Will Happytime Murders Kill It at the Box Office?

Crazy Rich Asians wound up doing much better than expected when it opened last week and, over the course of its five-day first frame, the movie brought in a very impressive $34 million haul. Its $26.5 million Friday to Sunday take was enough to best The Meg for the top spot. But this weekend sees the R-rated puppet comedy The Happytime Murders rolling into town. Can Melissa McCarthy and some raunchy puppets take down Crazy Rich Asians this coming weekend?

STX is hoping for a good showing with Happytime Murders, which comes from director Brian Henson, son of the great Muppet creator Jim Henson. Box office tracking puts the movie somewhere around $14 million for the weekend. However, tracking has proved to be unreliable in quite a few cases in recent years and a lot of people who saw the NSFW trailer for this movie ahead of Deadpool 2 are looking forward to seeing it. It’s quite possible, assuming word of mouth is good, that this could debut closer to the $20 million range, which could very well give it the top spot for the weekend.

As mentioned, Crazy Rich Asians did exceedingly well and should ride that wave of good buzz into another very successful weekend. Expect to see a relatively minimal drop-off, with the romantic comedy taking in another $15 to $18 million this weekend. Warner Bros. bet big on an all Asian cast and that proved to be a very lucrative decision. Other studios will almost assuredly follow suit, given the success this movie is enjoying.

Warner Bros. has also done better than expected with The Meg. Despite the fact that it faced a pretty major dip last weekend domestically, worldwide, the giant shark flick is killing it. The Jason Statham-fronted blockbuster has already grossed nearly $316 million globally. Expect it to add another $9 million or so to its total stateside this weekend. Coming in at number four should be Mission: Impossible – Fallout, which continues to rake in the dough as it closes in on $200 million domestically. The sixth M:I movie should be about $7 million closer to that landmark after this weekend’s haul is factored in.

While it’s probably going to be close, expect Disney’s Christopher Robin to round out the top five with about $6 million. The live-action Winnie the Pooh movie will benefit greatly from a lack of new competition in the family-friendly department. Not to be forgotten, Global Road is releasing the robodog sci-fi movie A.X.L. this weekend, which looks like it’s going to bomb with less than $2 million. Sony is also releasing the critically-acclaimed Searching, which stars John Cho. The dramatic thriller should crack the top ten. Be sure to check out our full list of estimates for yourself below and check back with us on Sunday for the weekend estimates. These numbers come to us courtesy of Box Office Mojo.

Topics: Box Office