Central Intelligence, the action comedy released this past weekend, started its first debut with a $1.8 million box office revenue. The Warner Bros movie, starred by Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, has gathered some mixed reviews since its premiere.
Some critics have stated that the film is “crowd-pleasing fun,” while others have qualified it as the kind of movie people smile just when it is over, and they get to leave the theater. But even with the unexpected opinions, the amount gathered until now represents a 5 percent of its revenues, which are expected to grow to around $36 million for the next weekend, as reported by Forbes.
Johnson and Hart played two high school friends who were reunited with each other and find out that some major things have changed and ended up working for the CIA in a world-saving kind of case. Robert Weirdicht, who is played by Johnson, used to be an introverted obese guy that was publicly shamed during his high school years and that Calvin Joyner, played by Hart, saved him during those hard times.
Joyner was an attractive guy voted most likely to succeed in high school, but he ended up being oppressed by his going-nowhere Baltimore accounting job. With the class’ 20th reunion approaching, Joyner embarrassed with his life was thinking about not going, to which Weirdicht convinced otherwise and ended up experiencing new adventures.
The film was directed and co-written by Rawson Marshall Thurber, a comedy specialized director involved in Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story and We Are the Millers. Although he is more commonly known for his comedies, he also directed an adaptation of Michael Chabon’s novel The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, as reported by The Atlantic.
Going nowhere?
According to a review from the Chicago Tribune, Johnson and Hart are performers of trustworthy charisma, but their personal appeal hits its limits when they are recruited to perform in a film that is hard to sit through. Central Intelligence is a chase movie that goes nowhere, but from which there is no escape, reviewer Colin Cover said.
“There are three funny moments in the film,” Cover commented. “Two come in the form of microscopic cameos from comic actors of undeniable mystique, whose identities should be concealed. When they appear, Central Intelligence quickly and briefly transforms into a solid enjoyment.”
Also, some other problem with the film according to the Atlantic is that it forces Hart into a straight-man role, which felt like a waste of his live-wire talents, reviewer David Sims commented.
However, is a more positive perspective about Central Intelligence, Scott Mendelson from Forbes assured that the movie is the sort of thing that would have been an A-level summer release in a less tentpole-centric era.
Even if the film ended up closing up to $30 million rather than $40 million over this weekend, he would like to think that it would be a solid “consensus pick” among groups moviegoers as well as a go-to second choice over the next few weeks, he added.
Source: Forbes