Welcome to "Box Office Battle," The Fly's weekly preview projecting what the top films will be at the box office this weekend.
OPENING THIS WEEKEND: MGM's animated movie "The Addams Family" is being released in just over 4,000 theaters this weekend, ahead of the Halloween holiday. The film has already earned $1.25M in Thursday night previews, and Box Office Mojo predicted an opening weekend of $29M, ahead of industry expectations in the $21M-27M range, with the studio targeting $25M+. Also opening this weekend is Viacom (VIA, VIAB) subsidiary Paramount's sci-fi thriller "Gemini Man," starring Will Smith in two roles. The film earned $1.6M in Thursday night previews, and is expected to gross $20M-$21M at 3,642 theaters.
STILL PLAYING: AT&T's (T) Warner Bros. latest comic book release, "Joker," starring Joaquin Phoenix as the comedic clown and directed by Todd Phillips, is expected to hold on to the top spot this weekend. The comic book film, which is playing at 4,374 theaters, is expected to beat out both new releases with a second weekend haul of around $45M. Likely rounding out the top five, behind "The Addams Family" and "Gemini Man" this weekend are Comcast's (CMCSA, CMCSK) DreamWorks Animation and Pearl Studio's animated family film "Abominable," and "Downton Abbey," the cinematic continuation of the British television series distributed by Comcast's Focus Features.
OVERALL DOMESTIC PROJECTIONS:
Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include CBS (CBS), Disney (DIS), Liongate (LGF.A, LGF.B), and Sony (SNE).
Via Renewables
+0.69 (+2.78%)
VIAB
+
AT&T
+0.305 (+0.82%)
Comcast
+1.02 (+2.29%)
Comcast
+ (+0.00%)
Use VIAC, VIACA
+1.11 (+2.95%)
Disney
+1.55 (+1.20%)
Lionsgate
+0.4 (+4.30%)
Lionsgate
+0.38 (+4.33%)
Symbol now SONY
+1.26 (+2.20%)