Bold Box Office Predictions: January 22-24, 2016
Notable Openings This Weekend: The 5th Wave, The Boy, Dirty Grandpa
It’s been a while. Did I miss anything? Was there a movie that broke the all-time domestic box office record? Now that Star Wars has somewhat calmed down, the box office is getting back to normal – crappy wide releases that nobody cares about, and ever so slowly expanding Oscar films. Smells like January. Oh boy, do we have a bunch of garbage opening this weekend. It definitely feels like The Revenant is going to maintain its dominance due to lack of competition and Oscar buzz. There’s one new wide release I suppose could do okay.
In the vein of movies like Neighbors or Sisters, Dirty Grandpa might fare okay. People seem to be in the mood for comedies, as Ride Along 2 just had a strong opening. At the time I write this (Thursday afternoon), there are still no reviews posted for Dirty Grandpa, so take that for what it’s worth. Robert De Niro’s box office glory days are certainly behind him, and Zac Efron is hit or miss at best, so it’s the concept that could sell this. It’s been getting a big advertising push, and the idea of De Niro saying inappropriate things should be enough for a respectable opening.
The 5th Wave is dead on arrival. It will join the ranks of other young adult novel adaptations nobody cared about such as The Moral Instruments, The Host, The Giver and countless other crap. Ron Livingston is in this? That’s sad. What happened to poor Peter Gibbons? We also have a horror entry in The Boy. Horror is always a crap shoot, but with Krampus doing well, this might make the money it needs too. I’m sure it was made for peanuts.
HOW WILL IT ALL BREAK DOWN…
The Revenant clears first place easily, with Dirty Grandpa and Star Wars battling it out for two and three. Ride Along 2 drops way down, The Boy cracks the top five and The 5th Wave will be forgotten by the time you finish this sentence.
1. The Revenant — $24.5 Million
2. Dirty Grandpa — $17.5 Million
3. Star Wars: The Force Awakens — $17 Million
4. Ride Along 2 — $15 Million
5. The Boy — $10.5 Million
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Daniel Cohen is the Film Editor for Pop-Break. Aside from reviews, Daniel does a weekly box office predictions column, and also contributes monthly Top Tens and Op-Ed’s on all things film. Daniel is a graduate of Bates College with a degree in English, and also studied Screenwriting at UCLA. He can also be read on www.movieshenanigans.com. His movie crush is Jessica Rabbit. Follow him on Twitter @dcohenwriter.
