‘November Man,’ ‘As Above, So Below’ Aim To Score This Labor Day

Two new wide releases, Pierce Brosnan’s action thriller The November Man and the horror film As Above, So Below, are set to achieve modest debuts this Labor Day weekend.

Labor Day outcomes tend to be the lowest at the box office and it is expected to be the same this year. Holdover’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles could once again remain at the top as newcomers challenge to take their place.

“Labor Day is traditionally one of the slowest holiday weekends of the year, if not the slowest,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Rentrak. “Expectations are not that high and the focus has shifted away a little bit from the movies.”

The biggest Labor Day debuts goes to Rob Zombie’s remake of Halloween in 2007, which received $30.6 million over the four-day holiday weekend. The second goes to yet another horror film, 2012’s The Possession with $21 million.

The November Man is set to get an early start when it debuts Wednesday in 2,750 locations, while As Above, So Below will debut Friday across 2,637 locations.

The spy thriller’s official film synopsis, courtesy of Relativity Media:

Peter Devereaux (Pierce Brosnan) is a lethal and highly trained ex-CIA agent, who has been enjoying a quiet life in Switzerland. When Devereaux is lured out of retirement for one last mission, he must protect valuable witness, Alice Fournier, (Olga Kurylenko). He soon uncovers this assignment marks him a target of his former friend and CIA protégé David Mason (Luke Bracey). With growing suspicions of a mole in the agency, there is no one Devereaux can trust, no rules and no holds barred.

The horror film’s official synopsis, courtesy of Universal Pictures:

Miles of twisting catacombs lie beneath the streets of Paris, the eternal home to countless souls. When a team of explorers ventures into the uncharted maze of bones, they uncover the secret of what this city of the dead was meant to contain. A journey into madness and terror, “As Above, So Below” reaches deep into the human psyche to reveal the personal demons that come back to haunt us all.

Analysts and Relativity Media are projecting November Man to take in between $9 million to $12 million over the long weekend. On the other hand, As Above, So Below is expected to pull in roughly the same amount with $8 million to $10 million over the four day weekend.

Which film(s) do you plan on seeing this Labor Day weekend?