Marvel’sAnt-Mantook the top spot at thebox officewhen it hit theaters last weekend, taking in $58 million. While it kept the studio’s streak of 12 consecutive movies opening at #1, it was the second-lowest opening weekend in the studio’s history, behind 2008’sThe Incredible Hulk($55.4 million). This weekend,Ant-Manand the rest of the holdovers take on three vastly different contenders, Sony’s video game themed comedyPixels, 20th Century Fox’s young adult dramaPaper Townsand The Weinstein Company’s boxing dramaSouthpaw, two of which will likely out-grossAnt-Man.
The PG-13 comedyPixels, which starsAdam Sandler,Kevin James,Peter DinklageandJosh Gad, looks to take the top spot away fromAnt-Manwith just over $40 million. The movie, based on a 2010 short film by Patrick Jean, features a number of classicvideo gamecharacters who are brought to life by an alien race to attack Earth.Pixelswill open in 3,723 theaters starting today, the highest rollout of the new releases this weekend, and just underAnt-Man’s 3,868 theater count.Pixelsisn’t faring well with the nation’s critics, with just a 17% “Rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but none of the other new releases boast “Fresh” ratings on the site either.
The race for second place will be a close one betweenAnt-ManandPaper Towns, but we think thesuperhero moviewill take second place with $27 million, withPaper Towns, adapted from John Green’s young adult novel, opening in third place with $26.8 million.Paper Townsopens in 3,031 theaters, with a 58% “Rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, just 2% below the coveted “Fresh” rating.Paper Townslooks to debut significantly lower than John Green’s 2014 adaptationThe Fault in Our Stars, which opened with $48 million last summer. UnlikeThe Fault in Our Stars, which had the star-power ofShailene Woodley,Paper Townsis lead by two largely-unproven actors,Cara Delevingne, who next appears inSuicide Squad, andNat Wolff, a supporting actor inThe Fault in Our Stars.
Minionswill drop to fourth place with approximately $24 million, withTrainwrecktaking fifth place with $18.4 million.Southpawwill open in sixth place, likely taking in between $13 million and $14 million. The boxing drama starringJake Gyllenhaaland directed byAntoine Fuquaopens in 2,772 theaters this weekend. There are also three films opening in limited release this weekend,The Vatican Tapes, debuting in just under 500 theaters, along with Phoenix and Samba, both opening in just 2 theaters.The Vatican Tapeshas a chance at cracking the top 10 if it performs well in this limited rollout, but we’ll have to wait and see when the estimates are released on Sunday.
Next week features the comedy remakeVacationdebuting on Wednesday andMission: Impossible Rogue Nationarriving on Friday in wide release. There are also two other notable films debuting in limited release, the documentaryA Lego BrickumentaryandThe End of the Tour, starringJesse EisenbergandJason Segel. Check back next Friday for our predictions, but until then take a look at this weekend’s predicted box office results.
