The Craft: Legacy | |
---|---|
Directed by | Zoe Lister-Jones |
Written by | Zoe Lister-Jones |
Based on | Characters by Peter Filardi |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Hillary Spera |
Edited by | Libby Cuenin |
Music by | Heather Christian |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release date |
|
Running time | 97 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $18 million |
Box office | $2.3 million [1] |
The Craft: Legacy, also known as Blumhouse's The Craft: Legacy, [2] is a 2020 American supernatural horror film [2] written and directed by Zoe Lister-Jones. A legacy sequel to The Craft (1996), the film stars Cailee Spaeny, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, and Zoey Luna as four teenage girls (and one identifying as trans) who practice witchcraft as a coven. Additional cast include Nicholas Galitzine, Michelle Monaghan, and David Duchovny, with Fairuza Balk making a cameo appearance.
The Craft: Legacy was released in the United States through video on demand on October 28, 2020, by Sony Pictures Releasing under its Columbia Pictures label, with a theatrical release in select international markets beginning the same day. The film was a box-office bomb, earning $2.3 million worldwide on an $18 million budget, and received mixed reviews from critics. It was nominated for the 2021 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Wide Theatrical Release.
Three girls, Frankie, Tabby and Lourdes, are trying to freeze time with magic, but failing as they require a fourth member. Lily Schechner moves into the town with her therapist mother, Helen, to live with Helen's new boyfriend Adam Harrison and his three sons, Jacob, Isaiah, and Abe. The girls befriend Lily after she begins her period and bleeds through in class, then is mocked by her other classmates, particularly by the school bully Timmy Andrews. They are amazed when she telekinetically pushes Timmy into the lockers. When Lily responds to them using only her mind, the girls confirm her to be their fourth member and invite her to join their coven, to which she agrees. As a result, they succeed in freezing time.
To seek revenge on Timmy, the girls cast a spell on him. The next day, Timmy behaves sensitively, confirming the girls' success. They continue to experiment with their powers, including levitation. Adam learns of the incident in school and scolds Lily, but Helen defends her. Lily overhears them arguing and goes outside where Abe talks to her about his father's authoritarian beliefs. Timmy hosts a party, inviting the coven, and apologizes to Lily, eventually becoming friends with the coven. When Timmy is at Lily's home for a project with Jacob, he admits to the girls that he had sex with Isaiah, Jacob's elder brother and that he is bisexual. Later, Lily places a love spell on Timmy, using his sweatshirt, and the two kiss.
The next morning, during class, the coven is told by their teacher that Timmy allegedly committed suicide the night before. Lily opens up to her friends about her kiss and love spell. They sever ties with her and bind themselves from magic. Lily suspects Adam to be dangerous and asks her mother for them to move out, but she does not agree. In hopes of finding something against Adam, she searches his office only to find her own adoption papers, forcing Helen to admit to her that Lily is actually the child of one of her psychotherapy patients. After Timmy's funeral, Helen tells Lily she agrees to move out. Helen also admits that she knows about her powers of telepathy, telekinesis, and magic. The conversation prompts Helen to ask Lily to give her powers to Helen. When Lily grows suspicious of her, Helen shapeshifts into Adam who had disguised himself with his own magic. Adam tells her he is a member of a pagan cult and that he has been after her powers since the beginning, before knocking her unconscious.
Lily awakens in a forest at night with Adam, who confesses that he murdered Timmy and threatens to kill her too. When Timmy's spirit contacts Lily's friends through a Ouija board and tells them about being murdered by Adam, they arrive to save Lily. They try to freeze time, but Adam subdues them quickly. The girls then work together and use their elemental powers to defeat Adam, burning him to death. Later, Lily continues her friendship with the girls and Helen takes her to a mental health hospital to meet her birth mother, who is revealed to be Nancy Downs.
A straight-to-DVD sequel to The Craft was in the works circa 2010, but was terminated. [3] [4] In May 2016, Sony Pictures announced that a sequel to The Craft was in development and would be written and directed by Leigh Janiak. The announcement of the sequel spawned negative reactions from fans of the original. [5] [6] [7]
In March 2019, Zoe Lister-Jones was named as writer and director of the soft reboot, with Jason Blum as producer under his Blumhouse Productions banner, with Andrew Fleming (director of the 1996 film) as executive producer, and Columbia Pictures distributing. [8]
In June 2019, Cailee Spaeny was set to star in the film. [9] In September 2019, Gideon Adlon, Lovie Simone, and Zoey Luna joined the cast as the other witches. [10] In October 2019, Nicholas Galitzine, David Duchovny, Julian Grey, and Michelle Monaghan were also added, [11] [12] [13] [14] and in November 2019, Donald MacLean Jr. was cast. [15]
Principal photography began in October 2019. [16] During filming in Toronto, director Zoe Lister-Jones explained in an on-set interview that The Craft sequel "... centers on young people, young women, and crossdressers, specifically coming into their power in today’s current climate..." [17]
The film's original music, composed by Heather Christian, was released digitally by Madison Gate Records on October 28, 2020. [18]
The Craft: Legacy was released on video on demand by Sony Pictures Releasing on October 28, 2020, followed by a theatrical release internationally. [19] [20] The film was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 22, 2020, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. [21]
In its first weekend the film earned $680,000 while in the following weekend it earned $390,000 and in its third $242,000.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 48% of 113 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.5/10.The website's consensus reads: "Although director Zoe Lister-Jones has forged a new path for the weirdos of today, The Craft: Legacy's spells may only enchant fans of the original. " [22] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 54 out of 100 based on reviews from 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [23]
Kate Erbland, writing for Indiewire, said the film is "an entertaining and insightful mashup of tropes, both respectful of what came before and willing to try new tricks." [24] Sheila O'Malley of RogerEbert.com gave the film two stars, saying, "The Craft: Legacy gets sidetracked with the Timmy sub-plot, and the film morphs into a teenage soap opera and/or ABC Afterschool Special ." [25]
The Craft: Legacy was nominated for the 2021 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film (Wide Release). [26]
In October 2020, when interviewed about Fairuza Balk's cameo, Zoe Lister-Jones explained that she wrote the script with a continuation in mind. [27] Lister-Jones also revealed that she had met with the original film's actresses during the preparation for Legacy and that she would be interested in making a third installment with an intergenerational storyline. [28]
The Craft is a 1996 American teen supernatural horror film directed by Andrew Fleming from a screenplay by Peter Filardi and Fleming and a story by Filardi. The film stars Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, and Rachel True. It follows four outcast teenage girls at a Los Angeles parochial high school who pursue witchcraft for their own gain and subsequently experience negative repercussions.
Fairuza Balk is an American actress, musician, and visual artist. Known for her portrayals of distinctive characters—often with a dark edge and "goth-girl" persona—she has appeared in numerous independent films and blockbuster features.
Rachel India True is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in such films as The Craft (1996), Nowhere (1997), and Half Baked (1998). True is also known for her role as Mona Thorne on the UPN sitcom Half & Half, which ran from 2002 to 2006.
Alexander Medawar Garland is an English author, screenwriter, and director. He rose to prominence with his novel The Beach (1996). He subsequently received praise for writing the Danny Boyle films 28 Days Later (2002) and Sunshine (2007), as well as Never Let Me Go (2010) and Dredd (2012). In video games, he co-wrote Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (2010) and served as a story supervisor on DmC: Devil May Cry (2013).
Zoe Lister-Jones is an American actress and filmmaker who co-starred as Jen Collins Short in the CBS sitcom Life in Pieces from 2015 to 2019. She is also known for her roles in the television shows Delocated (2009–2010), Whitney (2011–2013), and New Girl (2015). Lister-Jones made her directorial debut with the 2017 comedy-drama film Band Aid. In 2020, she wrote and directed the horror film The Craft: Legacy. During the Covid-19 pandemic she co-wrote and co-directed the comedy-drama film How It Ends (2021) with Daryl Wein. In 2023 she produced, wrote, directed, and starred in the comedy series Slip for The Roku Channel, with Dakota Johnson as executive producer under her TeaTime Pictures banner. On December 5, 2023, it was announced that Slip was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards.
Pacific Rim Uprising is a 2018 American science fiction monster film directed by Steven S. DeKnight, and written by DeKnight, Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder and T.S. Nowlin. It is the sequel to the 2013 film Pacific Rim, and second installment in the Pacific Rim franchise. Guillermo del Toro, director of the first movie, serves as a producer; while production studios Legendary Pictures and Double Dare You Productions developed the movie. The sequel stars John Boyega, as well as Scott Eastwood, Cailee Spaeny in her film debut, Jing Tian, Adria Arjona and Zhang Jin, with Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, and Burn Gorman returning from the original film. The film takes place in 2035, ten years after the events of the first film. The story follows Jake Pentecost, who is given one last chance to live up to his father's legacy after Kaiju, giant sea monsters, are unleashed back into the world and aim to destroy it.
Cailee Spaeny is an American actress. Her first major role was in the science fiction film Pacific Rim Uprising (2018), which was followed by appearances in Bad Times at the El Royale, On the Basis of Sex, and Vice in the same year. She had supporting roles in the miniseries Devs (2020) and Mare of Easttown (2021), and a starring role in the fantasy film The Craft: Legacy (2020).
Gideon Adlon is an American actress. Her films include Blockers (2018), The Mustang (2019), The Craft: Legacy (2020), and Sick (2022). On television, she is known for her roles in the Netflix series The Society (2019) and the NBC series The Thing About Pam (2022). In 2024 she had a role in the movie Miller's Girl.
Devs is an American science fiction thriller television miniseries created, written, and directed by Alex Garland. It premiered on March 5, 2020, on FX on Hulu.
Fantasy Island, also known as Blumhouse's Fantasy Island, is a 2020 American supernatural horror film directed and co-written by Jeff Wadlow. Serving both as a horror reimagining and a prequel to ABC's 1977 television series of the same name, it stars Michael Peña, Maggie Q, Lucy Hale, Austin Stowell, Jimmy O. Yang, Ryan Hansen, Portia Doubleday, and Michael Rooker and follows a group of people who, while visiting the eponymous island, discover that their dream-like fantasies brought to life begin to turn into horrific living nightmares and they must try to survive.
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Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is a 2022 American mystery film written and directed by Rian Johnson and produced by Johnson and Ram Bergman. It is a standalone sequel to the 2019 film Knives Out, and the second installment in Knives Out film series. The movie stars Daniel Craig reprising his role as master detective Benoit Blanc as he takes on a new case revolving around tech billionaire Miles Bron and his closest friends. The ensemble cast also includes Janelle Monáe, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Kate Hudson, and Dave Bautista.
Lovie Simone Oppong is an American actress, best known for her role as Zora Greenleaf in drama series Greenleaf.
Nicholas Dimitri Constantine Galitzine is an English actor. After appearing in an episode of the television series Legends in 2015, he had lead roles in the 2016 teen films High Strung and Handsome Devil. He later starred in the supernatural horror film The Craft: Legacy (2020) and the musical film Cinderella (2021), also contributing to the latter's accompanying soundtrack.
Julian Grey is an American actor. Most recently, Grey can be seen in The Matrix Resurrections (2021) as Brandon, the teenage son of Tiffany. Grey can also be seen in Blumhouse's The Craft: Legacy (2020) as Abe, the youngest son of Adam, and in Searchlight Pictures dark comedy Downhill as Finn, the fearless son of Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. In television, Grey can be seen in AMCs Fear the Walking Dead (2023), Netflix award-winning limited series Godless (2017), and Fox's Wayward Pines (2016).
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How It Ends is a 2021 American apocalyptic comedy-drama film written, directed, and produced by Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones. It stars Lister-Jones and Cailee Spaeny, with cameo appearances by 23 others in a series of vignettes, facilitating the reality of 2020 COVID-19 protocols while serving the underlying plot device of walking through the deserted streets of Los Angeles.
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