Plot
August "Auggie" Pullman is a 10-year old boy living in Brooklyn with his mother, Isabel; father, Nate; older sister, Via; and dog, Daisy. He was born with a rare medical facial deformity, mandibulofacial dysostosis, and has undergone 27 surgeries in order to see, smell, speak and hear. As a result, Auggie wears an astronaut helmet when going out in public.
For most of his life, Auggie has been home-schooled by Isabel, but as he approaches fifth grade, his parents decide to enroll him at Beecher Prep, a private middle school. When the school year begins, Auggie is ostracized, but he soon forms a close friendship with his classmate, Jack Will, whom he had previously met during a tour of the school.
For Halloween, Auggie dresses as Ghostface from last year when Daisy ruins the planned Boba Fett costume. He walks through school upbeat and confident due to the anonymity of his costume. However, as he enters his homeroom, he overhears Jack, who does not recognize him, joining Julian and his friends Amos, Miles, and Henry, who bulled Auggie, in making fun of him behind his back, with Jack saying "[he] would kill [himself] if [he] looked like Auggie." He feigns sick, forcing his mother to abandon her mother-daughter day with Via to pick him up, as Nate is at work. Though she is hurt, Via convinces Auggie to go trick-or-treating with her, as she has been rejected by her own best friend, Miranda. Afterwards, Auggie begins to avoid Jack.
Auggie forms a new friendship with another classmate, Summer Dawson, confiding in her about his split with Jack. When Jack eventually asks Summer why Auggie is avoiding him, she only says "Ghostface". He soon realizes his mistake, and resolves to make it up to him by being his partner for the science fair instead of partnering with Julian and Amos. When Julian confronts Jack about it in the hallway and calls Auggie a “freak”, they get into a fight, which is broken up by their homeroom teacher, Mr. Thomas Browne, and another teacher. Outraged, Julian ends his friendship with Jack. Jack is suspended for two days, and the principal, Mr. Lawrence Tushman, reads his letter about defending Auggie. Jack then apologizes to Auggie via Minecraft , telling him he said what he said only to gain favor with Julian's friend group, and they reconcile.
Meanwhile, Via, even though she loves her family, has been feeling left out as her parents tend to spend more time looking after Auggie since he was born. She signs up for the drama club after meeting Justin, who she soon begins a relationship with. She is selected as Miranda's understudy for the lead in the school's production of Our Town , but on opening night, learning Via's family is in attendance while her own is not, Miranda feigns illness to let Via take her place. She gives a moving performance, earning a standing ovation, and she and Miranda reconcile.
Auggie's popularity and circle of friends grows over the year, but Julian and his friends bully him until Mr. Browne notices. The principal confronts Julian and his parents with evidence, including hate notes and a class picture with Auggie photoshopped out. Julian's mother admits she deleted Auggie from the picture, defends Julian's actions, and insists students should not be exposed to Auggie. Despite her threats to pull funding, Julian is suspended for two days, forcing him to miss the nature retreat. As they leave, his mother declares he will not be back in the fall and Julian apologizes.
At the nature retreat, Auggie and Jack are threatened by a trio of seventh graders from a nearby school, but Amos, Miles, and Henry defend them.
At the graduation ceremony, Auggie thanks Isabel for enrolling him in school, and she tells him "You really are a wonder, Auggie." He is given the Henry Ward Beecher Medal for his strength and courage throughout the school year.
Production
Casting
On April 14, 2016, Jacob Tremblay was cast to play the lead role, Auggie Pullman, while Julia Roberts was in talks to play Auggie's mother. [8] On May 5, 2016, Roberts' casting was confirmed, and Stephen Chbosky was set as the film's director. [9]
On June 27, 2016, Owen Wilson joined to play Auggie's father. [10] On July 11, 2016, newcomer Noah Jupe joined the cast as Auggie's best friend at school, [11] and on July 15, 2016, Daveed Diggs was cast as Mr. Browne, an English teacher at the school. [12]
On August 19, 2016, Sônia Braga joined the cast, portraying the role of Roberts's character's mother. [13]
Special effects
Tremblay's prosthetic makeup, designed and created by Arjen Tuiten, took an hour and a half to apply. It consisted of a skull cap with prosthetic ears attached, a facial prosthetic that covered Tremblay's face, and a wig to tie it all together. [14]
Music
Marcelo Zarvos composed the film's score. [15] Bea Miller composed a song for the film, "Brand New Eyes". It was released on August 3, 2017. Wonder author R. J. Palacio has often credited Natalie Merchant's song "Wonder", from her 1995 album Tigerlily , as the inspiration for her best-selling book. At Merchant's invitation, the song was featured on the soundtrack. The song is played during the film's end credits. [16]
Reception
Box office
Wonder grossed $132 million in the United States and Canada, and $173 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $306 million, against a production budget of $20 million. [3] Deadline Hollywood calculated the film made a net profit of $55.3 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenues. [21]
In the United States and Canada, Wonder opened alongside Justice League , The Star , and Roman J. Israel, Esq. and was initially projected to gross around $9 million from 3,096 theaters in its first weekend. [22] However, after grossing $740,000 from Thursday night previews and receiving a large number of group ticket sales, weekend projections were upped to $15 million. [23] Weekend projections were again increased, this time to $28 million, after the film made $9.4 million on its first day. The film went on to debut to $27.5 million, [24] finishing second at the box office, behind Justice League. [25] In its second weekend, the film dropped just 17.7%, grossing $22.7 million and finishing third at the box office. [26]
Critical response
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 85% based on 192 reviews, and an average rating of 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Wonder doesn't shy away from its bestselling source material's sentiment, but this well-acted and overall winsome drama earns its tugs at the heartstrings." [27] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 66 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [28] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A+" on an A+ to F scale, one of approximately 100 films in the history of the service to receive the grade. [25]
Some reviewers criticized the decision to cast an actor without the same condition as Auggie as undermining the film's message. [29] [30] In August 2021, during Edinburgh TV Festival's MacTaggart Lecture, co-writer Jack Thorne, while not specifically citing Wonder, acknowledged that he had failed to stand up for disabled talent on projects involving the subject, and sought to rectify this through pushing for new disability initiatives like 'Underlying Health Condition', which launched in December 2021. [31]
