This weekend three new movies open in theaters that are geared toward three different groups of people. There’s “Cowboys & Aliens” for the comic book sci-fi action fans; “Crazy Stupid Love” – a comedy for adults; and “The Smurfs” for the whole family. But which will bring in the most dough at the box office? Since 2005, all three of these genres have won the box office for this final weekend in July. and have also lost:
2005 – “Wedding Crashers” finally beats “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” in their third weekend. Disney’s “Sky High” opens in third place.
2006 – “Miami Vice” wins against “Pirates of the Caribbean 2” and “The Ant Bully” – which was a bomb.
2007 – “The Simpsons Movie” is king with $74M, crushing “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” and “No Reservations.”
2008 – “The Dark Knight” is #1 for a second week, beating the Will Ferrell adult comedy “Step Brothers”.
2009 – The Disney action/comedy “G-Force” ($31.7) barely beats “Harry Potter 6” and the Katherine Heigl comedy “The Ugly Truth”.
2010 – “Inception” and “Salt” finish 1-2 for the weekend, while “Ramona and Beezus” opens in 6th with only $7.8M.
If you’re keeping score that’s 2 for comedies, 3 for action films and 1 for the family. So who wins this weekend?
My money’s on “Cowboys & Aliens” with around $45M. “Captain America” will come in second with $34M. “The Smurfs” will open with a strong $28M in third, and “Crazy Stupid Love” will come in fourth with $21M. “Harry Potter” will finish in 5th with disappointing $20M.
UPDATE: “The Smurfs” wins Friday with $13.3M. “C&A” comes in second with $12.9M. It’d be a major win for Sony if “The Smurfs” beats “C&A” for the weekend.