Just like last weekend, American Sniper has three new wide releases to beat, but it will also have to draw audiences away from the Super Bowl on Sunday. Nevertheless, the Clint Eastwood movie will secure a three-peat this weekend.
Bradley Cooper’s Sniper blew past $200 million, leaving Mortdecai, The Boy Next Door and Strange Magic in the dust. It grossed $64.4 million, just a 28 percent drop from the previous weekend. Since the movie is still in the headlines thanks to critics for and against it, Entertainment Weekly is predicting a $35.5 million weekend, which sounds about right.
Up next is the Michael Bay production Project Almanac, which might get some sci-fi fans in the doors, but few others. The movie was supposed to be released in February 2014, but got a new title and was pushed back a year. It only cost $12 million to make and it is expected to make at least that this weekend.
Kevin Costner’s self-financed Black or White, directed by Mike Binder, also hits theaters this weekend. The Hollywood Reporter is expected to make at least $6 million. In the film, Costner gets into a custody battle over his granddaughter with her paternal grandmother, played by Octavia Spencer.
Lastly, Open Road is dumping The Loft in theaters this weekend. The James Marsden and Karl Urban-starring movie is a remake of a 2008 Dutch film and was supposed to be released last summer. There’s been next to zero buzz about the film, so anything more than $5 million would be surprising.
Holdovers that should do well this weekend include Paddington, which remains the top family movie in theaters, and Jennifer Lopez’s The Boy Next Door, which has already made back its $4 million budget.
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