There are two new films opening in wide release this weekend: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill team up for R-rated comedy The Watch from 20^th Century Fox and Summit Entertainment goes back to the well once again with PG-13 dance flick Step Up: Revolution, the fourth in the series. Both films will be competing with the second weekend of The Dark Knight Rises and as such they have their work cut out for them. The Watch, which centers on the alien invasion of a suburban town, may serve as good counter-programming for those looking for a laugh and stars Stiller, Vaughn and Hill are usually reliable draws at the box office. Step Up: Revolution will likely continue the downward trend started by the last film in the tired series and open with underwhelming results. Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate about $142 million over the weekend, down about 15.4% from last year when Universal’s Cowboys and Aliens and The Smurfs from Sony led the overall Top 10 to a total of $167.9 million. 

There is only one new film opening in wide release this weekend: This is the weekend that fanboys have been drooling in anticipation waiting for as Warner Bros. releases the highly anticipated threequel The Dark Knight Rises. At the beginning of the year, it seemed like a no-brainer that the film would set a new opening weekend record, but after the stellar opening set by The Avengers ($207.4 million) this past May, the record may be out of reach for the Caped Crusader. The Avengers had the advantage of surcharges from 3D showings boosting the gross even further and may make it impossible for Batman to catch up. Nonetheless, the latest Batman flick is going to do huge business this weekend and will likely have the second biggest opening weekend of all time.  Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate about $274.2 million over the weekend, up  a substantial 34.7% from last year when Paramount’s Captain America: The First Avenger and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II from Warner Bros. led the overall Top 10 to a total of $179.1 million. 

There is only one new film opening in wide release this weekend: Originally, Universal’s Ted was set to open this weekend, but now that it was bumped up, 20^th Century Fox’s animated adventure Ice Age: Continental Drift, the fourth in the series, has the weekend all to itself. The dependable franchise has been a steady earner for Fox with each of the installments grossing about $190 million at the domestic box office. The film is being released on the heels of two other animated hits, Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted and Brave, but it should still perform quite well. Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate about $150.1 million over the weekend, down a huge 65.7% from last year when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II set a then opening weekend record of $169.2 million leading the overall Top 10 to a total of $248.7 million. Despite the significant drop off from last year, Hollywood can rest easy as next weekend Warner Bros.’ much anticipated trilogy capper The Dark Knight Rises is sure to have an astronomical opening.  

There are three new films opening in wide release this weekend: With the Fourth of July landing on Wednesday this year, Sony kicks the week off early with the release of The Amazing Spider-Man on Tuesday. Paramount releases documentary/concert film Katy Perry: Part of Me on Thursday and on Friday, Universal release the latest from director Oliver Stone, Savages, starring box office poison Taylor Kitsch. Spider-Man is one of the most popular characters of all time and although this reboot may not perform quite as well as its predecessors, a muscular box office take is all but a guarantee. The weekend number will be fairly low for this type of film due to the film opening on Tuesday, but will still likely be one of the biggest openings of the year. Miley Cyrus had a huge hit with her 3D concert film as did Justin Bieber, but are Katy Perry’s fans as devoted? Probably not, but she has enough diehard fans to have a decent opening.   Savages marks Oliver Stone’s first gritty, violent film in almost twenty years and although that may be enticing to his biggest fans, the film will probably get swallowed up by the big summer releases. The fact that it stars Taylor Kitsch coming off of the two biggest bombs of the year (John Carter and Battleship) certainly doesn’t help. The poor guy has become the anti-Channing Tatum.    Predictions below are all for the 3 day weekend.     Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate about $183 million over the weekend, up about 23.3% from last year when Transformers: Dark of the Moon from Paramount and Horrible Bosses  from Warner Bros. led the overall Top 10 to a total of $140.4 million. 

After much discourse and a highly vocal voice of detractors on internet message boards, Sony’s reboot The Amazing Spider-Man swings in to theatres.   Many people have been stating that it is way too soon to reboot the successful series that was launched a mere ten years ago. Many of those are calling this a Twilight version of the character.  If you focus on what those on the internet are saying, the movie is going to be a colossal failure at the box office. The haters can hate all they want, but this film is going to perform quite well at the box office. There is one simple reason why; it is frigging Spider-Man, arguably the most popular superhero around. Sure a certain caped crusader stands proudly right next to him, but the web crawler’s appeal is much broader than the brooding Dark Knight. The Batman films cater to a far more adult audience than the Spidey films. The Amazing Spider-Man will draw in the family audience along with adults and hardcore fans of the character. This is not to say that Sony’s reboot is going to come close to the box office take of The Dark Knight Returns. The point is that family audiences are going to propel the grosses of the film despite all of the negativity from outraged fanboys.

There are four new films opening in wide release this weekend: Mark Wahlberg stars with a teddy bear in Universal’s raunchy R-rated comedy Ted from writer/director Seth Macfarlane, Channing Tatum relives his days as a stripper in R-rated comedy Magic Mike from Warner Bros., Tyler Perry is back as his signature character in Madea’s Witness Protection from Lionsgate and Chris Pine and Elizabeth Banks learn they are siblings in drama People Like Us from DreamWorks. Brave should easily top the box office again this weekend, but it is truly anyone’s guess as to which of the new releases will take second place. It will be a tight race between Ted, Madea’s Witness Protection and Magic Mike. Armed with a strong trailer, great concept and strong buzz, Ted should be the top choice among the new releases but the strength of Tyler Perry’s fanbase and the chiseled bodies of Channing Tatum and his co-stars should not be underestimated.    People Like Us, although probably a good film, will likely get lost in the summer shuffle.  Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate about $151.8 million over the weekend, down about 18.6% from last year when Transformers: Dark of the Moon from Paramount and Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2 led the overall Top 10 to a total of $186.5 million. 

There are three new films opening in wide release this weekend: Disney/Pixar releases their new animated adventure film Brave which should put them back on track after last summer’s disappointing Cars 2, 20^th Century Fox adds a horror twist to our nation’s history with Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Steve Carell and Keira Knightley try to ring some laughs out of Armageddon in romantic comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World from Focus Features.  Brave will easily take the top spot and should open in usual Pixar fashion, while Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is going to have its work cut out for it. The film will have a tough time pulling in any one unfamiliar with the source material and will likely be the next big casualty of the summer box office race. Seeking a Friend for the End of the World may work as good counterprogramming to the big films currently in theatres, but it is doubtful the film will have a big opening weekend. It looks to be more of a possible sleeper hit.   Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate about $141.7 million over the weekend, down about 13.9% from last year when Cars 2 from Disney/Pixar and Sony’s Bad Teacher led the overall Top 10 to a total of $164.5 million. 

There are two new films opening in wide release this weekend: Based on the hit Broadway musical, Warner Bros. Rock of Ages, homage to the hair band aesthetics of the 80’s arrives in theatres while Sony tries to take advantage of the Father’s Day holiday with the release of Adam Sandler’s raunchy R-rated comedy That’s My Boy. Rock of Ages boasts a huge cast that includes Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Paul Giamatti, Russell Brand and Tom Cruise as legendary rocker Stacee Jaxx. Will audiences be willing to plunk down their hard earned dollars to see Cruise sing and dance? Most likely they will. Sandler’s coming off the stink of his last film Jack and Jill and while making his first R-rated comedy in over a decade may bring back some of his older fans, it will also eliminate a sizable portion of his fanbase. Two years ago, Sandler and Cruise faced off with Grown Ups versus Knight and Day with Sandler coming out on top. This time around, the result is likely going to be different. Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate about $144.1 million over the weekend, relatively even with last year when Green Lantern from Warner Bros. and Paramount’s Super 8 led the overall Top 10 to a total of $144.8 million. 

There are two new films opening in wide release this weekend: DreamWorks’ animated threequel Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted arrives as the first summer movie truly aimed at families and 20^th Century Fox hopes to entice the sci-fi loving adult crowd with R-rated space epic Prometheus from director Ridley Scott. Both films have a legitimate chance of topping the box office this weekend and it should be a very tight race between these two very different films as they duke it out for box office supremacy. Madagascar may have a slight edge as it is the first animated movie to open since this past March when The Lorax opened way above expectations due to a similar family film drought. One thing is for sure; the box office will be up a healthy amount over last year’s total tally. Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate about $182 million over the weekend, up about 28.1% from last year when Paramount’s Super 8 and  X-Men: First Class from 20^th Century Fox led the overall Top 10 to a total of $130.8 million. 

There is only one new film opening in wide release this weekend: Universal’s Snow White and the Huntsmen is the third imagining of the fairest one of all in the past year, behind ABC’s Once Upon a Time and recent underperformer Mirror, Mirror from Relativity Media. The film stars Kristen Stewart as Snow White, Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsmen and Charlize Theron as the Evil Queen. Hemsworth is largely untested outside of the Marvel universe and Theron doesn’t pack that much of a punch at the box office leaving the success of the film resting on Stewart’s shoulders. Will her Twilight fans follow her to this new role or will they reject it as they did every other Stewart vehicle outside of the vampire flicks? Based on my estimates, the Top 10 will generate about $121.6 million over the weekend, down about 20.2% from last year when X-Men: First Class from 20^th Century Fox and The Hangover Part II from Warner Bros. led the overall Top 10 to a total of $152.3 million.