Tag: Michelle Monaghan

Pixels Box Office Prediction

It may have plenty of recognizable human stars like Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Michelle Monaghan, Peter Dinklage, and Josh Gad, but Pixels box office success will likely rest with its other costars. That would be Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Space Invaders, and many other characters from the iconic video games of many years past.

The Columbia Pictures release comes from director Chris Columbus (who made the first two Home Alone and Harry Potter pics and Mrs. Doubtfire) and has the fascinating premise of bringing the aforementioned arcade heroes and villains to life as they crash Earth. Pixels comes with a hefty reported budget of $110 million and has been very heavily advertised in recent weeks.

Sandler’s recent history at the multiplex has been mixed. This decade, the Grown Ups flicks have performed well, but there’s been flops such as That’s My Boy and last summer’s Blended. Yet, as mentioned, Mr. Sandler is not the main draw here. The film does give him a highly legit shot at his personal best premiere.

Pixels will rely greatly on moviegoers curious to see their favorite game creatures populate the silver screen and also hope to bring in youngsters who have no clue what an arcade really was. As I see it, there’s a pretty wide range for how this could perform. At worst, it could flop in the mid 20s and struggle to make its budget stateside. The ceiling for this could be as high as $60 million out of the gate if its robust marketing campaign succeeds. The competition for family audience is there – Minions will be in its third weekend with Ant-Man in its second and that could be a factor if it under performs.

I believe Pixels will post a solid opening and manage to become Sandler’s largest debut ever, just edging out his 2005 comedy The Longest Yard which made $47.6 million. How it holds up in subsequent weekends with largely be determined by the word of mouth, which is an unknown currently.

Pixels opening weekend prediction: $49 million

For my Paper Towns prediction, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2015/07/17/paper-towns-box-office-prediction/

For my Southpaw prediction, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2015/07/17/southpaw-box-office-prediction/

Box Office Predictions: October 17-19

A trio of new pictures open this Friday to try and end the two week reign of Gone Girl at the top spot: Brad Pitt’s World War II actioner Fury, the Nicholas Sparks adapted romantic drama The Best of Me, and the animated tale The Book of Life. You can read my detailed posts on each here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/10/12/fury-box-office-prediction/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/10/12/the-best-of-me-box-office-prediction/

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/10/12/the-book-of-life-box-office-prediction/

It’s hard to imagine Fury not having enough firepower to debut at #1, though The Best of Me or The Book of Life or both could surpass expectations. The real battle could be for the runner-up position as Gone Girl is likely to suffer a small decline and Best and Book should open in the same range.

As for other holdovers, I expect Alexander and Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day to experience a slimmer decline than current #2 Dracula Untold.

And with that, we’ll do a top six projections for the weekend:

1. Fury

Predicted Gross: $26.4 million

2. The Best of Me

Predicted Gross: $17.8 million

3. Gone Girl

Predicted Gross: $17.6 million (representing a drop of 33%)

4. The Book of Life

Predicted Gross: $15.6 million

5. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Predicted Gross: $12.5 million (representing a drop of 32%)

6. Dracula Untold

Predicted Gross: $10.7 million (representing a drop of 54%)

Box Office Results (October 10-12)

David Fincher’s Gone Girl held off newcomers to remain atop the charts for the second week in a row. The water cooler hit based on Gillian Flynn’s novel took in $26.4 million, ahead of my $24.2M prediction and has amassed a terrific $77 million in ten days.

Dracula Untold had a robust beginning to the tune of $23.5 million, well beyond my meager $14.4M estimate. The pic is likely to fade rather quickly, but Universal Pictures has good reason to be pleased with its results.

The family comedy Alexander and its long title of a bad day debuted healthily with $18.3 million, right in range with my $18.7M prediction. The Steve Carell pic should hold up decently in subsequent weekends.

Horror spinoff Annabelle, as expected, dropped precipitously after its strong opening last weekend. It earned $15.8 million, barely above my $14.8M projection. It’s made $61 million so far.

Despite star Robert Downey Jr.’s relentless promotion last week, The Judge had difficulty luring viewers. It grossed just $13.1 million, below my $16.4M estimate. Mixed reviews may have kept some adult viewers away.

Finally, the steamy drama Addicted posted an impressive $7.4 million on a limited number of screens for a seventh place start. This outshined my $4.5M prediction.

That’s all for now, friends!

The Best of Me Box Office Prediction

Nicholas Sparks has been a profitable box office commodity for studios adapting his works and this Friday, we’ll see if that trend continues with The Best of Me. The romantic drama (it’s Sparks… did you think it was an action thriller??) comes from director Michael Hoffman and stars James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan.

The pic will no doubt cater to females and there is competition from the megahit and current two week #1 performer Gone Girl, which will be entering its third weekend. Since The Notebook a decade ago, let’s take a look at subsequent Sparks releases and what they’ve grossed in their debut frames:

Nights in Rodanthe (2008): $13.4 million

The Last Song (2010): $16 million

The Lucky One (2012): $22.5 million

Safe Haven (2013): $21.4 million

Based on those numbers, a premiere in the mid teens to low twenties is obviously the most probable scenario. I think The Best of Me won’t get past $20M, but should manage to outpace both Rodanthe and The Last Song while not reaching the heights of the last two entries.

The Best of Me opening weekend prediction: $17.8 million

For my prediction on Fury, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/10/12/fury-box-office-prediction/

For my prediction on The Book of Life, click here:

https://toddmthatcher.com/2014/10/12/the-book-of-life-box-office-prediction/