Insterstellar is the slight favorite, but man, there are a few factors working against it. It’s over 2 hours and 40 minutes long, plus it’s damned weighty for the “popcorn” crowd. However, Christopher Nolan‘s name is a big reason to be bullish, and it seems to be a little bit ahead in terms of Fandango tracking. Complicating everything is that reviews are all over the board, and the negative ones seem to be particularly negative. We’ll break that down on Friday’s pod, but it’s safe to say it’s a polarizing film.
Even with all that noise it would be silly to predict against Interstellar, especially given how much Inception cleaned up. Maybe audiences are smarter and expect good cinema for their buck? We’ll find out a little this weekend, especially if it rises above my $52.5 million call.
The other exciting film of the weekend is Big Hero 6. The family dollar might be out in force this weekend to see this Pixar-ish Disney animation that most resembles The Incredibles. I’ve pegged it at an “oh-so-close” $48 million, but a win wouldn’t shock me. It’s shorter, has a broader audience, and the weather has turned ugly, meaning families will be headed indoors. Interested to see what y’all think here.
The next two titles are booooring, so I’m not going to pay them too much mind. Last weekend’s winner, Ouija should drop like a stone given the Halloween bloom is off the pumpkin. $5.9 million, and not a penny more, though they made it for the cost of a ham sandwich so they’re giggling no matter what happens from here.
Lastly, the film that almost won a weekend, Nightcrawler. It received a not-so-positive CinemaScore, so it’s likely to get murdered this weekend. People don’t love dark tales about dead bodies? Weird. I see $4.7 million, and it baaaarely making the top 10, but you’re opinion may vary.
Current Record: 52-100-6 against the wisdom of the crowds
SIDE NOTE: Some of the theater numbers below are estimates. We’ll have the actual counts in Sunday’s wrap-up article.
