‘Fantastic Four’, ‘Mission: Impossible’ compete for weekend box office
LOS ANGELES — "Fantastic Four's" opening weekend returns are looking less and less promising: the superhero pic is now on track for a $28 million opening weekend after pulling in $11 million on Friday.
With a $120 million budget, "Fantastic Four" failing might be a tough blow for 20th Century Fox. Despite the reboot's star power -- Michael B. Jordan, Miles Teller, Kate Mara and Jamie Bell play the fearsome foursome -- the pic hasn't gained audience traction the way superhero movies generally do. In fact, the last major superhero release to bow below $35 million was Sony's "The Green Hornet" ($33.5 million in 2011). The film's director, Josh Trank, is even distancing himself from the final product.
"Mission: Impossible -- Rogue Nation" is poised to go neck-and-neck with "Fantastic Four" for weekend dominance, tracking to make up to $29 million this weekend after generating $8 million in Friday grosses. The fifth chapter in Paramount's Tom Cruise franchise will cross $100 million in U.S. grosses by Monday.
Also out this weekend is STX Entertainment/Blumhouse's "The Gift," starring Joel Edgerton and Jason Bateman. The stalker thriller pulled in $4 million in Friday grosses, which forecasts a weekend total around $11 million, slightly higher than anticipated.
There's also Meryl Streep starrer "Ricki and the Flash," which logged a Friday gross of $2.25 million in 1,603 locations. The aging rock star drama by Sony TriStar, helmed by Jonathan Demme and written by Diablo Cody, will expand to more than 2,000 theaters next weekend.
"Shaun the Sheep" also remains in competition after bowing Wednesday to an underwhelming $852,000. The stop-motion pic nabbed $1.2 million on Friday, meaning it should hit $5 million by weekend's end.
