A lot of people wondered whether Max Landis was getting work in Hollywood more because he was the son of John Landis than his own talent, but the moment Chronicle opened, the critics were silenced. He’s now hugely in demand, but Deadline says he’ll find the time to write a follow-up to Chronicle.
He’s a busy boy though, as the writer is also hard at work writing Amnesty, an untitled movie that Ron Howard is set to direct, and an adventure pic for Disney. Goodness knows when he’ll fit in Chronicle 2, but he’s now signed on to pen the screenplay so he obviously thinks he can slot it in to his schedule.
Chronicle stars Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell and Michael B. Jordan as high school friends who gain superpowers but find their lives going out of control and their friendships tested. The low-budget movie has grossed more than $100 million at the box office worldwide since Fox released it in February.
Despite being a four day weekend in the US, it wasn’t a good time for new releases, although last week’s overperformers continued to impress. The top two movies swapped place compared to last weekend, with Safe House pipping The Vow to the post over the Presidents Day weekend.
The US box office can be an incredibly fickle beast that tough to predict. Many were expecting that with four major films opening against one another, they might harm each others chances. Instead all of them did well, marking only the second time in history four films have opened north of $20 million on the same weekend.
Despite competition from the Super Bowl, Chronicle has got off to a good start at the box office, with a $22 million opening weekend. It’s certainly not bad for a movie that only cost $12 million to make, and seems to have been helped by a strong buzz and good word of mouth.