This weekend finally brings the opening of this summer’s most talked about movie Ghostbusters [GHST3]. However, the level of buzz appears unlikely to be enough to topple The Secret Life of Pets [PETS]. Even if its second weekend decline by more than 40%, $60 million will likely keep The Secret Life of Pets in first place.
After years of unsuccessful attempts to make a second sequel, Sony finally decided to reboot Ghostbusters with a new cast: Melissa McCarthy [MMCCA], Kristen Wiig [KWIIG], Kate McKinnon [KAMCK] and Leslie Jones [LJONE]. Unfortunately, the female leads have upset a vocal minority of sexist haters out to sabotage the film. Despite their negativity though, the PG-13 rated fantasy comedy has been met with mostly positive reviews. Director Paul Feig [PFEIG] has a track-record of delivering hits targeted at women, which as a group should more than make up for the men boycotting the film. Ghostbusters will also attract families with parents nostalgic for the 30-year-old classic. Advance tickets sales are brisk with no sign of a Fantastic Four-level disaster. Streaming into 3963 theater, Ghostbusters could cross over $50 million.
The Legend of Tarzan [TARZN] looks to swing pass the $100 million mark with another $10 million. Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates may lose 50% of its debut to around $8 million.
Bryan Cranston [BCRAN] toplines the R-rated thriller The Infiltrator [NFILT]. Broad Green targets fans of "Breaking Bad", but has not really spend the advertising dollars. The film opened on Wednesday and collected less than $0.8 million. The Infiltrator could tap just $4 million over the weekend from 1600 locations.
That’s the whisper from the virtual trading floor.
Tag(s): GHST3, PETS, MMCCA, KWIIG, KAMCK, LJONE, PFEIG, TARZN, BCRAN, NFILT