Dann Gire's TWO holiday season movie lists
We need two film lists to properly predict the impact of the upcoming holiday movies.
List No. 1: Anticipated Box Office Receipts.
The blowout winner will be no surprise. Variety predicts that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will generate $506.1 million in 14 days. This movie by itself will make 2016's box office impossible to match, let alone exceed that of 2015.
Variety also predicts that "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2" will net a satisfying $339.1 million and place second in the holiday VIP (Very Important Pictures) sweepstakes.
Next, the fall release "The Martian" will rack up another $168.6 million for the quarter, followed by the just-released animated film "The Good Dinosaur" at $167 million.
Four more fall releases will pump up the final quarter: "Hotel Transylvania 2" ($108.2 million), "The Peanuts Movie" ($96.1 million), "Steve Jobs" ($75.3 million) and "Bridge of Spies" ($70.5 million).
In 10th place is the Dec. 18 release of "Sisters," starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as siblings putting on a party in their parents' house before it sells. It should scoop up $59.2 million in a mere 13 days.
List No. 2: Your Local Film Critic's five top Gotta-See Movies.
1. "Chi-Raq," Spike Lee's controversial Chicago-shot movie, loosely based on Aristophanes' ancient play "Lysistrata." Lee is due for a comeback after a string of disappointing projects. (In 1990, Lee received the first Chicago Film Critics Award for Best Picture and Best Director for "Do the Right Thing.")
2. "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Because the power of the Force compels me.
3. "Point Break." I want to see how Ericson Core has refashioned Kathryn Bigelow's 1991 accidentally camp crime thriller, all about surfing Zen bank robbers (led by Patrick Swayze) and the dude-like undercover FBI agent (Keanu Reeves) who falls under their Buddhist spell. Really?
4. "The Hateful Eight." A western stuffed with treachery, killing and hate. The perfect Christmas Day gift from Quentin Tarantino, clearly counterprogramming David O. Russell's more seasonally cheerful title, "Joy," opening the same day.
5. "The Danish Girl." Eddie Redmayne picked up the Best Actor Oscar earlier this year, and his celebrated portrait of the transgender artist might give him another one.
Do you have a holiday movie you're hankering to see at a Chicago-area theater before Jan. 1? Let me know at dgire@dailyherald.com.