The Week in Film: February 8-14, 2019

Hello and welcome to "The Week In Film," where I give you a recap on everything that happened in the world of film in the past week. I'm gonna give you some box office stats as well as some news and general updates for the week of February 8-14, 2019.

Let's get it started!

New Releases!

This week, eight new films received a wide release. Four were released on Friday, two on Wednesday, and two on Thursday.

First, we have The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, an animated adventure comedy starring Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks, which is a sequel to the 2014 film, The Lego Movie. The film has received positive reviews from critics and audiences, including myself.

Next, we have What Men Want, a gender-swapped loose remake of the 2000 comedy, What Women Want. This comedy film starring Taraji P. Henson and Tracy Morgan has received mixed reviews from critics and audiences.

Another film released this Friday is Cold Pursuit, a black comedy action film starring Liam Neeson as a snowplow driver turned vigilante. The movie is a remake of the Norwegian film, In Order of Disappearance, and has received positive reviews from critics and audiences.

Not sure why, though. I kind of hated it.

The final Friday release of the week is The Prodigy, a horror film about a child who begins to behave strangely, and his parents begin to suspect that he has been possessed by a supernatural force. It has received mixed reviews from critics and audiences.

Now for our Wednesday releases. First, we have Happy Death Day 2U, a science fiction horror slasher film which is a sequel to the 2017 film, Happy Death Day. The film stars Jessica Rothe and has received positive reviews from critics and audiences.

And we also have Isn't It Romantic, a romantic comedy making fun of romantic comedies. The film stars Rebel Wilson as a woman who finds herself trapped in the world of a rom-com and must find her way out. It has received mixed to positive reviews from critics and audiences.

Finally, for our Thursday releases, we have Alita: Battle Angel, a science fiction cyberpunk action film based on the manga series, Gunnm. The film is co-written and co-produced by James Cameron and has received mixed reviews from critics, but more positive reviews from audiences.

And the final release of the week is Fighting With My Family, a biographical comedy-drama based on the 2012 documentary, The Wrestlers: Fighting with My Family. It was written and directed by Stephen Merchant, and has received positive reviews from critics.

Box Office Stats!

Here are your box office numbers of the week:

1. The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part — $41,475,359
2. What Men Want — $25,230,328
3. Cold Pursuit — $15,122,332
4. The Upside — $10,026,665
5. Alita: Battle Angel — $8,716,232

You know, normally, I'd go through each film and write a paragraph on the earnings of each film along with its overall reception, but this article is long enough on its own and I've summed it up pretty well.

Other News!

It was recently announced by the Academy that at this year's Academy Awards, they would be presenting the awards for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Live-Action Short, and Best Makeup/Hairstyling during commercial breaks instead of televising them.

However, it was recently announced that they are going back on this decision and will present all the awards in full. And with the proposed "Popular Film" category and the Kevin Hart controversy, I fully expect some self-aware jokes about all this.

It has been announced that there will be a new movie that is a sequel to the popular television series, Breaking Bad. The film will have first-run rights on Netflix and will then air on AMC.

A new one-minute trailer has dropped for Disney's upcoming live-action remake of their 1992 film, Aladdin. Some are excited for this movie, praising the cinematography of many of the shots in this trailer.

However, many have been skeptical over the film's quality, citing Jafar's non-threatening voice and a CGI Will Smith Genie that many are not very happy with.

Personally, I think it might be too early to judge this film yet. For all we know, Jafar could still be a very threatening presence in the film and Will Smith could be comedy genius as the Genie.

And at this point, Disney is at an impasse. Everyone was all mad earlier because they didn't think Will Smith's Genie would be blue. And now we get a blue Genie and everyone's mad because it doesn't look good enough? Jesus Christ...

However, this is not the only trailer we received this week. The teaser trailer for Frozen 2 arrived out of nowhere on Wednesday, and people love it.

I watched it myself and since I really like Frozen, I can't wait to see where they go with this movie. Just please make it better than Ralph Breaks the Internet. PLEASE.

Another new trailer released this week is for the upcoming horror film, Child's Play. This is gonna be a reboot/remake of the 1988 horror classic of the same name, which follows an evil doll who starts killing people or something.

Yeah, I haven't seen the original and I'm too scared to actually look it up because it's gonna scare the shit out of me. But we all know this movie won't receive reviews as good as the original.

But I think that sums up the week in film pretty well. Thank you so much for reading.