
If you go to the movies this weekend and you hear a lot of screaming, don’t be alarmed. It is just the sound of teenage girls swooning over the musical stylings of the Jonas Brothers. That’s right, attacking multiplexes this weekend is Disney’s Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience, which will easily take the #1 spot at the box office. The only other new release for the weekend is the video game inspired, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, which will be lucky to crack the top 10.
Teenage girls and their moms will be packing into theatres to see Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience this weekend, but can the Jonas boys reach the heights of Disney princess, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus? Last year at this time Disney released Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds 3-D to an astounding $31.1M from only 683 locations. Much has changed over the past year, however, and more theatres are able to show 3-D movies. Jonas Brothers will be debuting in nearly 1300 theatres, nearly double the amount that Hannah Montana premiered in. I don’t think this will be a major factor in the overall gross for the weekend though. Hannah Montana fans packed into every theatre seat available because her 3-D concert was advertised as a one week event. Upon seeing the weekend gross, Disney chose to give it a few more weeks in theatres. Jonas Brothers has no such caveat. If fans don’t make it out this weekend, they know they still have time in the weeks ahead to see the concert. Nonetheless, the fan base will be out in force this weekend, so the real question becomes, who has more fans, Miley Cyrus or the Jonas Brothers? I think the fan base for Miley Cyrus is a touch bigger. I would expect Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience to make much less because of this. .Look for the Jonas boys to rack up about $18M this weekend.
Based on the hit video game, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, opens in about 1000 theatres this weekend. This is the second film based on the video game, the first, Street Fighter, starred Jean- Claude Van Damme way back in 1994. This version is a relaunch of the property and has nothing to do with the first film. Chun-Li stars Kristen Kreuk (Lana Lang of Smallville) as the titular character and also features Chris Klein and Michael Clarke Duncan. It has been many years since the video game came out and I’m not that sure that the franchise is really all that popular anymore. Launching in a small amount of theatres, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li should make about $4M this weekend.
Expanding to 2942 theatres from 2244 and hot off of multiple Academy Award wins (including Best Picture), Slumdog Millionaire should rise about 25% to add another $10.5M to its overall gross. Last weekend’s champ, Madea Goes to Jail, saw most of its fan base come out already, so a big decline should be in order. Madea should drop about 60% this weekend, grossing another $16.3M. To see the rest of my predictions, check out the chart below.
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RANK
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TITLE
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BILL’S PREDICTION
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1
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Jonas Brothers: The 3-D Concert Experience
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$18M
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2
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Madea Goes to Jail
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$16.3M -60%
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3
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Slumdog Millionaire
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$10.5M +25%
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4
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Taken
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$8M -30%
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5
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Coraline
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$6.3M -45%
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6
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Paul Blart: Mall Cop
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$4.9M -30%
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7
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He’s Just Not That Into You
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$4.7M -45%
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8
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Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
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$4M
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9
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Confessions of a Shopaholic
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$4M -40%
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10
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Friday the 13th
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$3.9M -50%
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