It should come as no surprise that Fantastic Four will win the weekend, it’s a Marvel movie, but it’s not hyperbole to say this might be the worst one yet. I didn’t even see a Stan Lee cameo, likely because they couldn’t figure how to work it into a script put together with finger paints. Whoever sees this on Friday night will act as a cautionary tale to Saturday and Sunday viewers, plus we’ve officially hit the end of the cinematic summer season. It’s downturn central from here, and even if Fantastic Four hits my $43 million prediction I could see it losing as much as 65 percent next weekend. It’s not a pretty picture.
The Gift is well positioned as the low budget horror film, and I like a result around $14.9 million. This is the August doldrums folks, but at least The Gift had the good sense to trot out a recognizable actor (Jason Bateman) and a marketing campaign (I’ve seen this creepy trailer everywhere). Looking for precedent here, maybe go with House at the End of The Street? That opened at $12.2 million in September of 2012, factor in inflation, yada yada yada.
I don’t know who the audience would be for Ricki and the Flash, and I’m pretty sure they don’t either. I mean, why? Clearly this will skew older, but familial dramas about aging rockers don’t have any track record at all. Plus, it just looks so hokey. Anyway, I won’t dilly-dally, my call is $9.7 million. There’s not much room upwards, but there isn’t a bottom here. I could see it making about twenty bucks.
Shaun the Sheep Movie? What is this? I’ve seen zero words about this film, but I guess that’s because it’s firmly in the kiddie demo? It’s actually done a little business internationally, $50+ million, but this isn’t Minions or even Pixels. I’ll hand them $8.1 million for the 300,000 people who have two kids and no air conditioning.
That’s all I’ve got for now, it’s your turn, predictions away!
SIDE NOTE: Some of the theater numbers below are estimates. We’ll have the actual counts in Sunday’s wrap-up article.
