FRIDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: 20th Century Studios’ Predator: Badlands is on track for the second-best Friday opening in the franchise, with an estimated $14M. If projections hold, this Dan Trachtenberg-directed film could achieve a strong $33M opening weekend. The film is currently showing in 3,725 theaters.
The record for the best Friday and opening belongs to 2004’s Alien vs. Predator, which garnered $16.4M and $38.2M, respectively. The Friday tally of $14M includes combined preview earnings from Wednesday and Thursday, totaling $4.8M.
Comparisons have been drawn to Tron: Ares, which opened with $14.4M on a Friday and reached $33.2M. However, Predator: Badlands boasts exceptional reviews and audience scores, and its production cost is 52% lower than the $220M budget for the Jared Leto film.
In second place is Paramount’s adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel, Regretting You, which earned $1.9M on its third Friday and is projected for a total of $6.5M this weekend across 3,196 theaters, bringing its total to $37.9M by Sunday.
At 2,943 theaters, Universal/Blumhouse’s The Black Phone 2 grossed $4.2M in its fourth weekend, with a decrease of 50%. The film is expected to total $69M by the end of the weekend.
Amazon MGM Studios/Kingdom Story/Wonder Project’s Sarah’s Oil led the original adult films with $1.6M today and a weekend estimate of $4.1M from 2,410 theaters. Focus Features is also seeing Bugonia tracking for $1.1M today and a total of $3.7M for the weekend.
Additionally, Sony Pictures Classics’ Nuremberg, featuring Russell Crowe and Rami Malek, is projected to earn $1.4M over the weekend, culminating in a $3.5M opening from 1,802 theaters.
