COMING SOON: If I Stay

As you probably know, one of the biggest box office hits of the year was the cancer romance film "The Fault in Our Stars" (to the tune of $121 million domestic!). Based on a bestseller, it capitalized on its established fanbase and actually delivered a moving film with a strong Shailene Woodley performance. Next month, we could have a similar hit on our hand with the adaptation of Gayle Forman's novel "If I Stay". It stars Chloe Moretz in the lead role described as follows on IMDb:

"Life changes in an instant for young Mia Hall after a car accident puts her in a coma. During an out-of-body experience, she must decide whether to wake up and live a life far different than she had imagined."

Sounds grim right? After watching the trailer above, it seems like the tone could be overly maudlin. Whether it's good or not, I'm more interested to see how it performs at the box office. When a concept finds success (e.g. superhero movies) the studios are likely to churn out more films in the same vein. Will the "young lovers face death" become the next fad? Perhaps. The fact that these films are backed by major studios ("The Fault in Our Stars" was distributed by Fox) with wide releases means that these are expected to be big commercial properties.

If I Stay will be released by Warner Bros. on August 22nd.