Welcome to "Box Office Battle," The Fly's weekly preview projecting what the top films will be at the box office this weekend.
'TOY STORY 4' OPENS STRONG: Disney (DIS) and Pixar's "Toy Story 4," the latest installment of the beloved animated franchise that began in 1995, has already earned $12M from Thursday night previews, and will be looking to break the record for largest opening weekend for an animated film this weekend. "Toy Story 4" is opening at 4,575 theaters, with predictions that the film could open anywhere from $140M to $200M. The record is currently held by another Pixar sequel, "Incredibles 2," which earned $182.6M in its opening weekend.
'CHILD'S PLAY' ALSO OPENING: "Toy Story 4" is not the only movie about toys coming to life opening this weekend, with MGM's Orion Pictures' horror film "Child's Play" also hitting theaters. The rebooted slasher film stars Aubrey Plaza and the voice of Mark Hamill, and is looking to open in the $16M-$19M range, after earning $1.65M in Thursday night previews.
'MEN IN BLACK,' 'DARK PHOENIX' SLIP: Sony's (SNE) "Men in Black: International," the fourth film in the "Men in Black" franchise, and first to star Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson, is expected to drop around 60% in its second weekend at theaters, earning an estimated $11M-$12M this weekend.
Meanwhile, in its third weekend at theaters, the Fox/Disney X-Men sequel "Dark Phoenix" is expected to drop all the way to ninth place, with an estimated domestic gross of $4M-$5M over the weekend.
OVERALL DOMESTIC PROJECTIONS:
Toy Story 4: $165M
Child's Play: $17M
The Secret Life of Pets 2: $12M-$13M
Men in Black: International: $12M
Aladdin: $11M
Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include AT&T (T), CBS (CBS), Comcast (CMCSA, CMCSK), Lionsgate (LGF.A, LGF.B), and Viacom (VIA, VIAB).
Disney
-0.68 (-0.48%)
Symbol now SONY
-0.59 (-1.09%)
AT&T
-0.08 (-0.25%)
Use VIAC, VIACA
-0.33 (-0.65%)
Comcast
-0.08 (-0.18%)
Comcast
+ (+0.00%)
Lionsgate
+0.075 (+0.62%)
Lionsgate
+0.11 (+0.98%)
Via Renewables
+ (+0.00%)
VIAB
+