>
UPDATE: The Reporter now has fuller numbers, and even better news for Fox. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES looks to be headed for an $18M Friday, which should mean a $45M+ weekend, meeting and even exceeding expectations. The picture is skewing older than the usual tentpole, which combined with good word-of-mouth could mean strong legs throughout August.
No such luck for Universal, whose THE CHANGE-UP is only around $4.5M on Friday. It could wind up in the $13-15M neighborhood, the first loser among the summer’s R-rated comedies.
Among holdovers, THE SMURFS may decline about 50% from its $36M opening, while COWBOYS & ALIENS–inflicting more pain on Universal–could tumble more like 60% to around $14M.
Watch for Mitch Metcalf’s full Friday numbers and analysis later this morning, and stay with SHOWBUZZDAILY all weekend for updated boxoffice reports.
The Hollywood Reporter has some extremely preliminary numbers for the weekend’s openings, and they say RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is headed for $14M on Friday, which–if it holds–would mean a $35-40M weekend. (By way of comparison, Cowboys & Aliens made $13M last Friday en route to a $36M weekend.) This would be a little softer than predicted, but Rise has an unusually low $93M pricetag compared to other summer tentpoles, and while that will become $250M after worldwide marketing, breakeven will be an easier target to reach.Meanwhile, THE CHANGE-UP looks to be seriously underperforming, with only $4-6M on Friday for what might be a sub-$15M weekend.
See Mitch Metcalf’s weekend predictions for the lowdown on what’s expected from the new openings, and stay with SHOWBUZZDAILY all weekend for full updated numbers and analysis.
About the Author
More articles by Mitch Salem »
