Friday Estimates: Predator Tops Chart, Doesn’t Bag Biggest Catch

September 15, 2018

The Predator

The Predator missed expectations by a small margin with $10.45 million on Friday. It should earn about $26 million over the full weekend, which is below average for the franchise, if you take inflation into account. That’s close enough to our $28 million prediction that I’m satisfied. However, the film cost $88 million to make, so it needed a lot more than this to be a real financial success. Its reviews are just 34% positive, while it only earned C plus from CinemaScore, so it likely won’t have good legs. As for why this film isn’t connecting with audiences, there appears to have been a lot of studio interference. That rarely helps the final product.

A Simple Favor will opened in second place on Friday with $5.92 million, but it will slip to third place over the full weekend with $16 million. Its reviews remain 82% positive, but its CinemaScore is just a B plus. That’s not a bad result, but it’s merely fine. The film reportedly cost just $20 million to make, so a $16 million opening weekend is enough to keep Lionsgate happy. If it can find an audience internationally, then it will break even early in its home market run, if not sooner.

The Nun fell faster than expected down 73% from its opening Friday to $5.9 million this Friday. While this was a faster decline than anticipated, it is still on pace for $19 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $85 million. It will reach $100 million domestically, which is more than enough to guarantee more sequels in the franchise.

White Boy Rick opened in fourth place with $3.48 million on Friday, but I don’t know if that will be enough to keep it in fourth place for long, as Crazy Rich Asians might overtake it in the end. Both films are on pace for about $9 million over the weekend. Its reviews have climbed back to the overall positive level, but it only managed a B from CinemaScore. This isn’t a good result for a film that was likely made to win awards. Furthermore, its opening weekend is a really weak result for a film that cost $30 million to make.

Unbroken: Path to Redemption opened below $1 million with just $820,000 on Friday, putting it on pace for $2.3 million over the weekend. Its reviews are terrible, but it managed an A from CinemaScore, so at least churchgoers enjoyed the film.

- Friday Box Office Chart

- The Predator Comparisons
- A Simple Favor Comparisons
- White Boy Rick Comparisons
- Unbroken: Path to Redemption Comparisons

Filed under: Friday Estimates, White Boy Rick, The Predator, The Nun, Crazy Rich Asians, Unbroken: Path to Redemption, A Simple Favor, Predator, The Conjuring