Deadline has brought word that the upcoming action comedy Superintelligence from husband-wife duo Ben Falcone (The Boss) and Melissa McCarthy (The Kitchen) will no longer get a theatrical release from Warner Bros. but instead will see it premiere on HBO Max.
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“It was actually Ben’s idea, it came from the filmmaker himself,” McCarthy told Deadline. “We had a release date, a full marketing plan, and I had all my press lined up. We were really ready to go. When the announcement came that HBO Max was really happening, Ben had this idea. And we thought, is this better? Different doesn’t mean worse, and how are we watching films ourselves? To us, each movie is near and dear to our hearts. You just want people to see it and love it and you want them to feel good. Superintelligence at its core is, love wins, and people matter. I want that to get to as many people as it can. We need that today, and this seemed like the best way to do it. So no, [this wasn’t imposed on us]. We were ready to go the other way, and we decided to make the detour.”
“I pride myself on living a fear-based life, and that won’t stop,” Falcone joked. “I don’t exactly remember the question, but I wanted to make that clear to you, and to everyone. Honestly, you can release a mid-budget movie, and if we’d stayed in the theaters, we could have done incredibly well. There still are those examples of movies like this one that do. But for this movie, at this time, we felt like it was the best way to go. The PG rating, the fact they are starting this thing. All these streaming services are starting, and here, we are up there with Sesame Street, and Meryl Streep and JJ Abrams and Hugh Jackman and Jordan Peele. There are cool people doing this. So following my fear-based mentality, I thought it was the best move.”
Nothing extraordinary ever happens to Carol Peters (McCarthy), so when she starts getting snarky backtalk from her TV, phone and microwave, she thinks she’s being punked. Or losing her mind. In fact, the world’s first superintelligence has selected her for observation, taking over her life…with a bigger, more ominous plan to take over everything. Now Carol is humanity’s last chance before this artificial intelligence-with-an-attitude decides to pull the plug.
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Falcone and McCarthy are also producing, alongside Rob Cowan, whose credits include the Falcone/McCarthy comedy Tammy and the Conjuring films. Screenwriter Steve Mallory additionally serves as an executive producer.
Falcone’s creative behind-the-scenes team includes director of photography Barry Peterson (22 Jump Street, Game Night), editor Tia Nolan (How to be Single, Angie Tribeca), production designer Jefferson Sage (who has worked with McCarthy on several films, including Spy, The Heat, and Bridesmaids), and costume designer Louise Mingenbach (the Hangover and X-Men franchises).
Filming on location in and around Atlanta, Georgia, Superintelligence was scheduled for release on December 25, 2019 but will now debut sometime in spring.
(Photo Credit: Backgrid Images)
