Box Office: ‘Need For Speed’ Projected for #1 Debut

Disney-DreamWorks’ racing pic “Need for Speed” is expected to win the North American box office this weekend.

Budgeted at $66 million, the video game-turned-movie is projected to launch in the mid-$20 million range, leaving other openers like Lionsgate’s “Tyler Perry’s Single Moms Club,” the Kickstarter-funded limited release “Veronica Mars,” and Jason Bateman’s adult comedy “Bad Words” trailing behind in sales. The Scott Waugh-directed “Need for Speed” is also making a major international push this weekend, opening in theaters worldwide, including in China.

The weekend’s other new nationwide entry is Lionsgate’s “The Single Moms Club.” The film, directed and written by Tyler Perry, stars Nia Long, Amy Smart, Cocoa Brown, Terry Crews, William Levy, Wendi McLendon-Covey and Perry, and is projected to open in the $15 million to $20 million range.

Rob Thomas’ “Veronica Mars,” the feature based on the Kristin Bell series, is also one to watch this weekend. Warner Bros. in partnership with its digital division is releasing the film simultaneously on video-on-demand and in limited release at 291 theaters across the country. The “Veronica Mars” movie was fund by a $5.7 million fundraising campaign on Kickstarter.

Jason Bateman’s R-rated black comedy “Bad Words,” is debuting in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles this weekend before expanding nationwide on March 28th. The film was acquired out of the 2013 Toronto Film Festival by Focus Features and more recently played on the opening night of the SXSW Film Festival.

Here’s how things are predicted to play out at the box office.

• Need for Speed — $26 million
• 300: Rise of an Empire – $20 million
• Mr. Peabody & Sherman – $17 million
• Tyler Perry’s The Single Moms Club – $15 million
• Non-Stop – $9 million