Box Office Preview: ‘Jack Reacher 2’ & ‘Madea’ Battle It Out

Weekend newcomers are set to battle it out at the box office.

With four new wide releases – Ouija: Origin of Evil, Keeping Up With the Joneses, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and Boo! A Madea Halloween – it is the latter two that are competing head to head for the top spot.

Tom Cruises’ Never Go Back is expected to narrowly edge over Tyler Perry’s Boo!, which is also estimated to earn in the high-teens to $20 million range, according to analysts.

Paramount’s Never Go Back – the sequel to Jack Reacher – will open at 3,280 locations. The former installment debuted in 2012 and earned a modest $15.2 million ($218.3 million worldwide). Both films cost $60 million.

Lionsgate’s Boo! will debut in approximately 2,200 theaters. Written and directed by Perry, who also stars in the comedy-horror as the titular character, the film was inspired by a spoof in Chris Rock’s 2014 comedy Top Five. The Halloween themed installment will be the seventh film in the Madea franchise. Of the five Madea films that have been released since 2005’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman ($21.9 million), only 2013’s A Madea Christmas opened below the $20 million mark with $16 million.

Universal’s Ouija: Origin of Evil is estimating to bring in $17 million at 3,168 locations, slightly less than 2014’s Ouija ($19.9 million debut, $103.6 million global). Currently, the horror film is holding a strong “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 81 percent.

Lastly – Fox’s Keeping Up With the Joneses follows in suit with a predicted $6 million-$7 million for its debut weekend. Directed by Greg Mottola, the film stars Zach Galifianakis, Isla Fisher, Jon Hamm and Gal Gadot.

“A fresh batch of sequels, including the latest from Tom Cruise (adding to what has become one of the most star-driven fall movie seasons ever), hope to collectively goose a crazy slow fall movie season into the realm of box office positivity,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at comScore.

Check out the trailers below!