This weekend's box office will be very interesting to follow, with four wide releases attempting to dethrone Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil," which is targeting $28M–30M after topping last weekend's box office with $61M.
Its biggest competition might actually come from a movie released seven years ago. "Avengers: Endgame" could wind up at #1, as it's currently tracking in the same range as Cregger's film, around $28M for the weekend. That's an insane amount for a re-release that includes only two additional minutes of deleted scenes.
"Avengers: Endgame" is the second-biggest movie in box office history, with $2.799 billion worldwide. These numbers for the re-release hint at the massive interest surrounding "Avengers: Doomsday," which hits theaters December 18 and has had robust presales so far, suggesting potentially record-breaking domestic ($380M+) and worldwide ($1 billion+) openings.
Meanwhile, I'm betting that Paramount's Brad Pitt-led survival film, "Heart of the Beast," spurred by good reviews, will do better than the $17M its tracking suggests; presales are hinting that $20M+ is the correct number. The film cost $85M to produce.
Then there's the Robert Pattinson-starring "Primetime," a zeitgeisty A24 riff on "To Catch a Predator" with a $15M budget, whose trailers and clips have been going viral all over social media. It's aiming for around the same amount as "The Heart of the Beast." $20M sounds about right, maybe more if the online buzz actually translates into tickets sold. Regardless, with such a low budget, this is another easy win for A24.
Finally, there's Universal and DreamWorks Animation's "Forgotten Island" ($80M budget), whose very good reviews (79 on Metacritic) might not translate into a stellar weekend. Current tracking has its opening in the $15M–17M range. It will need legs to break even, but it now has a shot at an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.
Overall, the box office will be thriving from Friday to Sunday with an unusually crowded September weekend, and five films projected to open at $15M or more.
Jude Law has joined Ari Aster's "Scapegoat," which already has Scarlett Johansson and Jacob Elordi in lead roles. Aster, who is directing from his own script, is once again teaming with A24.