Box Office: Tyler Perry’s ‘Boo 2!’ Set to Top Sluggish Weekend Ahead of ‘Geostorm’
Tyler Perry’s most recent installment in the “Madea” franchise, “Boo 2! A Madea Halloween,” is likely to dominate one of the most torpid October weekends yet with $21 million at 2,388 North American locations — nearly double the next highest projected intake from “Geostorm.”
“Boo 2,” from Lionsgate, received an A- CinemaScore and should bring in about 30% less than the original “Boo! A Madea Halloween,” which won its opening weekend easily over “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” with $28.5 million and finished with $73 million domestically. The sequel, set at a haunted campground, is directed and written by Perry, who also stars in his ninth iteration as the tough-talking Madea.
“Boo 2” is a fairly low-risk project for Lionsgate, with a combined production and marketing budget in the $20 million range. Lionsgate is likely to dominate the box office next weekend during the pre-Halloween period with the opening of “Jigsaw,” its eighth movie in the “Saw” franchise, and the second weekend of “Boo 2.”
“Geostorm,” a weather disaster drama starring Gerard Butler and directed by Dean Devlin, is heading towards a disaster of the fiscal sort for Warner Bros. Though the film is projected to over-perform just barely with a modest $12.5 million at 3,246 venues compared to a projected $10 to 12 million, it’s also carrying an estimated $100 million budget. The film has been released internationally and garnered roughly $7.4 million on Friday, bringing the global cumulative total to $29.8 million in addition to Friday’s domestic $4.3 million.
Sony’s firefighting drama “Only the Brave” is forecasting about $6 million at 2,577 locations in its opening weekend, while Pure Flix’s faith-based “Same Kind of Different as Me” is estimated to pull in a quiet $3.9 million at 1,362 sites. Universal’s critically panned “The Snowman” is headed to a mediocre $3.6 million in its first frame at 1,812 North American theaters, significantly below early projections of between $8 million and 12 million.
Both “Only the Brave” and “Geostorm” may face difficulties at the box office as a result of real-life natural disasters. “Geostorm” is set in a near future where climate-controlling satellites malfunction, triggering massive storms — which may have hit a little close to home in the wake of the recent massive damage from hurricanes in Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. “Only the Brave” is based on the true story of the 19 Arizona firefighters who died in the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire, which also may put off some moviegoers due to the recent Northern California wildfires that have left 42 dead and torched 5,700 structures. The film, which stars Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, Taylor Kitsch, James Badge Dale, and Jennifer Connelly and was financed by Black Label Media, has a 90% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which may lend it some pull over the weekend.
“Same Kind of Different as Me” had been in the works at Paramount, but the studio opted out earlier this year and the project was picked up by faith-based specialist Pure Flix. The drama is toplined by Greg Kinnear, Renée Zellweger, Djimon Hounsou, Olivia Holt, Jon Voight, and Stephanie Leigh Schlund with Kinnear’s character befriending a homeless man (played by Hounsou) in order to try to save his marriage.
“The Snowman,” based on Jo Nesbø’s best-seller about the hunt to capture an ingenious serial killer in Norway and produced by Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner as well as Piodor Gustafsson and Robyn Slovo, was nearly universally derided by critics, leading to a dismal 9% on Rotten Tomatoes. Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer, and J.K. Simmons star in the movie, directed by Tomas Alfredson.
Blumhouse’s “Happy Death Day” will take third place at the box office in its second frame, adding about $9.3 million for a cumulative total of $40.3 million. “Blade Runner 2049” is still hanging on at fourth place and looking to bring its cumulative total to $74 million with an additional $7.2 million this weekend. STXfilms’ Jackie Chan-starrer “The Foreigner,” is set to push past $113 million globally in its second weekend.
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Box Office: 'Boo 2! A Madea Halloween' to Blow Away 'Geostorm' in Slow Weekend
'The Snowman' Reviews: What the Critics Are Saying
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