Welcome to "Box Office Battle," The Fly's weekly preview projecting what the top films will be at the box office this weekend.
OPENING THIS WEEKEND: Thanksgiving weekend's two new major releases are Lionsgate's (LGF.A, LGF.B) "Knives Out" and Comcast (CMCSA, CMCSK) subdidiary Universal's "Queen & Slim." Murder mystery "Knives Out," directed by Rian Johnson and starring an ensemble cast including Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, and Jamie Lee Curtis, is expected to open in the range of $35M-$40M over the five day weekend, which would make the film one of the top 25 Thanksgiving five-day openers ever. The whodunit has already generated $4M from previews, and is being helped by a 96% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The other new release, dramatic thriller "Queen & Slim," starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith, is expected to round out this weekend's top five, with a five-day gross in the range of $12M-$17M.
STILL PLAYING: Disney's (DIS) animated sequel "Frozen II" is expected to easily maintain the top spot at the box office in its second weekend at theaters, with another $100M+ weekend. Also still at theaters, and expected to vie for third place are Twentieth Century Fox's (FOX, FOXA) auto racing biographical drama "Ford v Ferrari," starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon, and Sony's (SNE) Mr. Rogers biopic "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," starring Tom Hanks.
OVERALL DOMESTIC PROJECTIONS: (five-day holiday weekend)
- Frozen II - $100M-$120M
- Knives Out - $35M-$40M
- Ford v Ferrari - $20M
- A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood - $18M
- Queen & Slim - $12M-$17M
Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include AT&T (T) and Viacom (VIA, VIAB).
