This seems to be an unusually busy weekend in movie theaters, considering Labor Day is typically a low point of the year in terms of box office grosses. Both A24 and Paramount Pictures are hoping to break the Labor Day curse with two relatively high-profile movies opening—Onslaught and By Any Means. Both have a pretty good pedigree. Onslaught comes from Adam Wingard, with it being a spiritual successor to his cult hit The Guest, while By Any Means has Mark Wahlberg and a true-to-life setting.
Even still, neither is supposed to make any kind of serious impact at the box office. In fact, Onslaught, despite good early buzz, is expected to flop, with it unlikely to even make $5 million this weekend. It is actually getting an IMAX release, but I just checked my local listings, and it looks like some IMAX theaters are only giving it a cursory late show, which isn’t a sign of confidence.
By Any Means is expected to do marginally better, but it will be lucky to make $7 million, with it already getting some negative buzz for the way it takes a true story (mob hitman Gregory Scarpa really did help the FBI with interrogations around racist killings in Mississippi during the sixties) and gives it the over-the-top Hollywood treatment, turning it into a standard thriller.
As such, there’s no doubt that Spider-Man: Brand New Day will easily top the box office with about $12 million this weekend. It will be its last weekend in the top spot, with Practical Magic 2 bound to unseat it next week. The Odyssey will likely come in second place with about $10 million, but it’s third place that will be the big question mark. Will Coyote vs. Acme be able to hold off By Any Means? I’d give it a slight edge, with it looking at about $8 million.
Here are our predictions:
What are you seeing this weekend? Let us know in the comments.