Each Thursday we look at what is going to be coming out in theaters this weekend, show you the trailers for the big releases, predict the box office winner and just generally give you enough of a carrot to pull you through the rest of the work week. Week 2 of March Movie Madness only has one major release, but when you’re the size of Kong, one will do.
Kong last appeared onscreen during Peter Jackson’s 3 hour magnum opus remake of the classic Kong story. The film won three Oscars, with critical reviews a little below the 80% Skull Island has at time of writing, but it was divisive among fans. I thought Kong Skull Island‘s trailer was the best to come out of last year’s San Diego Comic Con, and it has a great cast and fantastic visual style. The film will set up a Godzilla vs. Kong film (there will be an end credits scene btw).
Kong Skull Island (Brie Larson, John Goodman, PG-13, 2hr 0min)
HOW DID WE DO LAST WEEK?
KT picked Logan to kick off THE MARCH OF AGES (I have a lot of nicknames I’m trying out), and that it did. The film set a record for an R-Rated opening in March (beating 300‘s record) and pulled in $88.5 million. Jordan Peele’s Get Out continues to be a phenomenon, dropping a paltry 22% and finishing second with $28.3 million. Get Out was made for $4.5 million.
(2017 Prediction Record: 8-2; Lifetime prediction record 46-7).
WHO WILL WIN THE WEEKEND?
Unlike last week’s easy call, this one looks like it will be close. Kong Skull Island is getting good reviews (better than the surprisingly disappointing Beauty and the Beast, which is week 3’s behemoth). Kong’s got some baggage from the last iterations, but this isn’t the traditional story and the trailers have been masterpieces. All that being said, experts are putting it in the $40-50 opening weekend range. Logan, if it loses the traditional 50% most well-reviewed box office champs do, will also fall right into that zone. Logan is performing well during the week, and is getting good word-of-mouth to bring in non-comic book die hards. It may win the weekend, but I’m going to go with Kong for a narrow win. X-Men films have a notorious history of GIANT second week drop offs, but Logan is not a typical X-Men film. Whichever way this goes, FOX owns them both, so it’s a great weekend for them. Get Out, with its $4.5 million budget, will definitely pass $100 million no matter what happens.
