Jump to content

Imaginary (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Giantdevilfish (talk | contribs) at 19:45, 8 March 2024 (adding thenumbers). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Not to be confused with The Imaginary (film).

Imaginary
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJeff Wadlow
Written by
  • Jeff Wadlow
  • Greg Erb
  • Jason Oremland
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyJames McMillan
Edited bySean Albertson
Music bySparks & Shadows
Production
companies
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • March 8, 2024 (2024-03-08)
Running time
104 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10–12 million[2][3]
Box office$725,000[4]

Imaginary is a 2024 American supernatural horror film directed and produced by Jeff Wadlow and written by Wadlow, Greg Erb, and Jason Oremland. It is co-produced by Jason Blum through his Blumhouse Productions banner and Tower of Babble. The film stars DeWanda Wise, Tom Payne, Taegen Burns, Pyper Braun, Veronica Falcón, and Betty Buckley.

Imaginary was released in the United States by Lionsgate on March 8, 2024.

Plot

When Jessica returns to her childhood home with her family, she finds her old teddy bear, Chauncey, and sees that her youngest stepdaughter Alice has grown attached to it. After Alice's behavior becomes concerning, and the games that she and Chauncey play turn increasingly sinister, Jessica starts realizing that Chauncey is much more than the stuffed bear she believed him to be for all those years.[5]

Cast

Production

In February 2023, Deadline Hollywood reported that Lionsgate acquired worldwide rights to the Blumhouse horror film, Imaginary.[8] The film was written and directed by Jeff Wadlow, who co-wrote with Greg Erb, and Jason Oremland.[8] On a production budget of $10–$12 million, principal photography took place in New Orleans from May to late June 2023.[2][3][9]

Release

Universal Pictures has first-look deals on Blumhouse titles but opted not to release Imaginary. Blumhouse shopped the film around where Lionsgate secured a distribution deal.[10] It was released theatrically on March 8, 2024, after being pushed back from its original date of February 2, 2024.[11][12]

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, Imaginary was released alongside Kung Fu Panda 4 and Cabrini, and is projected to gross $10–14 million from 3,000 theaters in its opening weekend.[10][3]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 30% of 37 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Imaginary's core concept is solid enough to produce a handful of scares, but too much of its potential is lost in a clichéd story that gets bogged down in world-building."[13] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 33 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[14]

Variety's Owen Gleiberman called it "a watchable mess of a child's-play fright flick, exemplifies the trend of overwrought too-muchness" and also wrote "despite a few creepy moments, is starved for scenes that make the fear it's showing you relatable".[15] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter praised Wise's and the younger's cast performances, but wrote "Imaginary, which starts out as a relatively low-key suspenser with intriguing psychological depth, eventually succumbs to the inanities plaguing so many recent horror efforts (like the killer pool in the same company's Night Swim)".[16]

Wilson Chapman of IndieWire gave the film a grade of "C", writing "Even at its most entertaining, Imaginary has about as much staying power as the figments of imagination that give it its name. Just like your childhood imaginary friend, you'll probably forget about it pretty quickly".[17] Robert Abele writing for the Los Angeles Times criticized director Wadlow with being "terrible with actors", saying that he "can even make a motionless plush animal seem poorly directed". He wrote, "Imaginary skips the directive to entertain, coming off as stiff, pedestrian and dreary as a March space-filler can get".[18]

References

  1. ^ "Imaginary (15)". BBFC. February 27, 2024. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Faughnder, Ryan (March 5, 2024). "From Imaginary to Five Nights at Freddy's. Why Blumhouse loves PG-13 horror". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c Rubin, Rebecca (March 5, 2024). "Box Office Preview: Kung Fu Panda 4 Takes on Dune: Part Two, Targets $50 Million Debut". Variety. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  4. ^ "Imaginary — Financial Information". Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  5. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (November 7, 2023). "DeWanda Wise Starring & Exec Producing Lionsgate & Blumhouse's Original Horror Pic Imaginary". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on November 7, 2023. Retrieved November 7, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Rubin, Rebecca (November 13, 2023). "Blumhouse Horror Movie Imaginary Rounds Out Cast With Tom Payne, Betty Buckley and More (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved November 15, 2023.
  7. ^ Makuch, Eddie (November 16, 2023). "A Nightmare Come To Life, As Little Girl's Teddy Bear Becomes Evil In First Trailer For Imaginary". GameSpot. Retrieved November 16, 2023.
  8. ^ a b Grobar, Matt (February 6, 2023). "Lionsgate Acquiring Blumhouse Thriller Imaginary To Be Directed By Jeff Wadlow – EFM". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved February 6, 2023.
  9. ^ "Productions". Film New Orleans. Archived from the original on March 29, 2023. Retrieved March 29, 2023.
  10. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (March 7, 2024). "Kung Fu Panda 4 To Soar At Weekend Box Office With $50M+; 'Dune: Part Two' Crossing $100M Today – Preview". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 7, 2024.
  11. ^ Squires, John (October 27, 2023). "Blumhouse Horror Movie Imaginary Gets New Release Date; Trailer Playing in Theaters". Bloody Disgusting. Archived from the original on October 31, 2023. Retrieved October 28, 2023.
  12. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (May 10, 2023). "Blumhouse's Imaginary Gets 2024 Release Date From Lionsgate". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 10, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  13. ^ "Imaginary". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 8, 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  14. ^ "Imaginary". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  15. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (March 8, 2024). "Imaginary Review: A Sinister Teddy Bear and Too Much Schlock Metaphysics". Variety. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  16. ^ Scheck, Frank (March 8, 2024). "Imaginary Review: DeWanda Wise Stars in a Blumhouse Horror Flick That Forgets the Scares". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  17. ^ Chapman, Wilson (March 8, 2024). "Imaginary Review: Blumhouse's Teddy Bear Horror Story Lacks Much Imagination of Its Own". IndieWire. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
  18. ^ Abele, Robert (March 8, 2024). "Review: Despite starring a possessed stuffed animal, the dull Imaginary is close to unbearable". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved March 8, 2024.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Imaginary_(film)&oldid=1212615650"