BY PAMELA MCCLINTOCK | HollywoodReporter.Com
Troy Warren for CNT
Universal movies will claim the top three spots at the domestic box office in a rare feat for a Hollywood studio.
here’s something for everyone at the July Fourth box office.
Universal’s F9: The Fast Saga will keep the pedal to the metal in its second weekend with a projected $24 million three-day weekend and $33 million for the four-day holiday, according to early Friday estimates.
To boot, the action pic will cross $100 million domestically in record time for the pandemic era and $500 million globally.
Universal is dominating the marquee all the way around, thanks to offering two new films in addition to F9: DreamWorks Animation’s sequel The Boss Baby: Family Business and the R-rated dystopian horror pic The Forever Purge, a perennial July Fourth favorite and the fifth installment in Blumhouse’s hit dystopian franchise.
Boss Baby 2 — which is also debuting and date on Peacock — is looking at a three-day box office opening of $20 million and $26 million for the four-day holiday. While that’s well below the $50 million debut of the 2017 sleeper hit, Universal believes that family fare have long legs. And while critics didn’t love the pic, audiences gave it an A CinemaScore (the first received an A-).
The follow-up to the first Boss Baby, a sleeper, reunites the Templeton brothers, voiced by Alec Baldwin. They are now grown and drifted away from each other. One is a married, stay-at-home dad; the other, a hedge fund CEO. But a new boss baby with a cutting-edge approach and a can-do attitude is about to bring them together again and inspire a new venture.
New additions to the series include Eva Longoria, Ariana Greenblatt, Jeff Goldblum and Amy Sedaris, who voices the new infant. Lisa Kudrow and Jimmy Kimmel reprise the roles as the parents of the Templeton boys.
The Forever Purge is targeting a third-day finish with $13 million and $16 million, respectively.
Directed by Everardo Gout, The Forever Purge is set on the Texas side of the border with Mexico, where arbitrary borders become physical walls and a fetish for gun rights amplifies the dangers of being an unwelcome visitor.
The July Fourth is historically a lucrative corridor for moviegoing, and usually sports a huge, new tentpole. This year’s numbers will be lower than usual because of the ongoing box office recovery. Top Gun: Maverick had been expected to lead the 2021 fireworks show, but Paramount opted to push back the Tom Cruise sequel to fall.
Paramount will still be a player in the holiday parade with A Quiet Place Part II, followed by Sony’s Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway in fifth place.
At the specialty box office, A24 is opening 2020 Sundance sensation Zola in 1,468 theaters (in pre-pandemic times, it likely would have gotten its start in in New York and Los Angeles, but that practice has been become challenged).
Zola, opening on Wednesday, is on course to earn at least $2.5 million for more for the six days, one of the best showings for an indie since the COVID-19 crisis commenced. Its gross through Friday was $1.2 million.
Taylour Paige and Riley Keough star in the acclaimed film, an odyssey through the Florida flesh trade that is based on one woman’s epic Twitter rant that went viral in 2015.
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