Unfortunately, I think G.I. Joe is going to be king of the box office again. With mostly better reviews than The Rise of Cobra and not much competition from new releases, Retaliation should stay on top with a weekend gross in the mid-to-upper twenties. My choice to see this weekend should hopefully take home second place. After ten years of inspiring children's love of dinosaurs (and a couple not so great sequels), Jurassic Park is finally returning to the cinema in 3D. In general, I'm not a very big fan of 3D re-releases and I'm obviously not the only one, considering the difference between the final domestic grosses of The Lion King (3D) ($94 million) back in 2011 and Monsters, Inc. (3D) ($33 million) last December. Considering the length of time since its original release, I think Jurassic Park 3D's opening weekend should be similar to Titanic 3D's, which would put it in the upper teens.
Lastly, Evil Dead joins the ranks of those hard to predict horror remakes. It could perform well, like January's Texas Chainsaw 3D, or it could be a major disappointment like 2011's Fright Night and The Thing. Confounding the situation is the fact that the Evil Dead franchise's biggest success is its cult following. The Evil Dead grossed a total of $2.4 million domestically back in 1983, Evil Dead 2 grossed $5.9 million in 1987, and Army of Darkness grossed $11.5 million in 1993. The cult following could translate into box office receipts, but I wouldn't count on it. I see Evil Dead making no more than $10 million this weekend.
Six of Danny Boyle's nine films have opened in limited release, of which Slumdog Millionaire had the highest opening weekend with $360,018 from ten theaters. Trance is only opening in four theaters, but a weekend gross around $300,000 shouldn't be out of its reach.
Which trip down memory lane do you prefer to take this weekend? My money is going to the 3D dinosaurs.
Tune in next week to see if Jackie Robinson biopic 42 will pitch a no-hitter against Scary Movie 5.
