Box Office Predictions: 'Zero Dark Thirty' Hunting for No. 1 Slot

Box Office Predictions: 'Zero Dark Thirty' Hunting for No. 1 Slot

Sadly, Sensei’s call streak ended last week at 14 weeks. A nice runover the holidays. This time around, we have soldiers, gangsters andeven some comedic ghosts?

Sensei’s weekend predictions and revenue results go as follows:

1. “Zero Dark Thirty” ($25 million)  -Film will do very well, especially after its recent Oscar nominations.In an interesting note, “Zero” has made about as much in total boxoffice ($4.9 million) as “Promised Land” ($5 million) showing in only 60 theaters. “Promised Land,” in comparison, is playing in well over 1,600 theaters. And they wonder why I hate political films like

2. “A Haunted House” ($19 million)  – Perfectly timed film here. As a clever comedy, film provides perfect box office variety to horror film “Texas Chainsaw 3D” and “Zero Dark Thirty’s” serious narrative.

3. “Gangster Squad” ($17 million) -I love old school gangster epics and love the premise for thisfilm. Unfortunately, the film’s cast has had some pretty significant boxoffice duds: Josh Brolin (“Jonah Hex,” “W.”), Sean Penn (“Fair Game”) and Ryan Gosling (“Ides Of March”). The film’s female lead, Emma Stone,doesn’t have that much better box office clout, either. Hence, why thisfilm is opening in January as opposed to more lucrative frames in eitherthe Summer or Fall. Look for this film to underwhelm, despite the funpremise.

4. “Django Unchained” ($12 million) – Westernshave shown to have great staying power during this time of year (“TrueGrit” also did very well along the same timeline in 2010). Even an epicwestern, Quentin Tarantino style, can do solid business. A few Oscarnominations also helps.

5. “Les Miserables” ($10.2 million) – Wellover the $100 million domestic mark at this point, this musicaladaptation continues to be one of the strongest entries at the boxoffice. Recent Oscar nominations help, but this film’s solid appeal tocountless demographics is what really drives it. Expect a lot more solidweekend grosses.

That’s Sensei’s calls.

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