After the second biggest summer season inbox officehistory this year, September is proving to be more lucrative than usual. Each weekend this month is up significantly from last year’s grosses, and this weekend looks to be no different, with three new movies debuting in wide release, Sony Pictures Animation’sHotel Transylvania 2, Warner Bros.‘The Internand High Top Releasing’sThe Green Inferno, with the buzzworthySicarioandEverestalso expanding into more theaters. According to the projections from BoxOffice.com,Hotel Transylvania 2should easily come away with a convincing win, although it’s actually tracking less than its predecessor, 2012’sHotel Transylvania.
Hotel Transylvania 2is projected to take the top spot with $37 million, which isn’t too surprising since theanimated moviesequel will have the widest release of this trio of newcomers. While we don’t have an exact theater count yet,Hotel Transylvania 2is expected to open in more than 3,600 theaters, behindThe Intern’s estimated 3,150 theater count andThe Green Inferno’s 1,500-theater roll out. IfHotel Transylvania 2’s $37 million projection is accurate, it will fall short of the originalHotel Transylvania, which earned $42.5 million on its opening weekend in late September 2012. The original film earned an impressive $358.3 million worldwide from an $85 million production budget.Hotel Transylvania 2brings back original voice cast membersAdam Sandler,Andy Samberg,Selena Gomez,Kevin James,Steve BuscemiandDavid Spade, with new additions includingKeegan Michael KeyandMel Brooks.
The Intern, which boasts a cast lead by A-list starsRobert De NiroandAnne Hathaway, is projected to take in $16 million, which will put it in a tight race for second place with last week’s winner,The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, which has already earned $30.3 million. A 50% drop is standard for a big-budget movie likeThe Maze Runner 2, but last year’sThe Maze Runneronly dropped 46.4% in its second week of release. Still,The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trialsdid underperform a bit from its projections, so it should drop to third place with $15.1 million, behindThe Intern.
After debuting in over 500IMAXtheaters last weekend,Everestexpands nationwide this weekend. This harrowing thriller that recounts a deadly expedition to Mount Everest in 1996, took in $7.5 million from that limited run when it debuted, so we expect it to take in $13.6 million with the expansion. The film has been getting positive reviews from the nation’s critics, with a solid 74% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which is currently higher than the trio of new releases hitting theaters, althoughHotel Transylvania 2doesn’t have an official RT score as of yet.Black Masswill round out the top five with $12.4 million.
While we don’t have an exact theater count for the critically-acclaimed thrillerSicarioyet, its limited release numbers were so impressive last week that it should be able to crack the top 10 this weekend, even though it isn’t going nationwide until October 2. DirectorDenis Villeneuve’s film, which boasts an ensemble cast lead byEmily Blunt,Benicio Del ToroandJosh Brolin, earned a whopping $401,288 last weekend from just six theaters, for an astounding $66,881 per-screen average. That per-screen average will most certainly drop a bit, but we’re predicting it should take the sixth spot with $8.2 million. The top 10 will be rounded out byThe Visit($7.8 million),The Perfect Guy($6.1 million),War Room($3.4 million) and new releaseThe Green Inferno($3 million).
There are also a slew of indie films opening in limited release that won’t crack the top 10, but should perform quite well in theaters. Broad Green Pictures'99 HomesstarringAndrew GarfieldandMichael Shannon, Drafthouse’sThe Keeping RoomstarringHailee SteinfeldandSam Worthington, A24 Films’Mississippi GrindstarringRyan ReynoldsandBen Mendelsohn,Stonewall, starringJonathan Rhys Meyers, and Ashby, starringMickey RourkeandEmma Robertsare all hitting theaters this weekend.99 HomesandMississippi Grindcurrently have the highest Rotten Tomatoes ratings of all these titles, with both films boasting a 92% Rotten Tomatoes rating and99 Homesalready garnering Oscar buzz after its run on the festival circuit.
Looking ahead to next weekend, 20th Century Fox’sThe Martianis the only film opening in wide release, although it will contend withSicarioin its nationwide expansion.The Martianhas been getting plenty of praise itself leading up to next weekend’s release, earning rave reviews after its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.Matt Damonleads an all-star cast includingKate Mara,Jessica Chastain,Kristen Wiig,Sebastian Stan,Sean Bean,Michael Peña,Mackenzie Davis,Chiwetel EjioforandJeff Danielsin this outer space thriller from directorRidley Scott. On the heels ofEverest’s successful IMAX-only run,The Walk, starringJoseph Gordon-Levitt, will also debut on Wednesday, September 30 in IMAX, ahead of its nationwide release on October 9. Also opening in limited release is Lionsgate’sFreeheld, The Weinstein Company’sShanghaiand Well Go USA’s Partisan. Be sure to check back on Sunday for the box office estimates, and again next Tuesday for next weekend’s predictions. Until then, take a look at our projected top 10 for this weekend at the box office.
