Wish Upon

Wish Upon

Theatrical release poster
Directed by John R. Leonetti
Produced by Sherryl Clark
Written by Barbara Marshall
Starring
Music by Tomandandy
Cinematography Michael Galbraith
Edited by Peck Prior
Production
company
Busted Shark Productions
Distributed by
Release date
  • July 14, 2017 (2017-07-14)
Running time
 90 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $12 million[2]
Box office $20.4 million[3]

Wish Upon is a 2017 American supernatural horror film directed by John R. Leonetti, written by Barbara Marshall and starring Joey King, Ki Hong Lee, Sydney Park, Elisabeth Rohm and Ryan Phillippe. The film follows a teen girl who finds a magic box that grants wishes, but kills someone close to her each time.

It was released in theaters on July 14, 2017, by Broad Green Pictures and Orion Pictures, received negative reviews from critics[4] and has grossed $20 million worldwide.[5]

Plot

17-year old Clare Shannon is haunted by the memory of her mother's suicide by hanging. Her father Jonathan, who dumpster dives as a hobby, gives her a Chinese music box as a gift. Clare is able to decipher one of the numerous inscriptions on the box as "Seven Wishes." She absent-mindedly wishes for Darcie, her tormentor and school bully, to "rot," at which point Darcie develops necrotizing fasciitis and is admitted into the ICU. That same day, Clare's dog Max dies in her house's crawlspace after seemingly being eaten alive by rats. Realizing that the box has the ability to grant wishes, Clare wishes for Paul, a classmate whom she has a crush on, to fall madly in love with her. Paul proceeds to dump his current girlfriend Lola and begins making obvious advances towards Clare. Meanwhile, Clare's wealthy uncle August dies after slipping in a bathtub and hitting his head. News reaches Jonathan, and Clare makes her third wish of all her uncle's wealth being transferred to her. Surely enough, Jonathan receives a phone call indicating that Clare has received everything, including her uncle's mansion. Clare's neighbor and maternal figure Mrs. De Luca subsequently dies when her hair is caught in a sink garbage disposal unit, snapping her neck.

Clare, still bothered by the inscriptions she cannot translate on the box, consults the help of her classmate Ryan Hui, who harbors feelings for her, and his cousin Gina. They find out that the box can grant seven wishes and when the music ends, “something” is paid. Clare and Ryan head home and Clare spots her father dumpster diving. She makes her fourth wish; that her father will stop dumpster diving and find a better hobby. Jonathan immediately has a personality shift, and takes up playing the saxophone and then finds a new hobby which is playing the saxophone with a band. Soon after, Gina deciphers the meaning of the phrase which says "When the music ends, the blood price is paid." After she warns Ryan, she dies when she trips and gets her head impaled on a sculpture. Ryan finds her body and confronts Clare about making wishes on the music box, which she denies.

Selfishly enough, she makes her fifth wish to be the most popular girl in school, which eventually happens, and to top that, she and Paul begin dating officially. After understanding the full extent of what Ryan told her, Clare consults her friends Meredith and June, who attempted to talk her into trashing the music box. She is reluctant though because she found out that all her wishes will come undone if she does so. That night, the three go to a school bonfire and scavenger hunt. Clare realizes that Paul has been stalking her and taking photos of her while she sleeps. Freaked out, she breaks up with him on the spot. June almost dies after a fire bull almost crushes her but Meredith is able to pull her to safety in time. The three hang out in the lobby of a hotel where Meredith decides to separate from the two to explore. She uses the elevator to go down but is killed when the cable snaps, crushing her to death.

Clare hides the music box in the vents of her room. Ryan reveals to her that she missed other inscriptions in the box which tell her that after the seventh wish is granted, the music box will claim the life of the owner. Morning comes and after a few attempts to destroy the box, it disappears, reversing all of Clare's wishes. She loses her popularity, Paul attempts suicide in front of her, Darcie recovers, and they lose their house. Clare discovers that June stole the box and after stealing it back, Clare uses her sixth wish, that her mother had never committed suicide. Suddenly, on her birthday, her mom, alive and well, knocks on her door, with two younger sisters greeting her. Clare rummages through her mom’s paintings and sees a picture of the music box. She concludes that her mom was one of the previous owners of the music box which caused her to commit suicide before.

Suddenly, Clare realizes that her dad will pay the price. Before she can save him, Jonathan gets killed by a chainsaw. Clare uses her last wish to travel back in time to before her father found the box. Clare suddenly snaps awake alongside Max. She calls Meredith, who is alive and well, and her dad is getting ready to go dumpster diving. Mrs. De Luca waves goodbye as Clare goes with Jonathan and Carl to secretly retrieve the music box for good. She asks Ryan to help her dispose of it by burying the box and reciprocates his feeling for her and tells him that she has met his cousin Gina. Suddenly, Clare is killed after she is accidentally run over by Darcie as her friends look on in horror. The music box can be heard after Clare's death, indicating that her seventh wish to reverse time caused her own demise.

In a mid-credits scene, Ryan prepares to bury the music box, but becomes intrigued by the inscription.

Cast

Production

The film's screenplay was voted to the 2015 Black List.[6] On July 27, 2016, it was announced that Wish Upon would be directed by John R. Leonetti.[7] The film is produced by Sherryl Clark from her production company, Busted Shark Productions,[8] and is written by Barbara Marshall.[9] On August 2016, Joey King was cast in the film as the lead role.[10] The film began production in November 2016 in Toronto.[11] On November 9, 2016, Ki Hong Lee was announced to have joined the cast.[12]

Release

The film's teaser trailer was released on February 9, 2017.[13] The first trailer debuted on March 22, 2017.[14] The film's second trailer was released on May 22, 2017.[15] Wish Upon was released in theaters on July 14, 2017 in the US, and in the UK, July 22, 2017.[16]

Marketing

Broad Green Pictures is granting 7 fan wishes submitted via the film’s official website.[17]

Reception

Box office

As of August 11, 2017, Wish Upon has grossed $13.8 million in the United States and Canada and $6.4 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $20.2 million, against a production budget of $12 million.[3]

In North America, Wish Upon was released alongside War for the Planet of the Apes, as well as the wide expansion of The Big Sick, and was projected to gross $8–10 million from 2,100 theaters in its opening weekend.[18] It made $376,000 from Thursday night previews at 1,659 theaters and $2.3 million on its first day. It went on to debut to just $5.5 million for its opening weekend, finishing 7th at the box office.[4]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 18% based on 72 reviews, with an average rating of 3.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Wish Upon is neither scary nor original, but its fundamental flaws as a horror movie may make it destination viewing for after-midnight camp genre enthusiasts."[19] On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating, the film has a score of 32 out of 100, based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[20] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "Wish Upon". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved June 20, 2017.
  2. ↑ "'Bad Santa 2' Bombs: Broad Green's Shift to Mass-Appeal Fare Sees Early Signs of Trouble". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 9, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Wish Upon (2017)". The Numbers. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
  4. 1 2 "‘War For The Planet Of The Apes’ Hangs Onto $56.5M Opening In The Midst Of Sluggish Summer". Deadline.com. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Wish Upon". Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Catherine Hardwicke to Direct 'Wish Upon' - TheWrap". December 14, 2015. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  7. ↑ "‘Annabelle’ Director John Leonetti Boards Broad Green Thriller ‘Wish Upon’". July 27, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  8. ↑ "‘The Maze Runner’s Ki Hong Lee Joins Horror Film ‘Wish Upon’". November 9, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  9. ↑ "‘Annabelle’ Director John Leonetti Boards Broad Green Thriller ‘Wish Upon’". July 27, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  10. ↑ "‘Conjuring’ Actress Joey King to Star in Horror-Thriller ‘Wish Upon’". August 16, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Joey King Will Lead ‘Annabelle’ Helmer’s Next Project ‘Wish Upon’". August 16, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  12. ↑ "‘The Maze Runner’s Ki Hong Lee Joins Horror Film ‘Wish Upon’". November 9, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  13. ↑ "Wish Upon Teaser Trailer (2017)". February 9, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  14. ↑ Broad Green Pictures (2017-03-22), Wish Upon - Movie Trailer #2 (Official) - Broad Green Pictures, retrieved 2017-05-15
  15. ↑ Broad Green Pictures (2017-05-22), Wish Upon New Trailer (2017) Official - Broad Green Pictures, retrieved 2017-06-04
  16. ↑ Lee, Benjamin (2017-07-13). "Wish Upon review – incompetent Final Destination rip-off is scare-free". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2017-07-25.
  17. ↑ Wish Upon Trailer & Movie Site | 7 Wishes Will Be Granted. What’s Yours?, retrieved 2017-05-15
  18. ↑ "‘War for the Planet of the Apes’ to Do Battle With ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’ at Box Office". TheWrap. June 11, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Wish Upon (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  20. ↑ "Wish Upon reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Wish Upon – CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
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