Paramount’s Noah, the first film from director Darren Aronofsky since Black Swan and easily his biggest production to date, finally hits theaters this weekend. It comes after months of controversy over Aronofsky’s artistic interpretation of the Bible story and will have to face Divergent this weekend.
The film has been earning good reviews so far and will be screened at 3,500 locations, including 341 IMAX screens, reports Entertainment Weekly. It’s also rated PG-13, but the audience is still expected to trend older. The film cost Paramount $125 million to make, so while $35 million will be enough to win this weekend, the studio has to be looking at the big picture. This movie needs to make nearly $150 million domestically for the studio.
Noah stars Russell Crowe as the title character, plus Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson and Jennifer Connelly. THR notes that the film has done will internationally so far, already opening in South Korea, Australia and Mexico. It also opens in Russia this weekend.
The next big wide release is Sabotage, the next film in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s rocky road back to Hollywood. The Last Stand and Escape Plan both failed to light up the box office, but Sabotage could do a bit better in the long run. Box Office Mojo is expecting a $7.8 million opening.
Divergent should stay strong in its second weekend with around $27 million. It’s certainly not going to have an issue hitting $100 million by next week.
The Grand Budapest Hotel, God’s Not Dead and Bad Words open wide this weekend.
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