As summer winds down and school starts in parts of the country, Hollywood will try to target specific audiences with three new offerings. Lee Daniels’ The Butler [BUTLR] is likely to prevail again atop the weekend box office. The historical drama has little competition and looks to hold more than 65% of its debut at around $17 million.
Lionsgate has finally gotten around to release You’re Next [URNEX], a horror film it picked up 2 years ago. An intriguing trailer has built up buzz for the latest entry in the home invasion sub-genre that found success earlier this summer in The Purge. The R-rated film has also received excellent reviews. Taking over 2437 theaters, You’re Next may collect $13 million.
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones [CTOFB] is the latest supernatural action/romance targeted at young females. The lackluster performances of Beautiful Creatures and The Host show that moviegoers are tired of all these similar stories. The PG-13 rated film will only appeal to fans of book series. City of Bones opened on Wednesday to $3 million, which indicates a weekend haul around $11 million from 3046 theaters.
Simon Pegg [SPEGG], Nick Frost [NFROS] and director Edgar Wright [EWRIG] complete their British comedy trilogy with The World’s End [WSEND]. Their last film Hot Fuzz opened to $5.8 million in 2007. Since then, Pegg has become a bigger star through Star Trek, while Wright has build up his comic cred with Scott Pilgrim and the upcoming Ant-Man. The R-rated sci-fi comedy should bring out their young male fanbase. Crawling into 1548 theaters, The World’s End could put $10 million on its tab.
After 4 weeks of limited release, Blue Jasmine [BLUJM] expands wide into 1283 theaters. The Woody Allen [WALLE] film starring Cate Blanchett [CBLAN] has earned excellent reviews and has a chance to top the $5.8 million earned by the wide expansion of 2011's Midnight Paris.
That’s the whisper from the virtual trading floor.
Tag(s): BUTLR, URNEX, CTOFB, SPEGG, NFROS, EWRIG, WSEND, BLUJM, WALLE, CBLAN