Look out, Mary Poppins, there’s a new magical governess in town as Universal’s Nanny McPhee arrives in theaters today. The family film works some charming vfx magic in a bid to steal the box office title from Screen Gems’ violent vampire vs. werewolf thriller, Underworld: Evolution.
Written by star Emma Thompson (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Angels in America) and directed by Kirk Jones (Waking Ned Devine), Nanny McPhee is based the series of Nurse Matilda books by late British author Christianna Brand. Nearly unrecognizable under layers of prosthetic makeup, Thompson plays the title caregiver, who steps in to take charge of seven unruly children who have recently lost their mother. Colin Firth (Bridget Jones; The Edge of Reason, Love Actually) plays the overwhelmed father who realizes that this unusual-looking woman may be his last hope for keeping his family together. Angela Lansbury also stars as the evil Aunt Adelaide.
The magical world of Nanny McPhee is brought to the screen with the help of digital wizardry by Framestore CFC under visual effects supervisor Mike McGee (Thunderbirds, TV’s Dinotopia) and CG supervisor Andrew Rawling. The team completed around 150 shots for the movie.
With Underworld: Evolution expected lose a big segment of its audience in the second week, McPhee’s main competition comes from 20th Century Fox’s Big Mama’s House 2, another release whose star is under heavy prosthetic makeup for much of the film. Martin Lawrence returns as an undercover cop who poses as a heavy-set elderly woman in this sequel to the surprise hit from 2000. The comedy opens in more than a thousand more theaters than Nanny McPhee, which should give it a major edge. Also opening in fairly wide release is Buena Vista’s Annapolis starring James Franco and Tyrese Gibson. The fictional look at life inside the famed naval academy rolls out in 1600 theaters.
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