1) Despicable Me 2- 45M Weekend, 220M Total
Despicable Me 2 has been a crowd pleaser, and a massive hit at the box office. Families who struggled with sold out shows last weekend, will be returning this weekend. The question is whether or not the minion can beat the monsters of Pacific Rim. I’m projecting a second win for Despicable Me 2.
2) Pacific Rim- 40M Weekend, 40M Total
Pacific Rim has been tracking soft. That’s just the hard truth. The studio has been promoting the heck out of the film, but it just hasn’t been sparking the interest they’ve been hoping for. There is no 100M opening here, or probably even 50M. The studio would be super happy right now if it broke 50M somehow opening weekend. An 85% on Rotten Tomatoes signals to me that the film will play well over the coming weekends, much like how Now You See Me has slowly crept its way up to 110M so far. Pacific Rim will take a larger up front than NYSM did, so a similar crawl could still result in 130-150M domestically, even with such a low opening.
3) Grown Ups 2- 35M Weekend, 35M Total
Adam Sandler and company are back in the sequel that no one asked for. Grown Ups opened to 40.5M in 2010, and went on to make 162M domestically, and 271M worldwide. It is actually Adam Sandler’s second highest grossing film ever. It also spawned the “chocolate wasted” joke that all your kids have been making for the last three years. What is notable about this film, is that it is actually the first sequel that Sandler has ever agreed to. He does face competition on the comedy side from The Heat, and on the family side from Despicable Me 2. 35M is still a good opening, and it might just be what he has to settle for.
4) The Lone Ranger- 15M Weekend, 75M Total
Everyone is talking about how The Lone Ranger flopped, which may affect whether or not people still want to see the movie. I’m expecting a 50% drop this weekend for The Lone Ranger (as some people may still wander out to the theatres to see what all the fuss is about). It’ll be a struggle for the film to cross the 100M mark, but it will do it. It won’t come anywhere near the reported 250M it cost to make the film. John Carter of the Wild West it is.
5) The Heat- 15M Weekend, 110M Total
The Melissa McCarthy/Sandra Bullock comedy dipped only 36% last week, and will continue to see only small drops, as the word of mouth is strong. It faces new competition from Grown Ups 2, but it should still hold up pretty well.
6) Monsters University- 12M Weekend, 230M Total
7) World War Z- 10M Weekend, 172M Total
8) White House Down- 7M Weekend, 60M Total
9) Man Of Steel- 6M Weekend, 279M Total
10) Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain- 5M Weekend, 24M Total
Coming Wednesday: Turbo
Coming Next Week: Red 2, The Conjuring, RIPD
