“Black and Blue,” Screen Gems’ cop thriller starring Naomie Harris, made $675,000 at the box office in Thursday night previews from 1,962 locations. The film opens at over 2000 theaters this weekend.
“Black and Blue” faces off against the STXfilms horror movie “Countdown” and “The Current War: Director’s Cut,” the Thomas Edison biopic which 101 Studios is putting out two years removed from its initial premiere at Toronto in the wake of the Weinstein Company shuttering. “Countdown” earned $515,000 in its preview showing from approximately 2,150 theaters, and “The Current War” did not open in Thursday night previews.
“Black and Blue” and “Countdown” are both projected to open in the $8-9 million range, with estimates topping out at $11 million. Screen Gems is predicting a $6 million opening for the cop film against a $12 million budget. This summer, Screen Gems’ “The Intruder” made $865,000 in previews and opened to $10.8 million against an $8 million budget.
Harris stars in “Black and Blue” as a rookie cop who inadvertently captures the murder of a young drug dealer on her body cam. After realizing that the murder was committed by corrupt cops, she teams up with the one person from her community who is willing to help her (Tyrese Gibson) as she tries to escape both the criminals out for revenge and the police who are desperate to destroy the incriminating footage.
Deon Taylor directed the film that also stars Frank Grillo, Mike Colter, Reid Scott, Beau Knapp and Nafessa Williams. The film has a 59% score on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Countdown” is a PG-13 horror movie from STXfilms that is also projected in the mid-single digit range by the studio against a $6.5 million budget. Justin Dec wrote and directed the film about a woman who downloads an app that claims to predict when a person is going to die, only to have it tell her she has just three days left to live.
Elizabeth Lail stars alongside Talitha Bateman, Peter Facinelli, P.J Byrne, Jordan Calloway and Tichina Arnold.