THE WEEKEND WARRIOR June 13, 2025
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, MATERIALISTS, THE LIFE OF CHUCK, THE UNHOLY TRINITY, TATAMI
The last few weeks have been kind of bleh, only because we’ve had two highly-touted franchise movies, which were either reboots, spin-offs, or a little bit of both, that delivered way under expectations, even when I lowered my own projections. This weekend, we’re getting another live-action remake of a beloved animated movie from the past twenty years, and it would seem to have a lot going for it, if only because it has a title and a premise that we already know works as animation.
Before we get to that, I want to mention that I’ve been spending much of the last week at the Tribeca Film Festival, and I’ll be writing about what I’ve seen separately, but I wanted to mention some of the stronger offerings like the Billy Joel doc, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, and Alison Ellwood’s Boy George & Culture Club doc, which I hope to write about for Cinema Daily US. As far as narrative films, Stephanie Laing’s Tow, reteaming her with her “Physical” star Rose Byrne, is a terrific look at one woman’s attempt to fight back at the corporations after her car is stolen and ends up in a tow yard that won’t give it back without payment. It’s a true story about homelessness and addiction, but it’s not the grim drama some might expect and knowing that it’s from the creatives of the great show “Physical” hopefully will get more people to check it out. Other films I hope to write about include Takashi Miike’s Sham, and a couple others, but I already reviewed the doc Long Live the State over at Cinema Daily US, and as a diehard fan of the MTV comedy group and everything they’ve done since then (Wet Hot American Summer!) has kept me a fan for over thirty years. Also loved seeing my pal Josh Johnson’s doc, The Degenerate: The Life and Films of Eddie Milligan, a movie about an exploitation filmmaker who I never heard of, but was fascinated to learn more about him… and I won myself a box set of his films at the premiere, so win-win! Again, hope to be writing more about Tribeca very soon and (as always) time-permitting.
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON (Universal)
We’ve certainly reached a point where some studios must be thinking that if Disney can remake every single one of its animated movies as “live-action” and have huge success at the box office, “Why can’t we?” That’s probably part of the logic behind filmmaker Dean DeBlois, whose adaptation of the children’s book How to Train Your Dragon into a successful animated franchise for DreamWorks Animation, decided to return to the same well to remake his own movie, this time with mostly live action… except for the dragons. They’re still animated. The only thing that makes this amusing after the recent release of Disney’s Lilo & Stitch, which is at $335 million and counting just domestically, is that if you go back and look you’ll see that the original 2010 movie was co-directed by…original Lilo & Stitch director Chris Sanders.
He’s less involved with this one (unless the dragon Toothless is gonna start talking in Sander’s voice), but it makes sense on the part of Universal, the current purveyor of all things DreamWorks Animation, because the original animation movie opened with $43 million, made nearly $500 million worldwide, and led to a franchise that has racked up $1.6 billion over three movies. That’s not to mention all the spin-off series and streaming movies over the past 15 years. Obviously, this has been a hugely profitable property for DreamWorks.
The main returning actor who plays the same role he voiced is Gerard Butler, playing the father of Mason Thames’ Hiccup, a young Viking who rebels against his people’s war with the dragons to take on a pet, named Toothless. Sadly, Jay Baruchel has just aged out of playing the character in the live action adaptation, and that’s mostly the case, so we’re getting a new cast including Nico Parker (the talented daughter of Thandiwe Newton), Nick Frost from Shaun of the Dead (reuniting with Peter Serafinowicz from that movie and the series “Spaced” no less!), as well as Julian Dennison (Hunt for the Wilderpeople), and others, though this isn’t nearly as starpacked as DWA’s normal animated movies, maybe since the premise and visuals will sell themselves.
Universal has been confident enough in the movie to screen it at CinemaCon all the way back in April, two months early, and by the time you read this, reviews have been released. So far, they’re pretty solid, all things considered. (You can read my review below.)
How to Train Your Dragon has a lot going for it, one thing being the number of kids that will want to see it after having seen the original movies and series either on Peacock or Netflix, but streaming has done a lot to generate interest similar to how being on Disney+ helped the Lilo and Stitch remake do far better than the original animated movie. The other thing is that this is not necessarily just for kids, as there will be older viewers who will remember the three animated movies fondly, and Gerard Butler has a solid older male fanbase. Oh, and I probably haven’t mentioned it yet, but Sunday is Father’s Day, and this seems very much like a movie that will do well with families on Sunday.
Because of these things, I don’t see any way in which How to Train Your Dragon doesn’t open with at least $75 million, and honestly, I could even see it making $80 million or more, as it will be the dominant release of the weekend.
Mini-Review: There’s a well-known saying that if something ain’t broke, you shouldn’t try to fix it, something that has been going through my mind ever since it was announced that filmmaker Dean DeBlois would be adapting his own animated movie into a live-action movie. The reasoning is obvious since Disney has had so much success doing just that (mostly), the most recent instance being the mega-blockbuster Lilo and Stitch, adapted from an animated movie by Chris Sanders, who actually co-directed the original How to Train Your Dragon with DeBlois.
Directing a live-action movie requires a very different set of muscles than doing animation, even if this story and the characters and most of the writing here are mostly the same. Essentially, it takes place on the island of Berk, inhabited by Vikings, who are constantly at war with flame-throwing dragons, but the leader of the Vikings (played by Gerard Butler, one of the only cast returning from animated movies) has to deal with his son Hiccup (Mason Thames), who has little to no potential of being a true Viking. But Hiccup is quite clever, inventing a device that blasts nets into the air, and while trying it out, he captures the deadliest and most elusive of dragons, the Night Fury. Hiccup then learns that the dragon is injured and in helping the dragon he names “Toothless,” the two become friends, which helps Hiccup in the Viking training arena.
Let’s just get it out of the way that I’ve never been one to complain about movies being remade or franchises being rebooted in different ways, but this might be one of those cases where I was slightly more skeptical than usual. I liked the original animated movie just fine, but there are other DreamWorks Animation movies that I feel might be better off this treatment, as if this treatment was even necessary.
DeBlois only brought back Gerard Butler from the original cast, and surprisingly, he works just as well. Another great choice is casting Nick Frost as Gobber, the Viking lacking an arm and a leg who is assigned to train the village of Berk’s young Vikings. Those younger actors might be the biggest problem with this movie. It took me some time to adjust to Mason Thames and his performance as Hiccup, since he just wasn’t bringing much to the character, even when paired with Nico Parker, who gives a stronger performance as Astrid. Otherwise, I didn’t think much of the cast playing the younger Viking trainees, even Julian Dennison as Fishlegs. For whatever reason, these characters did not click with me in the same way as they did despite essentially using some of the same jokes.
On the other hand, the movie is impressive due to everything done by DeBlois’ below-the-line crafts team, because across the board, from costumes to hair and make-up to the production design to Bill Pope’s cinematography are brilliantly used to create a real life version of Berk. Obviously, there’s a lot of VFX involved in many aspects of that, including the dragons, who are essentially the same designs as the animation. John Powell’s score is presumably not just the same score he composed for the original animated movies, but it’s just as effective, especially during some of the more emotional moments of the last act.
Either way, it’s a movie that definitely grew on me and won me over as it went along, mainly because everyone seems to be giving it their all to make it work even despite this essentially being the same movie.
How to Train Your Dragon looks fantastic and offers some of the same emotions as the original animated film, but it also feels so redundant and unnecessary that it’s hard to get fully behind it.
Rating: 7/10
MATERIALISTS (A24)
Past Lives writer/director Celine Song is back, and though her Sundance favorite was ripped off, only getting two Oscar nominations – but at least one of them got the great producer Christine Vachon her very first Oscar nomination – she returns with another movie about a love triangle, although this one is more of a traditional rom-com with three of Hollywood’s top talent. While Dakota Johnson, who literally defined the nepo baby generation, has done quite a few of these types of movies, as well as starring in the 50 Shades of Grey movies, this is more in the vein of some of her Sundance movies. In the movie, she plays Lucy, a New York City matchmaker, who is caught between two men, played by Pedro Pascal (as the rich good-looking Harry) and Chris Evans (as her struggling actor ex-boyfriend).
Obviously, that threesome of actors is going to go a long way to getting people into theaters, although even more than Past Lives, this one is likely going to be targeting the women who still love Johnson (despite Madame Web) and the other two actors. Even though Johnson has been appearing in two or three movies a year over the past few years, and she has done more than her fair share of rom-comes (which this really isn’t). Her 2016 studio rom-com How to Be Single with Rebel Wilson was a good litmus test with that opening with $17.9 million amidst all of her 50 Shades of Grey movies, all of which grossed over $100 million domestically.
Pedro Pascal has basically been everywhere from last year’s Gladiator II to the HBO series, “The Last of Us,” plus he’s playing Reed Richards in the upcoming The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which should clinch his place as a bonafide A-lister. Other than Gladiator II, though, he’s only had two movies gross more than $100 million domestic and both of those included bigger stars (same as Gladiator II). That really makes Materialists a great test for Pascal, more than his two co-stars.
Other than Red One last year and Knives Out back before the pandemic, Evans has done much in terms of theatrical releases, but those movies successes could definitely be partially attributed to the former Captain America.
Reviews for the movie hit on Monday morning, and while I was generally mixed (my review is linked below), they were almost unanimously positive, which definitely can help generate interest among older viewers, although this is going to be targeting women over men or even couples, so yeah, not exactly the best movie to release for Father’s Day weekend.
A24 is opening this in over 2,800 theaters with a strong marketing campaign, but the star power alone for Materialists should help it bring in upwards of $9 to $10 million or even more, although it probably will fall just outside the top 3 this weekend. We’ll have to see how audiences accept what is not the rom-com that some might be expecting.
THE LIFE OF CHUCK (Neon)
The next wide-ish release is the new movie from Mike Flanagan, his third Stephen King adaptation, and the second to get a wide theatrical release after 2019’s Doctor Sleep, the sequel to King’s The Shining (famously adapted by the legendary Stanley Kubrick). This one is based on a short story of the same name from King’s 2020 collection, “If It Bleeds,” and it’s taking a big chance by getting a wide release, even though it has been playing for a while ahead of that.
The Life of Chuck is a very different movie, as it’s not based on one of King’s horror stories, and is more in the vein of the likes of Stand By Me, The Green Mile, and The Shawshank Redemption, although not quite as grounded in the real world, so much. As the title would suggest, it follows the life of one man, in this case that of accountant Charles “Chuck” Krantz, played by Tom Hiddleston, but only in one of the film’s segments, which is essentially an extended dance sequence. Unless you’ve seen the trailer, you might not know what I’m talking about, but much of the film is a flashback showing the younger Chuck, mostly played by Benjamin Pajak and for a short while, Jacob Tremblay, and in an even younger state by Cody Flanagan, and going by that last name, the latter is quite literally a nepo BABY! (Actually, he’s probably five or six.)
This is a strange movie but it’s also one that’s quite crowdpleasing, considering that it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) last September, and it won the coveted Grolsch People’s Choice Award, a prize that has very frequently led to movies receiving Oscar Best Picture nominations. In fact, it beat the highly-hyped Cannes movies Emilia Perez and the Best Picture winner Anora, which is saying something. Wisely, distributor Neon, who released a very different King adaptation with The Monkey earlier this year, had the movie play a few weeks back as part of various theater chain’s Mystery Movie Mondays to help drum up word of mouth, and from what I read, the reactions were generally decent even though the movie is very unconventional, even for King.
Reviews have been decent, with The Life of Chuck currently 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, and last weekend, Neon released Flanagan’s movie into 16 theaters in select cities, where it brought in $224,585, averaging a decent 14k per theater. That’s a pretty decent start for an expansion, which will probably be into under 1,000 theaters, so expect it to end up in the $5 to $6 million range this weekend, not enough to get into the top five but enough to increase the movie’s word-of-mouth against many stronger but very different movies.
THE UNHOLY TRINITY (Saban Films/Roadside Attractions)
The underdog of the weekend has to be this Western directed by Austrlian filmmaker Richard Gray (Robert the Bruce) which premiered at the (checks notes) Zurich Film Festival in October of last year. Set in a Montana town in the 1870s, it focuses on a young man who returns to the town to reclaim his legacy and gets caught between the sheriff and a stranger, there to cause trouble in the sheriff’s attempt to create order. The movie stars Pierce Bronsnan as the sheriff and Samuel L. Jackson as the troublemaker, St. Christopher, and Brandon Lessard as Henry Broadway, the young man.
Obviously, this is a movie that’s going to be playing on the popularity of its two main actors but without the budget to really get the word out that the movie even exists, essentially making this the week’s Dangerous Animals or any number of other movies that received wide releases without much fanfare.
Honestly, I’m not even sure I’d even know this movie existed if I didn’t do this for a living, and that’s a little troubling for a movie that’s trying to take on the many summer movie releases that have far more awareness and anticipation. Because of that, I would be shocked if this makes more than a million this weekend, and it’s likely to end up outside of the top 10 and quickly be gone from however many theaters it’s able to get into this weekend.
I was hoping to review this, but my Tribeca obligations haven’t given me much time to watch other movies.
THE BOX OFFICE CHART June 13, 2025
1. How to Train Your Dragon (Universal) - $82.5 million N/A
2. Lilo & Stitch (Disney) - $17 million -48%
3. From the World of John Wick: Ballerina (Lionsgate) - $11.5 million -53%
4. Materialists (A24) - $10.3 million N/A
5. Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (Paramount) - $8.1 million -45%
6. The Life of Chuck (Neon) - $5.8 million
7. Karate Kid: Legends (Sony) - $4.5 million -47%
8. Final Destination Bloodlines (New Line/WB) - $3.6 million -44%
9. The Phoenician Scheme (Focus Features) - $3.5 million -45%
10. Bring Her Back (A24) - $1.9 -46%
TATAMI (XYZ Films)
Skin and Golda director Guy Nattiv teams with actress Zar Amir (Shayda, Holy Spider), co-directing as her directorial debut, for this movie that follows a Persian judo champion named Leila, played by Arienne Mandi, who is taking part in the World Judo Championships. As she moves up the ranks, her coach (played by Amir) is receiving calls from the Iran Judo Commission telling Arienne to drop out for reasons that aren’t given, so this is a very different type of sports film, which will open at the IFC Center in New York on Friday, and then it will play in L.A. at the Laemmle Royal starting June 20. I’ll have an interview with the directors over at Cinema Daily US sometime very soon.
SEX (Strand Releasing)
I was hoping to get to a press screening of this, the second part in Norwegian novelist/filmmaker Dag Johan Haugerud’s “Oslo Trilogy,” which is playing at the Film Forum starting on Friday, but I had to make a choice and went with something else. Granted, I never saw the first part of the trilogy, Love, which played at the Film Forum in May. Apparently, these are three distinct related films that can be watched in any order, this one involving two male-identified colleagues (can’t we just call them “men”?) who are happily married but who are dealing with their own sexuality and gender fluidity, one after having a sexual encounter with another man and the other having a recurring dream about David Bowie. It sounds weird but great timing for Pride Month, and hopefully I can someday check out Haugerud’s other movies, as well as this one, but again, just too busy with Tribeca and other things these days.
SIMPLE MINDS: EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE (Greenwich Entertainment)
A movie that kind of snuck up on me i.e.I heard nothing from a single publicist about this, and only know about it from looking at the IFC Center website is this doc from director Joss Crowley of the Shania Twain doc, Not Just a Girl. It is indeed a look at the Scottish rock band who had a massive bump in their career when John Hughes put their song “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” in his movie The Breakfast Club. Many people might consider Simple Minds to be a one hit wonder, but that is not so, as they’ve made many great albums before and since, and continue to tour to this day. In fact, I’ll be going out to see them at Jones Beach on Friday, and on Thursday night, singer Jim Kerr will be on hand at the IFC Center for a QnA, so of course I’ll be there as well. (If you didn’t know, I am a big ‘80s guy!)
TITAN: THE OCEANGATE DISASTER (Netflix)
Now on Netflix following a premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival is this new doc from documentary filmmaker Mark Monroe, who I’m a massive fan of from his work writing and producing other docs. In fact, he’s worked on so many docs that you might not realize, as part of what he does is help doc filmmakers put together the narrative, having been credited for “writing” upwards of 73 docs, including a few that have been nominated and won Oscars. He also regularly works with Ron Howard and Frank Marshall on their documentaries, and you may be surprised how many great docs have his name on it. I haven’t seen this one yet, which is pretty self-evident from its title what it’s about, but if Monroe directed it, I’m sure it’s great. Oh, this is about the Titan submersible that exploded underwater, killing everybody, in case you didn’t figure it out.
Other movies out this week…
PRIME MINISTER (Magnolia Pictures)
DIABLO (Lionsgate)
HOUSE OF ABRAHAM (Abramorama)
ESCAPE FROM THE 21st CENTURY (Cineverse)
REPERTORY
Sunday is Father’s Day and the Metrograph will be screening Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere (2010) on Sunday morning, but Dads can also bring their kids to see Jacques Tati’s Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday (1953), a great nearly wordless bit of pantomime from the French master, and frankly, I’d recommend that one, although it’ll be interesting to see Elle Fanning in one of her earlier “grownup” roles.
The fantastic series “Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us” about the legendary Japanese filmmaker continues through the weekend with screenings of Floating Clouds (Thursday afternoon), When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, Repast, Sudden Rain, and more.
“The Show Must Go On” will screen one of my all-time favorite movies, Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! Through the weekend, as well as the classic Prince film, Purple Rain. I’ve seen Moulin Rouge! many times including recently at the Paris, and not sure I’ll be able to get to Purple Rain.
In fact, this weekend, I’ll mainly be at the “Mumblecore, What Are We Even Saying?” series, watching the 20th Anniversary of Andrew Bujalski’s Mutual Appreciation on Saturday with a QnA with Bujalski, and also screening this weekend is Bujalski’s Funny Ha Ha another Mumblecore staple. On Sunday, Bujalski’s 2015 film Results will screen for its 10th anniversary with Bujalski and actor Kevin Corrigan doing a QnA afterwards.
Screening this weekend as part of “Volver A Carmen” is Pedro Almodovar’s Law of Desire from 1987 and What Have I Done to Deserve This? From 1987, celebrating the filmmaker’s relationship with actress Carmen Maura.
Screening this weekend as part of “Guided by Animals” is Miyazake’s Princess Mononoke (presumably subtitled?) and the fantastic animated film, The Red Turtle, from 2016. Only the latter is playing on Sunday, and that’s another great Father’s Day offering to bring the kids to.
“Scenes from the ‘End of History’” is coming to end on Thursday with screenings of Lee Chang-dong’s Peppermint Candy (1999) and Wong Kar-wai’s Happy Together (1997).
Starting this weekend is “John Cazale: A 90th Anniversary Tribute” which will include screenings of Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter, and of course, The Godfather and The Godfather Part II, and Coppola’s The Conversation. There will also be free screenings of Richard Shepard’s 2009 doc I Knew It Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale, which oddly, I’ve never seen.
Masayuki Suo’s Shall We Dance? Will be continuing on through the weekend, as will Fellini’s 8 ½ in 35mm. This weekend’s “Film Forum Jr” is Elia Kazan’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn from 1945.
This weekend, the Quad starts a Pride on Film series, which includes films like Cabaret, Cruising, Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971), the latter introduced by non-binary actor Elsie Fisher, who was negative 32 years old when that movie came out, so odd choice? There are seven movies in that series including Gus Van Zant’s excellent My Own Private Idaho, running over the next week.
Richard Linklater’s Before Sunset and Before Sunrise continue playing through the weekend, joined on Friday by Before Midnight, while Kurosawa’s Ran and Todd Solonz’s Happiness also continue through the weekend. This weekend’s midnight movies on Friday and Saturday include Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange, The Descent, Harmony Korine’s Gummo, and Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
The Wachoswki’s The Matrix Reloaded (2002) is playing a few times this weekend on Thursday and Friday nights in 35mm, while Sandra Seacat’s 1990 film In the Spirit will also play in 35mm on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with QnA on Sunday – no idea with whom. Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon plays in 35mm on Sunday and Monday
I may have missed this last week, but continuing this weekend through June 19 is “Monica Vitti: La Modernista,” celebrating the legendary Italian actress who starred in many Antonioni films like L’Avventura (which I feel is slightly overrated), La notte, L’ecclipse, and Red Desert, all playing as part of the series along with other films.
Besides the continuing “See It Big: Stunts!” series, which this weekend shows the Western Stagecoach on Friday afternoon and then a David Leitch double feature of Atomic Blonde and The Fall Guy on Saturday, which is pretty cool. The Fall Guy will screen again on Sunday evening. Even cooler is that MoMI Is screening the Mike Nichols-directed comedy classic The Birdcage (1996) on Saturday and Sunday with special guests. Oh, and the special guest on Sunday is none other than Nathan Lane, which unfortunately is already sold out.
“Hitch: The Original Cinema Influencer” will continue next week, but this weekend, we’re wrapping up “Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair,” which isn’t just playing at the Paris but has been playing at other theaters. On Thursday afternoon, you can see Atom Egoyan’s excellent The Sweet Hereafter from 1997, and I’ll be up there on Friday to see Denis Villeneuve’s Oscar-nominated 2010 foreign language film Incendies, which was my #1 movie the year it came out. Also playing Thursday night is Peeping Tom, which straddles Bleak Week with the HItchcock series, although that one was directed by Michael Powell.
NITEHAWK CINEMA PROSPECT PARK & WILLIAMSBURG
Continuing the “Fix Your Hearts or Die: A Trans Cinema Celebration” this week with Prospect Park showing Frank Simon’s The Queen (1968) on Thursday night, and then Gil Baroni’s Alice Júnior (2019) screening on Saturday and Sunday at brunchtime. It took me a minute or two to figure out why 2003’s Matrix Revolutions was playing as part of this series on Tuesday night… oh, right. At least I’ve heard of that movie and those filmmakers. On Wednesday night, Prospect Park is showing Rosa von Praunheim’s 1992 film I Am My Own Woman.
Williamsburg is screening Anna Kerrigan’s 2020 movie Cowboys as part of that same series on Saturday and Sunday daytime, and Posy Dixon’s Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story on Monday night.
On Monday, Prospect Park is screening 1988’s Big Top Pee-Wee as part of its “Strange Amusements” series. The restoration of Lisa Cholodenko’s High Art (1998) will screen at Williamsburg on Tuesday night, and as part of its series, “The Deuce,” Williamsburg screens William A. Fraker’s 1992 film, A Reflection of Fear, on Thursday night on 35mm.
Oh, and I almost missed that you can see Richard Donner’s original The Goonies (1985) on Saturday and Sunday brunch time at Williamsburg, too!
BAM (BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC)
Jessie Maple’s 1981 film Will, the first independent film directed by a Black woman will screen through the weekend with Obaka Adedunyo playing the title character and also starring a very young Loretta Devine from Crash and “Grey’s Anatomy.”
Next week, the Tribeca Film Festival will be over so hopefully I can get back on track, even though I still have a TON of screenings. The big movie next week is Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later, as well as Pixar’s latest, Elio, both of which I hope to review.