A Diverse Box Office Brings Melissa McCarthy As A Spy, Demons And Bro's

It may sound hyperbolic, but Melissa McCarthy is easily one of the most reliable comedians on the planet right now. After all, if a movie like Tammy ,with dismal reviews and an even more appalling marketing campaign, could somehow get to $88 million domestically, than anythings possible. That might sound like an insult in disguise, but I don't mean it as such. Tammy appears to be as low as a Melissa McCarthy vehicle can go, with her highs (Identity Thief with $134 million and The Heat with $159 million) being considerable achievements.

Spy should have no trouble joining the latter class, thanks to a considerably prominent and notable marketing campaign, as well as glowing reviews. It helps that the film is pairing her up with co-stars like Jason Statham and Jude Law more known for overtly serious fare. The idea of them juxtaposing against McCarthys comedic manner is promising in concept, and comes across as such in the numerous trailers and commercials. Truth be told, this film (which Fox is certainly bullish on given the numerous word-of-mouth screenings and them likely giving it the widest opening theater count for an R-rated movie) may just beat The Heat for the biggest opening weekend of Melissa McCarthys career, though I'll be a bit more reserved for the moment and say it just matches that 2013 film.

There are major obstacles facing Insidious: Chapter 3 this weekend, but it should actually have no trouble becoming the second horror movie of the summer to hit $20 million in its opening weekend. However, it's highly unlikely to be as successful as its predecessor, since, being a prequel, it's ditching the characters audiences know and like from the past two features. Still, memorable scares have been seen regularly in ads, and the brand name of Insidious alone should get this to $25+ million for this weekend.

Entourage opened in theaters everywhere yesterday, racking up solid Tuesday night grosses ($2.1 million) but its opening day as a whole proved the film will be mightily frontloaded, as those Tuesday night grosses made up a huge part of its $5.36 million opening day. It'll probably bring in $15 million for the weekend, and just under $25 million for its first five days. Another Warner Bros. title, San Andreas, will likely hold well this frame thanks to great word-of-mouth (people were applauding wildly at my screening of it last weekend) and it being one of the least frontloaded summer blockbusters in recent memory.

Below, you can see my predictions for the opening weekend and final grosses of this weekends new releases, as well as my projections for this weekends top 5 movies.

Spy
Opening Weekend: $39 million
Total Gross: $135 million

Insidious: Chapter 3
Opening Weekend: $28 million
Total Gross: $62 million

Entourage
Opening Weekend: $15 million
Total Gross: $48 million

1) Spy: $39 million
2) San Andreas: $28.4 million
3) Insidious: Chapter 3: $28 million
4) Entourage: $15 million
5) Pitch Perfect 2: $10.2 million