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Based on early Friday returns, Warner Bros./Village Roadshow’s The Lego Movie will have no trouble burying new entries 3 Days to Kill and Pompeii at the North American box office.
The 3D animated film is expected to gross $30 million in its third weekend, putting the movie’s domestic total north of $180 million through Sunday. On Friday, Warner Bros. announced it is moving ahead with an untitled follow-up that’s set to hit theaters over Memorial Day weekend in 2017.
McG‘s 3 Days to Kill, a spy action-thriller starring Kevin Costner, should come in No. 2 with an opening weekend gross in the $13 million range, a so-so showing. The $28 million film was co-financed and co-produced by Relativity Media and EuropaCorp (Relativity is releasing 3 Days to Kill in the U.S.).
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Based on a story by EuropaCorp’s Luc Besson, 3 Days to Kill stars Costner as an international spy looking to give up his dangerous lifestyle and repair his relationships with his daughter and his wife. But first, he must complete one last mission, even as he looks after his teenage daughter for the first time in a decade. Amber Heard, Hailee Steinfeld and Connie Nielsen also star.
3 Days to Kill marks Costner’s second spy movie of the year after Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
Paul W.S. Anderson‘s 3D disaster movie Pompeii is quickly finding itself buried in ash, and may only earn $11 million for the weekend, a dismal start considering the movie’s $100 million-plus budget. Germany’s Constantin Films fully financed Pompeii, resulting in limited financial exposure for TriStar, which is releasing the film domestically per its deal with FilmDistrict. FilmDistrict paid for marketing.
Set in 79 A.D., Pompeii recounts the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which destroyed the Italian city. Kit Harington, Carrie-Anne Moss, Emily Browning, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and Jessica Lucas star alongside Jared Harris and Kiefer Sutherland.
Constantin is hopeful that the historical epic will do strong business internationally, where it opens in 30 markets this weekend (Constantin sold off foreign rights to independent distributors).
Pompeii could be beat this weekend in the U.S. by fellow Sony holdover About Last Night, starring Kevin Hart.
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