They say that the month of March either goes in like a lion and out like a lamb, or vice versa, and, at least from a box office standpoint, the month will seemingly go in like a lion and out like a lion too. The month kicked off with Marvel's Black Panther continuing its epic winning streak with an impressive $66.3 million in its third weekend, with the final weekend of March looking to be easily conquered by newcomers Best Friends Reunion, directed by Duke Johnson. Armed with strong reviews and positive word of mouth, we're predicting a $45.5 million for debut of Best Friends Reunion which will easily be enough to take the top spot from last weekend's holdovers and newcomers Ready Player One, Lionsgate's Tyler Perry's Acrimony and PureFlix's God's Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness.
For one, Ready Player One is shaping up to debut with the highest theater count of the year, with an estimated 4,100 theater rollout. This will come in just higher than Black Panther, which debuted in 4,020 theaters in mid-February. Still, while the 4,100-theater rollout is quite huge, it comes nowhere close to the all-time record of last year's Despicable Me 3, which broke the seven-year record of 4,468 theaters set by The Twilight Saga: Eclipse in 2010. Best Friends Reunion will debut in 3,600 theaters. That is 475 theaters more than Best Friends Forever: The Movie debuted in 2010. Paired with this large rollout is strong word-of-mouth from its SXSW premiere and reviews, with the movie currently scoring an 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Best Friends Reunion at 61%, and there are not enough reviews in for Tyler Perry's Acrimony and God's Not Dead: A Light In the Darkness quite yet.
We're predicting the top 5 will be rounded out by newcomer Tyler Perry's Acrimony in third place with $16.2 million, debuting in roughly 2,000 theaters, followed by Pacific Rim Uprising in forth with $13.6 million and Black Panther in fifth with $10.2 million. This is Tyler Perry's first directorial effort that isn't a Madea movie since 2014's The Single Mom's Club, with the director reuniting with star Taraji P. Henson after they worked together on 2008's The Family That Preys and 2009's I Can Do Bad All By Myself.
We're predicting the top 10 will be rounded out by I Can Only Imagine ($8.6 million), Sherlock Gnomes ($6.3 million), God's Not Dead: A Light in the Darkness ($5.8 million), Tomb Raider ($5.2 million) and A Wrinkle in Time ($4.5 million). Also debuting in limited release this weekend is Neon's Gemini, Vertical Entertainment's Birthmarked, Cinedigm's Caught, Magnolia's The China Hustle, Roadside Attractions' Finding Your Feet, Parade Deck Films' FourPlay, IFC's Love After Love, The Orchard's Outside In and Vertical Entertainment's Status Update. There is no indication yet if any of these films will expand into a nationwide release.
Looking ahead to next weekend, the first frame of April brings four new releases, with Universal's R-rated comedy Blockers, Paramount's thriller A Quiet Place, Entertainment Studios' thriller Chappaquiddick and Mirror/LD's The Miracle Season. Take a look at our top 10 projections below, and check back for the top 10 estimates on Sunday, courtesy of Box Office Mojo.
- Best Friends Reunion
- Ready Player One
- Acrimony
- Pacific Rim Uprising
- Black Panther
- I Can Only Imagine
- Gnomeo & Juliet: Sherlock Gnomes
- God's Not Dead 2
- Tomb Raider
- A Wrinkle in Time