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 $23.5 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 Röhm, and Ryan Phillippe. The film follows a teenage girl who finds a magic box that grants wishes, but kills someone close to her each time it does.

The film was theatrically released on July 14, 2017, by Broad Green Pictures and Orion Pictures. It received negative reviews from critics[4] and has grossed $23.5 million worldwide.[5]

Plot

Clare Shannon, a 17-year old, is haunted by the memory of her mother's suicide. Her father, Jonathan, a former musician and compulsive hoarder who dumpster dives as a hobby, finds a Chinese music box and gives it to her as an early birthday gift. Clare deciphers one of the numerous inscriptions on the box as "Seven Wishes," and 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. Clare realizes that the box grants wishes, but does not understand that her wishes come with consequences.

Clare makes a second wish that a popular boy named Paul falls in love with her. As a result, her wealthy uncle dies. Upon hearing the news of his death, Clare then wishes she will be in the will. The relative leaves everything to Clare. Consequently Mrs. Deluca, a friendly neighbor, suffers a fatal accident. Clare enlists the help of her classmate Ryan Hui to decipher the symbols. A relative of Ryan named Gina helps discover the meaning of the symbols grants seven wishes with consequences. Clare's fourth wish is for her father to stop being a dumpster diver and he immediately has a personality shift. 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. Ryan finds Gina's body and confronts Clare about making wishes on the music box, which she denies.

Clare makes a fifth wish that she is popular, but Clare is soon unhappy with the consequent attention and that she loses her relationship with her friends. As a consequence of the wish, Meredith gets stuck in an elevator and, when the cable snaps, falls to her death.

Ryan reveals that after the seventh wish is granted, the music box will claim the soul of the owner. Attempts to destroy the box are unsuccessful. Furthermore, because June has stolen the box, Clare loses her popularity and everything else she wished for. Clare recovers the box and her sixth wish is that her mother never committed suicide. Clare's mom knocks on her bedroom door along with two younger sisters. Clare later 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 and that it must have led to her original suicide.

When Clare realizes her dad pays the price for the sixth wish, Clare's seventh wish is to go back to the day her father found the box. Preventing her father from finding the box, and erasing all that has happened, Clare then asks Ryan to bury the box. Clare believes all is well but she is killed when her bully Darcie accidentally hits her with her car, in order to pay the final blood price. The music box can be heard after Clare's death, indicating that the seventh wish to reverse time would be balanced by her own death.

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

Cast

  • Joey King as Clare Shannon, a high schooler who discovers a Chinese music box that grants her seven wishes.
    • Raegan Revord as young Clare
  • Ki Hong Lee as Ryan Hui, one of Clare's classmates who helps her investigate the music box.
  • Sydney Park as Meredith McNeil, one of Clare's close friends.
  • Shannon Purser as June Acosta, one of Clare's close friends.
  • Sherilyn Fenn as Mrs. Deluca, the Shannons' neighbor and friend.
  • Elisabeth Röhm as Johanna Shannon, Clare's deceased mother.
  • Ryan Phillippe as Jonathan Shannon, Clare's father and a dumpster diver.
  • Mitchell Slaggert as Paul Middlebrook, Clare's classmate whom she is attracted to.
  • Josephine Langford as Darcie Chapman, one of Clare's classmates who regularly bullies her.
  • Alice Lee as Gina Hsu, Ryan's cousin who helps decipher the text on the music box.
  • Victor Sutton as August Shannon, Clare's wealthy uncle.
  • Kevin Hanchard as Carl Morris, Jonathan's friend.
  • Jerry O'Connell as Alex, a previous owner of the music box. O'Connell was not credited for the role.

Production

The film is based on the 2004 Philippine movie Feng Shui. 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 written by Barbara Marshall.[7] On August 2016, Joey King was cast in the film's lead role,[9] and on November 9, 2016, Ki Hong Lee was announced to have also joined.[8] The film began production in November 2016 in Toronto.[10]

Release

The film's teaser trailer was released on February 9, 2017.[11] The first trailer debuted on March 22, 2017,[12] and the second trailer was released on May 22, 2017.[13] Wish Upon was released in theaters on July 14, 2017 in the U.S., and July 22, 2017 in the U.K.[14]

Marketing

Broad Green Pictures is granting seven fan wishes submitted via the film’s official website.[15]

Reception

Box office

Wish Upon grossed $14.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $9.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $23.5 million, against a production budget of $12 million.[3]

In North America, Wish Upon was released alongside the opening of 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.[16] 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 $5.5 million for its opening weekend, finishing seventh at the box office.[4]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 16%, based on 80 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."[17] 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".[18] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C" on an A+ to F scale.[19]

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 March 12, 2018.
  4. 1 2 "'War For The Planet Of The Apes' Hangs Onto $56.5M Opening In The Midst Of Sluggish Summer". Deadline Hollywood. 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. 1 2 "'Annabelle' Director John Leonetti Boards Broad Green Thriller 'Wish Upon'". July 27, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  8. 1 2 Anita Busch (November 9, 2016). "'The Maze Runner's Ki Hong Lee Joins Horror Film 'Wish Upon'". Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  9. ↑ "'Conjuring' Actress Joey King to Star in Horror-Thriller 'Wish Upon'". August 16, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  10. ↑ "Joey King Will Lead 'Annabelle' Helmer's Next Project 'Wish Upon'". August 16, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
  11. ↑ "Wish Upon Teaser Trailer (2017)". February 9, 2017. Retrieved February 11, 2017.
  12. ↑ Broad Green Pictures (2017-03-22), Wish Upon - Movie Trailer #2 (Official) - Broad Green Pictures, retrieved 2017-05-15
  13. ↑ Broad Green Pictures (2017-05-22), Wish Upon New Trailer (2017) Official - Broad Green Pictures, retrieved 2017-06-04
  14. ↑ 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.
  15. ↑ Wish Upon Trailer & Movie Site | 7 Wishes Will Be Granted. What’s Yours?, retrieved 2017-05-15
  16. ↑ "'War for the Planet of the Apes' to Do Battle With 'Spider-Man: Homecoming' at Box Office". TheWrap. June 11, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Wish Upon (2017)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  18. ↑ "Wish Upon reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 14, 2017.
  19. ↑ "Wish Upon – CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Retrieved July 15, 2017.
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