Wish Upon: Leonetti could do a better job as cinematographer of the movie
The tallest figure in the movie is of father Jonathan Shannon played by the teenager of yesteryear, Ryan Phillippe. If you recall the movie “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, you’ll recognize the father as the teenager Barry Cox. He is Phillippe of the Wish Upon. Turned 42 with a family a father of teenager in real life, Ryan Phillipe played a crucial role in the movie as it is the father who gifts the demon music box to her daughter.
Phillipe seems happy to get the role of a responsible father and he takes this development as expected. In 90’s he did a string of films in which he played various roles of teenagers and in the 21st century, when he’s 42, he got role of an adult. It is the development stage and Phillipe is satisfied with the development of his career.
Is it a horror movie?
The story seems simple. A father gifts an old Chinese music box to his daughter and forgets about the box. The daughter finds that the music box fulfills wishes. She starts dreaming big without knowing that there is a demon inside the box and the demon exacts price for fulfilling wishes. With every wish, the demon kills one of the closest persons of his master. Except some gruesome death scenes, there is nothing scary in the movie.
It will be compared to Annabelle
As a cinematographer, John R. Leonetti earned more respect than as a director. His directorial job remained less illustrative in the sequels to the film he lensed. His career as a director was considered below average until he produced Annabelle and knocked out all the box-office predictions. The movie was made with a budget of $6.5 million but it earned over $84 million.
Wish Upon is the latest directorial venture of Leonetti but the movie lacks the vigor of Annabelle. The story is good and also there are fresh faces in the movie but the viewers will come to see the horror as they experienced in Annabelle. Wish Upon has a good story and it is the only strong point that goes in its favor. Presence of Phillipe will give some freshness to the movie but it isn’t enough to glue the viewers to their chairs.
Critical reception
Wish Upon is termed neither scary nor original by its critics but still it got 21% approval rating based on 43 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. On Metacritic, the movie scored 30 out of 100 but most reviews are favorable. Movie’s Thursday night collection from 1,659 theaters was $376,000 and the first day collection of the movie is expected to cross $10 million mark.
