Divergent, one of the year’s strongest films that can tap into The Hunger Games vein, opens this week. The news is not so bright for Muppets Most Wanted, the other opener.
Sensei’s weekend predictions and revenue results are as follows:
1. Divergent ($69 million) – The casting may not be as strong as Hunger Games, but buzz is sky-high. With 300: Rise of an Empire powering a strong frame again, box office over-performances are a strong possibility for action films. Sensei sees that happening here.
2. Muppets Most Wanted ($26 million)– The news is not so great for this one. After spending enormous amounts on marketing (Super Bowl commercials and all), this one will struggle to even match the first Muppets’ opening weekend ($29 million) or even current kiddie fare Mr. Peabody & Sherman ($32 million). It’s a shame this film couldn’t hold on to Amy Adams; that would’ve helped tremendously. Instead, they’re stuck with Tina Fey to try and cover its high costs. That will be difficult.
3. Mr. Peabody & Sherman ($15 million)– Word of mouth is very positive on this one, so much so it will pull young audiences away from Muppets. Still, the film’s $145 million budget looks pretty glaring.
4. 300: Rise of an Empire ($9 million) – Film has already earned over $235 million worldwide. (And that was in what–two weeks?) Talk about strong box office output. Film still has plenty of box office glory to seize in the weeks ahead.
5. Need For Speed ($8.4 million)– This one underperformed last week ($17.8 million), giving Mr. Peabody & Sherman a weekend win basically “by default.” Film’s fortunes will not improve this weekend as Divergent steals away those highly needed teen audiences. On the bright side, TV star Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad) did have a better opening in this film than Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones) did in Pompeii.
In other calls:
Frozen pulls a box office rarity, a film still making significant money in theaters (over $2 million last week), even at the time of its DVD home release. Also, congrats to Veronica Mars on pulling a solid opening. Hopefully, we’ll see similar projects in the future.
Those are Sensei’s calls. Enjoy the weekend.
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