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Friday, July 18, 2014

Box Office Preview: Will "Apes" Get Sent To "Purge-a-tory"?

 A new set of films will try to dethrone "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes" (reviews) as the top movie in the U.S.

The horror sequel The Purge : Anarchy (reviews) stirs up some trouble. In the film all crime is legalized for a 12-hour period. This film changes the action of the original Purge from an upper class suburban home invasion to a young couple trying to escape mob violence on the streets of Los Angeles.


Frank Grillo stars as a vigilante played by who is seeking revenge for the death of a family member. Boardwalk Empire's Michael K. Williams Zach Gilford ("Friday Night Lights"--the TV series), Carmen Ejogo Zoe Soul and Kiele Sanchez also star.  I finally took time to watch the first film a few weeks ago and enjoyed it quite a lot--The sequel looks even more intense.

Kate Angelo's script for the adult comedy Sex Tape (reviews) follows a suburban married couple Annie and Jay (Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel) who accidentally download a sex tape they made to the Net. Annie, a blogger who writes about parenting, desperately wants to get it back. 


The CG animated sequel Planes: Fire & Rescue (reviews) zooms into the cineplex.

Zach Braff‘s indie drama Wish I Was Here starts its limited bow. In the pic, Braff plays a 35-year-old an actor who is struggling to provide for his family. When his ailing father (Mandy Patinkin) can no longer afford to pay for his young children's private school, he reluctantly agrees to home school them.

 
Kate Hudson will play the wife of Braff’s character.Josh Gad will play Braff’s brother Jonah who becomes smitten with a young cosplayer named Janine (Anna Kendrick) Jim Parsons and Donald Faison will co-star. Pierce Gagnon ("Looper") will play Tucker, the son of Braff and Hudson. Joey King will play his sister.

Braff raised production capital via Kickstarter for the film and has raised $2.62 million in three weeks from more than 38,200 fans.

Rebecca Ford of THR:

A trio of new offerings -- a horror sequel, a raunchy comedy and an animated family film -- will face off against Fox's hit holdover Dawn of the Planet of the Apes over the July 18 weekend.

The Purge: Anarchy and the Jason Segel-Cameron Diaz comedy Sex Tape should could both attract as much as $30 million each in their debuts, but that may not be enough for either to unseat Fox's ape drama Dawn.

The Purge: Anarchy, the follow-up to the 2013 horror hit, opens in 3,303 theaters in North America and tracking suggests it will earn between $27 and $30 million in its debut. Frank Grillo stars in the R-rated film, which is set in a society where, for 24 hours, all crime is legal.

Last summer, the first Purge film, made for $3 million, was a surprise summer hit, grossing 11 times its micro-budget, $34.1 million, over its first weekend. Starring Ethan Hawke and Lena Headeyon, the movie earned $89.3 million worldwide.

However, its sequel is opening on a notably more competitive weekend, which could keep it from finding the box office that the first enjoyed. But with a budget of just $9 million, the film will be considered a strong performer if it grosses anything over $20 million for a debut.

James DeMonaco returned to write and direct the Universal sequel, which is produced by Blumhouse Productions and Platinum Dunes.

Sony's comedy Sex Tape, reuniting Bad Teacher co-stars Jason Segel and Cameron Diaz with director Jake Kasdan, should gross around $30 million in its North American debut. Opening in more than 3,060 theaters, the R-rated comedy follows a couple whose homemade sex tape accidentally ends up on all of their friends' and family's iPads. Rob Corddry, Ellie Kemper, Jack Black and Rob Lowe also star.

Kate Angelo, Segel and Nicholas Stoller wrote the script from a story by Angelo. The film, from Columbia Pictures, MRC, LStar Capital and Escape Artists Production, is produced by Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch.

Bad Teacher, which opened in June 2011, earned $31.6 million in its debut, and went on to gross $216.2 million worldwide.

Disney's animated sequel, Planes: Fire & Rescue, is also hitting theaters, aiming to nab parents and families looking for a more kid-friendly option.

Insiders expect the sequel to perform similarly to the first film, which was a spin-off of the popular Pixar franchise Cars. It opened in August 2013 with $22.2 million in its U.S. debut and went on to earn $219.8 million worldwide.

Produced by DisneyToon Studios, the 3D sequel, which is rated PG, stars the voices of Dane Cook, Julie Bowen and Teri Hatcher and follows Cook's air racer Dusty Crophopper as he joins the world of wildfire air attack.

The three new wide releases may all fall behind holdover Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, which had a stellar opening last weekend with $72.6 million in its U.S. debut.

Directed by Matt Reeves, the tentpole starring Andy Serkis as intelligent ape Caesar has been one of the best reviewed blockbusters of the summer. Experts say the film could bring in another $35 million this weekend.

In limited release, Focus is releasing Wish I Was Here, Zach Braff's Kickstarter-funded project. The project, starring Braff, Kate Hudson and Josh Gad, will open in 68 theaters in North America, and expand into additional theaters and markets on the weekend of July 25 and beyond

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