Tag: Tawfeek Barhom

The First Omen Box Office Prediction

Despite being a well-known horror series that’s been around for nearly half a century, The First Omen is the first franchise entry in nearly two decades. Serving as a prequel to the 1976 original, Arkasha Stevenson makes her directorial debut with a cast including Nell Tiger Free, Tawfeek Barhom, Sônia Braga, Ralph Ineson, and Bill Nighy.

Genre fans have had plenty to feast on lately from Immaculate to Imaginary to Late Night with the Devil. 20th Century Studios is hoping the brand name helps here, but that could be a stretch. As mentioned, you have to go back 18 years to the last time we had an Omen flick. The 2006 remake premiered in the summer of 2006 and capitalized by debuting on Tuesday, June 6th of that year (get it?). Despite poor reviews, the gambit paid off at first with a $16 million start from Friday to Sunday and $36 million when factoring in those extra three days of release. However, it managed to tumble 65% in its sophomore outing and wound up with a so-so $54 million domestically.

All of that exposition is a way of saying that this franchise doesn’t have the juice of a Conjuring or Insidious or even Evil Dead, to name some. There’s always the chance that horror exceeds expectations. With that caveat, I’ll say low teens is where this lands with a famously unlucky number.

The First Omen opening weekend prediction: $13.3 million

For my Monkey Man prediction, click here:

Monkey Man Box Office Prediction

Oscar Predictions: Cairo Conspiracy

Tarik Saleh’s political thriller Cairo Conspiracy (known as Boy from Heaven in other areas of the globe) is Sweden’s submission for International Feature Film at the Oscars. Following its premiere at Cannes in early summer, Saleh took the Best Screenplay prize. With shortlists being announced last week, it’s one of 15 foreign entries vying for 5 slots.

Cairo isn’t quite as acclaimed as some other hopefuls with its 71% Rotten Tomatoes score. The Swedes, on the other hand, are pretty crafty at getting their pics nominated. There’s been two in the past decade with 2016’s A Man Called Ove and 2017’s The Square. You do have to go back a ways to find the previous winner in 1983’s Fanny and Alexander.

It was a question mark whether Conspiracy would even make the shortlist. I suspect it won’t be seen in the eventual quintet despite its country’s previous successes. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…