This weekend should be a fairly strong one. Here is the projected Top 10:
#1: The Jungle Book ($75 million)
#2: Barbershop: The Next Cut ($15 million)
#3: The Boss ($14 million, -41%)
#4: Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($12 million, -49%)
#5: Criminal ($9 million)
#6: Zootopia ($8 million, -44%)
#7: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ($4.5 million, -31%)
#8: Miracles from Heaven ($3.5 million, -26%)
#9: God's Not Dead 2 ($2.7 million, -34%)
#10: Hardcore Henry ($2.5 million, -52%)
The Jungle Book is the first of four live-action fairy tales to hit theaters over the next four months for Disney. But out of all of them, it appears this one is the one fans are anticipating the most. Its' got a good director at the helm (Jon Favreau of Elf and Iron Man fame). It's got a celebrity voice cast (Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Christopher Walken and Scarlett Johannson are among the cast) The visuals are amazing. And its coming in with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score as of now. The only thing that might be holding it back is the mid-April release date, whereas a summer date might would have resulted in a stronger opening. But if word-of-mouth truly turns out to be strong here, we could be looking at a second-straight blockbuster for the Mouse House here.
Barbershop: The Next Cut is a long-awaited third installment of a series I've never heard of. Starring Ice Cube, the previous Barbershop comedy movies earned $75 million and $65 million back in 2002 and 2004. Those adjust upwards to $100 million in today's money. With solid buzz and a lack of real competition for PG-13 audiences, this could be a solid success.
I made a mistake putting Criminal in last week's post, so I'm just going to copy-paste from what I said last week. It may open lower than what I am estimating, simply because I haven't heard much or seen much promotion. Buzz and awareness seems small. (it is benefiting from Kevin Costner in the lead).
As for holdovers, The Boss should remain in the mix, though the C+ CinemaScore may hurt it. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice will continue to fall fast, as its already starting to come close to the tail end of its run. The Mouse House's Zootopia has continued to play and play longer than anyone anticipated, but it should start to fall to earth this weekend with another Disney movie now in play.
With little competition for older audiences and faith-based audiences, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2, God's Not Dead 2 and Miracles from Heaven should all catch a break this weekend, while Hardcore Henry will plummet due to a C+ CinemaScore.
