Welcome to the Box Office Oracle–where new movies are pitted against each other for box office supremacy and only one can claim victory. Each week, I will be doing a quick box office prediction for all wide new releases. Sorry, obscure indie films I’ve never heard of, but you aren’t going to be discussed here unless you become big.
This is also something I’m going to keep as free of “controversy” if I can. This means that if, I don’t know, Jon Voight is voicing an evil government agent talking bear in a DreamWorks movie, I’m not going to make a bunch of Trump jokes. If a Tom Cruise actioner comes out, I’m not going to make a bunch of Scientology cracks. You get the idea. I want for this to be kept fun and simple.
So, without any further discussion, let’s get into this weekend’s three big new releases, Ford v Ferrari, Charlie’s Angels and The Good Liar.
Ford v Ferrari
Welcome to your surprise hit of November. Here we have Matt Damon and Christian Bale starring in a potential awards season pic that also manages to include a good amount of car racing. Based on the true story of a feud that went on between the two car empires of the title, the movie is scoring high with critics and looks very entertaining to boot.
The star power and critical praise should help elevate the movie greatly, along with heavy marketing during the World Series last month. Even better, the film’s previews feature plenty of humor. All of that will give Ford a weekend-winning $29 million.
Why Your Fortune Cookie Tells You To Go: Director James Mangold has helmed plenty of great movies, including Logan, Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma.
Why Your Fortune Cookie Tells You To Stay Away: The movie sadly doesn’t serve as a prequel to the post-apocalyptic world of Cars.
Today’s Lucky Lotto Numbers: $29 million opening; $120 million finish.
Charlie’s Angels
Earlier this year, it was looking like Charlie’s Angels might be one of the breakout hits of November. Unfortunately, Sony simply hasn’t been able to get the hype train going for this one. Which is a bit of a shame, since the trailers have been pretty fun, but haven’t done much to tell audiences about the plot or even who the villain is. What are the Angels saving the world from this time? Combine that with a dull poster campaign which shows the film’s leads standing around and not doing anything, and it seems like Sony mishandled this to say the least.
Reviews are “fine” for Charlie’s Angels so far at 59% “fresh,” which isn’t going to impact the box office returns much one way or another. With Terminator bombing two weeks ago, I had thought that Angels might’ve been given an open door to walk into, but alas, an opening of $18 million seems far more likely.
Why Your Fortune Cookie Tells You To Go: The previews are lively and cool. Also, Patrick Stewart.
Why Your Fortune Cookie Tells You To Stay Away: The movie doesn’t appear to have quite the same level of whiz-bang action and rapid-fire comedy of the Cameron Diaz Angels films from the early 2000’s,
Today’s Lucky Lotto Numbers: $18 million debut; $56 million finish.
The Good Liar
Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren. In the same movie. That’s enough to give fans of great British acting the cinematic equivalent of an orgasm. Here they play…well, it’s kind of hard to tell what this film is exactly about. It appears McKellen is a con artist of sorts who’s trying to woo Mirren for her fortune, but she might be a con artist herself, and Mr. Carson is involved, and there may or may not be murder.
Like Angels, reviews are “fine” for The Good Liar, but even with a cast to die for, it’s hard for this one to break out in a crowded marketplace, especially with both Midway and Ford v Ferarri taking up the so-called “grown-up” market. Look for $6 million.
Why Your Fortune Cookie Tells You To Go: The cast! Also, I’ve mentioned before that Jim Carter should be in more stuff ,and he’s in this.
Why Your Fortune Cookie Tells You To Stay Away: In a busy season, most will be fine waiting for the DVD on The Good Liar.
Today’s Lucky Lotto Numbers: $6 million opening; $21 million finish.
Other fun stuff….
* The “Don’t Call Me Angel” music video for Charlie’s Angels has a whopping 115 million views on YouTube. Then again, it also has lyrics like “don’t ya know I bite when the lights go down?”, so it probably won’t win any awards.
* The fact that Maleficent: Mistress of Evil will finish past the $100 mark has to be considered a victory after its lackluster opening, but it’s also a testament to how much money Disney left on the table by not releasing it during the summer.
* What will you be doing this weekend? Angels? Cars? Something else? Sound off in the comments!