UPDATE: “Fast & Furious 6” delivers stunning $98.5 million 3-Day weekend and is aiming for huge $120 million 4-Day weekend. “The Hangover: Part III” will manage an underwhelming $65 million after its first five-days. I predicted that Blue Sky’s “Epic” would reach $60M by Monday but will only get to $45 million and lose to “Star Trek Into Darkness”, which is holding-up surprisingly well in its second weekend. Despite minor disappointments, experts still believe this will be the biggest Memorial Day weekend of all-time.
Memorial Day Weekend 2013 will be one of the biggest weekends of the movie year. We’ve got three HUGE releases. The question is: Who wins the box office battle?
Up until two weeks ago, when Warner Bros. moved “The Hangover: Part III” up a day from Friday May 24 to Thursday the 23rd, I was predicting “HIII” would edge-out “Fast & Furious 6” for the title. But I’ve changed my mind. Even though “The Hangover: Part III” made a solid $3.1 million Wed. night, that money, and the money it makes all day Thursday, won’t go into the official 3 and 4-Day weekend box office totals. True diehard fans of this franchise will likley see it either Wed. or Thurs. Plus, the early reviews for “Part III” are worse than those for “Part II” – which is hard to believe. “Hangover III” will be the runner-up for the weekend with $59.5 million 3-day, $73.5 4-day.
Blue Sky Studios’ animated feature “Epic” will also do very well, even though it will finish the weekend in 3rd place. This is the first animated film in theaters since DreamWorks’ “The Croods” in March, and many kids have Friday off from school in addition to the Monday holiday. I’m expecting this to be the studio’s highest non-“Ice Age” opening ever with a $48.7 3-day total. It should reach $60 million by Monday.
So that means that “Star Trek Into Darkness” will be #1. I’M KIDDING!!! J.J. Abrams’ sci-fi sequel will take a hefty drop to fourth. “Fast & Furious 6” will be your Memorial Day Weekend 2013 champ with $92 million Friday-Sunday plus another $20 million on Monday. This latest installment of the incredibly successful action film franchise has a built-in audience eagerly waiting to grab tickets. Hopefully it won’t disappoint.