Bad Times at the El Royale(2018)

R
Rated R for strong violence, language, some drug content and brief nudity
2h 21m

Release Date: Oct 12, 2018 | Wide

75%
75%
B-
7.1

1969. Four strangers check in at the El Royale Hotel. The hotel is deserted, staffed by a single desk clerk. Some of the new guests' reasons for being there are less than innocent and some are not who they appear to be.

Official Website

Releases

Original Release | Oct 12, 2018

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Box Office Results

Results

Opening Weekend US & Canada:
$7,132,647
Total US & Canada:
$17,839,115
Total International
$14,043,609
Total Worldwide:
$31,882,724

Current Showtimes

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(U.S. Only)

Director & Top Cast

Drew Goddard
Director

Michael Giacchino

Technical Specifications

Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos

Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1

Other Details

Country of Origin: United States

Language: English

Summaries

Plot Summary

In 1969, Catholic priest Daniel Flynn (Jeff Bridges) (a robber masquerading as a priest), singer Darlene Sweet (Cynthia Erivo), salesman Laramie Seymour Sullivan (Jon Hamm) (Dwight Broadbeck / Seymour 'Laramie' Sullivan, an undercover FBI agent posing as a home supplies salesman), and sarcastic Emily Summerspring (Dakota Johnson) arrive at the El Royale, where they meet the hotel's only employee, Miles Miller (Lewis Pullman) (who served as a sniper in the Vietnam War).Upon checking into the honeymoon suite, Sullivan (in reality an FBI agent named Dwight Broadbeck, sent to remove illegal FBI surveillance equipment in one of the rooms) discovers a passageway leading into a corridor looking onto one-way mirrors in each of the hotel's rooms, as well as a 16mm camera setup. Broadbeck sees Daniel digging around in the floorboards of the his room and finding nothing, he also witnesses an apparent kidnapping in progress in Emily's room (Emily is tying a girl from the trunk of her car to a chair in her room); Sullivan reports to his director (Hoover) & he is instructed not to interfere with the kidnapping, and to sabotage the guests' vehicles to prevent any of them from escaping. Meanwhile, Flynn invites Sweet to join him for dinner. She sees him drugging her drink and knocks him unconscious with a bottle, running out of the hotel to escape. Miles finds Flynn and reveals to him the secret passageway, afterwards explaining that "management" has instructed him to film the guests and send the footage to them. However, he chose to hold back one particularly incriminating film reel of a recently deceased public figure. Flynn forces Miles to hand over the film to him.Against orders, Broadbeck attempts to rescue Emily's hostage, who is revealed to be her younger sister, Rose (Cailee Spaeny). Emily opens fire on Broadbeck, killing him and accidentally injuring Miles who was watching from behind the mirror. Sweet attempts to escape in her car after witnessing the murder, but Flynn arrives. He reveals that he is really a criminal named Donald O'Kelly, who was imprisoned after a botched robbery ten years earlier. Recently freed on parole, O'Kelly has returned to the El Royale in priest garb to retrieve the money which his brother Felix (Nick Offerman) had hidden there before being killed in a double cross ten years earlier - but owing to his failing memory he can't recall which room it was in. He had attempted to drug Sweet to gain access to her room, believing the cash to be buried there. The two agree to split the cash among themselves. Sweet reluctantly agrees.In the lobby, Emily and Rose, having discovered the corridor, interrogate Miles about the surveillance operation. It is revealed that Emily has forcibly removed her sister from a cult led by Billy Lee (Chris Hemsworth), a charismatic and sadistic figure responsible for a string of murders in Malibu. However, Rose reveals that she has already called Billy about their location. As O'Kelly and Sweet attempt to leave with the money, Billy Lee and his cultists arrive and hold them hostage along with Emily and Miles.While interrogating and terrorizing the group, Lee learns of the money and the film, which he realizes is worth much more than the money. In a sadistic game of roulette, Lee kills Emily. Using a brief power outage to his advantage, O'Kelly attacks Lee as the hotel lounge catches fire. During the chaos, Miles reveals that he served as a sniper in Vietnam who killed 123 people. At Sweet's insistence, he picks up a gun and kills Lee and the other cultists. A distraught Rose stabs Miles, but is shot by O'Kelly afterwards. Before Miles dies, Sweet tells O'Kelly to absolve him of his guilt over his actions in Vietnam, which he does. O'Kelly and Sweet retrieve the money and Sweet tosses the film into the fire before the pair flee the hotel.Not long after, Sweet performs at a show in Reno for the crowd, as O'Kelly proudly looks on.

Storyline

Six strangers, (Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Cailee Spaeny and Lewis Pullman) each with their own secrets, meet at the El Royale hotel of Lake Tahoe. Taking place over one night, alliances are made and secrets are revealed. 1969. Four strangers check in at the El Royale Hotel. The hotel was once very popular but is now deserted, staffed by a single desk clerk. Some of the new guests' reasons for being there are less than innocent and some and are not who they appear to be. — grantss 1969. The gaudily decorated El Royale Motor Hotel, literally straddling the California/Nevada border located just outside of Tahoe, has seen better days, but almost simultaneously four individuals check-in - they the only four guests - all assisted by the only hotel employee working this day, the young clerk, Miles Miller. The four are: southern traveling salesman Laramie Seymour Sullivan, stereotypically brash as to his profession; aging Catholic priest Father Daniel Flynn who is showing early signs of Alzheimer's; struggling black singer Darlene Sweet, who has a gig in nearby Reno; and an angry young female hippie who refuses to divulge her name. Some of the four are not who they appear on the surface, those individuals having a very specific reason for choosing the El Royale beyond just needing a place to stay. The true stories of the four plus that of Miles become intertwined, with what happening affected by the dirty secrets of the El Royale. What happens between the five may also be affected by others who are looking for one or more of the five, either in helping them or reclaiming them for their own nefarious purposes. — Huggo Step into the once-glamorous El Royale hotel, a former gambling Mecca nestled on the California-Nevada border, where all roads used to lead here. But now Lake Tahoe's closely guarded secret is the ideal place for seven enigmatic strangers whose lives are about to collide with unforeseen consequences. With the rain pouring down, the long wait ratchets up the tension, unravelling dark mysteries. And soon, blood will flow. As deceit and violence set the tone for the rest of the evening, they can all kiss their last shot at redemption goodbye. — Nick Riganas