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: This weekend sees three major releases -- Sony's (SNE) "Jumanji: The Next Level," AT&T (T) subsidiary Warner Bros. "Richard Jewell," and Comcast (CMCSA, CMCSK) subsidiary Universal and Blumhouse's "Black Christmas." The Dwayne Johnson led "Jumanji: The Next Level," the sequel to surprise 2017 hit "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle," is expected to win the weekend with a domestic gross in the range of $40M-$50M. Clint Eastwood's "Richard Jewell," a drama based on real events, is expected to earn around $11M, while the horror film "Black Christmas" is expected to open around $10M.
STILL PLAYING: After three weeks at #1, Disney's (DIS) animated sequel "Frozen II" is expected to finish in second place, earning another $21M domestically, putting the film's domestic total at around $368M. Lionsgate's murder mystery (LGF.A, LGF.B) "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 round out the top five, adding about $9M to its domestic total in its third weekend at theaters.
OVERALL DOMESTIC PROJECTIONS:
- Jumanji: The Next Level - $40M-$50M
- Frozen II - $21M
- Richard Jewell - $11M
- Black Christmas - $10M
- Knives Out - $9M
Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include Fox (FOX, FOXA) and ViacomCBS (VIAC).
