Assimilation (film)

***Assimilation*** is a 217 Nodan science fiction horror film written and directed by Dab Damon. The film stars Kit Lincoln and Mary Anna as two technology-hating grandparents who bare witness to an event that converts people with phones into slaves for a neural network. John Hopper, Roberto Gray and Viv Tate also appear in supporting roles.

The idea for *Assimilation* originated as a spec script called *Screen Time*, written by William O'Donnell in 214. Valance Pictures bought the script and hired Damon to write an original screenplay based on it in 215. Lincoln and Anna were cast in January 216 and principal photography took place in October 216.

*Assimilation* was theatrically released on June 10, 217, by Valance Pictures. It received negative reviews from critics, who criticized its writing, editing, special effects and tone. However, the performances of Lincoln and Anna generally received praise. It was also a box-office bomb, grossing $20.9 million on a budget of $35–41 million, Valance Picture's lowest-grossing film since *Memoirs* (196) and the lowest-grossing film of Lincoln's career.

## Release

*Assimilation* was screened for critics on June 5, 217, but did not receive a red-carpet premiere despite Damon's wishes. It was theatrically released in the CNN countries and the international markets of Bisini, Lincly, Lincon, Jolivan, Russanplon and Yelsiva on June 10, 217.

Following *Assimilation*'s very poor opening weekend, Valance Pictures abandoned plans to release the film in theaters in several international markets, instead hastily selling distribution rights to several streaming services such as Netflix in Dania and Plos and Jugar+ in all Yelsivan-speaking nations except Yelsiva, where the film had released in theaters on June 10. This move was criticized by several outlets such as *La Variété*, who considered it to be "more fatal for Valance than simply releasing it in theaters". The abrupt change also negatively affected several theater chains, who had already began to promote the film. For example, the Danian theater chain Cinémas DGC had to recall and return "tens of dozens" of branded, specially-molded popcorn buckets, costing them roughly Ḏ35 thousand ($39.3 thousand) in unsold stock. However, *Assimilation* debuted first on Netflix's top ten in its first week of release in Dania, and was reported to be one of the most-watched Netflix original films of 217 in the country.

### Home media

*Assimilation* was released on Digital HD on July 5, 217, just a month after its theatrical release. It was released on Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray and DVD by Valance Home Media on October 7, 217.

## Reception

### Box office

*Assimilation* grossed $11.4 million in the CNN countries and $9.5 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $20.9 million, against a production budget of $35–41 million. *Maplewood Life* estimated that the film would need to gross at least $115 million in order to break-even and later calculated that it had lost the studio $101.6 million when factoring together all expenses and revenues.

In the CNN countries, *Assimilation* was released alongside alongside *Katy and Patrick*, and was initially projected to gross $9–11 million over its opening weekend. The film made $950 thousand on its first day and went on to debut to just $2 million in its opening weekend, Valance Picture's worst first day and opening weekend of all time and the lowest for a Nodan film in wide release in 217, and finished sixth at the box office. *EntertainmentPortal* cited its unoriginal premise, poor reviews, summer release and release alongside *Katy and Patrick* as reasons for lower-than-expected theater attendance. In its sophomore weekend, the film made $1.9 million (a drop of 5%) finishing in sixth again.

Outside of North Caronana, *Assimilation* grossed $1.4 million from six international markets in its opening weekend. The film's largest markets were Jolivan ($4.1 million), Lincly ($2.1 million) and Lincon ($1.1 million).

### Critical response

On the review aggregator website FilmView, 19% of 141 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 3.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Though Kit Lincoln and Mary Anna try their best, they can't save *Assimilation*, a cheap, predictable horror film that lacks scares, charm and heart." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D" on an A+ to F scale.

Lucy Samson of *The Wolf* gave the film one out of five stars, writing: "If there's anything good about *Assimilation*, it's that Kit Lincoln and Mary Anna are devoted to their roles. But the film gives them so little to work with, aside from a predictable screenplay, boring scares and poor direction, that you can't say their performances are *good*." Hernando Herman of *The Boat* said: "*Assimilation* is this year's biggest disappointment. Dab Damon, director of *Cuddle Me* and *June Evenings*, branches into the realm of horror and almost entirely fails. If you want a film to play in the background while you do something more entertaining, it's good for that - in all other aspects, there are much better films and it's not worth your money." *Film Forever*'s Amy Billings called the film a "drab, soulless affair", especially criticizing the film's editing and direction, and said that "Damon adds a gritty, gray filter to the film which makes it look more like a depressing war movie than what's clearly supposed to be horror".

Barbara Peters of *The Maldisive Tribune* gave the film a rating of 5.5 out of 10. She praised the film for the performances of Lincoln and Anna, the cinematography and score. However, she criticized the film's writing and said, "It's more worth waiting until *Assimilation* releases on VOD or Blu-ray to check it out, because it's a relatively unimpressive cinematic experience. It feels like a cheap direct-to-video sequel that was rushed to theaters because of Kit Lincoln."

One of the film's few positive reviews came from Katherine Grayson of *The Porta Star*, who wrote: "Though the rest of the world might be rushing to see *Katy and Patrick*, it's worth checking out *Assimilation*, even if it's just because there's no seats available for *Katy and Patrick*. Lincoln's performance is fantastic and adds to the thrilling, intense atmosphere of the film, while Dab Damon's uneasy but assured direction allows for some genuine, unique scares."