Not one, not two, not three, but four movies are getting wide release in theaters this weekend, but of those films, the only one expected to have a solid outing is “Boo! 2,” the latest Madea film from Tyler Perry.
The Lionsgate release is projected to top this weekend’s charts with $20-22 million from 2,500 locations, with Lionsgate projecting a start on the lower end of that range. That would be a step down from the $28 million opening made last year by the first “Boo!”, which went on to gross $73 million. But with a reported budget of $20 million, this will still be a strong opening for Perry’s ninth Madea film, which he wrote and directed.
For the rest of the slate, it’s not looking good. The bleakest outlook belongs to Warner Bros.’ “Geostorm,” which is projected to contend with “Happy Death Day” for the No. 2 spot with an opening in the mid-teens from 3,246 screens. The WB/Skydance co-financed film has a reported budget of $80 million before reshoots, meaning this sci-fi natural disaster thriller will likely snap a box office winning streak for WB that started with “Wonder Woman” back in June and continued through September with “It.”
Directed by Dean Devlin from a script he co-wrote with Paul Guyot, “Geostorm” stars Gerard Butler as the creator of a climate-controlling satellite system who must go into space to fix it before it triggers a worldwide wave of natural disasters. Jim Sturgess, Abbie Cornish and Ed Harris also star.
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Third on the list is Universal’s “The Snowman,” which is projected for a $10 million opening from 1,813 screens against a $35 million budget. Universal is projecting a $8-9 million start, with the film already making $9.8 million overseas from 27 markets. Critics have mostly panned the thriller, giving it a 26 percent Rotten Tomatoes score.
Based on Jo Nesbø’s thriller, “The Snowman” stars Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson as a pair of detectives tasked with finding a dangerous serial killer. Charlotte Gainsbourg, Val Kilmer and J.K. Simmons also star, with Tomas Alfredson directing. Working Title is producing the film with Perfect World Pictures and Another Park Film.
Finally, there’s Columbia’s true-story tale “Only the Brave,” which has earned strong reviews with a 91 percent RT score but is projected to have the lowest opening this weekend with $6 million from 2,575 screens against a $38 million budget. The film stars Josh Brolin, Miles Teller, and Jeff Bridges as members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, an elite firefighter team that battled a wildfire in Yarnell, AZ in 2013. James Badge Dale, Taylor Kitsch and Jennifer Connelly also star with Joseph Kosinski directing.