After two record-breaking weekends at the top of the box office, The Avengers gets challenged with three new releases playing this weekend.
The Avengers, which opened the summer season, has broken two records thus far, with an opening weekend intake of $207 million followed by $103 million second weekend. After a steady week holding on to the number one spot, the Hollywood Reporter still reports that the film is still on track to make $60 million this weekend, outpacing all the new releases.
The first of the wide releases is Battleship, the third Hasbro project, sister to Transformers, and GI Joe. The film based on the classic board games headlines Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Brooklyn Decker, and Alexander Skarsgard and is direct by Peter Berg. The effects heavy film opened internationally and has thus far earned $220 million, a modest but not spectacular sum for a big tentpole film. The film which has estimated budget of $200 million is tracking according to Variety on par with John Carter's opening weekend. John Carter opened with $28 million and accumulateda total of$71 million in domestic gross. Battleship is expected to open with a modest $35 million according to the Hollywood Reporter.
To counter the loud bombastic action packed films, Lionsgate will release ensemble comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting, based on the bestselling self-help book and Paramount will unleash The Dictator starring Sascha Baron Cohen.
What to Expect When You're Expecting, starring Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz, is budgeted at $30 million is expected to score between $10 to $15 million over the course of its opening three days. "Expecting" recently spiked interest with its core female audience after a Thursday afternoon demo. The film received a 21% overall rating according to Rotten Tomatoes, an aggregate reviews website.
The Dictator which opened Wednesday nationwide has thus far scored a modest but not spectacular $4.2 million. Worldwide it has scored a stronger opening with the same amount in only nine markets including a $1.6 million in the United Kingdom. The film is the first R rated film of the summer and is scoring similar to Baron Cohen's previous films Borat and Bruno. Reviews were modest with the film scoring a 63% from Rotten tomatoes and a consensus stating that the film is not as outrageous as his unscripted Borat. The Dictator is estimated to make about $20 million over the weekend.
In the art house forum, Fox Searchlight is expanding The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel to 358 theaters while Sony Pictures Classics is releasing Hysteria starring Hugh Dancy, Maggie Gyllenhaal In New York and L.A. Another notable release is IFC's critically acclaimed Polisse.