Warner Bros.’ Gravity, which has earned a heap of praise from critics at film festivals, is finally opening in theaters today. The film is hoping to turn that critical acclaim into box office dough, just like Warner Bros.’ Prisoners did two weeks ago. However, it has to beat Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2.
Gravity is the first film directed by Alfonso Cuaron since 2006’s acclaimed sci-fi drama Children of Men. He’s returned to the genre with the $80 million Gravity, which not only has buzz going for it, but two of the biggest stars in Hollywood: Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The film is also opening in IMAX and is only 90 minutes, meaning that theaters can squeeze in even more showings.
Box Office Mojo and Entertainment Weekly are both predicting a $41 million debut, which would be double Prisoners’ debut two weeks ago.
Cloudy 2 is expected to only drop to second place with around $20 million. The film opened to $35 million last week, so a 40 percent drop should be expected.
The disappointment of the weekend maybe Runner Runner, which stars Justin Timberlake and Ben Affleck. It hasn’t been earning good reviews and will be lucky to cross $10 million. It just doesn’t have a shot to do well against Gravity, despite beeing screened at 3,024 theaters.
Rush and Prisoners will probably round out the Top 5 with just about $5 million for both.
You can check out trailers for these films and others opening this weekend at Trailer Park. It’s also worth noting that Sony is screening Captain Phillips at 800 locations on Saturday.
image: Warner Bros.