Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman are leading the way at the North American box office with “Angel Has Fallen” on its way to about $20 million, early estimates showed Friday.
Should forecasts hold, “Angel Has Fallen” will take in about double the next title, Universal’s second weekend of raunchy comedy “Good Boys” with about $10 million. “Good Boys,” which appears to have broken the recent comedy slump at multiplexes, will wind up the weekend with more than $40 million in its first 10 days.
A quartet of titles will be battling for third place in the $7 million to $9 million range with the opening of Sony-Affirm’s faith-based “Overcomer” as the early leader, followed by Disney’s sixth weekend of “The Lion King” as it heads to $510 million, Universal’s fourth frame of “Hobbs & Shaw” and Fox Searchlight’s launch of horror-comedy “Ready or Not.”
Should projections hold, “Angel Has Fallen” will put up one of the lowest takes among box office winners this year. The lowest 2019 grossers to lead the box office have been “Glass,” which won the Feb. 1-3 Super Bowl frame with $9.5 million; the second weekend of “Glass” with $18.8 million; the opening of “The Upside” with $20.4 million on Jan. 11-13; and the launch of “Good Boys” with $21.4 million.
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“Angel Has Fallen” had been tracking for a debut in the $12 million to $16 million range at 3,286 sites. Butler and Freeman are joined by Jada Pinkett Smith, Tim Blake Nelson, Piper Perabo, and Nick Nolte in the third installment of the Millennium-Lionsgate action franchise.
The opening weekend for “Angel” will be well below 2013’s “Olympus Has Fallen” ($30 million) but could match 2016’s “London Has Fallen” at $21.6 million. Butler returns as Secret Service Agent Mike Banning, who clears his name after being framed for an attack on Freeman’s U.S. president Allan Trumbull, who was the Speaker of the House in “Olympus” and the Vice President in “London.”
“Overcomer” stars Alex Kendrick, who also directs from a script he co-wrote with sibling Stephen Kendrick about a high school coach whose faith is tested. The film had been expected to make around $6 million during its opening frame at 1,723 venues.
“Ready or Not” scared up a $2 million opening day on Wednesday as the studio got a two-day jump on the weekend and should finish Sunday with more than $10 million for the five days. “Ready or Not” centers on a bride’s wedding night turning deadly when her new in-laws force her into a strange game of hide and seek. Samara Weaving stars as the bride who marries into a rich family.