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a day ago
- Business
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‘Lilo & Stitch' Kicks Up $63M Second Weekend, ‘Mission Impossible 8' $27M+, ‘Karate Kid: Legends' At $21M
SUNDAY AM: Saturday was kind to most movies in the top 10 which saw lifts over Friday, in particularly Disney's Lilo & Stitch and Paramount's which were respectively up 51% and 56%. Lilo & Stitch is coming in at $63M for its second frame, while Mission Impossible 8 is $27.3M. Disney executives are skipping around the Burbank lot for with Lilo & Stitch it catapults the studio past the $1 billion mark at the domestic box office with a 30% market share. Disney is the first studio to pass that milestone YTD. Excluding 2020, Disney has grossed $1B+ domestically for 20 consecutive years since 2005, the only studio to accomplish this. More from Deadline 'Lilo & Stitch': All The Box Office Records Broken 'Karate Kid: Legends' Will Provide Kick To Summer Box Office But Won't KO 'Lilo & Stitch's $60M Second Weekend – Preview Breaking Baz: 'Bring Her Back' Star Billy Barratt Says He Performed Best In The Horror Pic After Being Locked Alone In A Room Without His Phone Total weekend for all titles is $151M, +130% from the same post Memorial Day frame a year ago. Sony is calling Karate Kid: Legends at $21M but others see it under $20M, like in the $19M range. Oh, no. I mean, if Sony called it at $20M and everyone is in the high $19M, that's not a big deal, but no one knows where $1M+ extra is coming from. Saturday was $7.3M, -5% from Friday/previews $7.7M. If you back out $2.3M previews, then Saturday was an up day for the Jackie Chan and Ralph Macchio team-up at +35%. Why wasn't there a big rush to this film? Why is it under its projections? It's the Cobra Kai streaming Netflix effect, dummy. With the Karate Kid audience conditioned to stay at home, what's the big reason for them to run out and watch another fight tournament onscreen? Yes, as we said before, being in the shadow of Lilo & Stitch crowd doesn't help given some audience overlap. Families are on a budget and they're going to put their money toward the title that kids are nagging them to see (tracking does take this into consideration with kids under 12). RelishMix noticed negative chatter, concentrated around the fear that the movie wouldn't live up to hype and the success of the previous installments. Comments included, 'I mean the story is same as every Karate Kid film,' and, 'I do not know how I feel about this. I'm half terrified.' Call it what you will — $19M-$20M. Note that while it's under expectations, the picture will be somewhat profitable. It's an okay piece of business at $45M net production cost, even though I'm sure Sony would have loved to see bigger numbers. I'm told that Karate Kid: Legends came on tracking at $35M and dropped to the mid $20Ms before this weekend. Oh, jeez. Let's not forget the great exits which should help the film hold. Karate Kid: Legends was originally dated for June 7, 2024, before the strikes pushed it to Dec. 13, 2024. When it came to business for this film, Sony had second thoughts and chose kids out of school for the summer over a crazy multiple over Christmas, thus moving Karate Kid: Legends back to a post-Memorial Day weekend slot. A24's — this is an excellent, original gross movie with great exits. Beyond the B+ CinemaScore, there's 80% audience on Rotten Tomatoes with a big hug from critics at 90% certified fresh. Just like A24's was trying to campaign for Toni Colette for Hereditary, there's an awards push to be done here for Sally Hawkins. Though the movie is at the top of its forecasted range with $7M, it's a bit surprising that the movie didn't overindex even more, and do a number beyond the Philippou's first movie, Talk to Me ($10.4M), or at least on par. Remember when it comes to these indie labels, it's a business of margins in regards to P&A spend to theatrical yield to profiting in the home windows. A 3x-4x multiple off a movie's opening (Midsommar, Heretic) is typically A24's theatrical goal on these genre movies, however, Talk to Me had a 4.6x (final domestic was $48.2M). That movie eased -39% in its second weekend. We'll see if Bring Her Back can bring more back. Bring Her Back played best in the East and West and even throughout the U.S./Canada. AMC Burbank was the pic's highest grossing location with just under $30k. Chart is updating with Sunday figures indicated with bold titles and including Saturday and Sunday number. & Stitch (Dis) 4,410 theaters, Fri $17M (-70%) 3-day $60M-$64M (-56% to -59%), Total $277M-$281M/Wk 2 2. Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning (Par) 3,861 (+4) Fri $7.5M (-70%), 3-day $26.7M (-58%), Total $122M/Wk 2 3. Karate Kid: Legends (Sony) 3,809 theaters, Fri $7.5M, 3-day $21M-$23M/Wk 1 4. Final Destination: Bloodlines (NL) 3,134 (-389) Fri $3.1M (-43%), 3-day $11M (-43%), Total $111.9M/Wk 3 5. (A24) 2,449 theaters, Fri $3.1M Sat $2.2M Sun $1.67M 3-day $7.08M/Wk 1 6.) Sinners (WB) 2,138 (-494) theaters Fri $1.55M (-35%) 3-day $5.1M (-40%), Total $267M/Wk 7 7.) Thunderbolts (Dis) 2,520 (-660) theaters Fri $1.3M (-48%) 3-day $4.7M (-51%), Total $181.7M/Wk 5 8.) Friendship (A24) 1,293 (+238) theaters, Fri $780K (-56%), 3-day $2.5M (-44%), Total $12.3M/Wk 4 9.) (Angel) 1995 (-210) theaters, Fri $642K Sat $876,5K Sun $620K 3-day $2.14M (-60%), Total $10.75M/Wk 2 10.) J-Hope Tour: Hope on Stage (TRAF) 631 theaters Sat $789K Sun $150K, 2-day $939K/Wk 1 Busting into the top 10 is Trafalgar Releasing's live broadcast of the grand finale of j-hope's first solo world tour from Osaka Japan's Kyocera Dome. The concert was transmitted live to 2,700+ cinemas across 83 countries on Saturday. Select encores are taking place today around the globe (64% encoring in North America, 46% worldwide). Global projection (sans Japan) for the weekend stands at $4.1M. 11.) (AMZ) 820 (-1182) theaters, Fri $214K (-56%) Sat $331K Sun $231K 3-day $776K (-62%), Total $65M/Wk 6 Notables: The Phoenician Scheme (Foc) 6 theaters, Fri $270K Sat $160K Sun $140K 3-day $570K, PTA $95K, Wk 1As we said yesterday, it's the biggest per screen of the year to date. Updated on individual theaters through Saturday: NYC's Angelika $121K, AMC's Lincoln Square is $96K, LA's AMC Century City is $58K, LA's AMC the Grove $55K, AMC Burbank $53.4K and NYC's Alamo Brooklyn stands just under $44k. Movie is 77% certified fresh with critics on Rotten Tomatoes. No audience score yet. Asteroid City, Focus Features' previous Cannes Film Festival premiere and theatrical release with Wes Anderson, had a RT critic score of 76% certified fresh and audience score of 66%. SATURDAY AM: It's a solid weekend following the Memorial Day holiday with all titles driving around $144M worth of business, +117% from the post-holiday doldrums a year ago. Let's rejoice and take it. No, it's not the biggest for the post 4-day holiday during post pandemic times — that belongs to 2023 when Sony's all-pleasing fanboy animated movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse led all titles to a $205M+ marketplace. However, out of 22 weekends in 2025, only ten of 'em have grossed north of $100M-plus. Let's be pleased. I'm sure those novelty popcorn buckets at the circuits are still flying off counters. Disney's Lilo & Stitch is still on track for a $60M-$64M second weekend, Paramount's Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning is showing that Imax makes a difference in weekend 2 with a -58% hold and $26.7M, and Sony's …the studio is forecasting $21M-$23M opening off a $7.5M Friday. Rivals see it lower in the high teens, however, as we said yesterday, it boils down to Saturday business and whether that tips more families into both Karate Kid, and Lilo & Stitch toward the higher end of its range. There is a bit of overlap between the two films demo wise, even though Lilo skews more female at 62% and Karate Kid: Legends more male at 59%. Their men under 25 demos are close (Legends is 22% to Lilo's 18%) and their women over 25 as well (Legends is 30% and Lilo 34%). Yes, of course, substantially more moms are taking kids to see Lilo. Net production cost on Karate Kid: Legends was $45M before P&A. It will be interesting to see how big overseas is. The franchise was born at a time in 1984 before studios relied on overseas. With Jackie Chan in the 2010 reboot, the foreign box office on that movie edged out domestic, $182.5M to $176.5M and that's without China, however, Japan made a great $17.4M. Men over 25 for Karate Kid were 37% and women under 25 the lowest turnout at 11%. Best grades for the crossover comes from women over 25 with 95%. Diversity demos were 36% Caucasian, 31% Hispanic and Latino, 16% Asian American and 12% Black. Great exits though for Karate Kid: Legends with an A- CinemaScore, the same grade as the 1986 sequel, Karate Kid II. The 2010 Chan version landed an A. Of course, the biggest reason on Screen Engine/Comscore's PostTrak why people bought tickets to Legends is because it's part of a franchise they love (46%). Also interesting to note that of all the moviegoers going to see Karate Kid: Legends, 68% of them said they have Netflix as their leading streaming service. That's where Sony's output deal is in the pay-one, and it's also where Cobra Kai lives. A24's Bring Her Back after a $3.1M Friday is looking at $7M-$8M in 5th place. For horror films, especially an A24 one, which typically divides audiences, the movie, wow, landed a B+ CinemaScore. Also, four stars and 80% positive and a 57% definite recommend. High praise. Hopefully that all works in the film's favor throughout this weekend and leg-wise. Thirty one percent of those who bought tickets said they went because it's a Philippou twins movie, and 48% said it's because it's a horror movie. Men over 25 mostly turned out at 42%, as well as women over 25 at 28%, with an even amount of men and women under 25 at 15% apiece. Diversity demos were 50% Caucasian, 23% Latino and Hispanic, 14% Black and 9% Asian American. Most influential forms of advertisement for Bring Her Back was social media at 21% per those polled by PostTrak which isn't surprising as it's an A24 movie, and that's where they focus most of their P&A spend. Those polled also said buzz from friends/family was influential (15%) as well as the in-theater trailer (14%). Social media universe across TikTok, Instagram, etc. was 50M per RelishMix, which is ahead of Hereditary (44M) before opening and just under NEON's Cuckoo (53M, $3M opening). Positive word of mouth that RelishMix spotted included fans of the Philippou's Talk to Me, as well as excitement over their trailer, some horror fans remarking that the movie looks like a throwback to 1989's Pet Sematary. RELATED: A24 financed the movie for around $20M I hear, with foreign rights sold going to Sony for around $13M, I understand. Also, as expected, Focus Features' Wes Anderson movie, The Phoenician Scheme, is heading toward the best theater average of 2025 year to date with $95K from six NYC and LA theaters. Not as high as the director's Asteroid City two years ago ($142,2K), but robust enough for the specialty sector post pandemic which is desperate for dollars. 3-day looks like $570K in 12th place. The Angelika in NY led all theaters with $78K yesterday where they had a premium $62 ticket that included an 'Immersive Experience' and popcorn. AMC Lincoln Square did $63K, LA's AMC Century City posted $38K, AMC The Grove a similar take, AMC Burbank $31.3K and Alamo Brooklyn was around $23K. Muy bien. RELATED: Saturday numbers: & Stitch (Dis) 4,410 theaters, Fri $17M (-70%) 3-day $60M-$64M (-56% to -59%), Total $277M-$281M/Wk 2 2. Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning (Par) 3,861 (+4) Fri $7.5M (-70%), 3-day $26.7M (-58%), Total $122M/Wk 2 3. Karate Kid: Legends (Sony) 3,809 theaters, Fri $7.5M, 3-day $21M-$23M/Wk 1 4. Final Destination: Bloodlines (NL) 3,134 (-389) Fri $3.1M (-43%), 3-day $11M (-43%), Total $111.9M/Wk 3 5. Bring Her Back (A24) 2,449 theaters, Fri $3.1M, 3-day $7M-$8M/Wk 1 6.) Sinners (WB) 2,138 (-494) theaters Fri $1.55M (-35%) 3-day $5.1M (-40%), Total $267M/Wk 7 7.) Thunderbolts (Dis) 2,520 (-660) theaters Fri $1.3M (-48%) 3-day $4.7M (-51%), Total $181.7M/Wk 5 8.) Friendship (A24) 1,293 (+238) theaters, Fri $780K (-56%), 3-day $2.5M (-44%), Total $12.3M/Wk 4 9.) Last Rodeo (Angel) 1995 (-210), Fri $640K (-69%), 3-day $2.25M (-59%), Total $10.8M/Wk 2 10.) The Accountant 2 (AMZ) 820 (-1182) theaters, Fri $214K (-56%) 3-day $778K (-62%), Total $65M/Wk 6 Notables: The Phoenician Scheme (Foc) 6 theaters, Fri $270K, 3-day $570K, PTA $95K, Wk 1 FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Disney's Lilo & Stitch is coming in right where we were seeing it — at $60M in weekend 2, -59%, at 4,410 locations. That hold is similar to that of the second weekend of Little Mermaid, which was also a Memorial Day theatrical release. Today looks like $17M for Lilo's second Friday, -70%. Running total for the Dean Fleischer Camp directed movie by Sunday is $277M. However, Sony's is looking lighter than forecasts with a $20M opening after a $7M-$8M Friday that includes previews in 3,809 theaters. That would put the Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan team-up in third place behind Paramount's second weekend of Mission: Impossible – Final Reckoning, with a $7.7M second Friday and $27.3M second weekend, -57% at 3,861. That's better than Dead Reckoning's second weekend decline of -65% sans Imax screens. Running total for the Christopher McQuarrie directed, Tom Cruise title by Sunday looks like $122.6M. The anticipation is that Saturday will work in both Lilo and Karate Kid: Legends' favor. Fourth is New Line's Final Destination: Bloodlines with $2.8M today at 3,134 and a third weekend of $10M, -48%, for a running total by Sunday of $110.9M. Fifth is A24's Bring Her Back with $3M today (including previews), and $6M-$7M for the weekend at 2,409 sites. Even if Karate Kid: Legends comes in less than expected, we are in far better shape than a year ago when the post Memorial Day weekend only did $66M per Box Office Mojo (there weren't any major studio releases and Garfield Movie led with a second weekend take of $14M). The top five movies this weekend (at the high end) are already grossing north of $124M. PREVIOUS FRIDAY AM: Sony's Karate Kid: Legends grossed $2.3M from previews that began at 2 p.m. Thursday. The PG-13 movie is a vortex of old school and new school: Ralph Macchio's Daniel-san, Jackie Chan's Mr. Han and, shhhhh, the Cobra Kai gang (I mean, is it really a secret?). Forecast for the movie is $25M-$30M in a marketplace where Disney's Lilo & Stitch is overpowering with a potential $60M second frame. also is hoping to hold with those Imax screens, around $32M or less. Critics like this Karate Kid a little less than the 2010 Chan one, 55% Rotten vs. 67% fresh. Karate Kid: Legends received 4 stars on PostTrak and a 68% definite recommend from definite audiences, 4 1/2 stars from parents and a 63 definite recommend, and kids under 12 with 4½ stars and a 79% must-see right away. Boys ages 10-12 at 64% made up the majority of the under-12 set; that demo is an essential portion of the Cobra Kai cult. Overall, men showed up at 60% last night. Karate Kid: Legends' Thursday night is just ahead of the $1.9M that Sony/Alcon's The Garfield Movie reboot made last May before a Friday of $8.4M and 3-day of $24M. Karate Kid: Legends was made for $45M net before P&A that's $5M more than the 2010 version cost (unadjusted for inflation). The Karate Kid franchise is 41 years old and counts $620M at the global box office from five previous movies; the bulk of that figure is from the Chan/Jaden Smith version 15 years ago, which made $359M worldwide. A24's Danny and Michael Philippou horror movie Bring Her Back made $850K in previews at 2,409 theaters that began at 4 p.m. Thursday. That figure is just under A24's fall sleeper Heretic, which made $1.2M in previews starting at 7 p.m. before turning into a $4.3M Friday and $10.8M opening. The Philippou twins' previous A24 movie, 2022's Talk to Me, opened to $10.4M. A good definite-recommend from the fanboy crowd last night for Bring Her Back at 58%, with women over 25 giving the movie its best positive score at 83%. The Thursday crowd was male-heavy at 57% to female's 43%. Women overall enjoyed it more than the guys, 83% to 77%. Go Sally Hawkins. The pre-weekend outlook is $5M-$7M. On Rotten Tomatoes, Bring Her Back has been stamped with 88% certified fresh. No audience score yet. Lilo & Stitch ends its first week with $217M at 4,410 theaters, after $9.2M yesterday, -9% from Wednesday. The pic's first week is 15% behind that the $255M for Inside Out 2, which ended its run at $652.9M, and it's 9% behind Moana 2's first seven days of $239.3M (final $460.4M). No, we're not saying the movie is doing badly, we're just trying to give you an idea of where Lilo & Stitch lives. While no one is forecasting this for Lilo & Stitch, sometimes these fan-fave Disney movies can go into overdrive, i.e. Inside Out 2 owns the best second weekend ever for a PG movie of $101.2M. And nobody saw that coming… Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning ends its first week with an estimated $95.3M at 3,857, which is 7% ahead of the first week of 2018's Mission: Impossible – Fallout ($220.1M final domestic) and 4.7% ahead of the first seven days of 2022's Dead Reckoning (final domestic B.O. was $172.6M). The rest of the top 5 for the week: 3. Final Destination Bloodlines (WB/NL) 3,523 theaters, Thu $1.85M (-13% from Wed), Week $30.7M (-56%), Total $100.9M/Wk 2It was the highest grossing of the franchise out of the gate. Nothing in its way. 4. Thunderbolts* (Dis) 3,180 theaters, Thu $765K (-10%), Wk $14.8M (-36%), Total $177M/Wk 4 5. Sinners (WB) 2,632 theaters, Thu $880k (-15%), Wk $14.06M (-37%), Total $261.8M/Wk 6 Best of Deadline Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds 'Poker Face' Season 2 Guest Stars: From Katie Holmes To Simon Hellberg 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More
Vogue
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Bring Her Back Is the Perfect Kick-Off to Horror-Movie Summer
A scene from Bring Her Back Photo: Ingvar Kenne And it has Sally Hawkins. I suppose after seeing unimpeachable talents like Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, and Florence Pugh topline horror movies, it should come as no surprise that Hawkins has done the same. But still there's something novel here: reimagining the brightly beaming star of the Paddington movies as a suburban psychopath is a world-class act of counterintuitive casting. Hawkins's Laura is a diminutive, hippy-dippy monster who takes the two siblings, Piper and Andy, in and promptly starts fucking with them. The younger sibling, Piper, who is mostly blind (she's played by the vision-impaired actress Sora Wong) and stridently independent (she refuses to use her mobility stick), is seduced by Laura's ministrations. Her brother, Andy (Billy Barratt, who is a tousle-haired revelation), is a different story. He's suspicious from the start, but also vulnerable and traumatized and not able to do more than keep a wary eye on Laura, a watchfulness that amplifies the movie's unease. There's also another boy in the house: Laura's young son, Ollie (Jonah Wren Phillips), who says not a word and stalks around, mostly shirtless, like an adolescent zombie. What is going on in Bring Her Back? I personally loved how coy and restrained the Philippous can be in their storytelling—mood is more important than careful explanations to these writer-directors—but the leaps in logic may annoy some people. Nevertheless, you viscerally understand that the occult rituals Laura furtively watches on hoarded videotapes are a prelude to something awful she herself is planning. And you figure out early that Ollie isn't actually Laura's son, or entirely human. His eyes aren't right, his belly is distending grotesquely, and he eats anything in sight, including, in one indelible scene, the blade of a kitchen knife.
Geek Vibes Nation
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Vibes Nation
'Bring Her Back' Review - A Deeply Unsettling Glimpse At Unchecked Grief
Danny and Michael Philippou, the Australian brother duo who captivated horror fans with their directorial debut Talk to Me, prove they aren't one-trick ponies with their latest release, Bring Her Back. Both films showcase a visual style and aesthetic that are a bit similar, but the latter is more of a psychological slow burn that pays off gradually with each scene of escalating horror. While some horror tropes are present and accounted for, the true horror of the film is human nature itself. What can happen to a person when they are so warped by grief that they lose all concept of right and wrong? This is a story of trauma gone awry, and with this story, the Philippou brothers have crafted something truly haunting and a piece of cinema that audiences won't be able to easily shake. The film focuses on Andy (Billy Barratt) and Piper (Sora Wong), a step brother-step sister duo who share a particularly strong bond, but with that bond comes its own share of issues. Andy is wounded by years of physical abuse inflicted by his father, and Piper is a victim of a childhood accident that has rendered her almost completely blind. During a harrowing opening scene, their father dies, which requires a social worker to step in to find them a new foster situation. Initially, the plan is to split them up, but Andy insists that they should stay together until he can legally apply to be her guardian in three months, when he turns 18. Although there is some hesitation due to a violent incident from Andy's past, they find someone delighted to take them both in when Laura (Sally Hawkins) enters the picture. Laura is more fond of Piper because she lost her daughter, Cathy, in a drowning accident, while she merely tolerates Andy's presence when they enter her home. Also living with Laura is her nephew Oliver (Jonah Wren Phillips), a mute boy who stares off into the distance and finds himself drawn to the property's drained pool. It's not long before it's obvious that something is wrong with Oliver, and something is also very wrong with Laura. Bring Her Back features deeply disturbing scenes, and they'll be enough to make even the most hardcore horror fiends squeamish. The Philippou brothers aren't afraid to let the camera linger on these moments as they know the audience will be fascinated and disgusted by their presence. One scene involves chomping on the blade of a butcher knife with obvious results, while a table and flesh also become a deeply unnerving snack. The best thing to be said about these scenes is that, despite their grotesque nature, they aren't gratuitous and are absolutely necessary to sell the depravity of the character in question. These moments serve the story, and that's something that many horror films can't say about their display of gore and violence. What is more frightening than any gore the audience sees is the film's depiction of grief and how it can be transformed into something very dark and unsettling. Bring Her Back is a downer of a film with very little levity (the early moments with Laura offer up some eccentric laughs), and this makes it a horror film that won't be for everyone. I left the theater drained by my experience watching it as if I had been punched in the gut, and I mean that as the highest compliment. It achieves its goal of sucking you into its world of despair and it doesn't let you go. I sat with the film for days, almost if I experienced my own loss, and that's the power of what these filmmaker brothers have created. The film is essentially a four-person show, and Sally Hawkins leads the charge with a wonderfully unhinged performance that has many layers. In the beginning, she is offbeat but likable, which is necessary as Laura's true intentions need to be hidden. Once her true nature begins to emerge, Hawkins is more than dedicated to presenting Laura's devilish manipulations. However, the true strength of her performance is that she's able to elicit sympathy from the audience, despite her evil ways. Laura has experienced a profound loss that has lingered with her, and anyone who has lost a loved one will feel her pain. One scene where she shares with Andy how she hasn't coped with losing her daughter proves to be one of her best due to its quiet but powerful resonance. The fact that she can hit all of these emotional levels without missing a beat is a testament to her talent. Providing more than capable support are Billy Barratt and Sora Wong, who form a bond that is the heart of the film, which leads to some heartbreaking scenes that shook me to my core. While Hawkins will get a bulk of the praise (and it's deserved), the film truly wouldn't work without the relationship developed between Barratt and Wong. Their affection for each other is genuine, and even though it's shrouded in pain, it's evident that they will do anything for each other, particularly Andy, as her big brother. A scene in which Andy confesses to a mistake he made as a child that hurt Piper is particularly strong because of the bond forged on screen before this pivotal moment. Lastly, Jonah Wren Philips has to go to some dark places as Oliver and has to do so mostly without saying a word. To say this performance is committed would be an understatement. It will be interesting to see if mainstream audiences respond to Bring Her Back in the same way they did to Talk To Me. Many horror elements in the film will please genre fans (it's drenched in atmosphere and its sound design aids in elevating some of the film's more horrific scenes), but at its heart, this is a deeply disturbing domestic drama about loss, trauma, and grief. To say it's a downer would be an understatement and there are moments that hit you so hard it's difficult to not be emersed in its sadness but it's because of its willingness to go to some dark and honest places that Bring Her Back works, making it one of the best horror films to come along in years. Bring Her Back is now playing in theaters nationwide courtesy of A24.
Forbes
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Bring Her Back' Directors Went To Extremes For The Nightmarish Horror
Bring Her Back's directors, Danny and Michael Philippou, are keeping it real, or at least as real as possible. The supernatural horror film, their sophomore effort after bursting onto the big screen with Talk to Me in 2022, took them and their cast down a series of rabbit holes, many of which they didn't see coming. From movie nights and practical effects to two-time Oscar nominee Sally Hawkins buying trinkets from thrift stores to decorate the set, Bring Her Back is as terrifyingly authentic as it can be. "Sally wanted to disappear into this character and be her as much as possible," Michael explains. 'Every character has moments in their life, and in rehearsals, we'd like to play those moments out, even though they're never going to be seen. We were like, 'Let's act them out so there's some history.' Sally's like that, even with the house. To her, this is Laura's house. She said, 'Let me make it familiar to myself, dress it and be in it.' She wanted to familiarize herself with every corner of the set, so she would buy things and bring them in. It helped give it a lived-in experience, rather than feeling like a set, but more like her home. She was in the rabbit hole, which I loved. She is deep in every single aspect, which is incredible because we were in there too." Bring Her Back is about Andy, played by Billy Barratt, and visually impaired Piper, played by Sora Wong, a brother and sister whom Laura, played by Hawkins, fosters after their father dies. However, it's not long before they realize their new guardian and her home are hiding a darkness they could never imagine born out of tragedy and a terrifying ritual. A24's Bring Her Back is R-rated and in theaters now. "There's a scene in the movie that is the aftermath of an argument," Danny explains. "These two people are looking at each other with this rage. As a director, you can sit the characters down and go, 'Okay, you guys are angry at each other… and action,' or you can go, 'Alright, have a fight, scream until your voice is gone, and then sit down and the camera's already rolling.' That way, you've actually captured something that is much more real than just saying 'action' at a certain point. Sally would take that all the way back. She'd start at the beginning of waking up that day if she could. She didn't do that, but she would do that. The best thing about Sally is that we would continue rolling after the scene was done. I'm not calling cut. She would stay in it and be in there, and it's the best thing." Sometimes, the Philippou brothers didn't even know that Hawkins, whose work includes The Shape of Water, Paddington 2, Happy-Go-Lucky, and Wonka, was continuing to delve deeper into her character when they weren't around. "We went and did a thing with her in London recently," Michael recalls. "We had lunch, and we went for five hours. She's such an incredible person. When you're working with Sally, you want to hang out. We get along so well. Anyway, she had all these script notes. It was this big, fat Bible of the film's story where she had all these annotations. I was like, 'Can I take this home?' and she said, 'You want that?' I was like, 'I would cherish this always,' so I've got that at home. It's all of our script notes for Laura, and it's wicked, all of her scribbles and everything. It's so cool." Sally Hawkins in 'Bring Her Back.' A24/Ingvar Kenne Keen collaborators, the Australian filmmakers also have some set ideas and principles that they won't shift on. One of them is using practical effects as much as possible. Whether it's makeup and prosthetics or realistic sound design, it has to create a visceral reaction – even if audiences have to look away. "We love practical effects because they always seem to stand the test of time," Danny, who also co-wrote Bring Her Back, muses. "When actors are interacting with something tangible and present, even for a character that has got prosthetics on, it changes them and the way they move and act. It brings a level of realism that visual effects (VFX) can't achieve. However, VFX are so good at tying that stuff together and helping to smooth out all the rough edges. It's always a beautiful dance between the two of them, where it's 90 percent practical, you got five to ten percent VFX helping blend those elements." Instead of having one FX team on the movie, the Philippous brought in two companies so they could compete and complement each other in a creative and bloody ballet to raise the bar and achieve the best results possible. "It's always the funniest part of the most exciting thing when it's like, 'How can we execute this practically?' There were things in the script where I was like, 'I don't know how this is going to be possible. How do we do this practically?' We had two epic special effects teams on the ground the whole time, each specializing in different aspects. They were incredible and helped bring everything to life," Danny explains. "Bring Her Back's sound design is amazing, too, and she's so incredible. Emma Bortignon was our sound designer, and we love her to death. She's so down and game for anything. We were asking her, 'What is the sound of this?' and she also knew when a sound wasn't right. I wanted a sound for Oliver, the mysterious other child in the knife scene. She was sending me things, but they didn't sound right." He continues, "I cringe when I think about metal on teeth, but I was like, 'Let's just record the metal on teeth.' Get me a knife.' So, we had a knife, she had the microphone, and I just put it in there, started to turn and move it around. I wanted it to be so that audiences can look away and still feel it; they don't have to look at it. It's just as painful and effective." When it comes to influences, the filmmakers drew on several inspirations across multiple genres, from Bong Joon Ho's Memories of Murder to What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? and even the 1997 slapstick comedy Mouse Hunt. "There were a couple of weekends that were intense periods focusing on the extreme side of Sally's character, so as not to live there, I said to her, 'Do you want to come over?'" Danny laughs. "I love Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and it did inspire this film. We'd watch it, and Sally would like to do the voices of the characters and act it out, and she's so funny. It's one of my favorite experiences from the whole film." "There were certain movie nights that were just watching films that feel like they were in the same genre, and not even exact inspiration points. Those conversations with Sally were never fully about films. It was always about lived experiences." Michael adds, "I don't know quite how this Mouse Hunt influence became a thing, but one day Danny was talking about the inspirations. I think it was in an interview, and they said, 'What about you, Michael?' Danny had said all the main ones, and I was like, 'Mouse Hunt.' It's an amazing movie. It has amazing practical effects, and it's also about manipulation. There's a scene where they are trying to manipulate the mouse so they can kill it., It's a nostalgic movie, and it's also really great." Both of the brothers would work with Hawkins again in a heartbeat. They still can't quite believe she said yes to Bring Her Back. With their shared love of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? would they reunite for a remake? "The idea of working with powerful character actors and the idea of Sally Hawkins taking on that role and then trying to find someone to match her against is insane," Danny says. 'I love Bette Davis and her career, so the idea of working with actors like that and putting them in a room together is so exciting to me. My fear with a remake is that I won't be able to live up to the original. I know that I will falter, it'll be worse, and I'll let everyone down. That is one of my biggest fears. I'd hate for people to be like, 'Hey, it's the guy that fucking ruined that movie.' There were so many franchises that we got offered after Talk to Me, and I was like, 'Trust me, I feel like I'm going to screw this franchise up if you let me do it.'" Michael concludes, "The thing is that these classic movies came out of someone's vision and an authentic way of expressing themselves. Bring Her Back is our vision. To go, 'Alright, we're going do our version of it,' feels like it's a disservice to the original. Some people pull it off, but I would like to take that idea and have a different take on it. Maybe it's not those exact characters, so it's not a direct remake, but something like that could be cool. Who knows."
New York Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Bring Her Back' Review: A Foster Mother Like No Other
We ask a lot from our horror movies, which is perhaps the main reason they can be so divisive, and so difficult to get right. We want them to shock, but not traumatize; to disgust, but not sicken; to creep us out, but not bequeath a month's worth of nightmares. On top of all that, can we please have some jokes? Instead of stressing over these pressures, some genre filmmakers, a number of them women, are determinedly carving their own idiosyncratic paths. Among these are the Australian brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, who have followed their wonderfully disquieting debut feature, 'Talk to Me' (2023), with another three-word imperative, 'Bring Her Back.' The two movies have more in common than their titular grammar: Both draw sustenance and momentum from familial grief, and both exhibit an extraordinary sensitivity toward their emotionally flayed central characters. When we meet Andy (Billy Barratt) and his younger stepsister, Piper (Sora Wong), Andy's father has just died and the siblings must be fostered for three months until Andy can assume guardianship of Piper, who is legally blind. At first, their temporary foster mother, Laura (a delicious Sally Hawkins), seems welcoming, if a little dippy, her somewhat rundown property boasting a taxidermied pup, a mysterious chalk circle and a strange little boy who is mute and near-feral. His name is Ollie (Jonah Wren Phillips, incredible) and I could write several paragraphs just on what he puts in his mouth. Suffice to say that, during one horrifying episode, I didn't exhale until it was over. Even so, the movie's forceful visual shocks (executed mostly with practical effects) are easier to bear than its restlessly mounting anguish. Though more logically muddled than its predecessor, 'Bring Her Back' operates from a core of tragedy whose weight offsets the nebulousness of the plot. Why is Laura, who recently lost her own daughter, so determined to drive a wedge between Piper and her fondly protective stepbrother? Why is she mesmerized by grainy camcorder footage of what appears to be a bloody satanic ritual? Why must Ollie be kept locked in his room and apparently starved? Answers will arrive, after a fashion, but they don't matter as much as they should in a movie with such sublime lead performances. Hawkins knows exactly how to play Laura's cheery psychopathy and cunning cruelties, and Wong, in her first film role, gives Piper a spirited independence. But it's Barratt, with his angelic features and soulful authenticity, who makes Andy the film's gently gaping wound. Barratt was barely a teenager when he appeared in the smashing Apple TV+ show 'Invasion' (2021-25), but his talent was undeniable, and the Philippous, working once again with the brilliant cinematographer Aaron McLisky, understand perfectly how to film him for maximum hurt. Supernatural fidgeting aside, 'Bring Her Back' doubles down on its predecessor's willingness to punish the innocent. I'm beginning to think that the Philippous don't just want to shatter our nerves: They want to break our hearts.
