Per usual, August will continue on with moderate box office numbers. “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones” is getting the widest release, but if “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” showed us anything, it’s that folks just aren’t all that into supernatural young adult book-to-film material at the moment. Should “Mortal Instruments” post a bit more than “Sea of Monsters” to start, it’ll begin its run with a $15 million opening weekend and $23 million for its 5-day run.
After years of hype, “You’re Next” is finally hitting theaters and while it won’t trump “The Purge” or “The Conjuring,” it’s got a good shot at snagging “Final Destination”-sized earnings. If it matches that franchise’s most recent installment, it’ll open with a $5,700 per theater average and $13.5 million total. Last up for the wide releases is “The World’s End,” but it’s only getting 1,400 theaters, so it’ll likely find itself in the bottom half of the top ten. If it takes $4,500 per theater, similar to “30 Minutes or Less,” it’ll earn about $7 million to start.
It looks as though “The Butler” may enjoy yet another strong weekend at the box office and stay in the #1 spot. Should its $8,400 per theater average come down to about $6,000, it’ll remain on top with a $17.5 million second weekend total. “The World’s End” likely won’t make much of a dent in “We’re the Millers,” so that one could be in for another very minimal decline, perhaps just 35%, which would give it another $11.5 million.
“Elysium,” “Planes,” and “Kick-Ass 2” will be tough to call considering they were all within $1 million of each other last weekend. “Planes” will probably be the one to come out on top considering there’s nothing family-friendly entering the race. If it drops a little less than it did last weekend, likely about 35%, it’ll take the #5 spot with about $8.5 million. Despite its weak opening, there could be some lingering interest in “Kick-Ass 2,” so that could be next in line. If it dips 45% and “Elysium” drops by 50%, the former will come in at #6 with a little over $7 million and the latter at #8, just behind “The World’s End” with about $6.8 million.
“Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” enjoyed a surprisingly minimal decline making the move from weekend one to two, so now I’m inclined to believe it might be able to retain a significant amount of its profits yet again. If it dips 40%, it’ll take just over $5 million for its third weekend out. However, that won’t be good enough for the 9th position because “Blue Jasmine” is getting an additional 971 theaters and will undoubtedly come out on top. Should that one wind up with a $5,000 per theater average, it’ll accumulate a total of $6 million for its fifth weekend in theaters, take the #9 spot and bump “Percy Jackson” down to #10.
ShockYa.com Predictions
1. The Butler
2. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
3. You’re Next
4. We’re the Millers
5. Planes
6. Kick-Ass 2
7. The World’s End
8. Elysium
9. Blue Jasmine
10. Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters
By Perri Nemiroff (via Box Office Mojo)
