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Wonder spin-off White Bird is now streaming on Amazon Prime in the UK following some lengthy delays.

Released in 2017 and based on the novel by Rj Palacio, Wonder told the inspiring story of August Pullman, a boy with Treacher Collins Syndrome, which causes deformities of the face, and his attempts to fit it at high school. Written and directed by Perks Of Being A Wallflower scribe Stephen Chbosky and starring Jacob Tremblay, Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson, the film did good business, taking over $300 million on a $20 million budget.

This brings us to White Bird, not a direct sequel but a story set in the same universe, based on the graphic novel novel by Palacio, which was due to be released late last year. Bryce Gheisar played bully Julian in Wonder, and he reprises the role as we see what happened to him after being expelled for his horrific bullying of August.

White Bird, a follow-up to 2017's Wonder, has set a digital release date. Directed by Marc Forster, the film expands the Wonder universe, which grossed $315 million globally. While Wonder focused on Auggie Pullman's challenges with Treacher Collins syndrome in a middle school setting, White Bird shifts to a historical narrative centered on Auggie's bully, Julian (played by Bryce Gheisar), who visits his grandmother (Helen Mirren) in France following his expulsion from school and learns of her survival story during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II.

After a limited theatrical run earlier this month, the digital release on VOD offers White Bird a renewed opportunity to connect with home audiences. According to Collider, the movie will be available at home starting on November 1. Viewers will be able to either rent or buy the movie, which is based on the novel by Wonder author R.J. Palacio.

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White Bird has earned a solid Rotten Tomatoes score. The movie is both a sequel and prequel to 2017's Wonder, which starred Julia Roberts and was adapted from the R. J. Palacio novel of the same name and grossed $315 million against its $20 million budget. The new movie follows expelled bully Julian learning about his grandmother's (Helen Mirren) youth in France during World War II. The White Bird cast also includes Ariella Glaser, Orlando Schwerdt, Gillian Anderson, Patsy Ferran, Ishai Golan, Jem Matthews, Stuart McQuarrie, Olivia Ross, and Jo Stone-Fewings.

Rotten Tomatoes has now calculated an official Tomatometer score for White Bird. Compiled from 37 different critics' reviews, the movie has earned a solidly Fresh score of 73%. This is just 13 points shy of the original movie, which is Certified Fresh at 86%. This score could fluctuate as more reviews are added, but at the time of writing it is the best score for...

Helen Mirren as Grandmère in White Bird: A Wonder Story. Photo Credit: Larry Horricks. Courtesy of Lionsgate

Helen Mirren stars as a French Jewish grandmother who survived the Holocaust in the family drama White Bird. Concerned about her grandson Julian (Bryce Gheisar), a boy who is struggling to fit in at his new school after being expelled from his previous one for mistreatment of another student, Grandmere (Mirren) recounts her youthful experiences, a story of her past he has never heard, to teach Julian about the lasting power of kindness. In flashback, the grandmother’s story takes us to WWII France, to her old French village in the woods, where the kindness of a non-Jewish boy saved her life.

Also starring Gillian Anderson, White Bird is a moving, beautifully-shot and sensitively-told family drama from director Marc Forster, who also directed Neverland. The film is essentially a young adult tale, offering a coming-of-age,...

The 2017 coming-of-age drama Wonder was a major hit when it first released, drawing attention not only to the works of director Stephen Chbosky, but also to R.J. Palacio, who wrote the 2012 novel the film is based on. Palacio also went on to develop a graphic novel spinoff in 2019, titled White Bird: A Wonder Story. Now, a film adaptation of White Bird will be arriving in theaters. Directed by Marc Forster, the movie elevates a somewhat predictable story with strong performances and an emotionally resonant tale.

White Bird

Director Marc ForsterRelease Date August 25, 2023Studio(s) Mandeville Films, Participant, LionsgateDistributor(s) LionsgateWriters Mark BombackCast Ariella Glaser, Orlando Schwerdt, Bryce Gheisar, Helen Mirren, Gillian AndersonRuntime 120 MinutesGenres Drama, Adventure

Picking up after the events of Wonder, the story of White Bird follows former school bully Julian Albans (Bryce Gheisar) who isolates himself at his new school, not wanting to stand out following the previous film.

White Bird, the Marc Forster-directed film adaptation of author R. J. Palacio’s sequel/prequel to her worldwide hit book and 2017 movie Wonder, has taken a long and circuitous route to finally getting a North American release. Frustrating as it has been, this is a film that is well worth the wait and perhaps more timely now than ever.

Shot in the Czech Republic in February 2021, White Bird was initially set as a wide release in September 2022, delayed a month to October then taken off Lionsgate’s release schedule entirely before either of those dates came around. It was then scheduled for an August 2023 opening, but last year’s SAG strike meant another delay until it was finally set several months ago for its October 4 release this Friday.

In that time, one of its production companies, Participant, has gone out of business, and another, Mandeville Films, has seen the...

Marc Forster has frequently demonstrated an ability to tastefully moderate the more manipulative or saccharine aspects of popular but somewhat blunt-edged source material, in bestseller screen translations like “The Kite Runner” and “A Man Called Otto.” That knack comes in handy once more with “White Bird,” a graceful adaptation of a YA graphic novel by R.J. Palacio. A “Wonder story” tangentially related to 2012’s “Wonder,” it may get some boost from the connection to that book’s successful 2017 film version with Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson.

This less-starry affair (with brightest luminary Helen Mirren relegated to a glorified cameo) is a period piece mixing the Holocaust and teen romance, likely to appeal to a somewhat narrower audience — albeit one that will broaden in home formats. Though one can quibble over some of the more simplistic story elements here, the director’s astute craftsmanship delivers a handsome result that hits the...

Richard III feat. Martin Freeman is a vigorous, brutal, and accessible retelling of Shakespeare’s tale of political villainy…

The world loves a bastard. Will it, though, love one whose legendary wickedness is played for laughs and not venom? Martin Freeman’s taut performance as Richard III in a new Trafalgar Studios production wrings cruel humour from the play’s every pun and pause. Freeman jerks his head, and the audience laughs. He raises his eyebrows, and we laugh. He commits murder, shrugs it off, and we laugh. Who knew fifteenth century crown politics could be such a riot?

Jamie Lloyd’s play sets Shakespeare’s lurid account of Richard III’s rapid ascent to “the supreme seat” against the backdrop of the 1979 English winter of discontent. The idea, apt pun aside, is to evoke political instability and bring to mind the behind-the-scenes machinations that unseat power.

Soutra Gilmour's set...