Step aside Star Wars: The Force Awakens – it looks like Ride Along 2 is aiming to take your crown!
The epic blockbuster The Force Awakens has accumulated $819.6 million domestically and is already the highest grossing film in history. However, Ride Along 2 seems to be eying the No. 1 spot at the box office, ready to nudge The Force Awakens to second place.
The cop comedy sequel, starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart, is expected to gross roughly $50 million-plus over the four-day Martin Luther King weekend. Universal, on the other hand, is being more conservative and aiming closer to a $30 million debut. If it achieves its projections, the film would become the second-highest opening over the MLK four-day stretch.
In 2014, the initial Ride Along was released during the same holiday weekend, as well – debuting with $48.6 million. It received an A CinemaScore from moviegoers who were 57 percent female and 54 percent over the age of 25.
With a $40 million production tag, Ride Along 2 hits theaters on Friday in approximately 3,175 theaters. Cube and Hart play cops that are trying to unravel a Miami drug ring.
The other box office newcomer includes Paramount’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, which is expected to debut in the low-$20 million range at 2,400 locations. The film, directed by Transformers’ Michael Bay, is about a team of ex-military operators who took on the terrorists who attacked a U.S. diplomatic compound on September 11th, 2012.
Appealing to an opposite crowd this weekend, one that is more family-friendly is Lionsgate’s animated comedy Norm of the North. The film centers on a polar bear who flees to NYC after a developer threatens to build condos in his Arctic homeland. The film will debut across 2,350 theaters and is expected to generate $5 million over the long weekend.
Meanwhile, holdover The Revenant is expected to do well this weekend, especially after its Golden Globe for best picture in a drama. The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio exacting bloody vengeance on Tom Hardy, took in $39.8 million last weekend. Although it didn’t beat The Force Awakens for the top spot, it could like pass the sic-fi this time around as it is predicted to do more than $20 million.
