Single Moms and Hot Cars Race for the Top Box Office Spot

After a pretty strong weekend at the box office, it feels like we've been transported back to January. The offerings scream pictures that studios just want to push out and be done with. Scott still comes racing in with his predictions for the new pictures this weekend.

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Last weekend 300: Rise of an Empire was able to have a good time coming out of the gates as it was able to bring in $45 million during its opening weekend. The big question coming up is whether or not one of the two wide releases debuting this weekend will be able to dethrone it. One of the two, Tyler Perry’s The Single Moms Club is only opening in 1,896 theatres which indicates it does not really stand a chance. That means all of the pressure will be on Need for Speed to dethrone the champion.

Based off of a long running video game franchise, Need for Speed stars Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul in a movie that is about expensive cars driving very fast. For car lovers, it may be a dream come true to see a vast array of super cars all on the big screen at once, but I am left to wonder just how many people who do not follow the game series will really have been intrigued by the trailers that do little more than make it look like a video game with a straight forward plot and computer enhanced race sequences. Having owned a number of the games, I can quickly tell you that the weakest point of the franchise is the story, which is incredibly laughable at times. I do not think that there is a rich source material here to be mined for people.

As well, there is not a whole lot of star power that is pushing this film. Outside of Breaking Bad fans, a lot of people may not know who he is, which weakens its ability to draw outside of a niche market. In 2001, The Fast and the Furious was able to nab a $40 million opening weekend, but it also had the assistance of Vin Diesel’s name as he was rising in popularity coming off of Pitch Black.

This movie from DreamWorks has done well to keep its budget at around $66 million dollars, which is able to keep profitability in sight. What it will really come down to is how many people want to see a racing movie based solely off of its visual merits alone. Right now, it is not finding critical appeal as it is only at 24% on Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing this.

Need For Speed Opening Weekend Prediction - $22 Million
As mentioned, Tyler Perry’s Single Moms Club is opening this weekend and the Tyler Perry name has had a history of bringing out an audience in the past. The key phrase there was ‘in the past.’ Lately his movies have not been performing as well, as they were generally able to open at or above the $20 million mark. There was increased potential in his movies if he was playing his Madea character, but this past Christmas saw that audiences may be tiring of that as Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas only opened to $16 million. Before that, the Tyler Perry produced Peeples only had an opening of $4 million.

This film reminds me a bit of Bridesmaids except it is very toned down in terms of the raunch factor, which fits well with Perry’s movies. While it strikes to present the ladies side of comedy shenanigans, it is lacking a big name star to pull audiences out. While I write this (late on a Thursday night) there are no reviews yet posted on Rotten Tomatoes, and usually that is a sign of a movie that the studio is not as confident in. I am sure that Tyler Perry fans will show up to see this film, I just cannot imagine there will be the same numbers that he has enjoyed in the past.

Tyler Perry’s Single Moms Club Opening Weekend Prediction - $14 Million