Today features the nationwide releases of two new movies: Hotel Transylvania and Looper. While the reviews are mediocre for the Adam Sandler-produced animated project, it is still assumed to win the weekend due to its family allure. On the other hand, Looper faces an uphill battle. The Rian Johnson-directed feature is just one of many well-received actioners now playing and it has a time travel gimmick that can be very polarizing. As a result, many are predicting a second place finish, so the question now turns to the size of the wallet come Monday for both of these films.
Shocker: Critics Back Time Travel Flick ‘Looper’
Since this is Rian Johnson’s first major release, we will start with that because it is the more interesting of the two. Trade publications seem solidified in their stance that the R-rated movie will find at least $20 million. If this happens, it would be a fairly big win for Film District and everyone involved with Looper as the movie only cost $30 million to make. As for the film’s stars, this is a pretty big deal for them too. Bruce Willis’ last sci-fi project was Surrogates and that only opened to $15 million three years ago.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt on the other hand has never truly led a movie that debuted beyond the mid-teens. Of course, that statistic is not counting G.I. Joe, Inception, or The Dark Knight Rises which he appeared in, but did not lead. Some believed that the David Koepp bicycle messenger movie Premium Rush could surprise on strong reviews last month, but it only managed to find $6 million in its first three days of release.
When looking at Hotel Transylvania, it is hard not to see a studio (Sony) clawing up the tree of the animated genre looking to shake down some money. Naturally, people will still bite particularly when its Adam Sandler’s crew behind it, so we completely believe the $20-30 million range is accurate here. The movie cost $85 million to make.