Release: The Giver of Stars

 

The Giver of Stars

Genre: Drama/Historical

Director: Lorene Scafaria

Writer: Abbie Q

Based on the novel by Jojo Moyes

Cast: Emma Watson, Carrie Coon, Cary Elwes, Freddie Stroma, Jack Quaid, Gustaf Skarsgard, Janelle Monae, McCabe Slye, Stephanie Beatriz, Lauren Cohan, Hunter Schafer, Melissa McBride, Tim Blake Nelson, David Ajala, Elisabeth Shue

Budget: $30,000,000 

Domestic Box Office: $14,424,090

Foreign Box Office: $7,546,033

Total Profit: -$35,302,008

Reaction: We were admittedly unsure of this film's box office potential given its subject matter, but we weren't expecting it to do this poorly.

"The plot of The Giver of Stars sounds like a satire or parody of one of those prestige drama films that wins awards but nobody ever sees. While the characters may have seemed more interesting in the novel, where you have more time to win over the audience, nobody really manages to pop on the big screen in this one despite a fairly talented cast being hired." - Cooper Wilson, The Earl Hays Press

"While I did connect with some of the themes of the film's story, none of it is handled particularly well in the big screen adaptation. The film has too many characters and too many plotlines that take the focus away too frequently from the central story. I think Abbie Q's adaptation could have worked better if it didn't try to cram all the subplots of the book into the film. It felt like too much for two hours (or so)." - Frank Estelle, Boca Breeze

"Much like the source material, The Giver of Stars is more concerned with doing a bunch of things other than simply telling an engrossing and focused story. The end result was a film that wastes its talented cast on characters that rarely rose above stereotypes. It was a shame as the film actually starts off interesting for the first few scenes before it begins slowly falling apart at the seams." - George Overmyer, Baltimore Magazine

Rated PG-13 for some violence, sexual content and thematic material