User blog:Ceauntay/'Kung Fu Panda 2,' 'The Hangover Part II', 'True Jackson VP The Movie' Lead Busy Weekend At The Box Office

While "Pirates of the Caribbean" should still draw a sizeable crowd this weekend, "Kung Fu Panda 2" and "The Hangover Part II" are ready to hit theaters and take over the box office, which could make Memorial Day weekend the busiest of the year at the movies. Aimed at completely different demographics, "Kung Fu Panda 2" and "The Hangover Part II" will reach theaters on Thursday and are set up for tremendous worldwide box office runs.

Though animated films were formerly dominated by Pixar/Disney, Paramount/Dreamworks has found a way to tap into the sizeable family demographic in recent years. The original "Kung Fu Panda," released in 2008, was a big hit with younger audiences as it went on to gross $66 million its opening weekend and $215 million domestically. It was a big hit overseas as well, helping it haul in a spectacular $631 million worldwide.

But while the first "Kung Fu Panda" ended up as one of the most impressive earners of 2008, the ceiling for the sequel is considerably higher. More than any demographic, family audiences tend to massively support sequels, as has been seen with the "Shrek" and "Toy Story" franchises as well as much smaller releases like "Alvin and the Chipmunks." Following its own blueprint from the "Shrek" series, Paramount/Dreamworks is releasing "Kung Fu Panda 2" just three years after the original, which should guarantee that family audiences are still very familiar with the characters.

Also contributing to the auspicious outlook of the weekend for "Kung Fu Panda 2" is a general lack of competition for younger family audiences, even though "Pirates" will provide at least a little competition. "Rio" has pretty much owned the younger portion of the family demographic for a little more than a month, but it doesn't have much appeal left as it heads into its seventh weekend in theaters. "Kung Fu Panda 2" should earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $80 to $85 million for the three-day weekend and surpass $100 million when the Monday holiday is included.

Also getting released on Thursday is "The Hangover Part II," the follow-up to the biggest R-rated comedy of all-time. After "The Hangover" grossed nearly $500 million worldwide in 2009 and become somewhat of a phenomenon, the sequel brings back all of the main characters and could end up with the biggest comedy opening of 2011. This time around, the story goes abroad to Thailand, following the recent trend of taking sequels out of the U.S. to attract an even wider international audience.

Even though "The Hangover Part II" has been mostly panned by critics so far, it's very unlikely that will affect weekend numbers. Both "Meet the Fockers" and "Little Fockers" were also heavily criticized but still managed to put up enormous overall box office totals, a trend that will likely continue with "The Hangover." With its tremendous built-in audience, look for "The Hangover Part II" to surpass $50 million for the three-day weekend and to post a five-day opening total closer to $75 or $80 million domestically.

Also, "True Jackson, VP: The Movie" is looking foward to become another box office hit since "iCarly: The Movie" has a huge opening last yeaer with $50 million, and ended up to nearly $120 million domestically, and over $400 million worldwide. Its sequel "iCarly: The Sequel" is on its way. The film adaptation of the Nickelodeon hit TV show will go on make close enough between $60 and $75 million domestically, for a $40-45 million three-day weekend total.

Not only are "Kung Fu Panda", "The Hangover" and "True Jackson" poised for big weekends but so is "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" and "Sonic X: The Final Stand." With the long holiday lines of "Kung Fu Panda," some families with kids that are little older will likely still head out to see the latest in the "Pirates" franchise, setting "On Stranger Tides" up for a very strong second weekend in theaters. Heading into the weekend, "On Stranger Tides" is already approaching $400 million worldwide and a nice Memorial weekend haul should push it past $500 million in total revenue already. "Sonic" will approach more than $730 million passing "Scooby-Doo! The Movie's" worldwide total to become the highest-grossing film of 2011, and also will pass the $250 million mark, and should give it a total to nearly $300 million.

Also finally hitting theaters for the first time is recent Cannes Palme d'Or winner "The Tree of Life," starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. Though "The Tree of Life" is hitting only a few major theaters in New York and L.A., art-house audiences have been anticipating the latest from acclaimed director Terrence Malick ("The Thin Red Line," "Days of Heaven") for more than a year and it will likely post huge per venue totals for the weekend. Even with almost zero mainstream appeal, "The Tree of Life" has the potential to be one of the better performing art-house films of the year.

Next weekend, we'll see another major studio action release in the form of "X-Men: First Class," Fox's reboot of the "X-Men" franchise. "X-Men" should find a sizeable audience with its large budget and familiar concept, though it doesn't appear to be in line to be one of the bigger action releases of the year. The box office will get another boost the following weekend with J.J. Abrams' highly anticipated "Super 8."

RTT Box Office Predictions for 5/27/11 - 5/29/11 (In Millions):

1. Kung Fu Panda 2 (Paramount/Dreamworks): $80

2. The Hangover Part II (Warner Brothers): $58

3. True Jackson, VP: The Movie (Paramount Pictures): $44

4. Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (Buena Vista/Disney): $39

5. Sonic X: The Final Stand (Fox): $32

6. Bridesmaids (Universal): $11.5

7. Thor (Paramount): $7.8

8. Fast Five (Universal): $5.9

9. Rio (Fox): $2.8

10. Priest (Sony/Screen Gems): $2.3