This weekend on Episode 147, we’ll be discussing Ron Howard’s latest film In the Heart of the Sea, starring Chris Hemsworth. This was a film that was slated for March earlier this year but for reasons we can only speculate, the film was pushed back to this weekend coming up. We assume that it was for awards season but that doesn’t seem to be panning out well based on it’s lack of buzz at the current moment. Now, that doesn’t mean the film is bad, in fact it has descent reviews, but it’s not overwhelming anybody. Add in the fact that Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out the week after In the Heart of the Sea, and this could also be a box office failure for the film too since it’ll have no room to breathe after this week. Star Wars will dominate the next month and that will hurt whatever In the Heart of the Sea could’ve had at the box office, especially if you compare that to what it could have had back in March.
So, the move to push it back to December doesn’t seem to be a good move all all right now, at least on paper. Hopefully I’m wrong and it’s great and it does find it’s legs at the box office, among the chaos the The Force Awakens will bring. I’m really rooting for this film. I’m a big fan of Chris Hemsworth and an even bigger fan of Ron Howard. Howard gave me my biggest surprise film of 2013 in Rush, a film I really loved. In fact, that film made my Top 10 of 2013. Howard’s films based on real-life events have been pretty great. Not just Rush, but also Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man and Frost/Nixon are all pretty good movies.
So, maybe In the Heart of the Sea won’t be gamechanging by any means and it may not be a huge box office success, but I’m looking forward to it either way. The trailers have looked descent and the poster for this film is one of my favorite’s of the entire year. The overhead shot of the boat and the giant whale just beneath the water is terrifying to me (as you can see above). Here’s to hoping.
