Welcome to the Screen Rant Box Office Prediction. Every week we put together an informal list of box office picks for the upcoming weekend to offer readers a rough estimate of how new releases (and returning holdovers) will perform in theaters.
For a recap of last week’s box office totals, read our box office wrap-up from The Jungle Book’s opening weekend and scroll to the bottom of this post to see how our previous picks measured up.
Full disclosure: Box office predictions are not an exact science. We acknowledge our picks may not always be correct. For the sake of offering a jumping off point for discussion, here are our picks for the weekend of April 22 - 24, 2016.
This weekend, The Huntsman: Winter’s War opens in 3,791 theaters. In limited release, Compadres plays in 368 locations, Elvis and Nixon debuts in 381 theaters, A Hologram for a King opens in 401 theaters, and Tale of Tales plays on 2 screens.
#1 - The Jungle Book
Look for last week’s champ, The Jungle Book (read our review), to repeat in the top spot during its second weekend. The film had a very strong opening, bringing in $103.2 million, spurring talks of a sequel. Thanks to its positive reviews from critics and enthusiastic response from audiences, Jungle Book is still seen as the genre picture of choice as moviegoers count down the days to Captain America: Civil War. It’s been riding a wave of great buzz since before it premiered, and with nothing posing a real challenge to it, there’s no reason why The Jungle Book can’t have another big weekend.
#2 - The Huntsman: Winter’s War
Our choice for second is The Huntsman: Winter’s War, a spinoff/prequel to 2012’s fantasy film Snow White and the Huntsman. That film posted respectable numbers during its run, making $56.2 million during its opening weekend en route to a $155.3 million total. The followup raises the star power of the original, as returning cast members Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron are joined by big names like Jessica Chastain and Emily Blunt. All of these talents have starred in commercial hits over the past handful of years, giving The Huntsman recognizable A-listers to hang its hat on. Unfortunately, that may not be enough for a super successful weekend.
Overall, the response to Snow White was lukewarm, meaning that a second film in the series was never truly in demand. With that in mind, The Huntsman clearly will not benefit from the largely negative reviews, with many pundits calling it a bore and dull. With The Jungle Book playing, there won’t be too many people opting for Huntsman, meaning that it faces an uphill challenge it won’t be able to win. Projections have it pegged for just $22 million in its first three days, a significant decline from the first film and a disappointment for Universal.
#3 - Barbershop: The Next Cut
Coming in third should be Barbershop: The Next Cut, which brought in $20.2 million in its opening weekend. The comedy sequel got a major boost from the positive critical reaction, giving fans of the genre something fun to check out. While it isn’t going to be a massive crossover hit, it’s still doing great on its own, and that should be able to continue.
#4 - The Boss
Our pick for fourth is The Boss (read our review), which came in third last week with $9.9 million. The latest Melissa McCarthy vehicle isn’t performing as well as some of her other films, but the actress has a large enough fan base that Boss should be able to hang near the top of the charts for at least another week.
#5 - Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
Rounding out the top five should be Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (read our review). The superhero epic came in fourth last week with $9 million. Business for the film has steadily been going down since its record-breaking opening, but those looking for a comic book fix still have some time to wait before the next Captain America film, so Batman V Superman should still find a sizable audience for the time being.
Last Week’s Recap
Our Picks:
- The Jungle Book Barbershop: The Next Cut The Boss Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Zootopia
Actuals:
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Next Week: Keanu, Ratchet and Clank, and more!
Sources: Box Office Mojo (Release Schedule), Box Office Opening Weekend Projections)