FRIDAY PM UPDATE: The moms and their daughters will decide who reigns supreme at this weekend’s box office with 20th Century Studios’ heavily female-skewing The Devil Wears Prada 2 and the dude-dominant New Line/Atomic Monster sequel Mortal Kombat II vying for No. 1 with around $40M-$42M apiece.
For Devil Wears Prada 2, that’s a 45%-48% decline, which is fantastic and not far from the -46% hold the 2006 original movie had. We already told you that globally, the sequel is surpassing the original film’s $326M-plus reported global gross. Ten-day domestic by Sunday for Prada 2 is $143.8M on the high end.
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Mother’s Day Sunday isn’t expected to be big just for Devil Wears Prada 2 but also The Sheep Detectives, Michael and Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard & Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D).
New Line’s $80M Mortal Kombat II is seeing a Friday and previews of $17.5M at 3,503 theaters, with Devil Wears Prada 2 eyeing $10M-$11M at 4,200. Kombat II has all the premium formats.
Lionsgate’s Michael remains mutliplatinum with a third weekend around $35M at 3,550 theaters after a third Friday of $9M.
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Fourth place goes to Amazon MGM Studios’ Hugh Jackman comedy, The Sheep Detectives, with $3.7M today including previews, and $13.6M over three days at 3,457 theaters.
FRIDAY AM: New Line’s Mortal Kombat II stepped into the ring Thursday night and rang up $5.2M in previews, which isn’t that far from the amount the studio clocked a year ago in previews from Final Destination Bloodlines ($5.5M). That highly anticipated horror film opened to $51.6M.
And fifth is Paramount and Interscope’s $20M acquisition, Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard & Soft at 2,613 theaters with $4.2M Friday/previews and a 3-day of $7.5M.
All of Mortal Kombat II‘s cash is from Thursday. Showtimes began at 3 p.m.
Forecasts for the R-rated Mortal Kombat II came down into the $40Ms, and the question remains whether the second weekend of The Devil Wears Prada 2 will beat it, with that sequel expected to get a big boost from Mother’s Day. Lionsgate’s Michael is expected to bring in a female crowd on Sunday as well. Disney has pushed out extra spots this week for Devil Wears Prada 2 targeting Mother’s Day moviegoers.
Devil Wears Prada 2 ended the week with $101.8M, with the movie already past $300M worldwide.
Still, a $40M+ start for the Simon McQuoid-directed sequel based on the Midway video game is a great start for Mortal Kombat II, considering the previous 2021 installment saw its opening and grosses siphoned from a Covid-era theatrical day-and-date release on HBO Max with $23.3M. That movie finaled at $42.3M domestic, and the opening for its sequel could outstrip that entire gross alone.
Paramount’s Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) brought in $2.2M in overall previews including Thursday night and April 29 early-access shows at 2,350 locations. The pic directed by Eilish and James Cameron is expected to bring in $6M-$9M.
Amazon MGM Studios’ Sheep Detectives held previews Thursday night starting at 2 p.m. as well as earlier previews. All in, it was $1M. The pic is expected to open to around $12M.
Rest of the week:
1. The Devil Wears Prada 2 (20th) 4,150 theaters, Wk $101.8M/Wk 1
2. Michael (LG) 3,955 theaters, Wk $74.1M (-43%), Total $203.9M/Wk 2
3. Project Hail Mary (AMZ) 3,017 theaters, Wk $11.9M (-32%), Total $321.7M/Wk 7
4. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (Uni) 3,419 theaters, Wk $14.9M (-41%), Total $405.5M/Wk 5
5. Hokum (Neon) 1,885 theaters, Wk $9.1M/Wk 1