Universal/Monkeypaw’s Dev Patel action movie Monkey Man and 20th Century Studios’ First Omen are both projected to do north of $12M, but the former had the edge over the latter on Thursday night in previews, $1.4M to $725K.
Previews for Monkey Man began at 5PM at 2,750 theaters while First Omen‘s started at 7PM.
Legendary and Warner Bros’ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire crossed $100M yesterday, and will reign supreme in its second weekend with $32M+. The pic will continue to have Imax while Monkey Man and First Omen share PLFs. For all three, it’s a battle for the 18-34’s mighty dollars. Both Monkey Man and First Omen are rated R.
Reviews for Monkey Man have settled at 85% certified fresh, while First Omen‘s aren’t far behind at 81% fresh. First Omen is booked at 3,375 theaters while Monkey Man is in play at 3,029 venues.
Comps here for Monkey Man are Focus Features’ The Northman which did $1.35M in previews before a $5M Friday (plus previews) and a 3-day of $12.2M. Universal’s Violent Night is also another comp as that did $1.1M in previews, a $4.87M first day and $13.4M 3-day.
Uni acquired Monkey Man for under $10M while First Omen cost Disney in the low $30Ms before P&A.
GxK made $4.1M yesterday, -11% from Wednesday for first week’s haul of $103.3M at 3,861 theaters.
Sony’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire at 4,345 was second for the week with $22.1M in weekend 2 after a $1.3M Thursday, -9% from Wednesday and a running two week total of $79.9M.
The fourth week of Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 saw $16.7M at 3,582 locations after a $1.3M Thursday, -8% from Wednesday and a running total of $158.2M.
Fifth week of Legendary/Warner Bros.’ Dune: Part Two is $16.3M after a fifth Thursday of $1.07M at 3,136, and a running cume of $257.6M.
NEON’s second week of Immaculate saw $4.9M at 2,362 theaters after a $299K Thursday, -25% for a running total of $12.7M.
There’s still portion of spring break in effect per Comscore, with 27% K-12 schools on break and 5% colleges off.