We’ve had quite the exciting start to the summer movie season haven’t we? Box office champions galore!
From the heroic action of Avengers: Age of Ultron to the riveting road rage of Mad Max: Fury Road to…Pitch Perfect 2???
Look, I don’t know much about that last one, but I do know that this Memorial Day long weekend looks to scare some moolah out of your wallet.
Follow me after the jump for our weekly Box Office Predictions!
While this site’s Editor-In-Chief Andy Burns (who normally scribes this particular column) is off on a weekend sabbatical with writers Glenn Walker, Marie Gilbert, Jim Knipp and a whole host of warm and friendly South Jersey Writers, I’m left to pull some box office numbers out of a hat.
That’s how it usually seems with my predictions, whenever I do give them. In any case, while enjoying blue skies and warm weather here in Toronto (we had our long weekend last weekend), I feel the particular presence of a film trying to scare me out of my hard-earned coin.
But I don’t scare easy.
May. That’s a weird month to release a horror movie, isn’t it? Not only must it go up against the previously mentioned great weather, but it’s also got to go up against tent-pole, blockbuster films. Luckily for Poltergeist, its main competition has already been out for a few weeks – and it also has some name recognition since it’s a remake of the 1982 classic, otherwise you’d probably see the flick buried in the box office listings deeper than the cemetery its infamous house was built upon!
With it’s estimated $35 million budget, I’m betting Poltergeist will make good money by the end of its theatrical run, surely inciting a sequel. That said, the film has received mixed reviews – even though it was produced by cult-fave Sam Raimi. The trailer looks creepy enough, but I’m betting on a lackluster opening. Evil clowns or not, the summer just isn’t the time to scare people. I think it just sneaks into the Top 5.
Tomorrowland is another new release, this one starring George Clooney. Brad Bird (Iron Giant, The Incredibles) is the writer and director on this one so you know it’ll be ambitious. Early reviews haven’t been that kind, but it’s geared toward a younger audience and should fill that void in the movie landscape quite nicely this long weekend. Look for it to be in the top spot.
Here, then, are my out-of-the-hat predictions:
1) Tomorrowland – $47 million
2) Pitch Perfect 2 – $39 million
3) Mad Max: Fury Road – $34 million
4) Avengers: Age of Ultron – $28 million
5) Poltergeist – $23 million
It’s nice to see continued strong showings from Mad Max: Fury Road (a film I still need to see) and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Be back with us on Sunday for a review of these predictions. Enjoy your long weekends…what will you be seeing on the silver screen?
