Disney’s “Zootopia” has a clear shot to finally dethrone the monster that is “Deadpool” this weekend, and Gerard Butler‘s “London Has Fallen” is looking to do the same, snatching second place ahead of Ryan Reynolds‘ action film.
After “Deadpool” has reigned the box office for three consecutive weeks, it is looking to make around $18 million this upcoming weekend, according to experts. That means it will be battling the new action film “London Has Fallen” for second place; that film’s tracking for an $18 million to $20 million weekend. Should “London” make closer to $20 million, two movies will finally end “Deadpool’s” winning streak.
“Zootopia,” starring the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman in the leads, is looking to make a whopping $60 million to $65 million its opening weekend. However, experts are anticipating higher due to stellar word of mouth (44 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes have given the animated film a solid 100 percent fresh rating) as well as Disney Animation boasting a good track record with hits like “Tangled” ($48 million opening), “Big Hero 6” ($56 million) and “Frozen” ($67 million).
In any case, “London Has Fallen” will do better at the domestic box office than the Gerard Butler movie that opened last week, “Gods of Egypt,” says Exhibitor Relations analyst Jeff Bock, “but not by much.”
“The reviews are worse than the first one, and you wonder whether people remember the first one,” he told TheWrap. “The only thing it has going for it is Morgan Freeman, Aaron Eckhart and Gerard Butler — they make an interesting trio. I still can’t believe it would open past $18 million to $20 million. People would rather go see ‘Deadpool’ again than see this one.”
“It’s a tricky one because it’s a sequel and social media hasn’t been as strong as the first movie and that’s a usual sign that the film won’t perform as well,” added a senior analyst at BoxOffice.com.
“Gods of Egypt” opened to $14.1 million last week, a complete bomb given that the film’s production budget was $140 million. It’s expected to make $5 million this weekend.
Tina Fey‘s dramedy, “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” will be in definite fourth place this weekend, looking to gross between $10 million to $12 million. However, Robbins sees it making less than $10 million, probably due to its skewed older target audience and serious subject matter.
“‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’ doesn’t look like Tina Fey‘s best,” added Bock. “It’s rated R, it’s not going to reach that ‘Sisters’ audience. It skews a lot older.”
“WTF’ has a current Rotten Tomatoes score of 56 percent, with “London Has Fallen” scoring 19 percent.