Weekend Box Office (August 1 - 3, 2014)


by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND Every successful movie brand eventually suffers a failure. Marvel will too. But not this weekend. The long-term campaign to build a new franchise for Guardians of the Galaxy gets its test with the ultrawide release Disney is doing powered by an aggressive push aimed at creating success that will keep revenue pouring in for several years to come. Shows start at 7pm Thursday night and IMAX screens will add in some extra cash.

The PG-13 film brings the comic book misfit heroes to the big screen with plenty of starpower thanks to Zoe Saldana, Chris Pratt, Dave Bautista, and the voices of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel. Comic fans will show up, there is no question about that. But how much broader can it go? That is what will draw in more sales.

Stellar reviews will assist in getting business from those not that familiar with the property but want to be part of the buzz as Guardians has become one of the most-talked-about movies of the second half of summer. Although numerous action films have already hit the multiplexes this summer, including two just last weekend, most recent ones were much more serious in tone. The comedy element of Guardians and its quirky sense of humor make it stand out promising plenty of fun, and not just thinking.

Disney is rolling into more than 3,800 theaters and with heavy interest, the opening weekend of Guardians of the Galaxy could deliver around $72M this weekend.

The weekend's other new wide release has far less buzz going for it. Universal's James Brown film Get On Up will target an older and more mature audience not interested in inter-galactic super heroes. Reviews have been generally good for the PG-13 film which will help, but overall excitement is not very high. Opening in over 2,400 locations, Get On Up could take in about $15M this weekend.

Lucy topped the box office last weekend with what was a strong opening for an original sci-fi flick. But audience scores were not good and Guardians will take away action fans so a heavy 60% slide could be in order. That would put Universal at around $18M for the weekend and $81M overall.

Paramount's big-budget epic Hercules should also fall big. A 55% drop to about $13M would give Dwayne Johnson and company roughly $56M to date.

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Watch the NEW trailer for The Hobbit.

For a review of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes visit The Chief Report.


LAST YEAR Bankable action stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg joined forces for the number one hit 2 Guns which debuted to $27.1M for Universal on its way to a $75.6M final. Fox's The Wolverine dropped to second with $21.3M in its sophomore session taking second place. The Sony kidpic The Smurfs 2 debuted in third with lackluster results grossing $17.5M over the weekend and $27.1M across five days. Final figures reached just $71M domestic and $348M worldwide. Rounding out the top five were the summer hits The Conjuring and Despicable Me 2 with $13M and $10.1M, respectively.


LAST WEEKEND's TOP 20


Last Updated: July 30, 2014 at 10:40PM ET

Watch Gitesh Pandya's weekly box office preview on CNN International airing live each Thursday at 6:40pm ET.


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