Imaginary

"Meet Chauncey. He's not imaginary. And he's not your friend."

2024 1h 44m EN

😐

5.9

MID

★5.9TMDB · 728

HorrorMystery

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When Jessica moves back into her childhood home with her family, her youngest stepdaughter Alice develops an eerie attachment to a stuffed bear named Chauncey she finds in the basement. Alice starts playing games with Chauncey that begin playful and become increasingly sinister. As Alice’s behavior becomes more and more concerning, Jessica intervenes only to realize Chauncey is much more than the stuffed toy bear she believed him to be.

“Meet Chauncey. He's not imaginary. And he's not your friend.”

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Cast

DeWanda Wise
Jessica
Taegen Burns
Taylor
Pyper Braun
Alice
Betty Buckley
Gloria
Tom Payne
Max
Veronica Falcón
Dr. Alana Soto
Samuel Salary
Ben
Matthew Sato
Liam

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Jeff Wadlow
Writers: Jeff Wadlow, Greg Erb, Jason Oremland
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 4.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 2 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Jeff Wadlow, shot by James McMillan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Bear McCreary. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Sean Albertson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

DeWanda Wise and Taegen Burns and Pyper Braun carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Meet Chauncey. He's not imaginary. And he's not your friend.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt26658104 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Jeff Wadlow directs. James McMillan behind the camera. Bear McCreary scores. Sean Albertson cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 4.4× over at the box office.
2Released 2 years ago.
3Directed by Jeff Wadlow, shot by James McMillan. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Bear McCreary. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Sean Albertson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6DeWanda Wise and Taegen Burns and Pyper Braun carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Meet Chauncey. He's not imaginary. And he's not your friend.".
8IMDB entry: tt26658104 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 11 themes, including "stepmother", "dysfunctional family", "imaginary friend", "supernatural creature".

The technical file

Cinematography: James McMillan
Original score: Bear McCreary
Editing: Sean Albertson
Production design: Meghan C. Rogers
Costume design: Eulyn C. Hufkie-Womble
Makeup / hair: Carla Brenholtz
Runtime: 104 min · 1h 44m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $10,000,000
Box office: $43,778,760
Return: 438% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Imaginary (2024)

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Jeff Wadlow

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2024-03-13
★ 5/10
Anyone remember an half-naked Tom Payne getting pulled into a barrel of hookers by Stellan Skarsgård in "the Physician" (2013)? That vision might just have forgiven this film had he featured a bit more, but clearly he had read the derivative script and decided it only merited one filming day - hence he hardly features at all. What does feature is the usual dysfunctional family malarkey with him newly married to the well-meaning animator "Jessica" (DeWanda Wise) who is trying to stay on friendly terms with his two daughters - the teenage "Taylor" (Taegen Burns) and the younger "Alice" (Pyper Braun). The family decide to move into her father's house - he is now in a care home - and quickly the youngest discovers a bear. Yep - a teddy bear. What can go wrong? Well it isn't a very nice bear, indeed it's distinctly malevolent and is soon trying to lure all of them (except Tom who has fled the proceedings by now) into a parallel reality with lots of rooms containing lots of scenarios. Some benign, so less so. Poor old "Jess" is soon at her wits end but fortunately neighbour "Gloria" (Betty Buckley) is on hand with some pearls of wisdom that might help them through this rapidly menacing quagmire! Or will they? This film plays out exactly as you would expect. There isn't an original bone in it's body, the acting is mediocre at best - but wait, it's nowhere near as banal as the extracts from the Janet & John book of horror film writing. Some of the dialogue here really does have you staring at the cinema ceiling in disbelief. It's another standard Blumhouse offering that passes the time without you having to engage your brain in the slightest - in fact, you could just watch the last ten minutes and miss very little from the rest of it.
r96sk2024-03-14
★ 5/10
Pyper Braun merits praise, <em>'Imaginary'</em> otherwise falls flat. I was never locked into the story and I didn't really care for the characters at any point, even Braun's Alice isn't all that interesting despite a rather great performance from the young actress. DeWanda Wise is a bit dull, while Tom Payne disappoints somewhat - I mean he only has a small role, sure, but his acting is unconvincing... and I know he can actor far better, as seen during his time on TV's <em>'<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walking_Dead_(TV_series)" rel="nofollow">The Walking Dead</a>'</em>. The antagonists in this are poorly utilized, the poster bear is prevalent but very boring. It needed a Chucky-esque portrayal, rather than the blank stare we get every few minutes. The ending also drags, I thought it was going to end sooner a few times but it kept finding new ways to stick around; nothing majorly grating, granted. The score is at least OK. It also, amusingly, took me ages to work out what the bear's name was. I'm not familiar with the name "Chauncey", so genuinely for the longest time thought the name was either "John C" or "Shaun C". It was only when I finally noticed it written down visually that I realised! 😂 In conclusion, credit to Braun but everyone else onscreen and off it could've done better in my opinion.