Three new wide release movies break out of the gate this weekend. Will one stand out above the others, or will ‘Deadpool’ decapitate the competition yet again?
Lionsgate is going big with the CG-heavy, PG-13 action adventure ‘Gods of Egypt‘. From the director of ‘I, Robot‘ and ‘Knowing‘ comes the repetitive epic about humans taking on the merciless gods that oppress them. Turn off your brain and prepare yourself for a movie that’s set in ancient Egypt yet stars mostly non-Egyptian actors, such as Gerard Butler and ‘Game of Thrones’ star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, fighting one another and giant monsters with lots of slow motion and quick cuts. Playing on more than 3,100 screens, you shouldn’t have a problem getting into any showing of ‘Gods of Egypt’ this weekend.
Opening on 2,200 screens is the new crime thriller ‘Triple 9‘ from ‘The Road‘ and ‘Lawless‘ director John Hillcoat. The R-rated ensemble film follows four main characters, some of whom are corrupt police officers, who’ve become stuck in a proverbial vice by the Russian mob. With one last major heist to pull off, the gang decides to distract the police by killing an officer on the far side of town at the same time of their robbery – only it’s not that simple. In the style of ‘The Departed’, this gritty and high-intensity drama functions on a big and complex scale. Easily the best movie of its kind in some time, ‘Triple 9’ stars Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Kate Winslet, Gal Gadot, Woody Harrelson, Clifton Collins Jr. and Teresa Palmer.
Prepping the world for the upcoming Olympic games is ‘Eddie the Eagle‘. On 2,000 screens, Fox’s historical sports drama tells the underdog tale of Eddie Edwards, an awkward British kid determined to become an Olympic athlete. When the summer games are no longer a possibility for him, he sets his sights on winter sports, skiing in particular. Upon plateauing at the age of 22, the unrealistically optimistic skier gives himself one year to learn how to compete in the only ski sport that the British Olympic Association wasn’t supporting at the time – ski jumping. From producer Matthew Vaughn, ‘Eddie the Eagle’ is one of the most entertaining and fun sports dramas in a long time. An unrecognizable Taron Egerton plays Eddie and Hugh Jackman plays his rough-around-the-edges coach.
Creating controversy among theater owners, ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny‘ is simultaneously kicking off in both cinemas and on the Netflix subscription streaming service. As a result, most theater chains are refusing to run it. As a result, the belated sequel is only debuting on 10 to 15 IMAX screens across North America.
