With the promise of adolescent wish fulfillment and CGI pumpkin goop, horror director Eli Roth’s first family film, The House with a Clock in Its Walls, should be a dead lock to hit the top of the box office this weekend. Starring Jack Black in lovable mode, Harry Potter deprived kids will be dragging their parents to the cinemas this weekend for this tale of a nerdy kid who learns magic from his aunt and uncle inside their which has a clock in… oh, you know. Look for this to overperform on a weekend where the other selections are more adult-oriented.
Those releases include Life Itself, a complex drama from Dan Fogelman, creator of the TV hit, This is Us. Early buzz is feeble, so look for it to debut at a soft second place.
After an 66% dropoff last weekend, The Nun is still garnering great word-of-mouth. The Predator, which was tops at the box office last week, has gotten some love from fans of the franchise, but not much from anyone else. Both of those flicks will still land in the top five, though, as will Paul Feig’s thriller, A Simple Favor.
We’re in that odd time between summer blockbusters and Oscar season, so your guess on the box office numbers this weekend is as good as ours. Nonetheless, here are our predictions.
1) The House with a Clock in Its Walls – $38 million
2) Life Itself – $18 million
3) The Predator – $14 million
4) The Nun – $12 million
5) A Simple Favor – $7.2 million
Roll back here on Sunday to see how the weekend turned out!
