachary Levi, most likely as the one of the kid’s parents. Levi also recently starred in another quasi-religious movie, “American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story.” Easter isn’t until April 17 this year, but it certainly doesn’t hurt to get a head start. The challenge for this movie is that, despite retaining this release spot, I can’t find a trailer for it. So I don’t know how heavily this is being advertised or what the awareness is. This type of movie at this spot has done well historically, so if Lionsgate wants to start advertising it, it could do well.

Attempting to take advantage of the departure of “Operation Fortune” and “Downton Abbey” is Sony Pictures recently announcing that they’ll be releasing Umma in wide release. This does have a trailer that was released a couple of days ago, and it is coming out on this day, as Sony says on the trailer title that it’s exclusively in theaters on March 18. So regardless of what happens with “The Unbreakable Boy,” there is at least one new movie to see. “Umma” is a horror film that is produced by Sam Raimi and is some sort of haunting movie about a woman whose mother just died. Either the mother has come back to haunt her or the woman is scared of turning into her mother. The woman and her daughter are Korean and the trailer told me that “Umma” means mother, although I don’t know Korean, so don’t quote me on that. On the third weekend of February, “The Cursed” opened in ninth place with $1.8 million, so that will mostly likely be the goal or range for “Umma.”

Also a quick streaming note, Disney+ could potentially dominate the conversation, at least with family audiences as Disney will be releasing be releasing their latest remake of Cheaper by the Dozen on Disney+ this weekend, with Zach Braff and Gabrielle Union playing the parents of a blended family of 12. For those keeping track, this is the third “Cheaper by the Dozen” movie, following the original 1950 film and the 2003 remake with Steve Martin. Both of those movies got a sequel, which makes this newest movie that fifth “Cheaper by the Dozen” movie to come out. The story was originally an autobiographical novel written by siblings Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey, released in 1948, with a follow-up novel released in 1952. It’s also been adapted into a stage play and stage musical.

March 25 – 27  

Paramount's "The Lost City"

No wide new releases on the second weekend of March. One, maybe two, new wide releases on the third weekend of March. And just one new wide release on this final weekend of March. The studios really did clear the way for “The Batman.” The one lone wide release for this weekend is The Lost City from Paramount. When I did my yearly movie preview in January, I looked at this title and thought that it could be a sleeper hit. Looking at the schedule for this month, I now definitely think it could be, especially if the reviews end up positive. This stars Channing Tatum, who just had a surprise hit with “Dog,” and Sandra Bullock teaming up for an action/adventure comedy. Sandra Bullock plays a best-selling romance novelist who is on tour with her cover model, played by Tatum, when she’s kidnapped by a billionaire, played by Daniel Radcliffe, who wants her to lead him to the treasure for the lost city in her latest novel. Tatum comes to rescue her and that’s how the two wind up on this wacky adventure. On top of those three, Brad Pitt is also in the movie as a CIA Agent. So yeah, loaded cast, fun premise, and empty schedule could lead this to doing well. A similar action/adventure movie, “Uncharted,” just opened to $44 million last month. Granted, that had Tom Holland and a built-in video game fan base, but I wouldn’t be too surprised to see “The Lost City” not too far behind. The movie is also getting an Early Access screening in 225 theaters on March 19 via Fandango to build hype, which tells me that the studio has confidence in their product.

Again, that’s the only release of this weekend. But given the empty market, it’s worth noting some quick limited release movies throughout the month. A24 has three on schedule, with “After Yang” on March 4, “X” on March 18, and “Everything Everywhere All At Once” on March 25. On March 18, Focus Features will be releasing “The Outfit,” Amazon will be releasing “Master,” and Roadside Attractions will be releasing “Alice.” On March 25, Sony Pictures Classics has both “The Duke” and “Mothering Sunday,” while Bleeker Street has “Infinite Storm.” Any one of those could wind up as a wide or semi-wide release if studios want to take advantage of the empty schedule. And if not, we’ll all either be on Netflix all month or seeing “The Batman” a hundred times.

Batman Movies Ranked (Theatrical)

Coming out this weekend is the latest iteration of everyone’s favorite cape crusader, Matt Reeve’s “The Batman.” In honor of that movie’s release, I wanted to release to you my list of favorite theatrical Batman movies. Actually, I got on a Batman kick last year after the release of Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” (a movie that ended up not making the list), with a plan on releasing it in the summer, but got distracted. Now within the last week I’ve seen a lot of people on social media and YouTube releasing their own Batman lists and suddenly I look like a trend follower instead of a trend setter. But oh well. Such is life.

A quick word about what I’ve deemed eligible here. By my personal count, there have been over 40 Batman movies that have been released. So to narrow it down, I’m going specifically with the movies that got a traditional theatrical release. I use that specific wording because three animated Batman movies, “Batman: The Killing Joke,” “Batman: Return of the Cape Crusader,” and “Batman and Harley Quinn” got a one-day specialty release in theaters. I didn’t put those in here. I’m also not including every movie where Batman made an appearance, so no Suicide Squad or Justice League movie. Just the ones that felt enough like a Batman movie. I had to make a personal judgment call on some of them, but it is what it is. Just know that there are a lot of these movies and most of them are on HBO Max. One day it would be fun to go through all of them and rank the non-theatrical movies as well. But for now we’re being simple and I’ve narrowed it down to 11 movies to rank and discuss.

And finally, this is my personal list based on my personal experiences. I’ve been a life-long Batman fan and huge DC fan. I grew up with these characters. But I still have different experiences with these than other fellow DC fans and thus this list might look very different from what you may expect. And that’s OK. It’s 100 percent biased and subjective, just like all movies are. There’s no right or wrong answer. Just personal opinions. So after you’ve read through this and have become sufficiently shocked at how I ordered this, I would be very curious to see you drop a note with how you would rank them. So let’s get started!

11- Batman Forever (1995)

We’re coming out of the gate swinging, with an absolute shocker, mostly for which movie is NOT in last place. We’ll get to why I think “Batman & Robin” deserves a second look, but it’s that movie’s predecessor that I think is the true mess. The two opposite sides of the spectrum for a Batman movie in regards to tone are the movies that decide to be super dark and serious as well the movies that decide to be lighthearted and silly. And whichever direction you decide to take your Batman movie is totally fine. Own up to it and do a good job at what you set out to do and I’ll be happy with it. But “Batman Forever” is a movie that wants to have its cake and eat it, too. It tries to be both campy and silly, taking advantage of the wonkiness of Jim Carrey, while also being as dark and realistic as the Tim Burton movies. The two tones clash so hard and the result is a movie that is a big, embarrassing pile of nothing that has no idea what it’s trying to do. And of all the Batman movies, this is the one that I have no desire to return to.

10- Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Almost a movie that I didn’t include because it’s more of a Justice League prequel than a genuine Batman movie. But nevertheless it wound up being the closest shot at a Ben Affleck solo movie that we ended up getting. And I’ll let you know straight-up that Ben Affleck is the one thing that worked to perfection. He was a great choice for both Batman and Bruce Wayne and he gave it his all. I just wish he had a competent man leading the way and had an opportunity when the mother studio had an idea of what they were doing. To me what “Batman v. Superman” represents is Warner Bros. and DC’s ineptitude at setting up a proper cinematic universe. They saw the success of Marvel and rushed into their Justice League. Instead of making individual movies leading up to “Justice League,” they made one giant bridge movie, five movies in one, and called that good. There are individual elements of this movie that work well. And there’s an ultimate cut that smooths out some of the rough edges. But not even that ultimate cut fixes the inherent problem at hand of there simply being too much going on. I think Warner Bros. has learned from this debacle and figured out their formula for success. But that doesn’t change the fact that “Batman v. Superman” is still an incredibly frustrating disaster instead of being the cinematic milestone that it deserved to be.

As a quick note, neither cut of “Justice League” is on this list, and neither is the 2016 “Suicide Squad,” wherein Ben Affleck gets a cameo. But all three would be higher than “Batman v. Superman” if I did include them.

9- Batman Returns (1992)

A second, or perhaps third controversial placement? I’ll have more to say about Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman” in a second, but I think his movies get overshadowed by Nolan’s trilogy. And honestly, rightfully so. For the most part. Much respect for Tim Burton in what he did, both for Batman and for the superhero movie genre as a whole. But Tim Burton walked so that Christopher Nolan could run. “Batman Returns” specifically is a movie that is really hokey and borderline obnoxious. It’s not a mess like “Batman Forever,” but its extreme dedication to being dark and serious takes me out of the movie a bit when it comes to the origins of Catwoman and Penguin. It goes for a realistic interpretation, but those two characters are almost supernatural in their creation. Danny DeVito is having a lot of fun as Penguin, but he’s really hard to watch and his performance doesn’t hold up. In stark contrast, Michelle Pfeiffer absolutely nails the character of Catwoman and Selina Kyle, but the way in which she get falls out of a window and gets swarmed by cats is a little weird. Maybe if it was just Bruce and Selina, things would be much better and I could forgive the wonky origins, because I do love Michael Keaton as both Bruce Wayne and Batman, but Penguin is just too much. And most of the movie is focused around him. I’ve watched this twice in the last year, one a few days ago, and it’s just a movie that doesn’t connect with me.

8- The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

I want to say right before we start here that I really love Christopher Nolan and, as I stated in my summary of “Batman Returns,” he got Batman and the world right. The way he took some hokey, comic book characters and gave realistic portrayals in a dark world made for two of the greatest superhero movies ever made. But this final chapter is just… yikes. The initial hype of seeing this in theaters was incredible. And I was on such a high for a long time with it. And while there are still some great performances and some incredible sequences, this is just a movie that completely falls apart the more that I’ve seen it and pondered about it. And while I still love Nolan, this is the point where he began a string of movies that just fall flat for me. Yet there are still a large amount of Nolan fanboys that worship the man as their lord and savior. Not only will they refuse to believe he is incapable of doing anything wrong, but they will also not let anyone on the internet have an opposing opinion. And I think it’s this ludicrous Nolan hype that has elevated “The Dark Knight Rises” much higher than it deserves. If this was anyone other than Nolan that made this exact movie, I think the consensus would be that this is really just a mediocre superhero movie with a lot of problems. But because it’s Nolan, I get nearly crucified every time I bring up the fact that I think it’s not that great. But don’t worry. I’ll continue to give Nolan his much deserved praise. I just don’t think he stuck the landing on his trilogy.

7- Batman & Robin (1997)

Yup. Not last place, like one would think the consensus might be, but No. 7 of 11, ahead of “Batman Forever,” “Batman v. Superman,” “Batman Returns” and “The Dark Knight Rises.” Are some of those movies more competently made films with better filmmaking qualities? Sure. And no, I don’t have any level of nostalgia for this movie or any of the Schumacher or Burton films. My childhood love of Batman comes from the animated series. We watched the Christopher Reeve Superman movies a lot as a family growing up, but not the Batman movies. In fact, I had not even watched “Batman & Robin” all the way through until last year, despite hearing so much about it from every angle, the people who think it’s the worst movie ever and the people who love it. And I’m here to tell you that this movie deserves another look. It is an unmitigated disaster of a movie with so many issues, which is why it has a 3.7 on IMDb and a 12 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. And that’s almost why it is so darn entertaining. You can say it’s a “so bad, it’s good” sort of movie. And I accept that. But to a degree, I also believe that it is self-aware and knows exactly what it is, almost to the level of Adam West Batman camp and silliness. But whether it was intentional or unintentional, the entertainment value on this movie is so high that I really kinda love it. It’s not the Batman movie anyone wanted in 1997 and it almost killed the whole Batman franchise, but it just might be the Batman movie we all need in 2022, so I really encourage you to give it another, preferably with a big group of friends.

6- Batman (1989)

And now we head into the top six of this list, where all of the remaining entries are very high quality films that deserve to be watched for all of the right reasons. And much respect goes to this initial Tim Burton entry for helping to pioneer the comic book movie genre, together along with the Christopher Reeve Superman. And while I’m not sure the full history of Batman in the comics, I do feel confident in saying that this movie is very much responsible for the trend of Batman movies being dark and gritty. Just about every Batman movie since has made an attempt to follow its lead. And like I’ve mentioned with Nolan a few times now, Tim Burton paved the way for Nolan to make the two masterpiece films that he did. I don’t think Nolan could’ve done that without Tim Burton setting the standard. And while I do think that there is a level of hokiness that doesn’t quite fit the serious tone, namely the permanent smile stuck to Joker’s face, Jack Nicholson nevertheless does a terrifying job of being a sinister villain in perhaps the most classic clash of Batman vs. Joker. And it’s interesting in hindsight to note that this is essentially a classic 80s gangster movie with Batman characters. It worked very well for its time and I still think it holds up well to today, even though not all of its sequels follow suit.

5- Batman: The Movie (1966)

Back in the 1960s, Batman wasn’t dark and serious. He was goofy and silly. You sit back, throw all logic out the window, and you watch the legend himself, Adam West, entertain you to no end. And while, when done right, I love the dark and grim Batman movies, I honestly miss the idea of Batman being simply fun and entertaining. That might be why I really enjoyed “Batman & Robin” when I finally watched it last year. And it might be why I love No. 3 on this list. But unlike “Batman & Robin,” there is absolutely no question in regards to intent. This is 100 percent self-aware and purposely being goofy and silly. This is all the comic book characters gathering together to take down the heroes in a comic book villain style that almost doesn’t exist in the modern day. This is a giant, rubber shark biting Batman in the leg while hanging from a helicopter while Robin rushes to get the shark-repellant spray to stop it. And this is master detective Batman and Robin, solving all of the Riddler’s complex riddles in a manner of seconds, using logic that makes no real sense. Adam West is the absolute king of campiness and I honestly think the world of comic book movies and shows could use a lot more of that. And I was almost tempted to put this even higher on the list, but, well…

4- Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993)

Remember when I said my personal childhood introduction to Batman came via “Batman: The Animated Series”? Yup. Well, that and “Batman Beyond” defined my Batman childhood. “Mask of the Phantasm” is not a movie that I watched until fairly recently, and re-watched this past week in preparation for this list, but it’s pulled directly from “Batman: The Animated Series,” which is one of the greatest shows ever made. When I watched it, I became immediately filled with all of the joyous Batman nostalgia and I wanted to immediately go binge all of my childhood Batman. So yeah, in a completely subjective and personal list, this is the nostalgia that gets boosted up on my list, even if this particular movie is a fairly new watch for me. In fact, it almost feels out of place on this theatrical list. If I were to ever do the non-theatrical list, this movie fits better with all of those, which there are many great ones. But it did get a theatrical run and most Batman rankings include, so I’m fine with it representing an important part of my childhood here. On top of the nostalgia, it’s also honestly one of the best individual Batman stories. It has the classic Batman vs. Joker, the doomed romance, and some flashbacks that give origins to both Batman and Joker in this universe, all woven together in a beautiful, yet simply 71-minute animated film. It’s short, but it packs a real punch, giving you everything you want in a Batman film, showing why the animated series was so great.

3- The LEGO Batman Movie (2017)

I kid you not, I was very tempted to put “The LEGO Batman Movie” at No. 2, in between the two movies that you know were going to be at the top of this list. In the vein of “Batman & Robin” and “Batman: The Movie,” this is Batman being very silly and fun. And for a lifelong Batman fan, I remember laughing so hard at this movie in theaters that it was almost painful. Laughter that doesn’t give you a break and makes your stomach hurt. That’s the type of laughter that is extremely rare for even the funniest of comedies. And while the casual person can watch and enjoy, this is a parody movie that is directed at the lifelong Batman fan as it pokes fun at every single generation of Batman, from Adam West all the way up to Christopher Nolan. And the more you know about Batman, the funnier it is and the more you will understand all the references. And on that note alone, this is a movie that every Batman fan needs to see. But the thing that makes it worthy of being this high up on the list is that, through all the comedy, it somehow manages to also be a very touching Batman movie on its own. The best comedies also have a good deal of drama and this movie cuts deep and hits you in all the feels, which is something that I was not expecting at all. I said when I first watched it and I stand by it now, this is one of the best Batman movies ever made. And here’s me holding true to that.  

2- Batman Begins (2005)

I’ve had a lot of spicy choices on this list. Made some decisions that probably shocked you. And while I momentarily considered mixing it up at the top, sometimes the predictable and boring answer is the right one. No surprises. Nolan’s first two films are both masterpieces. He took Burton’s formula and perfected it. He made a dark and gritty film that really worked. And he took comic book characters and removed all the hokiness from them. No permanent smile. No supernatural cat thing. None of whatever the penguin thing is. And no self-aware silliness. Which works because Nolan knew exactly what he wanted and he crafted the perfect universe that feels lived in and real. Gotham came to life in a way that it never had before. And all the villains feel like they could’ve actually been real villains in a real universe, which makes this movie scarier and more intense. And he even answered the silliness of Bruce Wayne dressing up in a Batman suit and gave us an origin story that stands as one of the best, if not the best origin story ever told. The absolute gold standard for every origin story. And honestly, probably the best individual pure Batman movie ever made with the my personal favorite Batman via Christian Bale, the perfect choice for both version of the character.

1- The Dark Knight (2008)

Perhaps the easiest choice in the history of making lists on this blog in the last 10 years is creating a Batman movie list and putting “The Dark Knight” at No. 1. It’s the obvious choice. And it’s almost so obvious that it’s the boring choice. Yes, grass is green, the sky is blue, the Earth is round and spins around the sun, and “The Dark Knight” is the best Batman movie. Although to my previous comment I just made, “Batman Begins” might be the best individual pure Batman movie because “The Dark Knight” is more of a Joker movie than a Batman movie, but it still belongs on this list, obviously, and is no question deserving of the top spot. “Batman Begins” is the gold standard for superhero origin stories and “The Dark Knight” is the gold standard for superhero villain stories, which is why the two movies fit together so well. They both set out to do different things and they both do a perfect job at accomplishing those goals. And the movie is not dark just for the sake of being dark. Everything it puts in place has a purpose for being there, with haunting themes that stick with you for years after you see it. The type of movie that gets better over time and never gets old upon any re-watch. The only issue it really has is that every dark superhero movie that came after it never fully understood why and how it worked so well, so it started a trend of every superhero movie being unnecessarily dark. But that’s, of course, not this movie’s fault. Nolan knew what he was doing.

Movie Preview: February 2022

It’s been a busy week for this blog as I just posted my big year-end lists of my favorite movies of the year and my yearly preview of the upcoming year. But because I was a tad bit late on those than usual, we immediately turn our attention to the second month of the year. January went about as expected. Essentially there was just one new movie that made any noise and that was the reboot/sequel “Scream,” the fifth movie in the franchise that did rather well for itself with a $30 million debut, which was about double that of what I was expecting. Outside that, “The 355,” “Redeeming Love,” and “The King’s Daughter” all opened with less than $5 million, paving the way for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” to continue to dominate. Its current total of $740 million domestically is just around $20 million shy of the $760.5 million domestic total of “Avatar,” which will make it third on the domestic charts if it manages to pass that mark.

Onto February. “Spider-Man” will finally be dethroned for good (“Scream” reigned for a week, but then “Spider-Man” took the weekend title right back for the final two weeks). Winter storms are brewing. A Super Bowl match will take place that always impacts the box office. But we do have Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. And February has proven its worth in the recent past as a month that can have mega releases. See the likes of “Black Panther” or “Deadpool” for an example. But are there any on the calendar this year with potential or will the box office world stand still while the world waits for “The Batman” in March?

As always, release date information for this post is courtesy of the-numbers.com and boxofficepro.com. The movies listed are the movies currently scheduled to open in wide release domestically, so the United States and Canada, yet are always subject to change.

February 4 – 6

Paramount's "Jackass Forever"

Normally the first weekend of February is Super Bowl weekend. But not this year. The NFL added an extra week onto its schedule, which pushes Super Bowl weekend to the second weekend of February. We’ll get into the implications of that here in a second, but what it means for this weekend is a brief opening where both wide releases are targeting a male audience while the NFL is essentially on a bye week.

Hoping to take clear advantage of that is Jackass Forever, the fourth movie in the Jackass franchise, full of dangerous pranks, stunts, and a team of people putting themselves in harm’s way to get some laughs out of people. This team of people, led by Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, and others, has been doing this shtick for quite some time now. They started in 2000 with a TV show and have since done three movies and a spin-off and thus carry a built-in audience that has been quite reliable in the past. In fact, their first two movies in the early 2000s both opened in the 20 million range. The third movie in 2010 opened to $50.4 million and even the “Bad Grandpa” spin-off in 2013 surprised with a $32 million opening. So there seems to be a pretty solid floor for this movie. And given the low production costs of making these, the bar for success is quite low, in terms of making an official profit.

Perhaps the major obstacle for this franchise is that it’s been 12 years since that last movie in the main saga and nine years since the “Bad Grandpa” spin-off. And while video sharing platforms obviously existed when those movies were released, the popularity has skyrocketed since in the past decade. While the main core of the audience is likely to show up, it might be hard for the movie to attract much of a new young audience who has access to these types of videos for free on the likes of YouTube and TikTok. There have also been huge winter storms this weekend that could be impacting box office totals to at least some degree. “Jackass Forever” opened with an estimated $9.6 million on Friday, meaning its heading towards a weekend around $20-25 million, generally in line with expectations.

The other movie looking to target the male audience this weekend is the new Roland Emmerich disaster movie Moonfall. The premise of this movie surrounds a potentially apocalyptic disaster with the moon falling out of orbit and on a crash course towards Earth. A team of scientists has to figure out what’s going on and what they can do to save the world. In other words, a typical Roland Emmerich disaster movie. 20-25 years ago this is the type of movie that would be the movie event of the year. In 1996, “Independence Day” was the top movie of the year. Even in the years since then, Emmerich has scored huge six of his movies spanning three decades making over $100 million total at the domestic box office. The issue is that his reputation as filmmaker who makes quality films is a bit in question, especially as of late. Not helping his cause is the general lack of desire for these type of world-ending disaster movies.

Going into the weekend, the comparison for “Moonfall” was to the 2017 movie “Geostorm,” which opened with $13.7 million in its opening weekend. But “Moonfall” is looking to even fall short of that. Its estimated opening day total was $3.4 million, which means it could struggle to crack the $10 million mark. For comparison, “Geostorm” earned $5.9 million on its opening day on its way to that $13.7 million. This will be Emmerich’s worst opening weekend of his career for a movie that opened in at least 3,000 theaters. Lack of awareness, lack of a desire to see the movie, plus a wave of negative reviews is the cause of this.

February 11 – 13

20th Century Studios' "Death on the Nile"

The second weekend of February is an extremely unique weekend as Super Bowl meets Valentine’s Day. As mentioned above, the Super Bowl in the past has been the first Sunday of February, but due to the NFL adding another week the Super Bowl is now on the second Sunday of February. Why that has relevance to the movie world is that the Super Bowl is so popular that it completely axes the Sunday box office for that weekend, which means everything opening this weekend only has a two-day weekend. What makes it weird is that Valentine’s Day weekend often is quite the popular movie weekend. With Valentine’s Day on Monday, a date night movie trip for the weekend before will be in the cards for many. Does that mean this will be an extra big Friday and Saturday combined with an extra small Sunday?

The other question here becomes was Disney aware of this when they committed to this weekend for Death on the Nile? This is the follow-up to the 2017 movie “Murder on the Orient Express,” both of which are adaptations of the Agatha Christie series of mystery novels involving fictional detective Hercule Poirot. The character first appeared in “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” in 1920 and was continued appear in Christie novels and short stories until “Curtain” in 1975. This recent film series involving the character is portrayed by Kenneth Branagh, who has also directed both movies as well. This is good timing for Branagh as he’ll be coming off of many academy award nominations for “Belfast,” but is it good timing for this particular weekend?

“Death on the Nile” has been one of the COVID victims. It was initially scheduled for 2019 until Disney pushed it into 2020, a horrible decision in hindsight that they obviously couldn’t have predicted. Its final rescheduling came in March of 2021, when Disney pushed it to this date, which was probably before Disney knew that this would be Super Bowl weekend. So it’s possible Disney just wants to get this one out of the way. Its predecessor opened to $28.7 and wound up pretty leggy, finishing with $102.8 million domestically. The Super Bowl weekend record is $31.1 million, set way back in 2008 with the Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus concert movie. Only seven movies total have opened above $20 million. But again, we’re currently in uncharted territory with Valentine’s Weekend colliding with it.

Although speaking of Valentine’s Day, the movie that actually seems well positioned in the romance drama of the month in Marry Me. Jennifer Lopez plays one half of a superstar, celebrity couple. When things go awry between her and her partner, she decides to propose mid-concert to a nobody in the audience she has never met, played by Owen Wilson. Whether or not Owen Wilson can successfully pull off a “nobody” is probably irrelevant to the target audience here. A romance drama starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson could be perfect for Valentine’s Day. And what potentially puts it in better position is that the movies that have done well on Super Bowl weekend are the movies targeted at female audiences. Of the seven movies mentioned in the previous paragraph, most of them have been romance movies. So if things go south for “Death on the Nile,” and “Marry Me” does connect with its target audience, this could be potential upset territory here.

The third movie of the weekend that seems to be in the worst position is the latest Liam Neeson action flick Blacklight. Now outside the obvious here of trying to sell an action movie to a male target audience on the Super Bowl, the big challenge here is that these Liam Neeson action are becoming a dime a dozen. Even pre-COVID, “Cold Pursuit” and “The Commuter” opened to $11 million and $13.7 million respectively. But recently “The Marksman” and “Honest Thief” both opened just above $3 million. Now while that was during COVID and thus not the most apple-to-apples comparison, it nevertheless wouldn’t be surprising to see this movie fall in that range. Awareness seems low. Interest doesn’t seem to be there. And the weekend is a horrible one. Last month’s “The 355” opened to $4.6 million, which seems like a good range and thus means this might open around those latest two Liam Neeson, anyways. Even with a lot more theaters opened at this current time.

February 18 – 20

Sony Pictures' "Uncharted"

The third weekend of February is a lot more positively positioned. No Super Bowl to deal with and a four-day holiday weekend with Presidents’ Day on Monday. If any of the previous weekend’s movies get good reviews that could lead to excellent holdover business. On top of that, the new movie hoping to take full advantage of the holiday weekend is the long-awaited film adaptation of Uncharted. Theoretically speaking, this is a movie that’s in excellent position with the weekend at hand plus the presence of Tom Holland, fresh off the enormous success of the latest Spider-Man movie. That’s destined to sell a few extra tickets at the least. “Uncharted” is based off the video game series that began in 2007 and has spawned several sequel games since. Tom Holland will be playing the lead role of Nathan Drake in the action/adventure movie with Mark Wahlberg in line as his co-star. The obvious hurdle is the abysmal track record of video game movie adaptations. If this is yet another poorly reviewed video game adaptation, some might choose to stay away, so the reaction to this one will be key.

Sliding in right along with “Uncharted” will be the Channing Tatum drama Dog. Simple title for probably a simple movie. Channing Tatum plays a former Army Ranger who is paired against his will with this Army dog. Things seem like chaos at first, but because dog is man’s best friend, the two end up getting along and becoming close partners. Seems like a feel-good drama that has potential to become an underrated sleeper hit. I’m reminded of the 2015 movie “Max,” another movie about a military dog and his new human partner. That movie opened to $12.2 million and legged out to $42.7 million domestically. This isn’t going to win the weekend, but it could provide solid counterprogramming, especially if “Uncharted” ends up with poor reviews and this movie gets good reviews.

The final movie of the weekend is a movie that may or may not be actually coming out. It’s listed as being on the schedule, but it might be one of those movies that ends up in just a few hundred theaters. That movie is the horror film The Cursed. This was actually a 2021 Sundance film, but it didn’t get much attention and the reaction was fairly middling. The movie surrounds a supernatural threat in 1800s France and a pathologist that comes to investigate. The biggest concern to me in regards to box office potential is that it doesn’t seem to be getting much of a marketing push. The trailer just barely came out 10 days ago and I’ve not seen it anywhere. Compare that to “Uncharted” and “Dog,” both of which have been heavily pushed over the last several months. If this does come out, it seems to be the type of movie that will be fighting for a spot in the top 10 rather than one people pay attention to.

February 25 – 27

United Artists' "Cyrano"

Speaking of movies that may or may not come out, it’s the boy that cried wolf at this point with Cyrano, a movie I’ve included in both my December and January movie previews. It’s a musical starring Peter Dinklage that has received enormously strong praise… from the small handful of people that have managed to see it. Screeners have been sent out and it had a brief Oscar-qualifying run in December, but United Artists has really botched its rollout. It should be a movie getting all the awards attention with multiple nominations, or at least in the conversation. But it’s probably going to get blanked because no is talking about it due to few people even having the opportunity to see it. Even if it does finally commit to this newest release date, it has another major problem. “The Batman” comes out in the first weekend of March. Which is why every other studio is smartly choosing to completely avoid this weekend.