Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, The Greatest Showman & Pitch Perfect 3 In Movie Theaters Around The Nation This Weekend

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, The Greatest Showman, Pitch Perfect 3, Downsizing and Father Figures are both now in movie theaters across St. Louis and nationwide.  Daddy’s Home 2, Thor, Ragnarok andThe Star are all showing this weekend at Keller 8 Cinema in South County. See Call Me By Your Name or Die Hard at Hi-Pointe this weekend.  Kingsman: The Golden Circle is now among the movies now available to rent at your local Redbox.

See Pitch Perfect 3 tonight or Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle tonight at MX Movies in downtown St. Louis. Star Wars: The Last Jedi is also playing this weekend at MX.

It’s the Weekend Movie Guide from RealLifeSTL.

Recapping Last Weekend

Star Wars: The Last Jedi topped the $220 million mark in its opening weekend last weekend and easily topped the weekend box office.

Ferdinand brought in $13.4 million in its opening weekend of release.

Coco brought in $9.9 million last weekend and has now passed the $150 mark in four weekends of release.

Opening This Weekend

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle

The game that first swallowed up young Alan Parrish is back with the opening of Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle yesterday.

I love movies that open on Wednesdays because that means I get to actually see them before writing about them. I saw Jumanji last night and highly recommend it. The cast is excellent and the film is just really enjoyable with plenty of laughs.

This sequel of sorts to the classic 1995 film features Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Karen Gillian in the lead roles with Nick Jonas in a slightly smaller role.

While the film doesn’t feature the characters of Alan, Sarah, Judy or Peter, there is a nod to the late Robin Williams in the film.

The board game featured in the original film as been updated in this film to come in the form of a video game. When teenagers Spencer, Fridge, Martha and Bethany find the game during detention their decision to plug the game in a begin play leads to them entering the game rather than the game coming to them.

The teens are transformed into their Jumanji characters when they land in the jungle. The shy, geeky Spencer becomes Dr. Smolder Bravestone (Johnson). The hulking Fridge loses two feet, as the character puts it, to become Moose Finbar (Hart). The social media-obsessed Bethany becomes Professor Shelly  Oberon (Black), leading to hilarity and quite  a bit of bathroom humor.  Shy, nerdy Martha becomes the beautiful Ruby Roundhouse, who happens to be quite skilled in the art of the dance battle. Roundhouse is portrayed by Karen Gillian, who starred in the short-lived Selfie.

By no means will the cast be waiting by the mailbox for their Oscar nominations, but they really do an excellent job playing these characters. Johnson and Hart are also excellent together, as we know from Central Intelligence. 

Todd M. Thatcher predicts an opening weekend of $46.9 million for Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle. He also predicts total receipts of $65.1 million for the film from it’s opening yesterday up to and including Christmas Day.

Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle trailer

The Greatest Showman

Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson and Zendaya star in The Greatest Showman, the story of P.T. Barnum that’s in theaters this weekend.

Early critical reviews of the film are mixed, but Greatest Showman did pick up Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture and Best Original song while Jackman was nominated for Best Actor.

Todd M. Thatcher predicts an opening weekend of $16.9 million for The Greatest Showman and extended weekend receipts of $22.4 million.

The Greatest Showman trailer

Pitch Perfect 3

The Bellas are back, pitch. Pitch Perfect 3, billed as the final film in the franchise, opens this weekend.

Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Anna Camp and Brittany Snow  are among those back for this one.

Todd M. Thatcher predicts Christmas weekend receipts of $33.6 million for Pitch Perfect 3.

Pitch Perfect 3 trailer

Father Figures

Ed Helms and Owen Wilson are two brothers looking for their father after a revelation by their mother (Glenn Close) in Father Figures . It’s in theaters this weekend.

Could their father be J.K. Simmons? Could it be Terry Bradshaw?  Christopher Walken? All possibilities.

The film, directed by Lawrence Sher of Hangover fame, was to be called Bastards until Warner Bros. opted for Father Figures back in September.

Todd M. Thatcher predicts opening weekend receipts of $8.6 million for Father Figures.

Father Figures trailer

Downsizing

Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig are a husband and wife that are shrunk in Downsizing, in theaters this weekend. No, this is not another Honey, I Shrunk The Kids Movie. Rick Moranis is no where to be found, unfortunately.

Downsizing imagines a world where, due to over-population, people are downsized. The film is getting mixed reviews, which could be attributed to people seeing the interesting plot and talented cast and having unrealistic expectations for the final product.

Reese Witherspoon was originally slated to appear in Wiig’s role, which would have paired her up again with Alexander Payne, who wrote the Election script and also wrote this script.

Todd M. Thatcher predicts an opening Christmas weekend of $12.3 million for Downsizing.

Downsizing trailer

See Daddy’s Home 2 At Keller 8 Cinema This Weekend

Daddy’s Home 2, Thor: Ragnarok and The Star make their way to Keller 8 Cinema in South County this weekend.

Daddy’s Home 2 trailer

See Call Me By Your Name or Die Hard at Hi-Pointe Theatre This Weekend

Hi-Pointe Theatre is a hidden gem of St. Louis. The Hi-Pointe Backlot is even more so, hidden behind the main theater on McCausland Avenue. Hi-Pointe has been around since 1922 at the Southwest corner of Forest Park and below the world’s largest Amoco sign.

Hi-Pointe Backlot came on the scene in 2015 on the second floor of a building right behind the main theater. It took three years of rehab before the owners of Hi-Pointe spent 60 straight days putting the final touches on the space. The 48-seat theater has drawn stellar reviews from movie fans.

See Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri this weekend at Hi-Pointe Backlot, while Call Me By Your Name plays at Hi-Pointe Theatre.

This Saturday night (Dec. 23) at 11:59 PM, Hi-Pointe Theatre will host a special showing of Die Hard.

original Die Hard trailer

Make It A Redbox Night With Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Mother! and Stronger are among the movies now available to rent at your local Redbox.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle

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