Last month,Deadpoolset the pace for all superhero movies this year, settingbox officerecords with a $132.4 million opening weekend, en route to becoming the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. Last weekend,Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justicesurpassed its own expectations, taking in $166 million domestically and $424 million worldwide, the best global debut for any superhero movie in history. With the superhero movie’s second weekend approaching,Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justicewill have no trouble staying in the top spot, since the only two newcomers God’s Not Dead 2 and Meet the Blacks don’t stand a chance at unseating this superhero movie, according to the projections atPro.BoxOffice.com.
It’s always tricky trying to predict the second weekend of a blockbuster likeBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, especially since it didn’t fare well with critics. Thesuperhero moviecontinues to drop on Rotten Tomatoes, currently standing at a 28% Rotten rating, but the audience score is still overwhelmingly positive, with 72% of the RT users favoring the movie. With all that being said,Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceshould still easily take the top spot with $80 million in its second frame in theaters, though other anylasts place it at a low $56 million. God’s Not Dead 2 is expected to take in $15 million, just behindZootopiawith $16 million, althoughPro.BoxOffice.comdidn’t post any projections for Meet the Blacks.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justicehas now become the highest-grossing movie to ever debut in March, breakingThe Hunger Games' record of $152.5 million set in 2012. We reported last week that advanced ticket sales forBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicewere out-pacingDeadpool, which took in a record-breaking $132.4 million over its opening weekend, the highest debut ever for an R-rated movie. The movie has gone on to earn $340.9 million domestically and $390 million internationally for a worldwide haul of $731 million, with many wondering if it can surpass the $1 billion worldwide plateau.Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceeasily surpassed the Merc With the Mouth’s debut, but, unlikeDeadpool,Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justicehas not won the critics over.
Early fan reactions from theNew York premierelast week were exceedingly positive, but after the first reviews started coming in a few days later, the response quickly turned negative. The initial wave of reviews putBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justiceat 40% rotten on the TomatoMeter, a number which has now slipped to 29% over the weekend.Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justicedebuted in 4,242 theaters, which is a huge release but comes nowhere close to the widest release of all time.The Twilight Saga: Eclipsehas held that record for nearly six years, opening in 4,468 theaters in the summer of 2010. The superhero adventure pulled in an impressive $40,099 per-screen average in its opening weekend.
God’s Not Dead 2 is opening in approximately 2,200 theaters this weekend, with Meet the Blacks debuting in approximately 1,000 theaters. God’s Not Dead 2 follows a high school teacher who is asked a question in class about Jesus. Her reasoned response lands her in deep trouble and could expel God from the public square once and for all. David A.R. White,Ray Wise, Robin Givens,Ernie Hudson,Melissa Joan Hart,Jesse Metcalfe, Hayley Orrantia and Pat Boone lead the ensemble cast.
Meet the Blacks follows the patriarch (Mike Epps) of a an African-American family that decides they should move from Chicago to a posh neighborhood in Beverly Hills, after obtaining a great deal of money. However, they are soon terrorized by home intruders who want them out of the affluent community in this comedic spoof ofThe Purgefilms. The cast is rounded out by Zulay Henao,Mike Tyson, Andrew Bachelor,Charles Q. Murphy, Bresha Webb, Lavell Crawford,DeRay Davis, Gary Owen andPerez Hilton. No Rotten Tomatoes scores have been posted yet for God’s Not Dead 2 or Meet the Blacks, with the top 5 rounded out byMy Big Fat Greek Wedding 2($9.3 million) andThe Divergent Series: Allegiant($6.5 million).
The top 10 will be rounded out byMiracles from Heaven($4.2 million),10 Cloverfield Lane($3.8 million),Deadpool($3.5 million),London Has Fallen($1.8 million) and Meet the Blacks $1.1 million. Also opening in limited release are Paramount’sEverybody Wants Some, the latest from directorRichard Linklater, Broad Green Pictures' The Dark Horse, Sony Pictures Classics’Miles Ahead, Lionsgate’sNatural Born Prankstersand Distrib Films' Next Time I’ll Aim for the Heart. Warner Bros.‘Midnight Specialis also getting a slight theatrical expansion, debuting in more than 55 theaters, but that shouldn’t be enough to bump it into the top 10. It isn’t known if there are expansion plans for any of this week’s limited releases.
Looking forward to next weekend, three new movies are slated to debut in wide release, the thrillerBefore I Wake, Relativity’s first movie to come out following theirbankruptcyproceedings, Universal’s newcomedymovieThe Bossand STX Entertainment’sHardcore Henry. Also debuting in limited release is Fox Searchlight’sDemolition, Drafthouse Films’The Invitation, The Orchard’s Louder Than Bombs, Focus World’sMr. Right, and Starz Media’s One More Time. Take a look at our projections for this week’s top 10 below, and check back on Sunday for the box office estimates.
