It is the weekend of the haves and the have-nots at the domestic box office.
In the “haves” column are holdovers GOAT, from Sony Pictures Animation, and Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi‘s Wuthering Heights, which are in a close race for bragging rights to top the chart with $13 million to $15 million.
Wuthering Heights prevailed in winning the Valentine’s Day/President’s Day frame a week ago with a three-day weekend gross of $32.8 million and $37.5 million for the four days in North America. Overseas, it also did better than expected in launching to $45.5 million from more than 75 markets for a global start of $83 million.
Warners is predicting Wuthering Heights will top GOAT at the global box office again to finish Sunday with a worldwide total in the $150 million range. In the U.S., it is expected to earn $14 million; ditto for GOAT, which opened to $35 million domestically for the four days last weekend in North America and $26 million for the three days. GOAT marks another win for Sony Animation, home of the hit Spider-Verse universe and KPop: Demon Hunters. (It is rolling out much more slowly overseas.)
Among newcomers, Lionsgate and Kingdom Story’s faith-based sequel I Can Only Imagine 2 is looking at an inspirational third-place finish with $8 million to $9 million after earning a coveted A+ CinemaScore.
Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is off to a rousing start in its limited debut in 325 Imax screens with an estimated $3.2 million domestic opening. (It expands nationwide next weekend, four years after the director’s biopic opened in cinemas.) Luhrmann unearthed 59 hours of unseen footage from the Warner Bros. archives that has been painstakingly restored, including discarded material from two ‘70s concert films.
Elvis Presley in Concert is expected to earn almost as much as A24’s Glen Powell-starrer How to Make a Killing despite playing in far fewer cinemas. How to Make a Killing, playing in 1,625 locations, is looking at an unimpressive sixth-place finish with an estimated $3 million to $3.5 million.
And 20th Century Fox’s Psycho Killer appears DOA with a projected $1.4 million to $1.6 million from 1,100 North American theaters.
More to come.
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