Universal’s “Good Boys,” the pre-teen, R-rated comedy romp from producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, earned $2.1 million at the box office in Thursday previews from 2,600 screens.
It’s a crowded yet quiet weekend at the box office where just about anything could emerge as the top earner this weekend. “Good Boys” will be in a close race with Entertainment Studio’s “47 Meters Down: Uncaged,” the horror sequel about killer sharks.
However, Sony’s “The Angry Birds Movie 2” already opened early on Tuesday this week, and it’s made $5.7 million so far in its three days of release. Then there’s “Where’d You Go, Bernadette,” a comedic adaptation of a novel starring Cate Blanchett and from director Richard Linklater that Annapurna is releasing. And New Line has “Blinded By the Light, a British comedy and drama inspired by the music of Bruce Springsteen. All of those will have to contend with “Hobbs & Shaw,” which is hoping to hang onto the number one spot for the third weekend in a row.
“Good Boys” is the second release from Rogen and Goldberg’s Point Grey Films following the release of the Rogen rom-com “Long Shot” earlier this year. It’s an R-rated comedy about three pre-teen boys (Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, Brady Noon) who ditch school and find themselves hunted by older girls after they accidentally swipe the girls’ drugs. The film has a 79% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Universal is projecting the film to score above $12 million this weekend, with independent trackers saying it could fall in the $10-12 million range. “Long Shot” managed only $660,000 at the Thursday box office and opened to $9.7 million. For another comp, another R-rated teen comedy with strong critical acclaim, “Booksmart,” made $875,000 in Thursday previews and grossed $6.9 million in its opening weekend.
“47 Meters Down: Uncaged” is projected to make $13-15 million this weekend, which would be up from the $11.2 million opening of the original film “47 Meters Down” from 2017. That film made $735,000 in previews and was the start to what would be the highest grossing film ever for Entertainment Studios.
Johannes Roberts directs “Uncaged,” which tells the story of four teen girls diving in a hidden and ruined underwater city, only to discover it’s now the territory of deadly sharks. Sistine Rose Stallone, Nia Long, Corinne Foxx, John Corbett, Brec Bassinger and Sophie Nélisse star. “Uncaged” currently has a 52% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Where’d You Go, Bernadette” is projected to earn in the $4-9 million range this weekend. The Annapurna release is directed by “Boyhood” helmer Richard Linklater and is the story of an artistic and loving mom who abruptly disappears and goes on a globe trotting adventure to rediscover herself. Cate Blanchett stars in the comedy that’s based on a novel by Maria Semple along with Judy Greer, Billy Crudup, Kristen Wiig, Troian Bellisario, Laurence Fishburne, Steve Zahn and Megan Mullally.
“Blinded By the Light” is also projected in the $4-9 million range. Gurinder Chadha’s film is set in Britain in 1987 and is a coming of age story of a British Pakistani teenager who finds his voice and identity through the music of Bruce Springsteen. The indie musical was a crowd pleaser at Sundance this year that New Line acquired in one of the festival’s biggest deals for upwards of $15 million, and it even makes use of an unused song Springsteen originally wrote for the first Harry Potter movie.
“The Angry Birds Movie 2” earned $1.24 million on Thursday as part of its $5,7 million cumulative total thus far. Sony is projecting that the animated sequel to the popular mobile video game will earn between $16-17 million over the six-day weekend, which was released early in an effort to reach kids before they head back to school. The film has a strong 73% score on Rotten Tomatoes.