The Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro comedy “The Intern” made $650,000 in Thursday night previews, putting it on track for a $15 million opening weekend.
Eli Roth‘s “The Green Inferno,” which follows a group of students who travel to the Amazon to save a rainforest only to discover that they are not alone, scared up $275,000 from shows starting at 9 p.m., and is projected to make $4 million to $5 million this weekend.
The animated film “Hotel Transylvania 2” is also set to open this Friday, but had no early showings. It is expected to make $32 million in its opening weekend, putting it ahead of of projections for Universal’s “Everest” and Warner Bros.’ “The Intern” for the weekend’s hottest movie.
The sequel to 2012’s “Hotel Transylvania” had a production budget of $80 million. For comparison, the first film in the franchise made $42.5 million during its opening in the month of September on a budget of $85 million.
Universal’s “Everest” is also going wide this weekend after having played in select IMAX 3D and large-format 3D theaters since last Friday. It grossed a whopping $7.2 million in its opening weekend, and has made $9.4 million since.
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jason Clarke and Michael Kelly, the film is expanding to 3,004 North American theaters and is looking at a second-weekend haul in the mid-teen millions.
Last weekend’s No. 1 film “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials” is projected to take in about half of its $30.3 million opening gross, putting it at risk of losing to “Everest” and/or “The Intern.”
Should the Hathaway vehicle rake in the solid $15 million projected over its first three days, it would claim a bigger opening than her two most recent starring wide releases — 2011’s “One Day” made $5 million on its opening weekend, and 2010’s “Love & Other Drugs” grossed $9.7 million.
There are three major films opening in limited release as well. Broad Green Pictures will open “99 Homes,” an indie drama starring Michael Shannon and Andrew Garfield, in two theaters in New York before a wider expansion on Oct. 2.
Also on Friday, Roadside Attractions is releasing Roland Emmerich‘s LGBT historical drama “Stonewall” in limited release, while A24 is offering the Ryan Reynolds indie “Mississippi Grind.”