It is already crowded at the theaters, but this weekend will bring 3 more wide releases and an indie flick expanding its number of theaters. Below you will find a quick overview of the new titles that you will see at your local theaters as well as my prediction for how this weekend will shape up as everyone is swimming to catch up with Dory who this week, just 12 days after release, became the fastest animated film to reach $300 million and it doesn’t look like much is going to slow her down.
The Purge: Election Year
With a production budget of a measly $10 million, it is no surprise that we are seeing the third installation of this franchise. The first Purge film opened in 2013 and made $34 million dollars on it’s opening weekend against a paltry budget of just $3 million. I’m no business major, but I think that was a winner. I have not been impressed with the series, but I am not their key demographic or fan base. Fans look ready to swarm the theaters this weekend, and while I don’t think it will unseat Finding Dory from the top of the charts, I do think that it will have a solid weekend. They could be slowed a bit by the surprising success of The Shallows which did better than anyone projected last weekend and pulled in nearly $17 million.
The Legend of Tarzan
I’m not sure what to make of Tarzan. I’ve never been a huge fan of the property. But this film is tracking well in social media and has a lot of star power. The studio is projecting $30 million, but I think that is a bit generous. If you look at what happened to the Lone Ranger in 2013, I’m afraid we could see a similar fate for Tarzan.
The #3 position is going to be tight this weekend as I expect Independence Day: Resurgence to have a respectable showing despite poor reviews if for nothing else than the fact that the holiday we celebrate this weekend is in the title. Will it be enough to beat Steven Spielberg’s giant?
The BFG
The “F” stands for friendly. This is the film that I will be seeing this weekend with my brood of kids. I have always been a fan of Roald Dahl’s storytelling and with the directing power of Steven Spielberg behind it I think The BFG will have a solid showing and with the best reviews of any of the competitors, I think we could see Finding Dory have a larger drop than expected with this friendly giant coming in as competition.
Swiss Army Man
Back in January, while playing at Sundance, Swiss Army Man got an alternate title. News outlets everywhere began reporting that people were walking out of the “farting corpse movie.” Well, here we are 6 months later and it seems the winds have changed and Swiss Army Man now has a respectable 66% favorable score on Rotten Tomatoes and A24 is expanding its release to 628 theaters. If I have time to grab a second movie this weekend, this will be my choice as it will probably only be in that many theaters for a week or two unless it does very well.
So here is my prediction for the 3 day weekend. What are you planning to see? Sound off in the comments below.
- Finding Dory – $40 Million
- The Purge: Election Year – $24 Million
- The Legend of Tarzan – $21 Million
- Independence Day: Resurgence – $20 Million
- The BFG – $19 Million