Weekend Predictions: 'The Grey,' 'One for the Money' and 'Man on a Ledge'
Featured Stories - on January 25, 2012 by Phil Contrino
A drama about a man fighting off wolves and the elements looks poised for a #1 finish at the box office this coming weekend.
Open Road, the distribution label formed by AMC and Regal, will release its second film with The Grey, a man vs. nature drama that stars Liam Neeson. The 59-year-old Oscar nominee has managed to reinvent himself late in his career thanks to lead roles in Taken and Unknown. The Grey will try to capitalize on the success of both of those films.
Look for The Grey to take in $14.5 million from 3,185 locations during its debut frame.
One for the Money will test how well Katherine Heigl's drawing power is holding up. Heigl stumbled a bit in 2010 with Killers and Life As We Know It after finding huge success thanks to Knocked Up and 27 Dresses. One for the Money looks poised to end up closer to Killers' $15 million debut than 27 Dresses' $23 million.
One for the Money should manage $10 million from around 2,700 locations.
Sam Worthington starred in Avatar, but it didn't become the #1 worldwide hit of all time based on his drawing power. Man on a Ledge will now test whether or not Worthington can open a film based on his own merits. With a lot of male-skewing flicks already in the market, we're betting that Man on a Ledge won't be a career breakthrough for the Aussie thesp.
Man on a Ledge looks poised to grab $9.5 million from around 2,800 locations during its debut frame.
Oscar winners still in theaters should see a nice boost at the box office. Look for The Artist to fall just outside the top 10 during what will be its tenth weekend of release.
Check out the rest of our predictions in the table below.
| Title | Release Date | Distributor | Opening Weekend | Cumulative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Grey | Jan 27, 2012 | Open Road |
$14,500,000 | $14,500,000 |
| Red Tails | Jan 20, 2012 | Fox |
$12,000,000 | $35,500,000 |
| Underworld Awakening | Jan 20, 2012 | Sony / Screen Gems |
$11,700,000 | $44,500,000 |
| One For the Money | Jan 27, 2012 | Lionsgate |
$10,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
| Man on a Ledge | Jan 27, 2012 | Summit |
$9,500,000 | $9,500,000 |
| Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close | Dec 25, 2011 | Warner Bros. |
$8,500,000 | $22,700,000 |
| Contraband | Jan 13, 2012 | Universal |
$7,200,000 | $57,200,000 |
| The Descendants | Nov 16, 2011 | Fox Searchlight |
$6,300,000 | $58,600,000 |
| Beauty and the Beast 3D | Jan 13, 2012 | Disney |
$6,200,000 | $42,100,000 |
| Haywire | Jan 20, 2012 | Relativity Media |
$4,500,000 | $15,900,000 |
| The Artist | Nov 25, 2011 | Weinstein Company |
$4,000,000 | $17,300,000 |
Additional reporting by Daniel Garris and Alex Edghill.
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