The Bottom Line: Mar.04, 2016: Should We Get Excited for Zootopia?

Victor Stiff March 4, 2016Last Updated: March 4, 2016

Deadpool destroyed its box office competition for the third weekend in a row — the race wasn’t even close. Deadpool (aka Ryan Reynolds’ 106-minute master-class on charisma), stormed to the top of the box office charts, bringing in $31,115,195 (down 44.9% from the previous week). Despite finishing in second place, Gods of Egypt severely underperformed. With an estimated budget of $140 million (plus an additional $30 million marketing budget), Alex Proyas’ latest picture only brought back $14,123,903 domestically — yikes! Five weeks into its theatrical run, Kung Fu Panda 3 had another decent showing, pulling in $8,898,439 (down 28.9%). The Christian detective story, Risen, finished in fourth ($6,815,021, down 42.3%), and Triple 9 ($6,109,085) barely held onto fifth place, narrowly beating out Eddie the Eagle ($6,084,682) by $24,403.

Here’s a look at some films opening on March 04, 2016.

London Has Fallen (R) 99 mins. — London Has Fallen is the sequel to 2013’s moderately successful action-thriller, Olympus Has Fallen. I’m someone with a deeply entrenched interest in the entertainment industry, and even I didn’t know London Has Fallen existed until its media blitz kicked off a few weeks ago. Chalk this film’s existence up to Hollywood’s unflinching desire to bleed even marginally favorable film properties dry.

Judging by the action-movie genre’s exorbitant standards, Olympus Has Fallen is a modestly budgeted film ($70 million). Despite the picture returning a decent profit, neither critics nor moviegoers clamored for a sequel — Olympus Has Fallen is cinematic fast-food: quickly consumed and easily forgotten. Gramercy Pictures is showing a lot of confidence in this burgeoning franchise. Gramercy upped this sequel’s budget to $100 million and positioned London Has Fallen as THE action movie to see until Batman and Superman tussle later this month.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (R) 112 mins. — Tina Fey is on a roll. Fey finished 2015 strong; her collaboration with Amy Poehler, Sisters, was a hit (it more than tripled its $30 million budget — a strong feat for an R-rated comedy), and now she’s set to steal the spotlight in the star-studded film, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Based on Kim Barker’s book, The Taliban Shuffle: Strange Days in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the film also stars Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman, Alfred Molina, and Billy Bob Thornton. While Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is listed as a comedy, it packs a lot of dramatic punch — label this one a dramedy — it’s the first time many of Fey’s fans will get to see her step outside her comedic comfort zone.

Zootopia (PG) 108 mins. — Zootopia is another film that managed to fly under my movie radar. Most of the film’s pre-launch buzz got lost on me, drowned out by the movie industry’s never-ending promotional cacophony. After stopping to do my homework on the film, I realized that the talent bringing Zootopia together has a strong filmmaking pedigree.

Zootopia’s directing team, Byron Howard, Jared Bush, and Rich Moore, have solid industry cred, their collective film credits include Tangled, Bolt, Futurama, Big Hero 6, and Wreck-It-Ralph. The film also features the voice-acting talent of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, Jenny Slate, J.K. Simmons, Tommy Chong, and Octavia Spencer. Not bad at all! Zootopia is also killing it on Rotten Tomatoes, sporting an immaculate 100% Fresh rating based on 71 reviews. If all those endorsements aren’t enough to pique your interest in seeing the film, take a gander at the trailer below before writing this one off.

The Bottom Line – Anyone skipping a trip to the movies this weekend won’t come to said decision because of a lack of choices. London Has Fallen, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, and Zootopia offers moviegoers an intense action-thriller, thought-provoking dramedy, and an animated action-adventure respectively. On top of that, this weekend also marks the release of Knight of Cups (starring Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett), the latest film by the divisive filmmaker, Terrence Malick, as well as previous releases such as Gods of Egypt, Deadpool, and The Witch. With a plethora of films ranging from blockbusters to indie-horror, this weekend features a bit of movie magic for everyone.