The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel
UK release poster
Directed byJohn Madden
Written byOl Parker
Produced byGraham Broadbent
Peter Czernin
StarringJudi Dench
Maggie Smith
Bill Nighy
Dev Patel
Celia Imrie
Penelope Wilton
Ronald Pickup
David Strathairn
Richard Gere
CinematographyBen Smithard
Edited byVictoria Boydell
Music byThomas Newman
Production
companies
Distributed byFox Searchlight Pictures
Release dates
  • 26 February 2015 (2015-02-26) (United Kingdom)
  • 6 March 2015 (2015-03-06) (United States)
Running time
122 minutes[2]
CountriesUnited Kingdom
United States[3]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10 million[4]
Box office$86 million[5]

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a 2015 English-language comedy-drama film that is the sequel to the 2011 film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Its ensemble cast features Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Dev Patel, Bill Nighy, Celia Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup, David Strathairn, and Richard Gere. The film was directed by John Madden and written by Ol Parker.

Plot

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Muriel Donnelly and Sonny Kapoor travel to San Diego, California to propose a plan to hotel magnate Ty Burley for buying and opening a second hotel in India as a companion to the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. They are told that a company inspector will anonymously visit India to evaluate the project.

Back in Jaipur, Evelyn Greenslade is offered a job as a fabric buyer. She is concerned that at age 79, the job will require many responsibilities and considerable travel. Douglas Ainslie, who is in love with Evelyn, is worried about losing time with her as well, and also eager to introduce her to his daughter.

Sonny's life becomes complicated by plans for his upcoming wedding to Sunaina, plus a possible rival for her affections and his business interests. He is also desperate to impress American visitor Guy Chambers, whom he immediately identifies as the American hotel chain's anonymous inspector. Noting the interest Guy has taken in Sonny's mother, he encourages a romantic relationship between them at first, then angrily resents it when he concludes Guy is not the inspector after all.

Madge Hardcastle's dilemma is deciding between two suitors from India and which to wed. Norman Cousins becomes frantic when he believes a local taxi driver mistakenly assumed Norman wanted a fatal accident to befall his current sweetheart, Carol, but then discovers that she has been sleeping with other men. And Douglas' daughter arrives for a visit together with his estranged wife Jean (who returned to the UK at the end of the previous film) seeking a divorce so that she can remarry.

Muriel, while having received bad news from a medical appointment, struggles to keep Sonny from ruining his wedding, his business and his future, having become quite fond of him. Decisions come to a head for all during the colourful wedding of Sonny and Sunaina.

Cast

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Production

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The director and writer of the first film, John Madden and Ol Parker, returned for the sequel. In October 2012, Parker was consulted to deliver a treatment to Fox Searchlight Pictures executives for a sequel titled The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2. Most of the cast agreed to come back.[7] On 28 October 2013, Radio Times revealed that the cast would be flying to India to shoot the sequel film in January 2014.[6]

On 28 October 2013 Radio Times stated that Penelope Wilton confirmed the cast, including Dame Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Dame Maggie Smith, Ronald Pickup and Celia Imrie, would return for the sequel, set to start filming in January 2014.[6] On 30 October, Deadline reported that Richard Gere was in talks to join the ensemble cast of the sequel.[8] Later on 10 January 2014, Gere confirmed his new role in the film; other newcomers added to the film include Tamsin Greig and David Strathairn.[9]

Principal photography began on 10 January 2014 in Jaipur, India.[10] The film was produced for under $10 million.[4]

Release

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The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel had its world premiere at the Royal Film Performance on Tuesday 17 February 2015, an event held in aid of the Film & TV Charity.[11] Subsequently, the film was released in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland on 26 February 2015, and in the United States on 6 March 2015.[12] It grossed $33.1 million in the United States and Canada and $52.9 million in other territories for a total gross of $86 million.[13] Opening-weekend audiences in the US polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[14][15]

The film topped the UK box office during its first week, earning £3.8 million.[16] It stayed top of the UK box office chart for a second week, grossing over £1.9 million[17] and held on to the top spot for the third week in a row, fended off competition from latest Liam Neeson actioner, Run All Night, and claimed £1.4 million in total.[18] In the United States, it opened strong at number three at the US box office with an estimated $8.6 million in its first weekend of release. During its opening weekend, the film also scored the highest average gross of any film in wide release, averaging $5,467 from 1,573 theaters.[19]

Critical reception

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The review aggregator Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, indicating "mixed or average reviews", based on 36 reviews, of which it classified 18 as mixed, 16 as positive, and 2 as negative.[20] Rotten Tomatoes, categorizing reviews as positive or negative, assessed 183 reviews and categorized 122 as positive and 61 as negative for a score of 67%. Of the subset of reviews that had scores, the average rating was 6.1 out of 10. Rotten Tomatoes summarized the critics' consensus, "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is about as original as its title—but with a cast this talented and effortlessly charming, that hardly matters."[21]

Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "It’s not so common to find an ensemble of this caliber so enthusiastic to work together, and that chemistry comes across."[22] Leslie Felper of The Hollywood Reporter called it "sluggish compared to its predecessor."[23]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)". British Film Institute (BFI). Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  2. ^ "THE SECOND BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (PG)". British Board of Film Classification. 23 December 2014. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  3. ^ "BFI Statistics 2015: UK independent films win audiences in a blockbuster box office year". Bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b Lang, Brent (4 March 2015). "Box Office Preview: 'Chappie' Edging Out 'Unfinished Business' in Slow Weekend". Variety. Archived from the original on 6 March 2015. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  5. ^ "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 10 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  6. ^ a b c d Dowell, Ben (28 October 2013). "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2 to start filming in January". radiotimes.com. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  7. ^ Brodesser-Akner, Claude (30 October 2012). "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Sequel Script on Way: Hollywood Now Drawn to Senior Set". vulture.com. Archived from the original on 5 November 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  8. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (30 October 2013). "Richard Gere Courted For 'Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 1 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  9. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (10 January 2014). "Richard Gere Checks Into 'Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 2'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 13 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  10. ^ Bhaskaran, Gautaman (11 January 2014). "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel sequel begins shoot in Jaipur". hindustantimes.com. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  11. ^ "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel selected as the charity Royal Film Performance for 2015". HELLO!. 18 December 2014. Archived from the original on 9 June 2022. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  12. ^ Release Info Archived 11 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine at IMDb
  13. ^ "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2015)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  14. ^ "NORTH AMERICA: Weekend Actuals: 'CHAPPiE' Leads with an Underwhelming $13.3M; 'Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel' Solid with $8.5M; 'Unfinished Business' Bombs with $4.8M; 'American Sniper' Becomes the Highest Grossing Release of 2014". Boxoffice Pro. 9 March 2015. Archived from the original on 24 March 2022. Retrieved 24 March 2022. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel received a solid B+ rating on CinemaScore.
  15. ^ "Cinemascore". Archived from the original on 20 December 2018.
  16. ^ "Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel beats Fifty Shades at UK box office". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 8 March 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  17. ^ "Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel stays top of UK box office chart". Digital Spy. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  18. ^ "Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel wins UK box office again". Digital Spice. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
  19. ^ "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Opens at #3 at US Box Office". Bolly Spice. Archived from the original on 6 October 2015. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  20. ^ "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  21. ^ "The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 1 May 2020.
  22. ^ Debruge, Peter (17 February 2015). "Film Review: 'The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'". Variety. Archived from the original on 13 December 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  23. ^ Leslie Felper (17 February 2015). "'The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
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