Box: New and Improved!

I'll be doing these in this format from now on. 

1. Ender's Game - $23m
I wouldn't be surprised if all three openers open to less than $20m, as the opening of this will determine that.  Despite the controversy, there just doesn't feel like any buzz for this.  I'm sure the book has its fans and the reviews are decent.  That opening would give it a finish in the mid 60's.

2. Free Birds - $17m
Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 is the only family-aimed film released so far this fall season, and there's not another one until Frozen at Thanksgiving.  Typically, that would mean this would overperform, but there's minimal buzz.  Decent legs will get it to mid 60's.

3. Last Vegas - $16m
Could be a wildcard, but older audiences have had a decent amount of options so far this season.  None of those have been comedies, which will help.  Hangover for the senior set should finish in the high 40's, possibly 50's depending on word of mouth.

4. Jackass Presents Bad Grandpa - $14.5m
It scored a 'B' cinemascore.  I doubt the film's reach extended beyond its core fanbase, so that's kind of low.  A drop between 50-60% is in store, bringing the total to about $57m, and a final gross looking to be in the mid to low 80's.

5. Gravity - $13m
Still chugging away, it'll lose some IMAX screens to Ender's Game and even more next week to Thor: The Dark World.  It's total so far will be just below $220m and, depending on an Oscartime rerelease, it should finish around $275m. 

6. Captain Phillips - $7.5m
That'll take it to the low 80s, with a finsh expected to be just beyond the century mark.

7. 12 Years a Slave - $4m
It did very well in its expansion last weekend, and will hit about 400 theaters on Friday.  The plan is to get it to 800+ by Thanksgiving.  If it does another $10k+ PTA this weekend, I suspect to an actual wide release faster.  12 Years will be at $8m by Monday, and still very hard to predict just how far it will go when all is said and done.  To be fair, the film will be in a decent amount of theaters until the Oscar show in March.

8. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 - $3.5m
Will get its biggest drop yet thanks to Free Birds, but it has earned $100m now and will end up at about $115m.

9. The Counselor - $3m
As expected, it was hated by mainstream audiences earning a "D" from Cinemascore.  So, it really is another Killing Them Softly.  Final gross will be in the high teens.  Even with a budget of only $25, that's still a very big disappointment. 

10. Carrie - $2.5m
A very underperforming remake, despite almost no horror competition.  Gross will be in the mid 30's.

About Time is debuting in 175 theaters before expanding wide next weekend.  Universal used similar strategies for Love Actually, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and Pitch Perfect.  Expect about $2m this weekend.  The film is being sold on the strength of Rachel McAdams and audiences familiarity to Love Actually.  There hasn't been an all-out romance movie since February, so this might benefit just slightly from that.  Rachel's romcoms/romdrams tend to do well, so I'm thinking it has a shot at getting $30m.  Any more will depend on word of mouth and how starved people are for a date night movie.

Blue Is the Warmest Color did just as expected, earning $100k from 4 theaters.  It expands to a theater count in the low 30s.  Diana is debuting with a similar count but, given how awful that film is supposed to be, I expect it's going nowhere.