Weekend predictions: Smile looks to seize crown from Terrifier

October 18th, 2024

Halloween season ramps up again in theaters this weekend, with Smile 2 looking to keep the horror genre firmly in control at the box office. It should do so relatively easily, even though Terrifier 3 has been enjoying a great run so far. The $2.5 million in previews on Thursday for Smile 2 isn’t spectacular, but sets the film up for $20 million or so on opening weekend. More...

Weekend predictions: Terrifier looking at surprise box office triumph

October 11th, 2024

Cult horror sensation Terrifier 3 goes mainstream this weekend, and it looks like a strong bet for topping the box office chart. A month ago, that would be a shock result, with Joker: Folie à Deux expected to be shooting for something over $40 million in its second outing. Instead, Joker most likely won’t hit $20 million, and Terrifier will have the opportunity to take advantage of its opportunity. With six other films getting wide releases or expansions this weekend, we’ll see a big shake-up on the chart. More...

Weekend predictions: Joker falling short of hopes, but still aiming for $50 million

October 4th, 2024

Warner Bros.’s bet on Joker back in 2019 was a rare case of a studio supporting a bold take on an existing character, and their gamble paid off handsomely, with the japed crusader landing $96.2 million on opening weekend, and going on to score $335.4 million domestically and a breathtaking $1 billion dollars plus worldwide. A sequel was inevitable, and for a time the new movie looked as though it might post similar numbers to its predecessor (at least in North America). Tracking has been disappointing over the past few weeks, though, and reviews are mixed. Now we have preview numbers from last night, our model still thinks it will top $50 million on debut, but it might not get much further. More...

Weekend predictions: Wild Robot headed for the top on a jam-packed weekend

September 27th, 2024

This is a busy weekend in the movie theaters, with no less than seven films either opening or expanding wide. After four wide arrivals last weekend, moviegoers are spoiled for choice at the moment, at least in terms of quantity. There’s some quality too, but it’s a challenge for any one title to stand out from the crowd. The Wild Robot will fairly clearly be the biggest new wide release, and our model thinks it will to the chart. Megalopolis should be the second-highest-grossing opener, but beyond that it gets increasingly hard to discern how things will shake out. There’s so much going on that we’re publishing an extra-long weekend prediction chart this weekend, just to fit in all the films that could hit the top 10. More...