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The Bottom Line: January 5, 2018
Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut goes wide and a horror series debuts its fourth entry. Find out how they will do in this week’s edition of The Bottom Line!
Box Office Top Five
Star Wars: The Last Jedi topped the box office again with $52.8 million. Second place went to Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, which took in $50.5 million. Pitch Perfect 3 took third place $16.9 million, while The Greatest Showman took fourth with $15.7 million. Ferdinand rounded out the top five with $11.4 million.
A Closer Look at Some of this Week’s Films.
Molly’s Game (R) 140 mins.
Arguably the most well-known screenwriter in recent film history makes his directorial debut with Molly’s Game. Aaron Sorkin, creator of shows like The West Wing and The Newsroom, and writer of such films as A Few Good Men, The Social Network, and Steve Jobs, writes and directs this true story based on the life of Molly Bloom, who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game. Jessica Chastain plays Bloom surrounded by a cast that includes Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, and Michael Cera, and word is that the movie is very good. It’s very much a Sorkin movie, with plenty of dense, quickly-delivered dialogue and a terrific performance from Chastain. The films goes wide this weekend after a short limited release, and while it has been well-received, there doesn’t seem to be a ton of awards consideration surrounding it. Perhaps this wide release can turn the tide if the movie is a hit. I’m guessing this opens up at number three this weekend.
Insidious: The Last Key (PG-13) 103 mins.
It wouldn’t be the first weekend of January without a low-budget horror movie designed to make a quick buck. This is the fourth movie in the Insidious series, which – although I am a fan of director James Wan – I have just never been a fan of. It’s a series that is built almost entirely on cheap jump scares, but they’re incredibly cheap to make and people go see them, so here we are. My prediction is this opens up in the number two spot, but only because Star Wars is still there to eat up everyone else’s box office.
The Bottom Line
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will remain in first place yet again, and Insidious: The Last Key will ride that January horror money to second. Molly’s Game will open in third, and Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle will take fourth. Pitch Perfect 3 will round out the top five.
Movies To Look Forward To:
The Post, Paddington 2, The Commuter (January 12th)
Leave your thoughts on The Bottom Line, Molly’s Game, and Insidious: The Last Key below in the comments section. Readers seeking more The Bottom Line can visit our The Bottom Line Page. Want up-to-the-minute notification? Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook.
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