Box Office Battle: 'Fate of the Furious' still leading competition

Coming back for its third weekend in theaters, and yet again expected to take the top spot at the box office, is Comcast (CMCSA, CMCSK) subsidiary Universal's "The Fate of the Furious," which is expected to earn an additional $22M-$23M domestically, as it nears a worldwide lifetime gross of $1B. Opening this weekend, and expected to take second place, is STX Entertainment's "The Circle," a dramatic thriller based on the Dave Eggers novel of the same name starring Emma Watson, Tom Hanks and John Boyega, which is expected to open in the $14M-$16M range. In its fourth weekend at theaters is Fox's (FOX, FOXA) animated feature "The Boss Baby," which is expected to earn about $10M. Another opening this weekend is Great India Films "Baahubali 2: The Conclusion," which is expected to gross $7M-$9M in about 450 North American theaters. Also of note is that Disney's (DIS) superhero sequel "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" is opening this weekend overseas, but will not open domestically until next weekend when it will be released in 4,200 theaters. Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include Lionsgate (LGF.A, LGF.B), Sony (SNE), Time Warner (TWX), and Viacom (VIA, VIAB).