The Penny Jar
Genre: Fantasy
Cast: Chloe Moretz, James Cromwell, Liam Neeson, Martin Short, Eva Green, Natalie Portman
Plot: A girl named Kristen (Chloe Moretz) lives with her grandfather (James Cromwell) after the deaths of her parents when she was very young. Her grandfather has a massive penny jar he keeps in his garage, it's full of pennies and he says he's going to pass it on to Kristen someday. Each of the pennies, he says, has a story. One day when Kristen is taking a nap, some burglars can be heard breaking in and trying to haul out the penny jar. Kristen pursues them but ends up tripping and falling down a well, the well has a tunnel at the bottom that leads Kristen to a mysterious forest. She tries to return the way she came so she can track down the burglars, but she can't get back. She is met by a hunter (Liam Neeson) who takes her to a village, where her adventure begins. She learns out that everyone in this world knows her grandfather and that each of them at one point contributed to the penny jar. It seems that the burglars were stealing the penny jar to give to a dark wizard (Martin Short) who says that a piece of everyone's soul is imprinted on the pennies and that if he controls the jar he'll control the world. Before he can extract the souls, he is stopped by Kristen. The wizard tries to cast a spell on her but he is stopped by a woman with a whip (Eva Green), the woman turns out to be the captain of the guard and the collector of the pennies, the one tasked with returning them to their owner. Eventually, Kristen's grandfather comes to the mysterious land in pursuit of Kristen, the two reunite and also meet a beautiful princess (Natalie Portman) who is set to become queen soon, but first the wizard must be dealt with. Eventually the wizard is defeated, the princess is crowned queen, the pennies are returned, and Kristen and her grandfather return home.
Date: Friday, May 27
Rating: PG for some scary scenes and action violence
Theaters: 3,317
Budget: $80 million