Box office preview: ‘Are You There God’ and ‘Big George Foreman’ take on unstoppable ‘Super Mario Bros.’

Edward Douglas
·4 min read
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We’re just one week away from the official start of the summer movie season, but before that, we have one more weekend of April to knock out a few releases hoping to bring in some business the summer’s bigger releases take over. Not that it matters, because “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” will continue its first place run with another $35 to 37 million this weekend, edging its way closer to $500 million. Read on for Gold Derby’s box office preview.

There are three new wide releases, the strongest of them being Lionsgate’s “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret,” based on Judy Blume‘s beloved 1970 young adult bestseller, which helped get many a girl (and a few boys) through puberty. The movie stars Abby Ryder Fortson as the film’s title character, Margaret, as well as Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and Benny Safdie as her family.

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There aren’t many great direct comparisons for “Margaret,” since many of the previous young adult adaptations have involved fantasy or science fiction like “The Hunger Games” movies, “The Maze Runner” and others. This adaptation is directed by Kelly Fremon Craig, who has experience with coming-of-age movies from her earlier film “The Edge of Seventeen” starring Hailee Steinfeld, and Lionsgate will give this a hearty wide release into over 3,000 theaters.

Reviews have generally been great, which might not be that surprising for those who know the source material and Craig’s previous work. For those who have been reading Blume’s books for most of their lives, this will be a must-see with the girlfriends, so expect “Are You There God?” to open in second place with $14 to 16 million.

In the biopic “Big George Foreman,” Khris Davis plays the legendary boxer (and grill man), which is being released by Sony, having been produced through its Affirm Films spiritual division. Co-starring Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker, “Big George Foreman” is a movie that isn’t just selling itself as a sports drama, since it also deals with Foreman’s spiritual leanings. In fact, the movie is almost being advertised more to the faith crowd than to boxing fans.

Sony is releasing the movie into 2,800 theaters on Friday, and despite Whitaker being the only name star, the studio is hoping this will fare better than last year’s “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance With Somebody,” which opened with just $4.7 million just before Christmas and topped out at $23.7 million. Certainly, Foreman is probably as well known as Houston, and with the two-pronged marketing effort (which includes Foreman himself), “Big George Foreman” could open with $6 to 9 million this weekend, probably to take fourth place behind “Evil Dead Rise.”

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Another movie likely to break into the top 10 (and maybe even the top five) is “Ponniyin Selvan: Part II,” the conclusion of Mani Ratnam‘s Telugu-language historic epic that opened with $4 million last September and hopes to continue the interest in the region after the success of last year’s Oscar-winning “RRR.” Repeating the opening for the first part would put “Part II” up against “John Wick: Chapter 4” for fifth place.

From Finland comes “SISU,” the new action-thriller from Jalmari Helander (“Rare Exports,” “Big Game”), which stars Jorma Tommila as an ex-soldier who discovers gold in the wilderness which he hopes to take to the city to cash in on, until he encounters a band of ruthless Nazis who want to take the gold for themselves. Lionsgate is releasing this one into roughly 900 theaters, which should allow it to bring in $2 million or so based on the cool trailer and buzz after its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last September.

Opening in limited release is Focus Features’ “Polite Society,” Nida Manzoor‘s British coming-of-age film about a Pakistani teen named Ria (Priya Kansara) who is obsessed with becoming a stuntwoman, and who wants to get her older sister Lena (Ritu Arya) out of her arranged marriage. The feature film debut from the director of Peacock’s “We Are Lady Parts” will probably get a release into a few hundred theaters.

Getting more of a platform release is “R.M.N.,” the new drama from Romanian filmmaker Cristian Mungiu (“4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Dates”), which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival in May, 2022.

Check back on Sunday to see how the above movies do at the box office.

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