Forget the Smithsonian, the real battle this Memorial Day weekend will take place in multiplexes, where the family adventure comedy Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian faces off against Terminator Salvation. Yes, both Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. are bringing out their big guns for the holiday, and with Angels & Demons and Star Trek still angling for eyeballs, it’s sure to be a big one. My predictions for the four-day, Friday-through-Monday weekend are below.
1. Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian — $80 million
Don’t discount that family crowd. Few family-friendly flicks (save Hannah Montana ) have opened since Monsters vs. Aliens bowed at the end of March. The return of Ben Stiller and his troupe of historic figures who come to life is beloved by kids of all ages (the first installment banked $250.9 mil domestically about two years ago), and an IMAX opening will help it even more. Plus, the always adorable Amy Adams portrays Amelia Earhart — and The Thinker statue comes to life!
2. Terminator Salvation — $75 million
While McG’s reimagining of James Cameron’s Terminator franchise will close the weekend with the most cash in its pockets (because it actually opened a day early, on Thursday), it’s likely to end up in second place for the four-day frame — if only by a small amount. The last time a Terminator movie bowed, it was back on the 2003 Fourth of July holiday, to a tune of $72.5 million over five days. This time around, with Christian Bale and next-big-thing Sam Worthington getting an above-the-title credit, the movie could do a lot more business. Expect a $90 million five-day debut.
3. Star Trek — $35 million
Talk about legs. Audiences love J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reinvention, so expect a solid hold for its third weekend in theaters. Terminator Salvation will be its biggest competition, but we’ve got four days, people! That’s a lot of time to see movies.
4. Angels & Demons — $23 million
What little buzz Tom Hanks’ sequel had last weekend (which it won, barely) has all but evaporated. So the Dan Brown adaptation may have a hard time keeping the momentum going into its second frame. Thus, Angels & Demons should see a drop in the 45-50 percent range, as it turns its attention to overseas box office, where its real revenue will come from.
5. Dance Flick — $10 million
Paramount is releasing this dance-film-genre spoof in 2,450 locations, and fans of the Wayans Brothers will likely show up. The question is: How many Wayans fans are still around?
More Box Office News:
Angels & Demons summons a $48 million bow
Star Trek soars with $72.5 mil debut
Wolverine opens with an impressive $87 million
Obsessed knocks out the competition with $28.5 mil
EW.com’s Box Office Chart
Comments (1-15) of 26 Add your comment
Predictions for Friday to Monday-
1)Terminator Salvation- $89 Million:
To me, it seems like a no brainer and here is why, say if T4 was R then yeah it would probably make that much but thanks to its PG-13 rating I think it will make this much. And think about it , if Wolverine could make $85 Million with bad reviews and a leak, then I could see T4 making this much.
2)The Night at the Museum 2- $70 Million:
Don’t get me wrong Night at the Museum 2 will be successful, but say if it opened during the holiday season this year it would of made even more.
3)Star Trek- $34 Million:
Star Trek will continue to do even though it has some tough competition thanks to T4.
4)Angels and Demons- $31 Million:
The same with A&D, say if it opened during the holiday season it would have made a lot more money.
5)Dance Flick- $18 Million:
I really think DF should have stayed with its August opening. There is just no room to grow and not just DF but many more that had opened during May.
I think Terminator will do better than The Night at the Museum.
The hottest celeb scenes at http://www.actressscene.com
I went and saw the midnight showing of Terminator and seriously Christian Bale delivers a great performance as John Connor. The man delivers an intense emotion packed performance in every scene he’s in. My only problem is that for example, go with me on this, that with this new Star Trek, trekkies and non-trekkies could watch it and understand the storyline. Though with this new Terminator movie it really will help if you have seen the previous movies. But I really do think it will do better than Night at the Museum.
Kent
oneeyedblog.net
get ready Ben Stiller
I can’t wait for Terminator, it will be awesome! Stiller rocks, maybe he can be in teh sequel to terminator. http://www.shortpeopledate.com/
Night at the Museum 2 looks awful. To expect this to win the weekend is to have no faith in humanity. Terminator’s PG-13 now, and Christian Bale is supe popular. It should win. Decisively.
Night at the Museum will win the weekend only because it’s a more family friendly film and that means more tickets sold, also terminator isn’t as awesome as it could have been
http://theninthdragonking.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/quality-assesstment-terminator-salvation/
My humble predictions for this holiday weekend
NATM:78.8
Terminator:70.4
Star Trek:36.2
A&D:29.9
Dance:15.6
my personal prediction – I’m really sick of reading the phrase ‘would of.’ It’s either ‘would’ve’, or if you don’t like abbreviations – would HAVE. It’s simple grammar, come on people!
terminator- $73m
night at the museum- $67
star trek- $33
angels & demons- $29
x-men- $10
Is anyone else getting a Nicole Kidman vibe from Amy Adams in the picture at the beginning of this article?
As for Terminator vs. Night at the Museum 2, I’d say that it’s a toss-up. It’s bound to be the closest race so far among summer films!
STAR TREK will be the FIRST 200 Million dollar movie of 2009, ironically followed by MONSTERS VS. ALIENS next week…
Why is Batman in T4? Why is this summer so full of tired ideas? Why is any of this crap making money?
Which one sucks more? Kris Allen fans will instantly flock to it, thus ensuring it wins the weekend box office. When in doubt always bet for the inferior or just not quite as good one.
First of all, NOTM never should of gotten a sequel. T4 will smoke it.
By the way. I agree that Bale was an odd choice for John Connor.
http://tvdonewright.com/2009/05/21/american-idol-scores-ratings-low-a-sign-of-things-to-come/