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Black Christmas (2019 film)
Black Christmas | |
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Directed by | Sophia Takal |
Screenplay by |
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Based on | Black Christmas by A. Roy Moore |
Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Mark Schwartzbard[1] |
Edited by | Jeff Betancourt |
Music by |
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Production companies |
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Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 92 minutes[2] |
Country | United States[3] |
Language | English |
Budget | $5 million[4] |
Box office | $18.5 million[5][6] |
Black Christmas is a 2019 American slasher film directed by Sophia Takal, and written by Takal and April Wolfe.[7][8] Part of the Black Christmas series, it is the loose second remake of the 1974 Canadian film Black Christmas, after the 2006 film, and follows a group of sorority sisters at Hawthorne College as they are preyed upon by an unknown stalker. The film stars Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Lily Donoghue, Brittany O'Grady, Caleb Eberhardt, and Cary Elwes.[9][10]
Development of the project began in June 2019, when Jason Blum announced that he would produce the film through his studio Blumhouse Productions. On the same day, Sophia Takal was announced as director and co-writer, and principal photography began soon after, lasting for 27 days in New Zealand.
Black Christmas was theatrically released in the United States on December 13, 2019, by Universal Pictures, coinciding with Friday the 13th.[11] The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $18 million worldwide on a $5 million budget.
Cast
- Imogen Poots as Riley
- Aleyse Shannon as Kris
- Lily Donoghue as Marty
- Brittany O'Grady as Jesse
- Caleb Eberhardt as Landon
- Cary Elwes as Professor Gelson
- Simon Mead as Nate
- Madeleine Adams as Helena
- Nathalie Morris as Franny
- Ben Black as Phil McIllaney
- Zoë Robins as Oona
- Ryan McIntyre as Brian Huntley
- Mark Neilson as Gil
- Lucy Currey as Lindsay Helman
- Jonny McBride as Black Mask
Production
In June 2019, it was announced that Jason Blum would produce a remake of the 1974 film Black Christmas through his studio Blumhouse Productions, alongside Adam Hendricks from the studio Divide/Conquer, and Ben Cosgrove.[12] In addition, Greg Gilreath and Zac Locke, also from Divide/Conquer, served as executive producers for the project.[13]
Also, in June, Sophia Takal was announced as the film's director, having previously worked with Blum on his Into the Dark series for Hulu,[14] while Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O'Grady, Lily Donoghue, and Caleb Eberhardt were cast in the starring roles.[15][16] Also that month, Cary Elwes was added to the cast.[17]
Director Takal worked extensively to make this vision of Black Christmas as feminist as she could, stating in an interview, "I wanted to make a movie where instead of feeling objectified or watched from a distance, the audience felt seen."[18] It is the first Black Christmas film in which Bob Clark was not involved in the production process, as Clark had died in 2007.[19] Bob Clark had produced and directed the original Black Christmas (1974), and had been an executive producer on the 2006 remake of the same name.
Unlike the previous two version of Black Christmas, the remake was rated PG-13 by the MPAA, a rating Takal sought in hopes of making it accessible to new audiences, especially young women who were interested in horror, and opening up discussions on major issues like sexual assault,[20] although she was ready to fully commit to utilizing the higher R rating if the ratings board would not grant it. However, she would not use the PG-13 rating to water down the film's violence to a large degree, making it only slightly less violent than the original film.[21]
Production began in New Zealand on June 23, 2019.[22][23][24] Principal photography occurred for 27 days around Dunedin and Oamaru, with the University of Otago providing the setting.[25] Filming concluded on July 31, 2019.[26][27]
Release
In the United States and Canada, Black Christmas was theatrically released by Universal Pictures on December 13, 2019, coinciding with Friday the 13th.[28] The film was also released on digital on March 3, 2020 and on DVD and Blu-ray on March 17, 2020.
Reception
Box office
Black Christmas grossed $10.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $8.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $18.5 million.[5]
In the United States, the film was released alongside Jumanji: The Next Level, and Richard Jewell, and was initially projected to gross $10–12 million from 2,100 theaters in its opening weekend.[29] However, after making $1.4 million on its first day (including $230,000 from Thursday night previews), estimates for the film were lowered to $4.5 million. It ended up debuting to just $4.2 million, finishing fifth at the box office.[30] The film fell 57% to $1.8 million in its second weekend, finishing in tenth.[31]
Critical response
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On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 39% based on 111 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Better than the 2006 remake yet not as sharp as the original, this Black Christmas stabs at timely feminist themes but mostly hits on familiar pulp."[32] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on reviews from 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[33] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D+" on an A+ to F scale, while those at PostTrak gave it an "awful" average of 1.5 out of 5 stars, with 38% saying they would definitely recommend it.[30]
References
- ^ "Black Christmas (2019)". HellHorror.com. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
- ^ "BLACK CHRISTMAS (2019)". British Board of Film Classification.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (June 13, 2019). "Blumhouse Remaking Cult Hit 'Black Christmas' With Imogen Poots Set to Star". Variety. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
- ^ Mendelson, Scott (November 27, 2019). "Box Office: How Will 'Cats' And 'Black Christmas' Fare Against 'Star Wars' And 'Jumanji'?". Forbes. Retrieved November 29, 2019.
- ^ a b "Black Christmas (2019)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
- ^ "Black Christmas (2019)". The Numbers. Retrieved January 5, 2020.
- ^ Erbland, Kate (June 13, 2019). "'Black Christmas' Remake: Blumhouse Taps Sophia Takal to Direct Remake of 1974 Slasher". IndieWire. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Han, Karen (June 13, 2019). "A Black Christmas remake is coming this year from the team behind Halloween". Polygon. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Boucher, Geoff (June 13, 2019). "'Black Christmas': Sophia Takal Set To Direct Blumhouse Remake Of 1974 Slasher". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
- ^ Collis, Clark (June 13, 2019). "Imogen Poots to star in Blumhouse remake of horror classic Black Christmas". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Mendelson, Scott (June 13, 2019). "Blumhouse's 'Black Christmas' Remake Gets Doubly Appropriate Release Date". Forbes. Retrieved June 16, 2019.
- ^ Kennedy, Michael (June 13, 2019). "Blumhouse Announces Black Christmas Remake, Sets 2019 Release Date". Screen Rant. Retrieved July 11, 2019.
- ^ Sneider, Jeff (June 13, 2019). "Blumhouse to Remake 'Black Christmas' with Director Sophia Takal". Collider. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Rife, Katie (June 13, 2019). "Blumhouse announces Black Christmas remake directed by Sophia Takal". The A.V. Club. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
- ^ Kroll, Justin (June 13, 2019). "Blumhouse Remaking Cult Hit 'Black Christmas' With Imogen Poots Set to Star". Variety. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Squires, John (June 13, 2019). "Poster: Blumhouse is Remaking 'Black Christmas' and It's Coming to Theaters THIS December!". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Evangelista, Chris (June 20, 2019). "Blumhouse 'Black Christmas' Remake Cast Adds Cary Elwes". /Film. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Page, Aubrey (December 13, 2019). "How 'Black Christmas' Takes Dead Aim At The Patriarchy". Huffington Post. Retrieved January 18, 2020.
- ^ "'A Christmas Story' director dies in crash". Los Angeles Times. April 5, 2007. Archived from the original on April 6, 2007. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
- ^ Kennedy, Michael (December 20, 2019). "Why Black Christmas Isn't Rated R". Screen Rant. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
- ^ Bibbiani, William (December 13, 2019). "'Black Christmas': Sophia Takal Sets the Record Straight About the Film's PG-13 Rating [Interview]". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
- ^ Squires, John (July 18, 2019). "Behind the Scenes Images from Blumhouse's Remake Bring 'Black Christmas' in July". Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Miller, Tim (June 24, 2019). "Extremely localised snow hits Dunedin". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
- ^ Hendricks, Adam (June 23, 2019). "Day 1! #blackchristmas". Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2019 – via Instagram.
- ^ Miller, Tim (June 19, 2019). "Dunedin to feature in horror film". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved July 2, 2019.
- ^ MacLean, Hamish (August 3, 2019). "'Black Christmas' filming wraps up". Otago Daily Times. Retrieved August 4, 2019.
- ^ Hendricks, Adam (July 31, 2019). "Day 27! #blackchristmas". Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved August 8, 2019 – via Instagram.
- ^ El-Mahmoud, Sarah (June 14, 2019). "Blumhouse Is Remaking 'Black Christmas'". CinemaBlend. Retrieved August 8, 2019.
- ^ Rubin, Rebecca (December 11, 2019). "Can 'Jumanji' Sequel Achieve Next-Level Box Office Success?". Variety. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
- ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (December 14, 2019). "'Jumanji: The Next Level' Advancing To $51M+ Opening; 'Richard Jewell' & 'Black Christmas' Earn Lumps Of Coal". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
- ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (December 22, 2019). "'Star Wars: Rise Of Skywalker' Force Grips 3rd Best December Opening With $193M+; Drat Those 'Cats' $7.6M, 'Bombshell' $5.8M – Saturday AM Early Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
- ^ "Black Christmas (2019)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- ^ "Black Christmas (2019) Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved January 1, 2021.
External links
- 2019 films
- English-language films
- 2010s Christmas films
- 2010s Christmas horror films
- 2010s feminist films
- 2019 horror thriller films
- 2010s mystery thriller films
- 2010s serial killer films
- 2010s slasher films
- 2010s supernatural horror films
- 2010s supernatural thriller films
- 2010s teen horror films
- 2019 horror films
- American Christmas horror films
- American feminist films
- American films
- American horror thriller films
- American mystery thriller films
- American remakes of Canadian films
- American serial killer films
- American slasher films
- American supernatural horror films
- American supernatural thriller films
- American teen horror films
- Black Christmas (film series)
- Blumhouse Productions films
- Films about cults
- Films about fraternities and sororities
- Films about murderers
- Films about spirit possession
- Films based on urban legends
- Films set in 2019
- Films set in universities and colleges
- Films shot in New Zealand
- Home invasions in film
- Horror film remakes
- Mystery horror films
- University of Otago
- American rape and revenge films
- Universal Pictures films