This weekend will be a busy one at the box office, with four new wide releases, two of which have been in theaters since Wednesday. The new films - Elysium with Matt Damon and Disney’s Planes - are expected to beat out the other two, We’re The Millers and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.
Sony’s Elysium is among the most anticipated sci-fi films of the season, as director Neill Blomkamp’s follow-up to the critically praised District 9. The film stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster and does have an R rating to overcome, but it shouldn’t have trouble winning the weekend. Box Office Mojo is predicting that the $115 million film will open to around $34 million.
Planes was originally supposed to be a direct-to-video Cars spin-off, but Disney decided they might as well try for some extra cash and release the film in theaters. It does have plenty of family movies to compete with (as the failures of Turbo and Smurfs 2 show), but a $28 million opening for a $50 million animated film is pretty good. Entertainment Weekly suggests that the film may do better than anticipated.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, We’re The Millers kicked off Wednesday with $6.8 million and an A- CinemaScore grade from audiences. It may just be the hit Jennifer Aniston needs and only cost Warner Bros. $37 million to make. It’s expected to finish with $35 million by Sunday, making around $20 million over the weekend.
Percy Jackson is Fox’s second film in that franchise and is looking at an opening just south of $20 million over the weekend. The film grossed $5.5 million on Wednesday and cost the studio $90 million to make.
The fifth slot will likely be held by last week’s winner, 2 Guns.
image: Sony