‘Chronicle’ and Daniel Radcliffe's ‘The Woman in Black’ expected to top tight box office race on Super Bowl weekend
It’s Super Bowl weekend, so chances are that many people are not going to be rushing to the movie theaters Sunday. Hollywood has to hope that people come out in droves on Saturday to see the major new releases. The Woman in Black, Daniel Radcliffe’s first post-Harry Potter film, and Chronicle both open this weekend, but neither is expected to break the bank.
The two films are expected to fight for the top spot, with both having a pretty good chance of beating last week’s number one film, The Grey. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the two movies are expected to make between $11 million and at least $15 million, but both CBS Films, which is distributing The Woman in Black, and Fox, which made Chronicle, expect the films to make less than that.
The Associated Press predicts that the Radcliffe-starring horror film will come out on top with $15 million. The film cost CBS just $3 million to acquire from Hammer Film Productions and is likely to be a hit among young girls.
Chronicle is a different story. It is a Fox film that cost the studio just $12 million to make and is targeted to young males. Selecting the weekend of the Super Bowl to open a film with that audience might seem like a counterproductive move, but Entertainment Weekly is actually predicting that it will make more than The Woman in Black with $19 million. The AP is more in line with industry tracking, predicting just over $10 million.
Liam Neeson’s The Grey had a better-than-expected opening weekend, but both the AP and EW are predicting that the film will make just $10 million this weekend.
Universal’s Big Miracle, with Drew Barrymore, is targeted to a family audience. The PG-rated drama is based on a real 1988 incident in which a family of whales got trapped under ice. It is expected to make about $8 million to $10 million.
The fifth spot could be held by Underworld: Awakening, which continues to draw audiences. It could wind up with $6 million, which should be enough to beat Katherine Heigl’s One for the Money.