Weekend box office to host battle of the remakes

As VH1 would say: I love the ‘80s. Or rather, Hollywood does, rolling out three remakes of films that were popular 30-odd years ago. Even with RoboCop, About Last Night, and Endless Love stacking the bill, however, general consensus has last weekend’s champion, The Lego Movie, once again taking first place.

About Last Night will likely land just behind Lego, with Sony predicting returns somewhere in the mid-20 millions. It’s a romance flick opening on Valentine’s Day, and one that boasts a marquee actor who has already proven his box-office worth with films like Think Like a Man and the recent hit Ride Along, Kevin Hart. Both of which factors have led some pundits to believe Sony’s expectations are a little low. Think Like A Man, for example, opened to $33.6 million in 2012. Chances are good About Last Night will meet, if not exceed, that bar.

RoboCop opened a few days ahead of the weekend this past Wednesday night. Sony had predicted a debut of roughly $35 million for the Wednesday-Monday spread, but RoboCop got off to a rough start on Wednesday night, raking in just $2.8 million. Granted, much of the country was battling poor weather conditions, but underwhelming reviews and diehard RoboCop fan skepticism (the new color of the hero’s suit and the soft PG-13 rating are two points of contention) do not bode well for a considerable uptick through the weekend. It’s more likely RoboCop will earn between $20 and $25 million.

The final 1980s remake, Endless Love, will surely benefit from opening on Hallmark’s National Date Night, or Valentine’s Day, today. Similar titles The Vow and Safe Haven fared pretty well over this same weekend the past two years, and their demographic, teenage girls, will likely help Love earn solid figures. Even given the film’s lack of headlining stars (The Vow had Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum going for it) or recognizable name brand (Safe Haven was a Nicholas Sparks adaptation), eye-candy Alex Pettyfer and a tried-and-true star-crossed lovers storyline should nonetheless help Endless Love gross around $10 million.

Given Winter’s Tale cast – Colin Farrell, Russell Crowe and Jennifer Connelly – period setting, and heavily romantic plot, one would think the novel adaptation would be primed to easily beat Endless Love, if not the weekend’s other two new releases. Unfortunately, those stars about which Jessica Brown Findlay spoke so dreamily within the film have not aligned for its likely success. Director-writer-producer Akiva Goldsman’s labor of love has been almost universally panned, and there are many who believe the movie’s marketing has done a poor job explaining just what exactly the time-traveling tale is about. Returns should tally out to less than $10 million, which means Winter’s Tale will probably not crack the long weekend’s Top 5. Monuments Men should earn the No. 5 spot, dropping some 40 percent or so from last weekend to rake in $12 or $13 million.

Happy Valentine's Day!

 

Teens turn out for Efron's #1 finish, '17 Again'

By Sarah Sluis

Catching the last wave of students on Spring Break, 17 Again won the weekend with $24 million. While the teen comedy opened lower than last week's tween topper Hannah Montana: The Movie, which brought in $32 million in its opening weekend, both Disney-bred stars were able to open a film in the #1 spot, something the Jonas Brothers failed to do this February.

Because Miley Cyrus fans make it a priority to see the film opening weekend, her film dropped 61% from last week, finishing at #4 with $12.6 million. Her next project, The Last Song, penned by Nicholas Sparks, will have almost the same set-up (she will play an out-of-line teen sent to live with her estranged father, instead of her grandparents), so hopefully her fans won't be weary of the premise.

Right below 17 Again, State of Play came in at #2 with $14 million. The journo-political thriller was expected to suffer the same fate as Crowe's fall film Body of Lies, which opened at $12 million, but tacked on another $2 million to the earlier film's non-intriguing open.

Sequel Crank: High Voltage opened at #6 with $6.5 million, a slightly disappointing performance. The first film, which opened on Labor Day weekend of 2006, brought in $12.8 million. Still, its performance might be enough to greenlight a Crank 3.

Among returning films, Monsters vs. Aliens dropped 40% to earn $12.9 million at #3. Fast & Furious brought in $12.2 million, and Observe and Report slid 60% to $4 million. The controversial comedy's #7 finish will probably be its last in the top ten. The oldest film to make the list, I Love You, Man, brought in $3.3 million in its fifth week in release.

Among specialty films, Every Little Step had the highest per-screen average, earning roughly $9,000 per screen. Second-runner-up Is Anybody There?, which stars Michael Caine and posted a $7,000 per-screen average.

This Friday, no film will release above 2,400 screens, which is on the small side for a wide release. In honor of Earth Day, Disney releases Earth this Wednesday. On Friday, it will be joined by romance-thriller Obsessed, director Joe Wright's The Soloist, and Rogue Pictures' Fighting.