A Man Called Otto

A Man Called Otto is a 2022 American comedy-drama film directed by Marc Forster from a screenplay by David Magee. It is the second film adaptation of the 2012 novel A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman after the 2015 Swedish film of the same name. The film stars Tom Hanks in the title role, with Mariana Treviño, Rachel Keller, and Manuel Garcia-Rulfo.[4][5][6]

A Man Called Otto
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMarc Forster
Screenplay byDavid Magee
Based on
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyMatthias Koenigswieser
Edited byMatt Chessé
Music byThomas Newman
Production
companies
Distributed bySony Pictures Releasing
Release date
  • December 29, 2022 (2022-12-29) (United States)
Running time
126 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50 million[1]
Box office$112.6 million[2][3]

A Man Called Otto began a limited theatrical release on December 29, 2022, before a wide release in the United States on January 13, 2023. The film received generally favorable reviews from critics and has grossed $112 million worldwide on a $50 million budget.

Plot

Otto Anderson, a 63-year-old widower, lives in suburban Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Six months after losing his wife Sonya, a former schoolteacher, Otto has become a cynical curmudgeon. He prepares for suicide after retiring from his job at a steel company.

During a suicide attempt by hanging, Otto has flashbacks to his past. Years previously, he tried to enlist in the army but was rejected due to his hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He meets Sonya on a train after returning a book she dropped. During his suicide attempt, he is interrupted by his new renting neighbors: Marisol, Tommy, and their two daughters, Abby and Luna. They bring him some Mexican food and ask to borrow an Allen wrench. Again, he attempts to hang himself, but the noose collapses from the ceiling. Inspired by a flower bouquet advertisement in the newspaper he’d placed on the floor, he purchases flowers and visits Sonya’s grave and tells her about the new neighbors.

Otto attempts suicide again, this time via carbon monoxide poisoning. He experiences a flashback of having dinner with Sonya. He tells her he is passionate about cars and confesses to her he cannot enlist in the army due to his heart condition and does not have a job, prompting Sonya to kiss him. Marisol disrupts Otto's suicide attempt with an emergency, asking him to take her and her kids to the hospital after Tommy fell and broke his leg using a ladder Otto had lent to him. Otto reluctantly agrees.

Otto has a flashback to his graduation with an engineering degree when he asked Sonya to marry him. As Otto waits on the train platform in yet another suicide attempt, an old man faints and falls forward onto the train tracks. Otto saves the man. He then stands in the middle of the tracks, waiting for the speeding train to kill him, but is pulled to safety by another man. The incident of him saving the old man goes viral.

Otto adopts a cat that had been lingering around the neighborhood. Marisol asks Otto if he can give her driving lessons. Later, they visit Sonya's favorite bakery, which the couple frequently visited every weekend. At the bakery, he tells her about his friendship with a man named Reuben, and the two having worked together to establish rules and order, with Otto as chairman of the neighborhood association board. The two grew apart after Reuben's preference for Fords and Toyotas over Otto's Chevrolets and the "coup" of replacing Otto as chairman. Reuben, who had a stroke, now uses a wheelchair and is cared for by his wife Anita and neighbor, Jimmy.

A local transgender teen, Malcolm, recognizes Otto as Sonya's husband while delivering newspapers and circulars in the neighborhood. Malcolm cuts through Otto's disgruntlement at receipt of the newspapers and recounts Sonya was his teacher, and one of the few people who accepted him as he is. A friendship forms between the pair and Otto fixes Malcolm's bicycle. Otto tries to dodge a social media journalist named Shari Kenzie, who is attempting to interview him about his viral video. Otto gets angry at both Marisol and a Dye & Merika real estate agent, not wanting to come to terms with Sonya's death. He attempts to commit suicide by shotgun, but he is interrupted by Malcolm, who asks to spend the night after his father kicked him out.

Otto learns Dye & Merika is planning to force Reuben into a nursing home and sell their house, after illegally finding out Anita is diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Otto agrees to help Anita and Reuben fight the company. Marisol refuses to assist Otto until he tells her he and Sonya went to Niagara Falls to celebrate Sonya's pregnancy. On the bus back home, they were involved in a crash, and Sonya became paralyzed and had a miscarriage. The neighborhood was not accessible to Sonya and Otto was voted out of the chairmanship after a heated confrontation with a Dye & Merika representative. Otto wanted to put all of the real estate companies out of business, but decided against it to care for Sonya. With the help of the neighbors and Shari Kenzie, Reuben and Anita are able to keep their home.

Otto collapses and is taken to the hospital, where he lists Marisol as his next of kin. After being told by a cardiologist that Otto's heart is too big, she laughs, before going into labor and gives birth to a son named Marco. Otto offers a crib he built when Sonya was pregnant, to Marisol as a gift. Otto subsequently grows closer to his neighbors, particularly Marisol and her family, and gives his car to Malcolm before purchasing a new truck.

Some time later, Tommy notices Otto did not shovel the snow on his walkway. Marisol and Tommy enter Otto's house to find him dead, having succumbed to his enlarged heart. A funeral is held, attended by his neighbors. In a letter to Marisol, Otto states he willed her his bank accounts, providing them with enough money to take care of her family, along with his new car and house.

Cast

Marisol's baby was played by triplets local to the Pittsburgh area.

Production

In September 2017, it was announced that Tom Hanks would star in an English-language adaptation of the 2015 Swedish film, A Man Called Ove, and would also produce alongside Playtone partner Gary Goetzman, wife Rita Wilson, and Fredrik Wikström Nicastro of SF Studios.[7] Marc Forster was confirmed as the film's director in January 2022, with David Magee writing the screenplay.[8] On February 10, 2022, it was announced that Sony Pictures pre-bought the rights to the film for around US$60 million at the European Film Market.[9]

Filming

Filming began in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in February 2022.[1][10] It wrapped in May 2022.[11][12]

Soundtrack

Thomas Newman composed the film's score. The soundtrack album was released by Decca Records on December 30, 2022.[13][14] The album also features the single "Til You're Home" by Rita Wilson and Sebastián Yatra, which was released on December 2, 2022,[13] and was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.[15]

Release

The film began limited theatrical release in New York City and Los Angeles on December 29, 2022, before a wide release in the United States on January 13, 2023, by Sony Pictures Releasing.[16][17] It was originally set for a wide release on December 25, 2022,[18][19] then moved up to December 14, 2022, before moving to its current date.[20]

Home media

The film was released for VOD on February 28, 2023. It was released for Blu-ray and DVD on March 14, 2023. [21][22] The film was released on Netflix in the United States on May 6, 2023.[23] Disney signed a “pay two window” deal with Sony on April 2021 which also included A Man Called Otto.[24]

Reception

Box office

A Man Called Otto grossed $64.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $48.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $112.6 million.[2][3]

A Man Called Otto grossed $60,000 at four Los Angeles and New York theaters on its opening three-day weekend.[25] It expanded to 637 theaters the following weekend, making $4.2 million and finishing in fourth.[26] In its third weekend the film made $12.7 million after expanding to 3,802 theaters, surpassing its $8 million projections and remaining in fourth.[27]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 69% of 204 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "Check all cynicism at the door and allow A Man Called Otto to tug at your heartstrings with its tried-and-true tune — it just might sing."[28] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 51 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[29] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak gave the film an overall positive score of 93%, with 76% saying they would definitely recommend it.[27]

References
  1. Wiseman, Andreas (February 8, 2022). "Buyers Circling Tom Hanks Comedy A Man Called Otto On Eve Of Virtual EFM". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  2. "A Man Called Otto (2022)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  3. "A Man Called Otto (2022)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  4. Wiseman, Andreas (January 18, 2022). "Marc Forster To Direct Tom Hanks In A Man Called Ove With SF Studios, Rita Wilson & Playtone Producing David Magee Script". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
  5. Wiseman, Andreas (January 31, 2022). "STX & CAA Board Sales On Tom Hanks Comedy A Man Called Otto Ahead Of Pennsylvania Shoot; Supporting Cast Revealed For EFM Hot Pic". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
  6. Kroll, Justin (March 24, 2022). "Cameron Britton And Mike Birbiglia Join Tom Hanks In 'A Man Called Otto'". Deadline. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  7. Fleming, Mike Jr. (September 21, 2017). "Tom Hanks To Star In 'A Man Called Ove' Remake". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  8. Wiseman, Andreas (January 18, 2022). "Marc Forster To Direct Tom Hanks In 'A Man Called Ove' With SF Studios, Rita Wilson & Playtone Producing David Magee Script". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
  9. Wiseman, Andreas; Fleming Jr, Mike (February 10, 2022). "Tom Hanks Comedy A Man Called Otto Pre-Sells To Sony For $60M In Biggest Ever EFM Deal". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 11, 2022.
  10. Axelrod, Joshua (March 9, 2022). "Western Pa.-shot film Cha Cha Real Smooth set for June 17 release". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  11. Cuneo, Kevin (February 20, 2022). "Crew for Tom Hanks movie in Pittsburgh hiring scores of extras". Erie Times-News. Retrieved February 21, 2022.
  12. Fleming, Mike Jr. (May 11, 2022). "Sony Pictures Lands U.S. Rights To Miramax's Here; Robin Wright Joins Tom Hanks, Robert Zemeckis, Eric Roth In Forrest Gump Reteam – Cannes Market". Deadline Hollywood. The acquisition furthers the studio's relationship with Hanks, whose A Man Called Otto just wrapped production.
  13. Porter, Sierra (December 2, 2022). "Rita Wilson Enlists Sebastian Yatra for 'A Man Called Otto' Song 'Til You're Home'". Billboard. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  14. "'A Man Called Otto' Soundtrack Album Details". Film Music Reporter. December 29, 2022. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  15. Burlingame, Jon (December 21, 2022). "Oscar Music Shortlists: Weeknd, Selena Gomez, 'RRR' Songs Make the Cut; 'Avatar,' 'Nope,' 'Don't Worry Darling' Scores Advance". Variety. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  16. "A Man Called Otto". Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  17. D'Alessandro, Anthony (October 17, 2022). "Tom Hanks Movie 'A Man Called Otto' Shifts To Christmas". Deadline. Retrieved October 18, 2022.
  18. Shafer, Ellise (February 18, 2022). "Sony Dates Tom Hanks Vehicle A Man Called Otto for Christmas Alongside Whitney Houston Biopic". Variety. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  19. Pedersen, Erik (February 18, 2022). "Sony Moves Oh Hell No Off Schedule, Confirms A Man Called Otto For Christmas, Sets Umma Date & More". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  20. D'Alessandro, Anthony (July 19, 2022). "Sony Moves Madame Web To Fall 2023, Dates Marvel Universe Title For Summer 2024". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 19, 2022.
  21. Hunt, Bill. "M3GAN is official for Blu-ray & DVD, plus Scream's The Exorcist III 4K, A Man Called Otto & a look at Zavvi's UK Superman 5-Film Ultra HD Steelbook". thedigitalbits.com. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  22. "A Man Called Otto DVD Release Date". www.dvdsreleasedates.com. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
  23. Moore, Kasey (April 23, 2023). "'A Man Called Otto' Coming to Netflix US in May 2023". What's on Netflix. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  24. "Sony Films Will Move to Disney After Netflix Window Expires". The Hollywood Reporter. April 21, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
  25. Goldsmith, Jill (January 1, 2023). "Hanks Banks $75K In 'A Man Called Otto' Exclusive Run – Specialty Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  26. D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 8, 2023). "'M3GAN' Slays With $30M+ Opening; 'Avatar: The Way Of Water' Hits Half Billion Faster Than 'Top Gun 2', 'Rogue One' – Sunday AM Box Office Update". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  27. D'Alessandro, Anthony (January 13, 2023). "'Avatar 2' Rules With $35M 4-day, 'M3GAN' Moves $20M+, 'Man Called Otto' A Bright Spot For Adult Pics – MLK Weekend Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
  28. "A Man Called Otto (2022)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved March 18, 2023.
  29. "A Man Called Otto Reviews". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved January 13, 2023.
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